It’s taken a long time to create, but the free video course on trading and investing is finally here!

Hundreds of people have been asking me for an easy way to get into the stock market and start making money.  In today’s market people don’t want to have to learn hundreds of different methods for making money – you just want the ONE that works and doesn’t take up too much time.  I get that.

That’s why I created the free video course - to show you one of the easiest and most powerful ways to jump into the stock market and start making money from day one – in four fully featured videos plus a BONUS video if you invite a friend. 

For those of you who are just starting out, we cover ALL the ins and outs of the method in an easy to learn video format.  One that will bring you up to speed quickly.

For those of you who are more advanced, we also cover how to make MORE money from your current method, and ways of predicting the future in the market.

And finally, the BONUS video (if you invite a friend) shows you whether you will have what it takes to make money in the stock market when you finish learning.  Needless to say, this is extremely useful to know before you risk any of your hard-earned cash.

Get The Free Video Course on Trading and Investing Here

So check it out!  I hope you enjoy.  Please send feedback if you like it, have ideas, or have constructive criticism about the course or this site.  It’s always good to hear from you and I’m always trying to improve.

And in the mean time, happy trending!

Dave McLachlan

 See Terms Of Use Here

“Bear Market” – these two words can strike fear into the hearts of 95% of investors.  Why?  Because during a bear market your savings, investments or retirement can be wiped out in the space of a few short months.

And the sad truth is – the same 95% of people who stick their head in the sand and simply hope things will get better are the ones who are most at risk.  But there is a better way – a much better way!  Like all things here at ASX Market Watch it’s easy to do, and it’s conveniently outlined in the video below.  Check it out and then leave a comment or send some feedback!

But most of all enjoy and have fun!

(For best results, pause and let the video load for 30 seconds)

Follow Along With The Video!

The humble tend line is one of the most simple tools – and yet it is also one of the most powerful.  And you’re about to learn how to use it to stay out of bear markets too!  How, you ask?  Using a simple method, and that method is this:

• A down Trend Line can provide resistance in the future

This means that price can find it hard to go up past a previous down trend line.  It also means that if price is trading below a longer term trend line, there’s a good chance that its downward move is not yet fully over.  The video above gives an amazing example of this.

But there’s more!  Sure enough you can use this trend line support and resistance to stay in a bull market as well.  How?  Simply by knowing this:

• An up Trend Line can provide support in the future

So if the market is heading down and everyone else is becoming distressed – you can stay calm and have a good idea when that bear market is truly over. 

Another simple tool that you can use straight away, so please use it and enjoy.  If you enjoyed it, leave a comment below or send feedback via email. 

Send Feedback: dave@asxmarketwatch.com

Enjoy and all the best, guys!

Dave

Feel Like You Need More Info To Be Caught Up To Speed?  These 3 articles will help you get there.

1:   The Benefits of Compounding – How To Become A Millionaire

2:   The Bar Chart and Why We Use It

3:   Identifying Peaks and Troughs, the cornerstone of trading techniques

By Dave McLachlan

Psst!  Can you keep a secret?  Read on, I’m about to reveal the magical key to the markets.  Whoops, did I say magical?  Would you believe… mundane?  As they say, the best way to hide something brilliant is in plain sight. 

Some people see the market as a lifelong puzzle.  They might spend years and years – some even decades trying to decipher that one “secret” to the markets.  For them the winning strategy is just one trading rule away – that if they just figure out this next mathematical formula, or that next astrological signature they will have trading success and live happily ever after, basking in their riches.

This really gives me a good chuckle.  Especially as the founders of Long Term Capital Management (rest their trading souls) were all mathematical geniuses, with PHDs and an “unbreakable” formula.  Several billion dollars down the drain later and a world emergency in the mini crash of October 1997… well, you get the point.

There IS A Secret, But It’s Not What You Think

But there is hope – and that is because there IS a secret method to the markets – but it’s not what you think.  If you have read Jack Schwagger’s Market Wizards books (and if you haven’t PLEASE go out and get them… right now!) you will find that all the top performing traders of the world have different methods.  In fact I don’t think one is exactly the same.  And yet they all out-perform the market on a consistent basis.

