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Good Morning All: For the next three weeks, I will be looking at things that beginning traders should know as they start this business. Don't be surprised however, if some of you moderately experienced to very experienced traders don't find a few interesting tidbits; Even if they serve as nothing more that review. A Beginner's Handbook Part 1 of 3 Welcome to trading. Are you new to this field? Or is it called online stock buying? Or is it day trading? Or is it investing? Well let's get a few terms straight. This will be the first of a three part series, "A Beginners Handbook". First, at Pristine, we consider 'buy and hold' something that is no longer a term that should be applied to the stock market. Do this if you like in real estate, bonds, gold, but not stocks. It implies a long-term buy and hold with your eyes closed approach that should no longer be used in the stock market. The term 'investing' is fine as long as it does not mean 'buy and hold'. There is nothing wrong with long term holds. We believe in swing trades and core trades that could last for months or years in some cases. However, they are 'managed'. As traders, we do not close our eyes hoping all will be all right. Traders are educated in technical strategies and discipline. They become self-sufficient Most of today's large cap companies are in the technology area. These companies are subject to having their main product replaced by a new technology very easily. Long ago, it required many years for any company to start up a new car company and over take General Motors. Today, anyone can create software in their garage that can revolutionize how something is done and put a competitor out of business. Look at the company Iomega, for example. They are the makers of the infamous zip drives that appeared on computers years back. The current technology at the time was storing information on 1.44 meg disks. They came out with a system to store 100 megs on a disk, and got contracts to put their drive on every major computer. Sounds like a company you can buy and hold forever, doesn't it? It is, until someone discovers that the same information can go on a CD and have it cost much less. At that very moment in time, literally overnight, Iomega is out of business; unless it has other products to sell. The rule is 'change or become extinct'. This example is found over and over again in everything from video sales to computer chips. When practicing 'buy and hold' (as opposed to long term trading), you are relying on news and announcements and fundamental data. Many of you have probably already discovered how worthless this process is. To the extent it has a valid use; it is never to take the news or information at face value. Take a look at Amazon's recent earnings. You can look wherever you want, the comments were the same. "Results from Amazon (AMZN) ... also disappointed the Street". If you are relying on news to make decisions, it must be time to get short AMZN, right?. However, take a look at what happened after the dismal report was out. There was no other news. Those of you that already know this see this happens all the time. So if 'buy and hold' is out, what do we do? You hear stories all the time about all of the 'day traders'. You look around you and you don't see many. You may not even know any besides yourself and those you met at a seminar. Unfortunately, the term 'day trading' is often misused by the media. There is a large group of people that we call 'online investors'. These are the folks that use their computer in place of their telephone to call places like E-Trade, Schwab, etc. and place their orders. They are typically managing their savings or IRA money, and are typically untrained. They were plentiful during the bull run of the 90's, and often were wrongly called 'day traders'. They did not need to be trained because they made money buying stocks in the late 90s no matter what they did. Most of them are all gone now. We consider our selves 'traders', but this does not include the much larger group of 'online traders' mentioned above. Traders use technical analysis to find, enter, and manage trades. That applies to long or short term trades. Those that are focused on trading and exiting by the end of the day with that account are called day traders. We consider traders people who spend a good part of the day with the market. Those who are trained to manage positions that may last from several minutes to several months. While we believe that 'buy and hold' is a dead term, we do use many time frames to hold stocks, the longest of which is a 'core' position. While a core positions may last for months (or years), it differs from investing because there is an exact exit strategy planned for a core position. We also use a 'swing' time frame. This is one that may last from 2-5 days. We also use tactics that would have us holding a stock overnight one time, or exiting the same day. Sometimes exiting part of a position only minutes after entry. So if you are going to trade, how do you buy stocks? If you are trading only a few trades a week, and limiting yourself to swing and core trades, using on of the 'online brokers' is fine. The time it takes to have your order filled is not very fast, but for occasional long-term trades it is acceptable. If you are going to be trading more often, or trading in and out the same day, you will want to use a 'direct access' broker. This is a broker that lets you see all of the market participants, where they are buying and where they are selling. You then place your own order on your computer screen and many of these orders will have instant executions. By instant I mean instant, usually within a fraction of a second. If you need a broker, or not happy with your current broker, consider Mastertrader.com. It has the best rates and service, a variety of platforms, and you earn points to use at Pristine for services and seminars. So, you know what you want to do, and you have selected a broker. Now you need a computer and an Internet connection. Again, for occasional swing and core trading, any machine that can access the Internet will do. If you are going to be active intraday, you will need to have something better. You will need a computer that is competitive with the current top of the line computer, or is at least current with the technology within the last 12-24 months. You will want a fast Internet connection. You need to be looking at Cable, FIOS, Satellite, or T1-3. Depending on where you trade, you will have to evaluate which of these is available and most effective for your money. You will need to have a working knowledge of computers, as your time with the computer will be extensive whether you want it to be or not. So now you are ready to trade, right? Well, no not really. The biggest distinction I made earlier was that 'day traders' are educated in trading strategies and disciplines. This will be the focus of the next Lesson, how to start out trading when you have no education or experience in trading. I will discuss how to build that education as you go, without using up all of your capital. Closing Comments There is perhaps no greater occupation to have than that of a professional trader. Yet, few achieve that title. Few achieve, even thought thresh hold is not that high. In terms of cost and education, most anyone is capable. You have to set yourself apart, and be different. That is part of what we will talk about next week. Until next week, good trading. Paul Lange Vice President of Services Pristine Capital Holdings, Inc.

