3SOF

If I may be so bold as to criticize, I think you're swing trades are based purely on T/A and not enough on F/A... In combination a swing trade can be explosive and from I've seen your setups have been moderate for a very short term basis as so have your trades...  Find those Really good stories of a stock beaten down for a no good reason such as simply waiting for news....  One such company is Medicure, MPH on the tse or MCU on Amex.  This company is definitely going to anounce a Partnership in the next 4 months and it is likely to be sooner than later as they want the partnership secured prior to starting their Phase3 trials on both their lead drugs  MC-1 and MC-4232...  Don't be in a hurry to make a good/great trade.  Don't rush the profits.  Spend a week without trades on the books and simply do research.  When you find the right one the profits will come.   MPH will hit $2.30 in the next 3 weeks for a minimum 11% after commissions just based on the story below.  Just be patient and then move on to the next great story...

Results at the 21st Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hypertension
4/10/2006

WINNIPEG, MANITOBA, Apr 10, 2006 (CCNMatthews via COMTEX News Network) --
Medicure Inc. (TSX:MPH)(AMEX:MCU), a cardiovascular drug discovery and development company, today announced that two posters outlining the positive results of the Phase II MATCHED study with MC-4232 have been accepted for presentation at ASH 2006. The American Society of Hypertension (ASH) Annual Scientific Meeting and Exposition is being held in New York at the New York City Hilton Hotel from May 16-20, 2006. ASH is the largest U.S. organization dedicated exclusively to hypertension and related cardiovascular disease.
"We look forward to presenting the MATCHED clinical results at this important scientific forum," stated Dr. Lacourciere, MD, FRCP, FACP and Principal Investigator of the MATCHED study. "The opportunity to present the results validates the importance of the study's findings and the expanding need for new approaches to treat patients with diabetes and hypertension."

"This is an ideal setting for our first formal presentation of the MATCHED clinical results," commented Medicure's President and CEO, Albert D. Friesen, PhD. "Patients with coexisting diabetes and hypertension, like those studied in MATCHED, are extremely difficult to treat and frequently require multiple drugs to control their cardiovascular and metabolic risk factors. MC-4232, as demonstrated in MATCHED, is currently one of the only drugs in development that addresses both cardiovascular and metabolic risk factors in this difficult to treat patient population."

Dr. Lacourciere, Director of the Hypertension Research Unit, Centre Hospitalier de l'Universite Laval Sainte-Foy, Quebec will present the two posters describing the antihypertensive and metabolic effects of MC-4232. The abstract titled "Evaluation of the Antihypertensive Effects of MC-1 Alone and in Combination with Lisinopril on Ambulatory BP in Hypertensive Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus" will be presented at 8:30 AM EST on May 17, 2006. The second abstract titled "The Combination of MC-1 and Lisinopril Has Beneficial Effects on Carbohydrate and Lipid Metabolism in Hypertensives with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus" will be presented at 4:00 PM EST on May 16, 2006.

Fact is I've spent Hundreds of hours researching this (my favorite) company and will make a fortune on it as it's products complete PH3 and make it to market. But when the Pharmaceutical Partnership is announced this stock will easily vault 75% from wherever it's sitting price wise.

BNI off to a good start today up over 1%, so far so good today .

UPDATE:
BNI closed slightly up today close at 79.70 up .21%, plan is still to keep the course and continue to hold till 3%-5% profit target.

SOLD 340shrs BNI at avg of 78.02.

LOSS: -4.44%  -$1187 after comm

total account value: $39,122.57

Thoughts about trade:
Patience is a virtue.... I jumped in to soon to a falling knife. My ignorance of thinking that the market was the wrong one, the market is always right and the one controlling the direction of the stock. The trend is your friend, and in BNI's case the trend is bearish and broke the 50DMA where I should of set a sell limit at. Learn from your mistakes like they say and I have learned alot off the last 2 trades, im still slighty ahead with the AMD and ESLR trades. Now time to find the next good stock or stocks to enter.

BOUGHT 700shrs TOMO at 27.91 avg
5/3  9:30:50 AM

Plan for trade:
Profit target: 5-10%
Max Pain: (-7%)

Thoughts about trade:
TOMO rebounded nicely 2 days ago off support in the 25s with good volume. 5dma is still under the 20dma about to cross above. RSI rebounded nicely from the high 40s and is now 61. Only a little resistance at 28s after that its free skies and new 52wk highs. Earnings due 5/10 it looks like we got a good chance to reach 30 before then.

