The StockTwits® Edge: 40 Actionable Trade Set-Ups from Real Market Pros

CHAPTER 21

A Chart Will Never Lie to You

Sunrise Trader, @SunriseTrader

Our friend Sunrise has a great philosophical view on trading and investing. Sunrise strives for work and trading balance. Passionate traders find it difficult to pull themselves away from the screens, because there is an endless waterfall of ideas and opportunities. Sunrise understands the power of social leverage and continues to pay it forward on StockTwits. We appreciate it.

A chart will never lie to you. The trick is not lying to yourself about what you see in it.

—@theEquilibrium

JOURNALING TO STAY ACCOUNTABLE

My personal definition of a trader is someone who holds on to stocks for a short period of time from minutes to no longer than a quarter (the time between two earnings reports). In September 2005, I became a trader. I began using technical analysis as my primary way to trade the stock market. I read countless books, attended seminars, watched numerous videos on the Internet, and listened to radio shows hosted by traders and stock market gurus. I was a sponge absorbing anything and everything stock market related to help me with my quest to become a successful trader.

It was during this time that I started to track my progress using a notebook to journal and an Excel spreadsheet to easily calculate and track profit/loss. The column headings on the spreadsheet included the following: stock name, symbol, date purchased, quantity, purchase price, date sold, sales price, net profit/loss after fees ...