Good Morning All; Many traders who study our methods learn in a fairly quick time how to trade properly. Most are taken aback by the ease and beauty of the method. If problems arise, it usually is due to not following some rules, and often the top rule to be broken is an improper entry. This entry is often due to not having patience, or not having a well-laid plan to remind you what to do. Here are a few basic reminders. The Best Time to Enter There are a few concepts that seem very basic, but often get lost in the day-to-day noise that can often cloud your judgment. Just taking a few minutes every day and a few seconds before planning every trade can often help keep you out of trouble. If you are core trading or swing trading, you need to ask if it is the best time to enter trades. Are you entering swing trades during the first 5 minutes, when the market really has no direction on the daily charts? The majority of stocks will get most of their move from the market in general, and the sector they are in. Are you fighting the main move of the market or the sector when you are entering? There are many times that longer-term trades should wait until the market is in the proper trend. When the market is in a major uptrend or downtrend most money can be made by taking stocks for the big moves with a long-term account; sideways or trendless times in the market are better for playing the range provided. If you are entering intraday trades, are you accounting for reversal times? Are you following your trading plan in terms of what strategies to play at what times of the day? Your trading plan should do everything possible to keep you out of trades. Are you trying to enter late day break outs during lunch? Are you going long at the 10:30 A.M. reversal time after a strong rally because you are afraid to miss the longs? Closing Comments Set realistic targets for the market you are in and make sure your stops make sense for the target projected, or pass the trade. Do not worry about missing plays. Worry about playing quality and preserving capital on days and times when the market is not in the same mode you want to be in. Paul Lange Vice President of Services Pristine Capital Holdings, Inc.

Professional trading firm located in Delray Beach, FL provides a hands on approach for prospective and successful traders seeking a direct career path in becoming a Hedge Fund Manager or Commodity Trading Advisor. Trade stocks, futures and/or forex from our newly built trading floor or remotely. Enjoy state of the art technology, top-notch execution platforms and professional execution rates. Combined, our team has over 60 years of trading industry experience. We are not a prop-shop. We are the avenue and fast track to a true career as a fund/money manager. The Opportunity: Our firm will closely assist accepted traders through the entire process with the ultimate goal of becoming a fund manager. This includes, building an marketable auditable track record, raising trading capital for successful traders and more. We Supply: · Trading guidance by our experienced team · Proprietary trading software · Trading computers with multiple screens · Low latency connections · Robust execution platforms and charting · Professional commission rates · Professional level leverage · Auditable trading track records · A professional trading room atmosphere For The Successful/Proven Traders & Managers, We Offer: · Fund formation · Regulatory registration · Seed capital availability · Capital introduction & Marketing · Fund administration, compliance and more · Private office suites Please e-mail your resume and a brief description of your trading background to hfriedman (AT) stonehengeemg.com . We will contact you to arrange a meeting.

I came across this guide, 25 Free Options Strategies from the CME Group, http://bit.ly/nnqDEC Has anyone used it?

