If you have been reading this blog for a while you know that THE CROSSHAIRS TRADER promotes simplicity.  Am I alone in thinking this way?  I do not believe so!  I would hazard to guess that most all, if not all, professional traders believe that successful trading boils down to having and following a very simple set of rules. 

Here is a very short list of comments from very reliable sources—successful professional traders.

 

John F. Carter:  “It is important to remember that there is no need to spend wasted years looking for complicated setups or the next Holy Grail.  There are very simple setups out there to use.  Some of the best traders I know

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The predictions of the members of the Barron’s mid-year Roundtable discussion over the weekend were in agreement that the March lows of the stock markets would not be broken. This reminded me of one of the famous “Investment Rules” of Bob Farrell, legendary former chief stock market analyst at Merrill Lynch. Rule # 9 stated: “When all the experts and forecasts agree, something else is going to happen.”

Meanwhile, many stock markets yesterday registered their worst single-session percentage losses in a month. Commodities also faced heavy profit-taking, but government bonds rallied and the US dollar strengthened against a basket of currencies. “We could be seeing one of those occasional all-change signals in short-term trends,” said David Fuller (Fullermoney).

Richard Russell, veteran writer of the daily Dow Theory Letters, commented on Monday: “I’m of the opinion that this bear market rally is in the

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The S&P 500 index (proxy SPY and IVV) is in much better shape now than on March 6 (the low so far, and maybe the low).  However, not all lights are flashing green yet.

First at the macro level, SPY shows that the 200-day average and the 50-day average were both sloping down on March 6.  Today the 50-day is sloping up, but the 200-day is still in a down trend, and the 50-day is still below the 200-day.  That shows improvement, but it’s not a certain bull.

The SPY 200-day average was 104.57 on March 6.  It is 92.95  today.  The 50-day was 82.24 on March 6, and is 84.89 today.

SPY on March 6, 2009

Except for truly brave souls, prescient fundamentalists, veritable long-term risk takers, those who believe it is impossible to die falling out of a basement window, those who had

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It’s rare that I come to you like this, but I’ve had a revelation after a recent email I received. You and I both know there are plenty of good trading courses out there, but for traders just starting out, they’re a bit pricey. So why are we paying thousands when we don’t have to?

Well, here’s the answer to my revelation that should satisfy all.

It’s called INO TV and I have an “on the house” preview just for StraightStocks.com visitors…

INO TV gives you access to educational seminars streaming live just for traders. This on the house preview includes Jake Bernstein (who is an internationally recognized futures analyst, trader and author), John Murphy (famous author, columnist, and speaker on the subject of Technical Analysis) and two other successful traders.

I recommend you tune in to watch these 4 seminars today. Remember, they’re on me!

Watch videos!

Enjoy, while I keep …

Based on John Murphy's definitions lets take a look at the economic picture and see where were lie and what to look for when the recovery begins.br /br /First up are four factors Murphy has defined for monitoring the economy:br /br /a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_WWGUfU1tOjI/SYgh7KY2xuI/AAAAAAAAAuo/_laKtYLrJdY/s1600-h/Cycle.png"img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 66px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_WWGUfU1tOjI/SYgh7KY2xuI/AAAAAAAAAuo/_laKtYLrJdY/s320/Cycle.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5298522261885994722" //abr /span class="fullpost"As John Murphy states in his book "Intermarket Analysis"br /br /blockquoteConsumer Expectations are very important because consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of the economy. /blockquotebr /a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_WWGUfU1tOjI/SYgqJokgJyI/AAAAAAAAAuw/RkwlVgusoTo/s1600-h/consumersentiment.png"img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 188px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_WWGUfU1tOjI/SYgqJokgJyI/AAAAAAAAAuw/RkwlVgusoTo/s320/consumersentiment.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5298531306599098146" //abr /Consumer sentiment first bottomed in June 2008 then staged a modest bounce; it subsequently retreated to June lows in November and has only recently started to recover. It is in the process of "reviving", but likely won't classify as "rising" until it gets past 70. On past form this could take another 6 ...

I understand this is a bold claim. Of course, everyone has their different opinion about what are the best trading books. In my opinion, the books discussed below are the greatest investment texts. These are the ones that I frequently turn to when I want an answer or need motivation. I hope they may be beneficial to you as well. This list is not necessarily ranked in order, although I do have my two favorites ranked as 1 and 2.

10. Trading for Dummies, by By Michael Griffis and Lita Epstein. The dark horse on the list. This was one of the first investment books I read. I still occasionally peruse it just to get a different perspective. This book gives a plain language description of trading, from the basics of how to place an order to candlesticks, to reading balance sheets. The good thing is that both technical and fundamental …

We are waiting watchfully for a good re-entry point for US equities using the substantial cash position we raised last summer.

The critical factors we are watching to identify a prudent re-entry point — information we will use to become comfortable that the storm we avoided has passed by — are:

Technical Market Factors Valuation Fundamentals Risk Levels Government Intervention Policies Economic Conditions

Economic conditions are poor and the time frame to recovery still seems longer than the 6-12 months that the markets are generally assumed to discount in advance. Q4 earnings reports may be telling.

Government intervention policies are not yet fully established or implemented.  Unkowns abound with respect to Congressional action on several fronts, ranging from possible 4.5% new mortgages to auto company bailouts.  A new president and cabinet plan some sort of massive stimulus package that has yet to be defined and debated.  We need to wait until January or February to begin to get

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I received a lot of positive feedback about the Ino.com videos after this post, so here it is again if you missed it earlier in the week.I got word that the free videos at the InoTv area are going to be changing very soon. Right now you can access the following titles for freeMarket Wizard Insights- Jack Schawager explains the traits and behavior patterns that super traders have in common.Applying Technical Analysis Methods to Today's Trading- In this 90 minute video, veteran analyst John Murphy explains how he looks at the markets.Five New Tools for Winners- by Jake BernsteinThe Art of MorphingIf you click the banner above and sign up for the free trial you will be able to see these four titles and also ...

I got word that the free videos at the InoTv area are going to be changing very soon. Right now you can access the following titles for freeMarket Wizard Insights- Jack Schawager explains the traits and behavior patterns that super traders have in common.Applying Technical Analysis Methods to Today's Trading- In this 90 minute video, veteran analyst John Murphy explains how he looks at the markets.Five New Tools for Winners- by Jake BernsteinThe Art of MorphingIf you click the banner above and sign up for the free trial you will be able to see these four titles and also the next four titles absolutely free. If you like what you see, you can access hundreds of other seminars on demand for just $100 for a full year.

The most popular video I have recorded is the MACD TUTORIAL I think it is most popular because of its educational nature and it does not rely on specific prices in the market, it has a longer shelf life than a video about any days price action.Online video is an excellent way to learn at home at your own pace which is why I think the Ino TV program is such an excellent learning resource. By clicking THIS LINK you will be required to enter your name and email address which will allow you to view these four free videos.Charles LeBeau- Exit StrategiesLinda Raschke- Classic IndicatorsRussell Sands- I Am A TurtleMark Cook- Common Trading PitfallsThe average video is 60-90 minutes and most of the presentations also include a PDF manual which you can download, print out and ...