UPDATE:

Bought another 700shrs of TOMO at 27.69

After averaged down slightly, just about at break even on TOMO, 27.80 is my avg. So far so good still holding. TOMO looking good for a close at hod.

TOMO earnings will be released tomorrow, trading today has been relatively flat. I will be holding thru earnings unless a push past 28.50 happens today in which case I will sell 50% of my TOMO.  Missed out on some good trades with HOM, AUY, and GV. Will be watching those stocks and others closely for entries.

Off to a bad start ,

SOLD 1400shrs of TOMO at 24.90

LOSS: -10% -$4046 after comm

total account value: $35,037.52

Going to sit out of the market for at least a week and re evalute my plan. Looking at using 25% of my account on each trade holding between 3-4 stocks. Still learning nothing like learning from your mistakes .

Hi nullzero
Notice on a post you said you are still learning. Some good advise,, don't start out with such a large amount of money till you learn. Not trying to tell you what you should do but playing the stocks is really a hard thing to learn and even though this site has some of the best TA analysis I think you'll be able to find it is still something that to get ahead in it must be learned from an investor's willing to learn how to find good stock's to play.
Some adviser's say to start out with an amount of money that you can afford to lose because when you first start you will lose untill you get good enough to start winning. Then when you get to where you can pick out winners then you can use you're own TA along with other's to try and find good stocks that might become winner's.
I hope you the best of luck while learning and think you'll find 3SOF an excellant learning center.

Bad luck Null, I read your thread from time to time keep it up. One f the things I have noticed is when you buy you have a profit target and a loss target (which is fine) but they always seem to be a similar number e.g. both 5%, or even worse the loss target % bigger than the profit target %. This sets you up to lose, because  unless you have a fantastic win to loss ratio (which you will not, no one does really) your losses will always counter your wins and you'll tread water at best and eat into capital for sure at worst.

If I were you I would do the following:

1) Never let any position put at risk more than maximum 2% of your total trading portfolio (not the position size but the potential loss based on your stop)
2) Only have a maximum of 5% of your trading portfolio at risk at any one time. Again loss size not position size.
3) Don't average down.

Good Luck

Thx for the replies, yeah only reason I had so much money in was from gains I made from stocks I start out with 14k about 8 months ago and have made over 30k.... Guess you can call it starting luck but actually was able to sucessefully swing a couple stocks like HOM, AOB, TIE, and a few others. I shouldnt had averaged down and have made the same mistake before a couple times in the past like BCON. I have been doing 1-2 stocks all or nothing with the previous strategy since I started. I believe I should start being more conservative since I have already doubled my money from the starting sum. Thankyou guys for your replies and helpful information im looking foward to future ones.

With 35k I would suggest buying in a series of 2-3 10k buys.... you will have a MUCH better chance at a green position....especially with stocks you are trying to "buy at bottom"

JMHO

cal 

Yeah I was thinking about trading in 10k 25-30% into 1 stock. I like swing trading and bottom fishing more then other styles of trading. Thanks calven and others for your replies im going to review the way I trade for the next week. Somethings I think im considering for the new guidelines of trading....

*Stay away from overbought stocks
*Considering 3-4 stocks 25-33% of account value.
*Have one stock at a time in each industry (Solar stocks, Chinese stocks, Railroads, etc)
*Stick to gain and loss targets more firmly -7% loss must have a stop in place.
*Deciding what price range and cap stocks I should mainly trade... (5-10), (10-15), (15-30), (30-60)
*Considering opening up a margin account for the option to short, I dont want to wager money thats not mine. Im considering this only for the reason of being able to settle the cash faster and the ability to short in the future.
*Sit on the side line longer and wait for a good oppertunity
*Resist the temptation of gambler fever.... I have to much of the all or nothing mentality I must be more conservative and take time on trades.

Thats a short list of what I think I need to do to make my money grow. I look foward to your responses thanks for taking the time to post guys.

stocks on watch list HOM, AUY, AMD, ESLR, DIL,  and STKL

UPDATE:
AUY
Looks like a good buy if it drops to 11.00-11.25

HOM
Going to see how tomorrow is, sell off today with the market
10.50-11.10 I may add if it drops lower.

ESLR
12.50-13.10 would consider adding, tomorrow might be a good day to buy.
RSI 14 is at 39 should rebound soon

AMD
Support in the 30.00-31.00 area if it bounces from there would be a good time to buy

STKL
buy when I can

Hey nullzero.. congrats on your nice debut!! I wish I could double my modest portfolio in 8 months..

thanks livana, im going to take a slightly more conservative approach .