“I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.” -Helen Keller
As a trader, I know the importance of pacing myself in order to attain the consistency and stamina I need to win over the long haul. Although the same basic fundamentals are always at work, they combine differently in each market and each cycle, and from time-to-time change their character in the interim.
In the early stages of a new cycle I look for new emerging themes that will form the basis of my approach to trading. Themes can be revealed in the way stock prices are acting in general, industry group leadership, and the kinds of economic and political factors the market chooses to react to or ignore; I try to set my pace accordingly, wagering conservatively with smaller than normal “pilot positions” and then pyramiding on small successes.
Only when my smaller pilot positions confirm my assumptions and show profits do I step up my trading size and rhythm. With this type of approach (pyramiding up), I need only one or two good quarters to rack up a really great year. Until the right opportunity emerges, I pay special attention to preservation of capital above capital appreciation. When a promising opportunity eventually presents itself, I’m ready to act swiftly and aggressively with the bulk of my capital intact.
Remember, the top three priorities in trading: First, is preservation of capital. Next is consistency in executing your plan. When you have these two things mastered, you can then pursue the third, which is superior performance.
I conduct intensive research to identify trading ideas and follow those ideas like a hawk. When the time comes to put money to work, the decision should be automatic and obvious. To trade with ease, you must trade when the conditions are favorable. Trading should be effortless. If your trading is causing you difficulty or stress, then something is wrong with your criteria or timing, or else you’re trading too large.
When the market is not acting great and there’s no clear market leadership (as is the case currently), it's best to stay in cash. If you choose to trade, play it small with pilot positions. This accomplishes two things: First, you will test the market and keep its pulse. Once you get a strong heartbeat, you can step it up. Second, you stay in trading shape.
Trading is just like working a muscle; if you don’t work it, it loses strength. Stay in trading shape by using pilot positions as “sparring partners.” However, don’t slug it out and get hurt with your sparring partner. Instead, wait for the main event and then give it your all to capture the championship belt.
Big success in the stock market is built on a series of smaller successes added together. Be patient and build on success, one trade at a time.
Mark Minervini
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Click above to read excerpts
CLICK ON IMAGE
click on logo
click on logo
Click to read
Click to read
Mark Minervini Twitter Feed
" Make quality choices; expect the best and plan for the worst. Hope you find this blog useful." -Mark
Reprinted from Investor's Business Daily
U.S. Investing Champion Mark Minervini shares his wisdom and stock market ideas right here. Jack Schwager wrote in Stock Market Wizards; Interviews with America's Top Stock Traders “Minervini's performance has been nothing short of astounding. His average annual compounded return has been a towering 220 percent. Most traders and money managers would be delighted to have Minervini’s worst year – a 128 percent gain – as their best.”
Click above to read excerpts
"I attended Mark's seminar last year… It was a life changing seminar."
Pradeep Bonde
Founder of StockBee
“After a little over a week using your MPA platform I already feel like I have a new lease on my trading life. It has been fantastic."
Matt Glascoff - CT
July 23, 2010
Pradeep Bonde
Founder of StockBee
“After a little over a week using your MPA platform I already feel like I have a new lease on my trading life. It has been fantastic."
Matt Glascoff - CT
July 23, 2010
"Using the Minervini Private Access service, I made $90K in just 3 months on a $450K portfolio."
Andrew Kunian - Santa Monica, CA
Andrew Kunian - Santa Monica, CA
"Your service offers a value proposition that cannot be matched by anything out there. The process results in immediate success."
Jon Azoulay
Texas
Jon Azoulay
Texas
Mark Minervini - "One of the country's most successful stock traders"
Ron Insana's
The Insana Quotient
Ron Insana's
The Insana Quotient
Click on the logo to JOIN our TEAM of CHAMPIONS
CLICK HERE to view some of Mark's notable TV appearances from the good old days
CLICK ON IMAGE
Follow Mark on Twitter
click on logo
Follow Mark on StockTwits
click on logo
Follow Mark's Official Blog!
