Three Steps for consistently making money trading stocks

Step One) Determine which way the market will move and trade stocks in that same direction.

This will reduce your risk and give you a higher percentage of winning trades and reduce the loss on your losing trades.  Most stocks follow the market.  On up days most stocks have far less selling and more buying which causes them to go up.  The reverse goes on down days.  Our software has many tools for helping you gauge market direction.

Rules of Thumb

Rule 1) If above the pivot go long, if below go short.  (Pivot point is horizontal white line).
Rule 2) If above the balance point line go long, if below go short.  (Balance Point Line is yellow line and where market's average position is).

Example: In the example below you can see the S&P 500 futures.  This is one of the best overall market indexes and most stocks tend to follow its direction.  In this example we have a few of our predictive tools - Balance Point Sectors, Pivot Points, Statistical Range, Squat Bar and Trend Reversal indicators. 

First look at the pivot points, the white line is the average price of the previous day and the rule of thumb is to buy if the market is above and look for shorts below.  The next step is to look at our Balance Point Line which is the average price that traders hold positions.  This is one of the most useful tools and is a fantastic support/resistance level.  If above the yellow line you should be long and below the yellow line short.  If above the pivot point and balance point line your odds of success buying are dramatically increased.  During times where the market is under the balance point and above the pivot use caution buying.  Reverse for shorts.

Let's see how the above and our other tools worked in the chart below.  The market was above the pivot all day and on three occasions pulled back to it and reversed.  There were low risk stock buying opportunities at 9:45 am, 10:45 am, and 1:15 pm EST when the market pulled back and found support at the Pivot.  This happens usually at least once each day and is a source of the lowest risk trades.  Buy stocks when the market finds support at the pivot.  If the market is below the pivot and rallys up to the pivot short stocks when the market finds resistance there.  Using these TRADING ZONES can dramatically improve your trading results and end the confusion about which direction to trade.

Our hourly statistical tool shows you how far the S&P normally moves each hour.  As you can see it gave three low risk buying points (10:45am EST, 11:45 am EST, and 1:15 pm EST).  You could buy stocks at these levels with a very high probability of making money.  Our squat bar indicator (Green and Red arrows) works on all trading instruments.  Since the market is above the pivot and we want to look mostly for longs, go long whenever you see a green buy arrow.  It gave you 3 signals, all of which worked. 

Knowing when uptrends are likely to end also gives you a huge advantage in trading stocks.  If you were long with nice profits our Trend Reversal tool alerted you at 12:45pm EST that the market was likely to reverse which it later did.  The second Trend Reversal signal was almost the end of that trend and the market went sideways.   When you see a Trend Reversal signal you should either exit longs or tighten stops and watch carefully for a market reversal.  When you see this signal it is not wise to initiate new long positions. 

The MOST useful market prediction tool we have is our Balance Point Sector tool on the bottom of the chart.  In this example we are watching all the stocks in the major sectors to predict which way the market will go.  We suggest using the sectors Semi, Tech, Biotech, Drugs, Banks.  If 3 of the 5 sectors are green then you should be buying stocks, if 3 or more sectors are red you should short.  This tool really gives you a clear picture of what the market is most likely to do and is often a leading indicator, showing market reversals 3 to 15 minutes early and letting you know ahead of time if big up or down trends are likely to develop.  As you can see on this chart Semis and Tech sector are very strong and they tend to lead the market.  Unfortunately Drugs, Banks, and Biotech were mixed and sometimes up and sometimes down.  This is a clue that the market is unlikely to make a big move up and as you can see in the chart the overall odds were up but the market found lots of resistance.  As you use these tools you will see over time that when 4 or 5 of the sectors are strongly up huge uptrends develop and the opposite is true when the sectors are weak.  It's very helpful for traders to know when the market will be choppy as it is the majority of the time.  Knowing this ahead of time lets you trade stocks both long and short and to know not to try to hold for super huge profits as these days are less likely to provide you market trends and huge profits.

Step Two) Trade Where the Action Is - Scan the market and find the absolute best stocks to trade.

TopGun Software's scanning is second to none.  Not only do we give you the ability to setup hundreds of combinations of scans but you do not need to learn a complicated programming language to use it.  You can setup complex scans in seconds and then automatically link the scan results to your charts!  Just sit back and wait for the highest probability, lowest risk trades to come to you and then enter.  We take a lot of the stress out of trading, leaving you in a more relaxed and focused state of mind.   Expert traders often say knowing how to trade is only part of the equation, you also must not risk too much capital on any given trade and control the emotions that often sabotage most traders.

