Excellence In Trading >
What To Trade

What to Trade  
Have minimum criteria to determine your watch list of  
candidates. These are your standards on which a decision  
can be based. Criteria define potential candidates.Period.  
 
The criteria should be clear, easy to calculate, and easily 
understood. The criteria must be usable, meaning available  
and understandable. There are thousands of stocks, minimum  
criteria helps you pare down the possible candidates.  
Some ideas -  
 
• Know what price range you will trade. Only you know your  
financial situation.  
• Know your ability and experience level, no one else can  
judge that but you.  
• What is the time frame? Is this speculative trading  
capital or your IRA and savings.  
• Are you trading for income? Growth? Dividends or selling  
covered calls? Can you identify what has to be done to  
create income?  
• Is there an industry that you particularly prefer?  
• Do you understand stock cycles and sector rotation? If 
you don’t understand  
your criteria it is hardly likely to help you.  
• Know your risk tolerance; no one can tell you that. It is 
personal.  
• Have a trading plan before you commit any money. What is  
the PLAN? If you have no personal discipline then your  
results will be like everything else you have done in life. 
 
Trading does not cure problems.  
Whether it is TOP SCORE, or your own research, the Great 
Xpectations™ List, or ETFs, anything can  
be ideas for trades. The ‘WHAT’ is subjective. Profits are  
a result of HOW you trade, not WHAT you trade. So take your 
ideas and paper trade, find out if you know anything.  
 
There are many ways to trade, but only one acceptable  
result. If what you have been doing is working, keep doing  
it. If you want different results, do something different.  
 
One last important point - when you know how to trade, you  
know what to look for and you automatically choose better  
candidates. With portfolio management, we “first do no 
harm,” which means minimizing risk within the context of 
high profit expectations.  
“How we trade is more important that what we  
trade.” Now, Go Trade the Right Way!  
 
Charles and Candy Schaap

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