IF YOU WANT STOCK TRADING INFORMATION: OPINIONS ARE LIKE . . . BELLYBUTTONS. EVERYBODY HAS ONE

This section isn't about recommending good financial market subscription services to get stock trading information. It's about how to treat them. There are many market related services, newsletters and Internet chat rooms that are operating today. These services typically offer opinions on the markets, stock trading information and they usually charge a fee for accessing their information. They offer thoughts on market direction and, sometimes, specific market picks. I used to be a stock trading information newsletter junkie, and still am to sum extent. These days I'm much less interested in individual opinions and am more interested in websites with stock trading information that offer a quick synopsis of the current state of the markets through a variety of technical data. To that end, one of the best sites on the Internet is Decision Point, run by Carl Swenlin (www.decisionpoint.com). This site allows traders to get a quick feel of the markets, and offers an endless amount of drill down detail and stock trading information, which I like to peruse on Sundays. I also like to read comments by John Mauldin in his weekly stock trading information newsletter, Thoughts from the Frontline (www.2000wave.com). His writing is lucid, far reaching, and entertaining.

I also find it interesting to read and balance the views of the people who think the Dow is going to 3,000 versus the views of the people who think the Dow is going to 30,000. There are both rational and ridiculous arguments for both cases. I personally don't have an opinion where the stock market is going to be by March 27, 2023. I'm more focused on where it is going to be by the end of next week. Also, it is important to listen to this stock trading information and their views with a grain of salt. With Wall Street, if everyone is expecting the same thing to happen, then it's not going to happen. It is certainly important to stay on top of the major trends affecting the world today and other stock trading information, namely, an aging population, rising crude oil prices, and the explosive growth of China and India. These are real trends that affect nearly everything in our lives. Where there are trends, there are opportunities to make money.

The main thing to keep in mind is that everyone is offering an opinion and stock trading information, especially if it's regarding a specific trade recommendation. The writer may sound absolutely convinced it is the best trade on the planet, and this information and conviction can easily pass into the brain of the reader. The bottom line is this: If a trader takes a stock trading information from a subscription service, he still has to set appropriate risk parameters and decide how much he is willing to lose on the pick. Just because a guru thinks the market is going to crash doesn't mean that it is going to. I've heard more stories about people blowing out their accounts because "they put it all in stock trading information from a newsletter recommendation." There is a tendency for traders to feel more confident in a trade because it is being recommended by somebody else. A tip! In reality, it's just a trade setup like any other, and it is important that a trader not get lured in with a false sense of security that this particular trade is going to work out exactly as planned. Whether the trader found a setup for himself, or whether he is following a trade setup recommended in a newsletter, the ultimate responsibility is on the trader. Don't get over confident just because you read about it online.