Mark Minervini
BIOGRAPHY
Mark Minervini traded his first stock in 1983. He invested in a few hundred shares of Allis Chalmer, a seller of tractors and forklifts. Soon after, Minervini became familiar with the work of Richard Love, author of the book Superpeformance Stocks: An Investment Strategy for the Individual Investor Based on the 4-Year Political Cycle. Love’s work had a profound influence on Minervini’s professional and philosophical views on investing and the formulation of his own investment strategy.
By his early thirties, Minervini was at the helm as President of a leading institutional research firm in New York City, advising hedge funds and institutional investors in the U.S., Canada and Latin America. During this period, Minervini also kept a demanding schedule of regular television appearances on CNBC, CNN and Fox News.
It was Minervini’s initial intention to simply support himself from his trading profits, but his well-timed investment decisions increased his wealth dramatically each year, as well as the popularity of his opinion. After a decade of studying and trading the U.S. stock market, Minervini founded Quantech Research Group, Inc., an institutional research firm, in 1993. Minervini made available for a fee, to institutional investors, his in-house research based on his methodology Specific Entry Point Analysis® - SEPA®. Clients paid as much as $10,000 per month for Minervini's stock recommendations; his clients list included some of the biggest names on Wall Street.
By his early thirties, Minervini was at the helm as President of a leading institutional research firm in New York City, advising hedge funds and institutional investors in the U.S., Canada and Latin America. During this period, Minervini also kept a demanding schedule of regular television appearances on CNBC, CNN and Fox News.
It was Minervini’s initial intention to simply support himself from his trading profits, but his well-timed investment decisions increased his wealth dramatically each year, as well as the popularity of his opinion. After a decade of studying and trading the U.S. stock market, Minervini founded Quantech Research Group, Inc., an institutional research firm, in 1993. Minervini made available for a fee, to institutional investors, his in-house research based on his methodology Specific Entry Point Analysis® - SEPA®. Clients paid as much as $10,000 per month for Minervini's stock recommendations; his clients list included some of the biggest names on Wall Street.
In May of 2004, BusinessWeek wrote, "Minervini sells what's often considered the holy-grail in investing.”
To demonstrate the capabilities of his SEPA® Technology, Minervini entered the 1997 U.S. Investing Championship with his own capital. He won the real-money investment derby with a 155% return for the year, nearly double the results of the next nearest competing money manager. In fact, Jack Schwager wrote in Stock Market Wizards: Interviews with America’s Top Stock Traders: for the period 1994-2000, “Minervini's performance has been nothing short of astounding. His average annual compounded return during the period has been a towering 220 percent. Most traders and money managers would be delighted to have Minervini’s worst year – a 128 percent gain – as their best.”
In 1998, Minervini publicly voiced two back-to-back market calls, which shortly after propelled him into the media spotlight. On the August 28, 1998 Cavuto Business Show – Fox News Network, Minervini discussed the statistical similarities between the market then and the market on the Friday before the "Black Monday" crash of 1987, in which the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 508 points in a single day. The Monday following Minervini’s appearance (the very next trading day), the Dow Jones Industrials fell 512 points. One month later, Minervini turned bullish. In a September 28, 1998 profile titled “Trust the Computer,” Barron’s wrote: “Minervini was still bearish on the market until last week, when he did an about-face and turned raging bull.”
He recommended, among other stocks, Yahoo, Broadcom, Network Appliances and Abercrombie & Fitch, all of which went on to score spectacular gains as the stock market entered a new bull phase. Twenty months later, Minervini turned decidedly bearish. On May 30, 2000 on CNN, Minervini said that the NASDAQ had entered a bear market and that the bear market would continue. He explained: “Oracle, EMC, Cisco, Nokia – some of these favorite big-cap NASDAQ stocks that have been holding up quite well – they’re going to give way now, and that’s really going to unsettle investors.” Minervini previously had called for a steep decline in the Internet/dot.com sector on the same network on March 30, 2000.
