If you will, say something about the tools you use to find & monitor trades.
I'm not some high volume day trader. Its pretty hard considering how busy I am with my full time job.
Most of the analysis tools I use, I get through my online broker, Scottrade. I've learned how to read and work with candlestick charts. While I like to keep my eyes on the charts, I tend to invest in companies I know about (I work in technology and finance) so I gravitate to those. If I see a stock that get my initial interest, I start monitoring it and reading up everything I can about what drives its business and stock price movement.
There are stocks I treat as a trade (short term) or longterm investments.
Back in October, I had my radar on Coach as a trade stock, the women's luxury retailer. They appeared primed for a monster holiday shopping season. So I built up a position at a cost average of $37. I was looking for 50 by christmas given current interest in the stock. It's been getting nothing but positive press about it and the major hedge and mutual funds are all over it.
While I didn't get $50 by Christmas, given its upward momentum, I stuck with it, and it hit $50 in Febuary where I sold half my position, and decided to let the rest ride.
It got knocked down to 46 with what happened last week, but I still see lots of strength in the stock, so I'm going to continue to hold and will buy more if it goes below 45.
Another stock I'm betting big on in 2007 is Marvell (MRVL), the semiconductor chip maker. The stock as been held down with the company being investigated for options backdating, but I think the price drop is a hiccup, and they are primed for a major bounce upward once its all figured out. They make outstanding products that you see in many of the most cutting edge wireless devices. Their chips have a very good chance of being in the new Apple cellphone. Stock is around $20 a share and I have a price target on it for $30 this year. Their latest earnings report was impressive.