Observations On Why Investors Must Learn To Find Their Own Stock Picks

As we travel and talk with investors from coast to coast who want help picking stocks, one story gets repeated over and over - the amount of reduction everybody has experienced in their stock portfolios. Whether a straight out investment account or a 401k, IRA, or pension plan, 40%, 50%, 60% and greater reductions are often reported. And with the attitude that there was nothing that could have been done about the stock picks in the portfolio.

On the other hand, there has been a great awakening to the operations of the Wall Street investment business. A growing number of investors are realizing that they could do as well, if not better, in picking good stocks on their own and in managing their own investment funds. This fact has always been true. Unfortunately, it took a very painful market crash in the tech stocks to illustrate the point. The attitude now is that most investors can lose a lot less and not have to pay huge fees when picking stocks. The New Age lesson is being demonstrated, everybody should know how to invest their own funds and find their own stock picks.

If investors could analyze how an investment advisor or a stockbroker becomes an investment advisor or a stockbroker, they would have a much clearer understanding about the qualifications these “professionals” supposedly have to direct their life savings into supposedly world class stock picks. Knowing that alone should make everybody want to get control of their own investment funds and make their own stock picks. As demonstrated by our 52% return from 2/21 of this year, investing for profit requires going to where the buying or selling is occurring.

Market Direction

The indexes did not get to the previous low of eight weeks ago. The NASDAQ was making us nervous as it very rapidly started heading back to the recent lows around 1200. But it held at the 1250 area and started heading back up. This may be a rallying point for the bulls. Earnings reports are not as negative as originally expected. The markets should be looking ahead six to twelve months in the future. Maybe things are improving already and nine months from now, the economy will be doing much better.

The small caps and the very small cap stocks have been providing huge profit gains in stock picks made over the past few weeks. This is usually a sign that the small investor is starting to put funds back into the market. Confidence is building.

To add fuel to the fire, the M3 Money Supply was up $10.9 billion last week, and up $41.9 billion the week before that. M3 increased by only $134 billion the entire first six months of 2002. By comparison, over the past eight weeks, M3 has increased by $131.9 billion. This would be plenty of cash to fuel a new bull market in the fourth quarter.

September is historically a rough month to find good stock picks and make any money in the stock market. Will this year be different? Only time will tell. However, we tend to agree with Bill D'Alonzo, Portfolio Manager of the Brandywine Fund, who was quoted in the October issue of Money magazine as stating, "Five or ten years from now we'll all look back and wish we'd put money in the market in the summer of 2002."

Candlestick Trading – AKA the Designated “Hype” Section

The Candlestick signals have provided monster profits in short sale stock picks over the past couple of weeks. Some of our tech short positions produced gains of 15%, 20%, 30% and up to 45% in a matter of days. The small Bullish Engulfing Patterns of the last few days show evidence of a bottom. Stochastics are in the oversold range. Expect at least a short term bounce. And most of our stock picks will be longs in the near future.

Keep in mind, the Candlestick signals direct you to where the money is flowing. To not participate in the signals is a subconscious message saying that you think you can direct where the profits should be versus recognizing where the profits are being shown to you. Candlestick investing is easy stuff. Mr. Bigalow openly admits that he was one of the world's worst investors until he came across Candlesticks. Now he pulls profitable stock picks out of the market consistently.

Sector Stock Picks

The Biotechs keep demonstrating good buy signals every time the indexes start showing signs of bottoming. The Gold Mining stocks are showing signs of weakness.

Long-Term Investors Like Mr. Value's Stock Picks!

Mr. Value is continuing to find undiscovered, undervalued companies, some of which will definitely create future fortunes for the more long-sighted investor. As stated above, a very strong sector lately has been the small and very small cap area. This is the playground Mr. Value likes the best, and makes most of his stock picks here.

After drifting down to even more absurdly undervalued areas this summer due to lack of liquidity and buyers on vacation, some of Mr. Value's stock picks are now bouncing back strongly. We have seen 20% and 30% moves in a matter of days, with multiple cases of double-digit percentage returns in a single day.

Just taking today as an example, let's look at Mr. Value's stock picks. Out of his fourteen stock picks posted to the website so far, nine were up, two were unchanged, and three were down. Six out of the nine stock picks up for the day were up 3.52% to 8.11%. And out of the two stock picks down for the day, one is correcting after a 12% one-day move, and the other is correcting after a 20% one-day move.