ok now that i have your attention ... before i start i am not endorsing this newsletter, don't work for them, i won't even tell you who it is! but look at this graph of their performance ... couldn't someone do something as simple as invest $500 in each of their picks and completely crush the market? thanks -mslk

Let’s face it – most people don’t know when to sell a falling stock. So they’re frozen into inactivity, saying, “Should I just keep holding and hoping, or should I cut my losses now?” This state of indecision is usually permanent, and often continues until you hear the all too familiar phrase, “well, it’s too late to sell now.” One of my good friends lost it all following the “it’s too late to sell now” principle. He bought a ton of shares in a cable company based on his friend’s recommendation that it was supposed to take over the world. The shares soon tumbled in half, and his friend, who knows about the cable business, told him to buy more, so he did. The shares tumbled in half again, and he bought even more. He finally stopped buying when the shares hit a dollar a share. The shares eventually traded for pennies. After you’ve read today’s essay, if you follow the advice in here, your constant state of indecision will be gone. You’ll never lose another night’s sleep worrying about which way your investments will go tomorrow. Because, unlike most investors, you’ll have a plan – knowing when to get out, and when to stay in for the biggest possible profits. Buying stocks is easy. There are thousands of theories out there for why and when to buy. But buying is only the first half of the equation when it comes to making money. Nobody ever talks about the hard part – knowing when to sell. In order to invest successfully, you need to put as much thought into planning your exit strategy as you put into the research that motivates you to buy the investment in the first place. So please read closely here, and think about each point... How Do You Evaluate Businesses? In business and in stocks, you’ve got to have a plan and an exit strategy. When you have one, you know in advance exactly when you’re going to buy and sell. The strategy I’m going to show you will allow you to ride your winners all the way up, while minimizing the damage your losers can do. But before I get into the specific strategy, consider this business example... Let’s say you’re in the tee-shirt business. You’ve made a ton of money on a tee-shirt business in the States, and you’re now in the Bahamas looking for new opportunities. You size up the market, and you figure you can make money in two markets: in golf shirts, geared at the businessman, and in muscle-tees, geared toward the vacationing beach-goers. These are two products clearly aimed at two different markets. You invest $100,000 in each of these businesses. At the end of the first year, your golf shirts are already showing a profit of $20,000. But the muscle-tees haven’t caught on yet, and you’ve got a loss of $20,000. There are numerous reasons why this is possible, so you make some changes in your designs and marketing and continue for another year. In the second year the same thing happens – you make another $20,000 on your golf shirts, and you lose another $20,000 on your muscle-tees. After two years, the golf shirt business is clearly succeeding, and the muscle shirt business is clearly failing. Now let’s say you’re ready to invest another $100,000 in one of these businesses. Which one business do you put your money into? The answer should be obvious. You, as a business owner, put more money toward your successful businesses. But as you’ll see, this is the opposite of what 99% of individual investors in America do... How Do You Evaluate Stocks? Let me start by asking you a question – what does “owning shares of stock” actually mean? This isn’t a trick question – as you know, it means you’re a partial owner of the company, just like you’re the owner of the tee-shirt company in this example. Owning your own business isn’t fundamentally any different than owning a share of a business through stock. However, most people treat them exactly the opposite... Let’s say the shares of your two tee-shirt companies trade on the stock exchange. They both start trading at $10 a share. At the end of the first year, the profitable golf-shirt company is trading for $12 a share, and the unprofitable muscle-shirt company is trading for $8 a share. At the end of the second year, the golf shirt company is trading at $14, while the muscle shirt company is trading at $6 a share. Which shares would you rather own? Even though you know you should buy the winning concept based on the business example, most investors don’t do so in their stock investments. They keep throwing good money after bad hoping for a turnaround. They buy the loser. The Trailing Stop Strategy In stocks (and in business, I believe), you must have and use an exit strategy – one that makes you methodically cut your losses and let your winners ride. If you follow this rule, you have the best chance of outperforming the markets. If you don’t, your retirement is in trouble. The exit strategy I advocate is simple. I ride my stocks as high as I can, but if they head for a crash, I have my exit strategy in place to protect me from damage. Though I have many reasons I could sell a stock, if my reasons don’t appear before the crash, the Trailing Stop Strategy is my last ditch measure to save my hard-earned dollars. And it works. The main element to the Trailing Stop Strategy is the 25% rule. This is where I will sell any and all positions at 25% off their highs. For example, if I buy a stock at $50, and it rises to $100, when do I sell it? If it closes below $75 – no matter what. Don’t Let Your Losers Become Big Losers So with my Trailing Stop Strategy, when would I have gotten out of the failing muscle-shirt business? You already know the answer. Remember, the shares started at $10 and fell immediately. Instead of waiting around until they fell to $6 as the business faltered, using my 25% Trailing Stop, I would have sold out at $7.50. And think of it this way – if the shares fall to $8, you’re only asking for a 25% gain to get back to where they started. But if the shares fell to $5, you’re asking for a dog of a stock to rise 100%. This only happens once in a blue moon – not good odds! Take a look at how hard it is to get back to break even after a big loss... You’ll Never Recover Percent fall in share price Percent gain required to get you back to even 10% 11% 20% 25% 25% 33% 50% 100% 75% 300% 90% 900% So what’s so magical about the 25% number? Nothing in particular – it’s the discipline that matters. Many professional traders actually use much tighter stops. Ultimately, the point is that you never want to be in the position where a stock has fallen by 50% or more. This means that stock has to rise by 100% or more just to get you back to where it was when you bought it. By using this Trailing Stop Strategy, chances are you’ll never be in this position again. This article syndicated from Steve Sjuggerud's Daily Wealth

