Frequently Asked Questions

The trades I have seen posted in the chat and on the website are pretty impressive-how do I know that I can do as well once I take the course?

As with any form of trading there is no guarantee that you will achieve the same results as the person who developed the course.  That said, speaking from my own experience I had no idea when I developed this course that I would eventually be able to outdo most of the traders that I had studied.  I had one advantage; I was coming from a different set of experiences than they were and my set of experiences and studies happened to identify things with momentum trading that other traders did not see.  You have your own set of experiences that may allow you to see things that I may not have seen when I developed this type of trading.  With any science or modality there is a natural evolution of knowledge where each person who learns it has the potential to take the information to a whole other level.

What makes this course different than other trading courses?

The primary difference I see is that many trading courses are either heavily weighted towards short-term trading-scalping small percentages here and there and require a much more extensive knowledge of technical analysis or are too focused on fundamental analysis without regards to the current trading action of a particular stock.  This form of trading acknowledges the role of fundamentals in choosing quality trades yet we pay much more attention (at least in the short-term) to the trading action of the stock.  If you have heard the saying “buy the rumor, sell the news,” this is no accident.  Smart money and insiders pay much closer attention to the internal company fundamentals and industry and broad market trends and usually have a head start on the general public when it comes to news that will positively affect the company.  By the time the news becomes public knowledge many of these investors sell into the mad rush to lock in their profits.  This often leaves the public “holding the bag” while the price slides back due to profit taking by the smart money crowd.  This is all the more reason to be observing the trading action to look for signs of accumulation and become a “silent partner” with the smart money crowd. With 7000 companies in the stock market it is much easier to identify changing fortunes in a companies stock by looking at a snapshot of the companies chart vs. poring over extensive financial records.

I saw recently where one of your trade recommendations went up 300% in 12 days, this is unusual; is this for real?  I have not heard of any other websites recommending trades that went up this much?

Obviously, not all of our trades go up 300% in 12 days.  Many of the trades we have posted were not actually trades that we would enter in the following days unless the stock has a particular trading characteristic that suggests it will perform the way we expect.  We wait for the stock to give us the feedback we are looking for.  Our trading course is uniquely designed to help you to identify these explosive breakouts.  The A-rated trades are the ones we would focus the majority of our trading capital in.  One of our A-rated trades; BCON (Beacon Power Corporation) on 7-27-05 if bought 2 days later at $1.45 based on one of our breakout strategies would have been held for 18 days for a quick 269% gain had you exited at the top (our course will show you how to lock in the majority of a move). These A-rated trades don’t occur every day-but they offer lower risk and solid gains.  In a stable bull market environment it is not unusual to identify a few of these types of trades each month. Some of the longer-term position trades like our “Squeeze Play strategy” can go on to phenomenal gains if caught very near the bottom of a beginning super-cycle with gains of several thousand percent over a much longer period of a few years but these type of  trades come along less frequently. Our system is uniquely designed to capture the big moves in the market.  It is based on a study of success of some of the stock market’s biggest movers and is evidenced by the systems ability to identify potentially explosive breakouts well in advance of their moves.

Doesn’t this system require a much more active type of trading than just putting money in a mutual fund?

We have several different momentum trading strategies that offer various levels of daily or weekly involvement.  The meat of this course is focused on short-term swing trading (2-6 weeks) and intermediate term trading (2-4 Months).   If your focus is towards creating substantial increases in your trading account in the near future then this system is especially suited for doing so provided that current market conditions are favorable.  If you desire higher returns yet a much more laid back approach to trading, then being a subscriber to our website and observing the trades we are making and picking and choosing from them may be the way to go.  At the far extreme if you want little or no weekly or monthly involvement with trading yet the potential for stellar returns, there is one momentum trade each year that requires all of 2-3 hours research and trading for the ENTIRE YEAR yet has out-performed perfect Dow timing by 100,000% over a 50 year period.

Is the trading system complicated and will it be hard for me to learn?

