Entries by Peter Brandt

Another strike against intraday stops

It’s the line that counts. Every thing else is noise and clatter intended to confuse and separate traders from their money. Where a market closes is all that matters. My final thought for the weekend. ###

Latest member of the Hall of Shame

I plead with all you newcomers to trading, please don’t get caught in this trap. Trading is hard work. There are no short cuts. Tuition is required, and the markets decide the amount of the tuition. Yet, every year thousands of newcomers to trading get trapped by con artists such as the people behind this […]

Stops or no stops – a response to StockSage1

Yesterday morning I posted “Lessons from a difficult year of trading.” The post detailed three major factors contributing to my current 13 percent drawdown and nine modifications I am making to my trading plan in response to the situation. All successful traders – discretionary and systematic – are constantly on the alert for ways to […]

Lessons from a difficult year of trading

This correspondence details lessons I have learned about myself, my trading and the markets as a result of a difficult year of trading. Perhaps these lessons can benefit you, especially if you are a discretionary trader who uses chart patterns for trading. I am not shy about hyping my good trades. I am also not […]

It’s as easy as “ABC” – classic H&S failure in Corn

Often a pattern failure tells a better story than does a pattern completion. This is just what we have in the case of new crop December Corn. As of last week it appeared that Dec. Corn was forming a H&S top pattern. On Wednesday, May 11, the market completed the top pattern (the “A” in […]

Flags flying at half-mast – a sign of death!

 Risk On – Numerous charts show signs of a pending decline  In the markets, as in real life, flags flying at half mast symbolize death. A number of half-mast flags and pennants in the raw material markets indicate that the steep decline in early May was just Act 1 in a two-act play. The flags […]

It’s 1…2…3 strikes you’re out!

The S&Ps have a possible top When it comes to classical charting, it is always best when a multiplicity of developments occur. Such is the case in the S&P right now. There are three (if not four) chart developments that could support an important change in trend. FIrst, the late April breakout from the 9-week […]

What Now, Silver Cow?

Just for fun, yesterday I did a snarky post on a very short-term “pie-in-the-sky” forecast for Silver. I called for the bounce to stop between 39 and 42 (actual high was 39.47) followed by a decline to below 33, then a rally to 42. The lines on the chart below were drawn yesterday morning. So […]