There is so much information available to traders that sometimes I find it overwhelming or even confusing at times. Since the majority of the available and convenient information is in written form, it makes it difficult to ask questions of the author or the website. And if you do, more often than not you never hear back from them, right? And if you do, so much time has passed that you don’t even remember asking the question much less why you asked the question in the first place. Let’s say a trader is not sustaining consistent profits, and his question is “What do I do?” For the answer, you can go to the internet via any number of search engines; you can go to the book store and/or library to find out how to establish consistent profits; you might even go to some seminars and courses to find the answer. If you’re really on top of things, you might even ask your trading mentor. It’s a pretty broad question, but for as many traders that might be asking this question, there’s probably just as many answers. Why? Because there are a number of moving parts that are necessary for sustaining consistent profits, and depending on where you are in your trading development, the answer can be different and vary for each trader. Integral components to the answer may include your trading plan, your trading style, strategies, and more. The point is, you might “kinda sorta” find an answer to your question, but you may also find out relatively quickly that it is not necessarily customized to your current needs. To add to that, the answer to that question today may very well be an entirely different one if you ask the same question a year from now. The truth is, you need an affordable avenue for asking questions and getting direct, immediate feedback customized to your current needs and situation. Well, I’m happy to report that there is a solution to this sometimes “path to nowhere” when it comes to answering your trading questions. Trading Everyday has launched a new FREE mini-series of seminars called "Day Trading Questions Answered”. It is probably only one of very few seminars available without an agenda because the it is determined by you, the trader. Traders send their questions in advance or they can ask them when they join the seminar. The entire 90 minutes is dedicated to answering only those questions that traders bring to the table. Nothing more, nothing less. How refreshing is that? So if you’ve had those nagging trading questions that you can’t seem to find the answer to, you might want to consider registering for one of the sessions. Even if you don’t have any questions, my bet is that you’ll learn from the questions that other traders ask. It’s free. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Whether you’re a doctor, a basketball or tennis player, a musician, or even a cowboy, knowledge and skills are going to determine your status in your “community” of peers. The level of your knowledge and skills can either catapult you to world class status or usher you out the door; create increased (or decreased) demand for your services or performances; provide opportunities to win awards and generate tons of money if you’re the best, or no awards and little money if you’re not. Whatever you choose to do in life, your knowledge and skill level will determine your success level. If you’ve been in the workforce for a while now, you probably already know that how much you know (knowledge) and how well you perform (skills) are major factors in whether or not the company will keep you or fire you. Let’s take a look at how trading knowledge and skills determine your success in trading. While many people believe that the goal of trading is to make money, professional traders know otherwise. Being an active, professional trader, I know that making money is a byproduct of the primary goal of trading, which is to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to protect your capital. Simply put, it is extremely difficult to make money if you don’t have the capital with which to make the money. Nearly all entrepreneurs would not have been able to start their businesses if they didn’t first have seed money, a line of credit or loan, or investors to do so. Trading is no different. Trading is a business, not an investment. Successful traders know this. It’s all about protecting your capital. If you are still struggling with your trading when it comes to making money consistently, take a look at your level of trading knowledge and skills vs. those who are actually trading successfully. What do they know that you don’t? Why are they doing well while you are not? Where did they get the knowledge and skills to do so well? It could be anything - from your Knowledge (Have you mastered the concept behind candlestick charts, studied up on risk and money management in trading, established an understanding of the stock market price cycle like the back of your hand?), Skills (How good are you at identifying Traps and 3-Bar Candlestick Plays, or how quick are you at responding (vs. reacting) to the trade signals with the proper set up?), Or even your Psychology (Are you too desperate, unable to control your emotions, distracted?), Habits (Do you have the discipline to follow your trading plan no matter what, the tenacity to focus on the charts on your computer screen 8+ hours a day, the determination to get up every morning no matter how bad it was the day before to do it all over again?). Attitude (Are you willing to learn from your mistakes, to get help from experienced traders through coaching or mentoring, to practice patience and a willingness to do what it takes to succeed?). At the end of the day, if you are deficient in your trading knowledge and skills, be prepared to work harder than those who are already successful. Commit to do what it takes to protect your capital and make money. If you don’t, you may well be ushered out the door sooner than you would like.