This course was written for the lay person and is easy to understand.  Even advanced traders will benefit tremendously from the knowledge that clearly and concisely pulls together the concepts behind high-impact short and intermediate term swing trading.  The information on stock super-cycles is breakthrough information that can enable those versed in this style of trading to surf some of the stock markets biggest waves with grace. I challenge any advanced trader to trade this system for 6 months and compare it to their current trading program.  If  this system is not the best system you have ever found, send us your trading records with some notes on them regarding what type of momentum trade you made and why and we will refund the money you paid for the course 100%.  This goes for anyone who tries our system.

I have heard of these kind of returns from options trading but I haven’t seen many stock trading systems that  recommend stocks with these kind of short-term gains, why is that?

Many of these trades occurred in the beginning of a new stock market cycle which is usually the strongest part of a momentum trading year.  The course is uniquely designed to identify these prospects in advance.  Other parts of the year may not offer as many trades with similar gains.  It all depends on the cycles. Option trading can sometimes offer dramatic gains on individual trades but due to the inherent risk of an approach where all of your money can be lost on any one trade you will not find many, if any, option traders  who turn $10,000 into $42 million in 2 years like a prominent momentum trader did 5 years ago.  This course shows you how to become a skilled professional trader.  Option courses teach you only about options.  They are usually not designed to teach you practical trading methodology. 
Take this course before you take an options course and it will make you far more effective at options trading.

What kind of trades does your website recommend?

We do not recommend specific trades.  We scan and filter the stock market on a daily basis for potential momentum plays.  When we find the kind of stocks that match our criteria in the BottomSpringers momentum trading course, particularly:  strong momentum, stable chart pattern, breakouts into additional legs and cycles within a high momentum stocks super-cycle, high momentum breakouts from a base with a breakout pattern “suggesting” that a stock may have found a “possible bottom”  and several other criteria that have historically led to a stock experiencing dramatic short-term gains, we post these on the website for our members to evaluate. 

Many of the stocks I see posted seem to be lower priced stocks-I’ve heard these are more risky-is that true?

Many of the trades posted in our trading pond and chat room, at this point in time, are lower-priced stocks.  It is the nature of the market right now.  Back in the late 1990’s, had we been operating at the time we would have been posting trades in the $20-$50 price range because there were many high momentum stocks in that price range.  The stock market has changed since then and until higher momentum creeps back into the higher priced stocks our focus will be on stable lower priced stocks with higher momentum.  This does not mean that we don’t find some excellent higher priced stocks like a few stocks above $50 this year posted in our trading pond report that performed quite well, ICE a $70 stock up 100% in 4.5 months and NYX a $58 stock up 90% in 3 months.  At different points during the year, more consistent and predictable breakouts may occur in higher priced stocks and we adapt to the changing market patterns-this is why this form of momentum trading is called “surfing,” we go where the waves are.  Again the focus of this type of trading is highest gain in the shortest period of time.  In order for that to happen, there has to be momentum.  As far as increased risk, if you follow the trading system-you will manage the risk while at the same time increasing your returns.

The price of the course seems expensive – I have seen other courses on the internet priced for half of what I have seen your course priced?

Everyone has heard the analogy “you get what you pay for.”  When you look at the results of many of these systems, you can understand why some of these courses are priced so low.  The returns are anemic.  On the other extreme are expensive trader academy’s geared towards traders who must be glued to their computer to scalp small percentages throughout the day.  I know of several of the more prominent trader training websites that charge a ton of money for ongoing trader workshops and yet their trading performance is abysmal-one of them had a 39% LOSS for the first quarter of the year.  This is not what I consider to be a good time.  This is not a 365 days of the year trading system meaning that you will not be trading when market conditions are not optimal.  We teach you how to identify “stay-out” zones between these cycles to preserve trading capital for the next up-cycle.   Many people think nothing of spending thousands and thousands of dollars on a college education that will enable them to be locked into a job with an income cap for most of their careers but will fret over a $100-$200 difference in price for a trading system that may allow them the freedom to no longer work, go figure.

