6.2 Taking a Profit and Preserving Capital .......................................27
6.2.1 Profit is taken using a “sell limit” order – once the price is reached, the specified number of shares are sold. ........27
6.8 Once half the shares close at a 7% profit, the other half remains open to “ride the wave”. When do we close the second half of the trade? ...........................................................................32
6.9 The Short Swing – how we make money when we think the price of the stock is going down .....................................................32This book is a simple, practical guide to swing trading. For years I have been reading books and exploring web sites that are dedicated to swing trading. Yet, I could not find any simple description of how to enter and exit a trade. So I developed some basic rules that have been published on my web site www.mrswing.com. I call these rules The Master Plan. Over the years, thousands of investors have used my Master Plan to swing trade. It is my firm belief that a swing trader must trade with discipline. While it is important to keep things simple, the rules of the Master Plan might seem a little intimidating. The main reason I wrote this book was to make swing trading more accessible to the beginner. These rational behind swing trading and the entry and exit rules are presented very clearly – both the beginner and the experienced swing trader will now have a simple guide to follow.
To quote Albert Einstein: "Things should be made as simple as possible, but not any simpler". This is the principle I followed while writing this book.Why does swing trading work?
Because you are trading in the direction of the trend. You wait for a pullback before entering the trade, and you enter only if the stock shows a sign that it’s price will continue in the direction of the trend.
The main objective of a swing trader is to profit from swings in price movement over the course of several days. While we might trade every day, we are not day traders. As swing traders, we have the patience to wait until our profit goals have been reached. Fortunately, the wait is not too long. A typical trade is only in play from a few days to a few weeks. When a trade is closed, the funds go into the next trade.
Money management is very important in swing trading. I divide my trading capital by 15. This is the amount that I put into each trade. As the total account grows, the amount of each trade grows. If you can handle a larger number of trades, you might increase the number of trades that are active to 20. Of course you can also start with 2 or 3 trades at a time.
Each day I identify 20 to 25 candidates for swing trading. If I have 10 trades active and enough additional investment capital for 5 more trades, I pick the best 10 from my list of 25, and place the orders. Only some of orders will get filled. I don’t worry about running out of money – if there is no cash left in the account, additional orders will simply not get filled. (Make sure that your own account works this way, otherwise, your brokerage firm might fill the order and expect additional funds within the next few days.)
You must make a personal decision as to whether you want to trade on margin or not. If you are more conservative, you will only trade with the cash that you have on hand. As I discuss later in the book, margin is necessary for selling stocks short, so it is important to have your account approved for margin trading, even if you don’t plan to trade on margin.
The stocks I identify as good swing trading opportunities are made available each day through my MasterSwings service. Once a week, my picks are made available on my website – www.mrswing.com – or by e-mail, through my free MrSwing Lite service.
Swing trading should be both profitable and fun. Through the guidelines outlined in this book, you can achieve both of these simple objectives.• If you (like many investors) are disenchanted with buy-and-hold investing, swing trading may be right for you. Even if you invested in great companies, it is likely that the value of your investments has diminished substantially over the past few years.
• If you’re not a stock market expert, yet would still like to make money in the stock market.• Day trading requires both stock market expertise and the ability to constantly watch the market. If day trading is not for you, swing trading might satisfy your needs.
• If you are disciplined and patient – the swing trading methodology outlined in this book will teach you how to trade successfully with very little risk. However, you must carefully follow the Master Plan, and you must be patient – profits come slowly, but surely. The total value of your investment account will go up. This is in sharp contrast to the buy-and-hold strategy, where losing money is more common than we would like to admit.
Swing trading allows you to accumulate small gains weekly, ultimately making money through a disciplined, low-risk trading approach. While swing trading is not for everyone, this book will help you determine if swing trading is right for you. It provides a treasure map to the pot of gold which is found at the end of the rainbow.
• Read this book
• Open an account with an online discount broker (recommendations are provided)
• Select a method for identifying swing trading opportunities
• the rational behind swing trading
• how to identify stocks to swing trade
• when to enter a trade
• when to exit a trade
• how to maximize profits and minimize risk
• what tools are available to help you select stocks and monitor your progress
• what books to read to learn more about swing trading
The best part of my swing trading method is that you do not have to watch your positions during the day. Simply enter an order to buy or sell short, give your discount broker the buy order and two sell orders and go back to your daily life.
