Both are Free but only one is a trading help.

Thanks to advances in technology, two different trading resources are easily accessible and free. The First is business TV, which is available on your TV screen, and, the second is also freely available, but less used – this is the internet.

Business TV is great fun, but does not help in your trading. If at all, it can become a major barrier in your success. The Internet is actually a help in your trading because it forces you to think. Since the Internet requires you to read, it needs application of mind, which leads to stimulation of the brain, your thinking process – all contributing to better trading .

Remember, on business TV, trading tips are available by the Kilo. When tens of tips are handed over to the viewer, at least some of them will be successful – this is due to random chance rather than any skill. For all the tips that you receive, ask yourself: is it possible for anyone to offer day trading tips where the trade will be successful in two or three hours?

The Making of a bull market

While prices are rising, most people do not believe the rally is for real. Eventually, bull markets climb this wall of fear and fear changes into assurance (It is not going to go down) – this is the first sign that the trend is becoming mature and may begin faltering. This process seems to have started. ‘Everyone’ is convinced that new highs will be made, while I hear targets of 7500 for the Nifty expected to be hit, soon enough

Quick Thoughts Again

As I begin another post, I realize I have some more time to do the things I want : Write, Trade, Share(Teach) and spend more time with the family.
Lot of More’s!

Starting October 1, I will take a break from CNBC-TV-18 (10 years and 10 months!). I needed some rest from a hectic work schedule. I will be available on Bloomberg-UTV for few times a week. My first appearance should be on Tuesday, October 5 at 9 AM. If you have the time, do tune in.

This post was about King Canute, king of England. He was walking on the sea shore reflecting on his weakness and age. His courtiers in an effort to curry favour praised him as a king with God-like powers. The king did not believe them but said, “If I have such powers then the tide will stop coming in when I command it to do so”. He did command but the tide continued to come in.

This story has a significant connection with trading. Markets do what they want, and, traders cannot control the day to day action of the markets any more than King Canute could control the tide.

Traders can control their own actions. This is what the focus of all trading should be! Disciplined rules for entry, exits, position sizing, stock selection will give a profitable trading career.

Interesting thoughts from the WSJ

An article in the  Wall Street Journal makes interesting reading.
[As an aside: how do I reach these articles? I subscribe to a number of RSS feed from blogs on investing / trading. The blog posts refer to mny external inputs which lead me to such articles…]

The author says “Last week I was in London, visiting one of the best investors I have ever known. Peter handles money on behalf of a small number of rich clients.
He shuns publicity (and requests that I don’t mention his last name). He’s been managing money for 40 years. Ten years ago he told me to sell the Nasdaq and buy gold.

Over dinner, as he reflected on a long career, he told me that as he has gotten older he has learned that good investing is even simpler than he used to think. He has abandoned most of the sophisticated tricks he tried to use as a young man. He sticks to value, and he runs against the herd.
Right now? He likes some blue-chip stocks, as they are reasonably cheap and no one else seems to be interested in them. He’s avoiding fashionable emerging markets. And he’s been quietly building a position in Japan. Why? “Everybody hates it,” he says. “Twenty-year bear market. It’s cheap. And your typical fund manager would rather suck a lemon than invest in Japan.”
Most people’s reaction to this is probably to shrug and forget about it. Japan is so over, after all. Why would you want to invest in Japan? Nobody wants Japan.

Hmmm.

End of Quote
My Notes:
Last year, at the beginning of the bull market, I started talking about PSU Banks. It was quite unfashionable. But events have justified this view. Now, everybody is talking about PSU Banks. Hmmm.