He recommended, among other stocks, Yahoo, Broadcom, Network Appliances and Abercrombie & Fitch, all of which went on to score spectacular gains as the stock market entered a new bull phase. Twenty months later, Minervini turned decidedly bearish. On May 30, 2000 on CNN, Minervini said that the NASDAQ had entered a bear market and that the bear market would continue. He explained: “Oracle, EMC, Cisco, Nokia – some of these favorite big-cap NASDAQ stocks that have been holding up quite well – they’re going to give way now, and that’s really going to unsettle investors.” Minervini previously had called for a steep decline in the Internet/dot.com sector on the same network on March 30, 2000.
During the March 30 CNN interview, Minervini said: “Many of these (Internet) stocks are going to go down between fifty and as much as eighty percent and some will go the way of Dr. Koop (bankruptcy).” Twenty-eight months later the NASDAQ Composite Index was down sixty-five percent, while Oracle, EMC, Cisco and Nokia were down an average of eighty-three percent. Minervini had avoided one of the most devastating bear market declines in stock market history. He protected his personal portfolio and locked in his gains by going to cash before the decline hit. With the exception of a few well-timed short trades, Minervini sat idle in cash through what was nearly a three-year bear market before returning to the stock market on the long side.
On May 10, 2004, BusinessWeek reported: “Jan. 9 Minervini bought Taser (TASR/NASDAQ), a company that makes Taser guns – nonlethal weapons for police departments. He spotted its potential using his proprietary methodology, "Specific Entry Point Analysis" (SEPA); he then rode the stock up 121% in only six weeks.”
Minervini’s achievements led to his recognition in Stock Market Wizards: Interviews with America's Top Stock Traders, by best-selling author Jack Schwager. A chapter in the book is devoted to Mr. Minervini and highlights his investment philosophy and money management approach. Schwager noted that Minervini's exceptional returns tell "only half the story." Mr. Schwager wrote: "Amazingly, Minervini achieved his lofty gains while keeping his risk very low: He had only one down quarter – barely – a loss of a fraction of 1 percent.”
On May 10, 2004, BusinessWeek reported: “Jan. 9 Minervini bought Taser (TASR/NASDAQ), a company that makes Taser guns – nonlethal weapons for police departments. He spotted its potential using his proprietary methodology, "Specific Entry Point Analysis" (SEPA); he then rode the stock up 121% in only six weeks.”
Minervini’s achievements led to his recognition in Stock Market Wizards: Interviews with America's Top Stock Traders, by best-selling author Jack Schwager. A chapter in the book is devoted to Mr. Minervini and highlights his investment philosophy and money management approach. Schwager noted that Minervini's exceptional returns tell "only half the story." Mr. Schwager wrote: "Amazingly, Minervini achieved his lofty gains while keeping his risk very low: He had only one down quarter – barely – a loss of a fraction of 1 percent.”
Click to read
Click to read
Posts
Mark Minervini Twitter Feed
" Make quality choices; expect the best and plan for the worst. Hope you find this blog useful." -Mark
Intellectual Property
Specific Entry Point Analysis®, SEPA® , Minervini Select® and Leadership Profile® are registered trademarks. Copyright Mark Minervini 2010.
Mark Minervini with Ron Insana on CNBC
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
DISCLAIMER: The information provided herein is not to be construed as an offer to buy or sell stocks of any kind. The stock selections on this blog are not to be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any stock but as is a mere form of expression on the writers part. It is possible at this or some subsequent date, Mark Minervini, the editors and staff of Minervini Private Access, LLC and MinerviniPrivateAccess.com may own, buy or sell stocks presented here. All investors should consult a qualified professional before trading any stock. Mark Minervini is not an investment advisor, nor a securities broker. Information on this blog is for educational purposes only. All material presented herein is believed to be reliable but we cannot attest to its accuracy. Readers are urged to check with their own investment counselors before making any investment decisions.
.
Reprinted from Investor's Business Daily
fantastic article Mark
ReplyDelete