Traders and investors study markets through price charts. These powerful visual tools offer a common language for all stocks, options, and indices. The theory behind this is called Technical Analysis. Technical Analysis begins with a simple observation that all market activity is reflected in the activity of price and volume over time. These three pieces of information create a profound visual representation when properly presented in a chart.
Prices rise and fall, with rising prices being stimulated by greed and falling prices by the awakening of fear. This emotional war between greed and fear generates a swinging price movement that provides a perfect opportunity for swing trading. Swing Traders capitalize on the emotions of others while they carefully control their own emotions and systematically enter and exit trades. Swing Traders recognize the levels of support and resistance. They understand the concepts of momentum and volatility and can identify a trading range or channel.
Equity trading provides a natural arena for Swing Traders. As price seeks an equilibrium state, Swing Traders seek to exploit direct price thrusts as they enter positions at support and resistance. By examining chart pattern characteristics they make money in both trending and range bound markets. Swing Trading is a classic strategy that involves holding stocks for a short period of time, typically between a few days to a few weeks. Unlike day trading, Swing Trading is independent of time – nevertheless, some Swing Traders will exit a slow-moving position and move onto the next opportunity.
Swing Trading is very popular among short-term and medium-term traders. It offers many virtues compared to the hyperactivity of day trading. With recent changes in SEC regulations that affect the way brokerage firms administer margin to 'Day Trading' accounts, many day traders have moved away from day trading towards a swing trading style.
Larry Swing has developed a wonderful software program called SwingTracker that allows users to scan all listed stocks using his Swing Trade Identifiers to identify swing trading opportunities. The program allows the user to monitor their trades in real-time. His technical analysis concepts of EquiVolume and Force Index coupled with his Swing Trading tactics are a marvelous contribution to the swing trading community.
Larry Swing has mastered the art of Swing Trading. His website – www.mrswing.com – not only presents the theoretical underpinnings of swing trading, but provides a detailed road map of how to use them. This book – A Practical Guide to Swing Trading – communicates the essence of his ideas in a simple and straightforward way. It describes the tools necessary to identify swing trading opportunities, and the guidelines needed to implement his strategy.
This book is filled with innovative, important trading techniques. This book is a great asset to both beginner and experienced swing traders.Nowadays, when the number of online traders is growing very fast, the need for a good book is obvious. Larry’s new book provides a unique combination of professionalism and simplicity, presented in an easy-to-read style. This kind of book is currently in short supply.
Larry writes about real trading situations, explaining how to reduce risks and enhance returns. The book contains practical examples and explanations how to handle the various scenarios that might arise. I feel comfortable saying that this is the best practical manual for swing trading that I have ever read.
His focus on short-term (swing) trading is very understandable. In the current, turbulent market environment, many people consider “buy-and-hold” investing to be an outdated strategy. However, they are not sure what else to do. Swing Trading offers a real opportunity to produce profits while keeping risk under control.
The algorithms that Larry uses in SwingTracker are great at identifying swing trading opportunities – they are extremely valuable to both beginners and experienced swing traders.
Larry covers the whole process of swing trading, from soup to nuts. He even recommends brokerage firms that have features which are particularly useful to swing traders.
Not only does this book introduce a set of helpful tools and tips, it describes way of thinking about trading and philosophy that allows the reader to feel confident about swing trading which leads to success and profits.
Dr. Sergey Perminov
Larry Swing graduated from the university with a B.A. in Computer Science, specializing in artificial intelligence. He started his career as an Information Technology Researcher in the field of robotics and expert systems. He later changed direction somewhat, moving into the field of computer-driven multimedia. This background formed a foundation from which he developed his ‘no non sense’ approach to swing trading.
MrSwing runs a free educational website – www.mrswing.com – where he provides specific instructions on how to swing trade. He provides a free newsletter – MrSwing Lite – that identifies many swing trading opportunities each week. Larry has developed charting software – SwingTracker – that comes with a real-time data feed to assist investors that need an inexpensive method to identify swing trading opportunities and monitor their progress.
www.mrswing.com also has a free SwingLab that lists the criteria he personally uses to identify stocks that are good swing trading candidates.MrSwing provides the investment community with a wonderful educational resource. One can learn about the essentials of technical analysis, with instructions on how to apply these principles to swing trading. Over the years, Larry has developed a fairly large library of books that discuss the principles behind swing trading specifically, and making money in the stock market in general. These personally recommended books can be purchased at www.mrswing.com.
