Another Update - Stevenson High School

Posted on by lindsay

We want to share an update we received from the economics team that we sponsor from Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois. Their "Stock Market Game" teams are using MarketClub to help assist in their trades and we've been following their success for the past few months. Their teacher was nice enough to send me this message informing me of the progress his 6 teams have made in their participation with the "The Stock Market Game" (a program of the SIFMA).

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Lindsay,

It has been a while since our last correspondence and it is time I got you up to date.

Well, the Fall competition was interesting. One team (freshman girls) finished 77th!! Not bad out of 500 teams. I am very proud of them. They did their research, including with MarketClub and the rest speaks for itself.

The junior and senior boys did not fare as well with standings in the high 400's (470 +). Their research was a bit spotty and in some cases relied more on headlines rather than solid research. I think they learned a valuable lesson there.

Now that we have started the Spring competition, the landscape has changed. Finally, all the teams are seeing the value of MarketClub. I am getting a lot of "Oh, I didn't know MarketClub could do that", "How does it know that?," to "We are now using it (MC), as our guide." I expected this type of reaction now that we are in our second competition. The more the students are using your service the more they are seeing its value and learning how to separate the "wheat from the chaff." The biggest obstacle I have now is teaching them how short selling works. As you know, this concept is a difficult one for beginners to get their arms around. I have told them to find some stocks they think are on the way down and just try a short sale. I am confident that once they get the hang of it they will look at the market as not just a one way street but a two way street with profits to be made regardless of trend.

Again, I want to thank you and MarketClub for your invaluable service.

Stay warm and I hope you all fared well with the snow.

Sincerely,

*Teacher's name removed for privacy*
Adlai E. Stevenson High School
Lincolnshire, Illinois 60069

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Good luck to the spring competition teams! We look forward to hearing about your experiences using MarketClub as your guide.

Best,

Lindsay Thompson
Director of New Business Development
INO.com & MarketClub

Traders Toolbox: Learning Options Part 2 of 4 Revisited...

Posted on by lindsay

Trader's Toolbox

At MarketClub our mission is to help you become a better trader. Our passion is creating superior trading tools to help you achieve your goals -- no matter which way the markets move -- with objective and unbiased recommendations not available from brokers.

The Trader's Toolbox posts are just another free resource from MarketClub.

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"Many people like options because they believe them to be less risky than futures. Options sometimes offer reduced risk, but usually at the cost of reduced profit potential.

One drawback of options is that a trader must consider market speed (volatility) as well as direction. Traders who buy or sell options outright to profit from up or down moves in the underlying market can find themselves fighting an uphill battle against volatility and time decay. With futures, if you’re right about market direction, you’ll win. With options, you can be right about the market and still lose...."

Revisit the Trader's Toolbox Post: "Learning Options Part 2 of 4" here.

Jim Cramer Actually Got It Right... Only, Three Months Later?

Posted on by The INO.com Team

It's no secret that we've been socked with snow this past week. During that time, I was flipping through channels and came across Jim Cramer's show Mad Money. I've said this before, Jim is a great entertainer. I am not so sure how good he is at picking stocks.

He mentioned shorting one stock, Garmin (symbol GRMN). What he said about Garmin sort of made sense to me both from a technical and fundamental viewpoint.

So here is the fundamental viewpoint... Many of the new phones that are coming to market are referred to as "smart phones" and have the same capabilities as a standalone, turn-by-turn GPS. In my own case, I have an Apple iPhone. I was looking for a navigational application in the App Store and found exactly what I needed and the good news was - it was free, that's right free. So the question is, why would anyone pay $150, $200, or even $300 to Garmin to have one of their systems? Fundamentally, I think his case is very sound.

Then, I looked at the technical picture for Garmin and noticed that we had a red monthly "Trade Triangle" sell signal some time ago (November 4th to be exact at the price point $27.06). So here we are some three to four months later having Jim Cramer tell us that Garmin may be a short.

For my money, I want to be trading the "Trade Triangles" and not listening to Jim Cramer and getting old news.

In this short video on Garmin, you will see exactly what were looking at and where the signals kick in. I also point out where one very important technical indicator is at a tipping point.

As always our videos are free to watch and there are no registration requirements.

I hope you enjoy the video and make a comment on the blog about how you feel about this market.

All the best,

Adam Hewison
President, INO.com
Co-creator, MarketClub

"Perfect Portfolio" Webinar this Friday

Posted on by The INO.com Team

You have probably seen the posts below about MarketClub's "Perfect Portfolio", but if you haven't, now is a great time to catch up on them to get ready for this week's "Perfect Portfolio" webinar:

10/10/09 - The Perfect Portfolio for Traders and Investors (Video)
10/21/09 - What a Great Day for the Perfect Portfolio
11/02/09 - Solid October Results for the Perfect Portfolio
01/26/10 - Another Profitable Quarter for the Perfect Portfolio

On Friday, Adam is going to go into detail about this hypothetical portfolio and it's conservative strategy.  This set-up is "perfect" for those of us who don't want to look at our brokerage accounts every day.

The "Perfect Portfolio" covers 4 ETF's and Adam will look at each and also cover the strategy used to trade them.

In order to register for this free web seminar which is available to all of our Trader's Blog readers, simply click here.

Susan Jackson
Director of MarketClub Education
INO.com & MarketClub