How can this be?  They can’t ALL have the secret to the markets, can they?  Again, yes – but not in the way that you think.

Giving You An Excuse To Trade

You see our precious trading rules, the ones we worked so hard to learn and stick to every day are actually nothing more than an excuse to trade.  That’s right – they are a reason for your brain to say “OK, I will put my trade on here”.  Your rules might be different to Joe Bloggs down the road, and yet you might enter a trade at around the same price, at around the same time.  Even if you enter at different times, you both still might be profitable.  How does this happen?

Well first we have to realise that there are no “right rules” – just rules that are right for us.  Some of us might prefer a longer term approach.  Some of us might prefer to be amongst the action and glued to our screens all day.  Some prefer numbers, some prefer pictures.  We are all different – so we must find the method that suits our differences.

The Handful Of Things That Give You Success

Once we know this, there is really only a handful of things that give us success.  And yes – you can consider them magical if you really want to!  The first is that old trading maxim:

• Let your profits run and cut your losses short.

In fact, this was the only thing that all the Market Wizards had in common – their systems cut their losses and let their profits run.  The second one is, as old hand Pat Hearne from Reminiscences Of A Stock Operator puts it:

• You can’t tell til you bet!

Or in other words – you’ve got to be in it to win it.  You don’t make money sitting on the sidelines.  Every trading system in the world will have a losing period at some stage.  The key is having the gumption to stick to your rules and be in the market when it takes off again in your direction – and not to lose too much in the mean time.

So throw away your misconceptions of right or wrong.  There is only profit and loss.  And I hope you’re with me on this one, because the profit side makes me much happier than the loss!

By Dave McLachlan

Let’s get one thing straight – I hate losing.  In fact, I’ll bet that many people get a little queasy when it comes to the crunch and they’re on the wrong end of the stick – or stock as the case might be.  But losing can be one of the greatest things ever to happen to you, and it comes down to a simple way of how you interpret it.

Sure, when you lose in life (and in the stock market) you could sulk about it for a few days.  Or you could use it as a way to get sympathy with your friends (“You’ll never guess how much I lost!”).  You might even try to forget about it.  But that loss won’t go away, and by doing any of the above things we miss out on the most important and powerful tool of all – the lesson.

You see, with every loss in life, we get a lesson to go with it.  Life is very generous like that.  And all it asks in return is that we see that lesson, use that lesson, and grow from that lesson. 

Have you had a loss in the stock market?  Great!  Now analyse it, find out why it didn’t work, and use it to your advantage!  Have you had a loss in life?  Maybe been passed up for promotion, maybe had a relationship broken down, maybe just not where you thought you’d end up?  Well then, this is great news.  Because your loss is a great way of finding out what not to do.  And once we know these things, we can “not do” them in the future.  Or even better, we can do the opposite and try for greater results still.

You can always tell the people around you who do not learn from their losses.  They might constantly complain, they might always be pushed around by others, or they might be outright depressed.  I can tell that you are not one of these people, or you wouldn’t be reading this page.  I am going to go out on a limb and say you are more likely the type of person who wants more happiness and greater success instead.  And using the lesson in our losses is one of the greatest and simplest ways to find it.

But you know what’s even better?  Most people think that they will reach a stage in life when they have no more problems – like retirement for example.  But trust me – even these so called “ideal situations” bring with them their own unique problems and their own opportunity for loss and learning.  Life will never be “problem free” – they will always be there in different forms – so learn to learn from your losses now, and save yourself the heartache later.

One last thing - when you win, celebrate and give yourself a mental reward, a pat on the back or even a little present: you deserve it for being so good!  Before you know it you’ll be laughing every time something “bad” happens, knowing you’re about to get a whole lot happier and a whole lot stronger.  And that makes me happy.