Hundreds of thousands of investors visit www.mrswing.com each year. Here is what they have to say about the web site, the educational material and his Master Plan.Since I found your web site and started trading using your guide lines, I am up over $5000 in one month. That is a big change from what I usually make. John F. Famularo, USA
Your selections look every bit as good if not better than subscriptions sites that charge up to $100/month. Paul Bondy, USAThanks for your terrific site and great plan! Thanks again and happy (swing) trading! Richard Gorsline, USA
Nice to see you offer this service. I think your style is one of the safest ways to make money. David DeFina, USA
I am impressed with your site and your subject matter. I have been taking recommendations from your swing lists, following your Master Plan and doing pretty well. Stephanie Kemper, USA
Your Newsletter is great. I thank you for your wonderful work, and wish you all the best in the future. God bless you. Gnanam Nesan I love SwingTracker ... nice program ... Bob Russel, USASome of the SwingLab scans (e.g., candles) are excellent, as are many of the analysis features. All things considered, I think SwingTracker is a great tool which I would not want to be without. Jim Spears, USA
I'd like to thank you for putting such a great site on the web. I have learned more about short term trading from your site than from all the other sites put together! Plus SwingTracker is a great trading tool.
Roger Uglow, UKI have loved going over your list for the last two weeks. I'm a new subscriber and your picks are saving me a ton of time (something I don't have much of). Thanks a million. Scott Smith, USA
Nice to see you offer this service, I think your style is one of the safest ways to make money. David DeFina, USAThis site offers traders the ability to discipline themselves and the resources they need to succeed in the art of swingtrading! Highly Recommended! We endorse MrSwing.
Oliver Velez and Anthony Nunes, Pristine.com...there's something I'll always be grateful to you about: this month I realized I stopped trading on emotional impulses! I always knew emotion was THE enemy but I never could come up with a systematic and meaningful swing entry and exit strategy. Even though I could detect the moves, I was getting out with a bad timing by not defining risk in a proper manner. Anyway, thanks MrSwing, you're the master!!
Arie Bensimon, IsraelThanks for your help, four years of research and 500 web sites later, this is one of the most useful! Jon Sproule, Canada
Well, you sure know how to cut the greed, I almost heard "grab another fifty as fast as you can!" Vive le Master plan, I'll stick to it this week with more affordable stocks though! But hey, The Plan is a major "How to". When you're through with MA's and Fibonacci toolbox, you got a good feel of the music, but still not dancing. I'm a novice so your money management principles are crucial. Everywhere you read "be careful not to be greedy but don't fear, protect your principal" … but HOW? It's like this doctor that always prompted his patient to get better and never told him how. Guess where the patient is now! Although the plan is rather "mishna" style, I would have handled prior trades more successfully with it. Arie Bensimon, Israel
I really do appreciate your web site. I have gone to many others for advise/information and always felt that the message given was lacking. After examining your system, your information on how to Swing Trade offers a solid but flexible alternative to Swing Trading that I have studied in the past. Ross McKnight, USA
I should be paying you! Paul J. Krupin, USALarry is and has been involved in the development of many interesting IT tools used by thousands of traders world wide. Check out www.mrswing.com or www.swingtracker.com or www.releaz.com or www.stockchartz.com or www.eboox.net for more information.
If you have any questions about the ideas presented in this book or any other swing trading related matters, you can contact me by email: larry@mrswing.com or visit www.mrswing.com for more information. I personally answer all emails.
To make money in the stock market it is necessary to have a disciplined approach to trading. We also believe that it is also important to keep things simple. While our goal is to keep things simple, the trading rules might initially seem a bit complex. However, once you learn the rules and you trade with discipline, you will make money in the stock market.
Swing trading allows you to make money when the market is bullish, or bearish, or just going sideways. That is why it has a distinct advantage over other approaches to investing. The goal is to make money, not to rest one’s hopes on the future of a stock, a sector, or the economy.
Everyone is familiar with waves.