Is the website access expensive?

Our website access is priced reasonably, far less expensive than if you were to hire someone to do the research yourself.  It is a great time-saving tool and can allow you to spend a very minimal amount of time involved on your part to trade higher momentum stocks.

Can I expect high quality trades 12-months of the year?

If the market cooperates, yes.  One of the things you will learn in this course is that there are prominent cycles in the stock market and if you are going against the tide you do so at your own peril.  This may mean there may be month(s) when there are really no good momentum plays. There may be other months where we have to go outside of our normal price ranges and sectors we usually trade in to find viable trades.  In any case our system is not designed to trade just to be trading.  Success leaves clues.  When you study success in the stock market you will find that under-trading and being very selective about the trades that you enter more than over-trading leads to success. 

Is this a software system or can this system be automated to tell me which stocks to buy and when to buy and sell?

No, unfortunately you are going to have to get your hands dirty.  Computers, as smart as they are, are still not as smart as people.  I have yet to see any computer program that can out-trade an experienced momentum trader.  When computers become advanced to the point when they can drive your cars then we can start looking at that possibility.  Computers may make it easier to exit a trade when momentum is waning, but as far as selecting and optimizing specific trades, with the amount of coding a programmer would have to write to cover every variable and get anywhere close to the performance level of an experienced trader-you might as well do the trading yourself.

What size trading account should I have for this form of momentum trading?

This form of momentum trading is best suited for the smaller trader (under $100,000-$250,000), it is definitely not for institutional traders managing huge mutual funds. Traders just starting out with accounts under $25,000 can especially benefit from the high momentum breakouts of small cap stocks.    It is imperative that traders with larger trading accounts pay special attention to the average daily trading volume before placing a trade.  Larger trading accounts may want to focus more on our higher liquidity plays which though they may move a little slower can still offer tremendous gains.  GOOG (Google, inc.) and AAPL (Apple Computers) both delivered over 100% gains in 2005 (not including margin).

You mentioned a program called the Inventing your Life Program and the Breaking the Money Barriers Program in your e-zine-what is it and what does it have to do with trading?
 
Why do people become stock traders?  Why do they join various MLM’s and invest in hare-brained business ideas with their brother-in-laws who they don’t really like? Is it because they want to sit in front of a computer all day looking at the computer screen.  Is it because they really want to drag everyone they know to the next “opportunity meeting” down at the local Hotel to hear some wind-bag go on and on about the “ideal business opportunity?" I think not, people do all these things because they want a different and better life-one where they are not constantly working all of the time with no balance in their lives or time with their families and communities.  I experienced this in my own life and the consequences on my health and relationships were dramatic.  This is my attempt to give back to a couple of organizations that have helped me tremendously.  The Inventing Your Life Program  I took back in the mid 1980’s and it awoke in me the potential for my life.  It helped me discover my sense of purpose and talents.  It has motivated me sense then to work towards a more full expression of myself.   I have had several twist and turns in the process of figuring out exactly what I wanted to do with my life but sometimes that is part of the plan.  The Breaking the Money Barriers Program came along at a time when I needed a little jump start.  I had been in a rut because of a business failure and I was looking for some guidance to help get me back on track.  The program helped me to do so and continues to this day.  It is designed to assist you in identifying your money blocks as well as life blocks.  It is a 2 year program and will help you to have a better relationship with money and yourself.  There is information on both of these programs by clicking on the blue hyper-link.  I hope that you will consider taking both courses if and when you are able.  A motivated person with a sense of purpose and direction in life makes a better trader.  I bet you they didn’t teach you that in college or in the last trading course you took-but you will find it is true.   There are many “average dreams” strewn across the traders’ landscape.  If your life appears to be taking on the semblance of a directionless, rudderless ship with a non-existent destination you will be more likely to give up at the first obstacle or loss in your trading account.  Those who won’t do the work or ask the questions they need to become a super-trader, usually won’t.