If you have been investing for any amount of time you will most likely know that in investing there are two main schools of thought -

1:   Fundamental, or analysing a company’s balance sheet to determine if it is a good buy; and

2:  Technical, or analysing a company’s price direction to determine if it is a good buy. 

Some people are very pro one way and anti the other.  Quite frankly I think this is ridiculous – if there is any way to increase my returns in the market I will use it – I don’t care if it seems silly at first or goes against my previous “common sense” which, let’s be honest, will change over time as a person learns more and more.  When it comes to investing I have only two rules:

Rule 1:   If it works, use it. 

Rule 2:   If it stops working, stop using it (or find out why and modify it).

So although most of this site is dedicated to determining the price direction in order to buy, in this article I will give you some brilliant fundamental factors so you can find a solid underlying company too.  Like I said, if it means our probability is increased even 5 or 10%, it makes it worth the effort.

This is where market wizard William O’Neil comes in.  He has a great formula for fundamental success, and he manages a few hundred million himself so I think he is qualified to give advice on the subject.  His rules have been boiled down into an easy acronym: C.A.N.S.L.I.M.  

So – let’s get into these 7 ways to improve your market returns!

C – Current Earnings: Current earnings are checked by using a simple fundamental indicator – EPS or earnings per share.  O’Neil found that companies with earnings per share growth of over 18% from last year were more likely set for explosive growth.  The very best performers had annualised EPS growth of 70% or more.  This can easily be checked on free sites like MSN Money.

A – Annual Earnings: Here O’Neil took the last step on further – that the last 5 years of growth should be over 20% per annum.  As he has said – if the company you are buying isn’t showing solid growth, why buy it?

N – Something New: Something new means a few different things in the CANSLIM approach – it could be new management, a new legislation for the industry, or a new product.  All of these things have come before stellar stock growth over the last 50 years.  But the most important one is New High – meaning that when price makes a new high many people are scared away from buying – but history actually shows that the price has a higher probability of continuing.

S – Supply and Demand:  Here O’Neil takes one of the basic underlying factors of economics – supply and demand – and turns it into a tangible rule for buying stocks.  He states that companies that had fewer than 25 million shares outstanding were the ones most likely to have outstanding growth.  You may find a different value works depending on the market and / or time (O’Neil’s research was done from 1953 to 1992).   This can actually be checked on free sites like MSN Money too.

L – Leader or Laggard: Buying a leader in an industry is preferable to buying a laggard.  O’Neil warned against investing in companies out of sympathy or simply because you like them – they must be a leader in their field to be considered for buying.  Again O’Neil gives a solid rule – using the Relative Price Strength of the stock.  The top and bottom relative strengths are found on this site under Oliver Ward’s research, but there are other sites that have Relative Price Strength available for the ASX.  Basically you are looking for a stock with relative strength of 70 or above, and preferably between 80 and 90.  In the US these figures can be found in Investor’s Business Daily.

I – Institutional Sponsorship:  O’Neil reckons the stock should have between 3 and 10 big players investing in the stock.  Too little and it means that out of all the hundreds of money managers out there, they all passed the stock up.  And trust me – despite their often average returns they have some very bright sparks working there.  Conversely, too many means the stock could be very adversely affected if there is a shock in earnings – 10 big players all selling at once is not a pretty sight.

M – Market Direction:  Here O’Neil believes that 3 out of 4 stocks will follow the overall market.  Finding this is easy – just watch our weekly ASX March Watch for the direction of the market!  And for individual stocks, all you have to do is look at the articles under the free course that show you when to buy and sell.  Simple tools like trend lines or Dow Theory there work nicely.

Combine the CANSLIM method with some solid money management, and you are on your way to a winning system in the stock market.  Pick up William O’Neil’s book “How To Make Money In Stocks” for the full run down on his approach.

The best part about all of this is that all of the criteria is easily available on free sites like MSN Money – in other words, you don’t need to have a $10,000 subscription to a fancy market education spruiker – it’s all waiting for you for free.

So next time you want to know if the company you are investing in is a good buy, check out the criteria above.  You might be pleasantly surprised.