While Mr. Value's stock picks are designed for the long-term holder, as you can see above, huge short-term moves are possible with his stock picks too. Mr. Value is not allowing us to reveal any of his stock picks to anyone but the paid Members. This would be a perfect time to come aboard as a Member, since some of Mr. Value's stock picks are still at absurdly low levels of valuation vs. growth potential. Also, Mr. Value has discovered a fairly new issue stock which has all the characteristics of a HUGE winner! This one will be added to his other stock picks on the website this weekend.

Commodities / Futures Corner

Keep watching this section of the Member's Area. It will only be updated when an irrefutable candlestick signal presents itself. Keep in mind, candlestick trading signals work better on commodities, due to the reduced number of outside influences that will move the price around. Remember, they were originally developed for rice traders.

New Products in the Works

PCF E-book number three, the Personal Criteria Formulas for the Hanging Man, Inverted Hammer, Dark Cloud and Piercing Line candlestick signals, has been delayed, but should be available within the next week. This book will be free to Members, $15.95 for non-members.

New e-books in the planning stages - "High-Profit Candlestick Patterns", "How To Make 10% A Month Using Japanese Candlesticks", and more in the PCF series. We will start cranking these out as the weather gets less hospitable.

The Candlestick Forum staff is working diligently day and night to get the Forum up and running. This will be a place where any question or improvement to the Candlestick formulas can be posted. The Membership of the Candlestick Forum has grown to a level that provides a community of avid investors who are constantly looking for ways to tweak the already statistically favorable Candlestick trading results. Why reinvent the wheel? You may have an idea from your knowledge of investing that has improved the results of our formulas. Your posting of those results may lead somebody else to adding their input and improving your results that much more. We want to be able to let everyone share their stock picks with each other, in the modern-day version of the "old corner store" where everyone used to gather and talk about the issues of the day. Stay tuned for the Forum - we are almost there!

Major site redesign - we will be adding some buttons along the top of the page to make navigation through the site a lot easier. We will also be adding new sections of the site -"Candlestick Trading Articles" and "Candlestick Analysis FAQ's". Here we will be posting articles Mr. Bigalow has written for various investment publications such as Futures magazine and Technical Analysis of Stocks and Commodities magazine, as well as articles written just for the website. And in the FAQ's (frequently asked questions) section, we will be posting all the questions emailed to us in the past, with our answers. Now you will be able to save lots of time while increasing your online education of Japanese Candlesticks.

New Benefits for Members Only

We are constantly working to improve every aspect of our service. Here are just a few ideas we have to increase benefits to Members:

-New “Candlestick Counsel” section of the Member's Area, with “Lessons of the Week”, based on the most successful stock picks made that week or most instructive situation.
-Daily Email Alerts - Email follow-ups to stock picks right after the markets open - find out Mr. Bigalow's thoughts early in the day rather than after the market closes! Also special emails when Mr. Bigalow notices anything unusual going on during the day that our Members can profit from.
-Many more educational articles, including new articles written by Mr. Value. Yes, Mr. Value has agreed to share his vast knowledge of the investment markets and how he makes his stock picks in a series of articles written for Members only.
-One-on-one phone consultations with Mr. Bigalow.
-The Member Forum and Chat Room.
-…and much, much more!

We already feel that Members are getting more value with us than any other investment website on the Internet. We have compared our service with other sites in the past. (Click here to read the ezine where we did the comparison).

But once these additional benefits are put into place, we truly feel we will offer the best investment website value on the Internet!

Our Highest Recommendation

We are still in the final stages of negotiating a major joint venture to provide a vacation/seminar package in one of the most desirable, luxurious vacation spots in the Western Hemisphere! You will find out how to have the vacation of a lifetime and learn how to pay for it with one or two good stock picks. So watch your email for notification of the next Candlestick Commentary!

Join Us Now

Our core group special of $97.00 per month can be made back many times over from just participating in a few of the Forum’s “Stock Picks of the Day”. However, joining The Candlestick Forum should not be based on receiving high-probability profitable stock picks alone. The Candlestick Forum was established to educate investors on how to maximize your investment potential by LEARNING the most researched and refined investment method in the world.

Is your portfolio up every week, month, or year? It should be. Are your current stock picks the best stock picks you could have made? They should have been. If they weren’t, why weren’t they? You can learn how to place your funds correctly in an easy-to-learn investment program. Mr. Bigalow not only shows you the best available stock picks in the market each day, he teaches you why those are the best stock picks. His simple investment strategy shows you how to constantly maintain a consistent profit in your trading portfolio. Take control of your investment future.

This is not “magic formula” investing. Japanese Candlestick analysis is common sense, well-refined investing. Join us! You will improve your investment results. You will make better stock picks.

Good Investing,

The Candlestick Forum Staff

www.candlestickforum.com