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

CHAPTER 26

The Trend Intensity Breakout Setup

Pradeep Bonde, @stockbee

Pradeep is one of the hardest-working traders I know. His extensive knowledge and passion about the markets are reflected in everything he does. He believes in the concept: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” So true.

I trade on my own information and follow my own methods.

—Jesse Livermore

LEARNING WHAT WORKS AND WHAT DOESN'T WORK

I entered the stock market actively at precisely the wrong time—right at the beginning of the bear phase in 2000. During the raging bull dot-com era, I was busy working for a start-up and my involvement in the market was sporadic. My interest in trading was initially sparked by the majority holder in our dot-com. He was an avid investor and he tracked his portfolios all the time. As the stock market peaked, the investors in the company started to lose money and as a result the funding for the business dried up. That's when my real journey toward successful full-time trading began.

Like most other traders, I was lost at the beginning. I was buying or short selling stocks at exactly the wrong time. Determined to make trading work, I exhaustively studied the equity markets by reading up on successful traders and their methods. During 2000 and 2001 I spent over $100,000 buying every book, course, software, and research I could find on stock trading.

All this study and exposure to research was enhancing my market knowledge ...