Our Most Powerful Scans There are literally hundreds of possible scan combinations and you can set them up in almost no time at all. Here are just a few scan examples. Breakouts Above/Below yesterday's high/low on Greater than 150% Average Volume Above/Below First 15 min, 30 min, Hourly High/Low with Institutional Buying Narrowest Day in Last 4 Days and Yesterday's Range Inside Previous Day, Today     Breaks High/Low of previous day.  This trade often produces huge trends and also good multi day swing trades/ option trades. Stock is above its 10, 20, 50 and 200 Day Moving Average.  Two or three down days in a row. Today breaks out of Previous Day's High Stock breaks out of 3, 5, 10, or 20 Day Highest High/ Lowest Low.  Explosive Moves! Stock in 2% range over last 5 days, today breaks out of multi day range with high volume!     Gaps Stock gaps down $1+ and then breaks out over first 5 min bar high Stock gaps up $1+ and then breaks out over first 15 min or 30 min bar high Stock gaps up 50+ cents but less than previous day high, finds resistance at high. Stock gaps down 50+ cents but above the previous day low, finds support at low. Dozens More Possibilities   Volatility Scans  (Predicting Volatility is far easier than Price/Direction) Toby Crabel's NR4 Inside Day Pattern as discussed in Linda Raschke's Street Smarts Toby Crabel's NR7 Day Pattern These two patterns tend to find high probability day trades and multi day breakouts Narrow Multi Day range contractions or expansions.  You can find for example stocks that have moved less then 3% over the last 5 days.  If today they are above yesterday's high on above average volume you have a very high probability trade that can last for more than one day. Explosive Multi Day range expansions.  Depending on the pattern and market condition these can find the most explosive stocks out there to trade.  If a volatile stock breaks out today on very high volume you can go with the trend, if it breaks out and then fails you can trade it in the opposite direction and profit as traders all rush in to exit their positions! Hundreds of additional scans including many tools for eliminating bad trading stocks such as those with too little average daily volume or stocks that don't move enough each day to profitably trade.

Step Three) Find the Lowest Risk, most High Probability Trades.  When to Buy/Short.  When to Exit.

Knowing which way the market is most likely to trade and then finding the best trading stocks will greatly improve your odds of becoming a successful and profitable trader.  The last step is to know when to buy/short, where to put your stop loss order, and when to exit your trade for a profit.  TopGun Software gives you many original timing tools and low risk buy and sell areas and one of the most profitable trailing stop systems in existence.

Different trading systems have different rules.  Breakout systems typically buy when the market goes over the previous swing high point.  Another system may wait for the market to settle down and trade after the first 15, 30 or 60 minutes have occurred.  That system may buy the first 15, 30, 60 min high breakout.

Example Trades - First 15 min breakout system with High Volume
ANTP has 14X more volume than normal, buy at $17.45, up $2.25 and trailing stop keeps you in.  Our Chandelier Trailing Stop is very sophisticated as it uses the stocks volatility to catch the maximum profit.		BCRX has 950% of its average volume, gapped up, consolidated and you buy breakout of first 30 min range.  Up $1.30 and trailing stop catches entire move.  Trend Reversal indicator alerts you to possible trend reversal.

Entry / Exit Tools - In Trading TIMING is Everything!

Pivot Points - Low Risk Entry / Exit Levels
Our Pivot Point Indicator is an excellent area to enter counter trend trades or exit with a profit.  Excellent areas of support & resistance.		You can se how the Pivot Points provide low risk entry and exit points.

Many traders like to take gap trades, here is one of the highest winning percentage gap trading systems in existence.  Our software lets you find these trades almost every day and take very low risk entries.  You first scan for stocks that gap up $1+ and then the stock has to pull back under the yellow Balance Point indicator.  This price is where most traders hold a position and is the absolute BEST support/resistance tool.  It is REAL support / resistance unlike moving averages and other tools which are math derived.  You buy when stock breaks out above Balance Point Tool.  The examples below show trades our software finds and also how it can prevent you from taking bad trades and reduce your losses.

Balance Point - Best Support / Resistance Tool in the Entire World!		Trading System - Buy when market gaps up, pull
One of my favorite trades is finding stocks that gap up, sell off and then go back above the Balance Point line.  In the example above you bought around 11am EST at $54.50 and stock goes up 67 cents in clear trend.		Equally as important as tools that help you know when to get in and out is the ability to avoid trades that are less likely to work.  In the above example it is clear that the market can't go above the Balance Point Line so you take NO trade and avoid the loss.
In the above example you can see what a great timing tool our Balance Point tool is.  After buying breakout at 11:20am EST stock explodes up 70 cents in 30 minutes.		Another perfect example of a trade NOT to take!  Our tools save you from taking low probability, higher risk trades which usually don't work.  One key to successful trading is reducing number of losing trades.

Wouldn't it be nice to know how far your stock normally moves every 15 minutes, half hour, hour?

We thought the same thing and created our Range Projection indicator.  You select how many days to average and what time frame you want to see and we do the rest.  We plot the statistical high and low on any time frame.  On the examples below you will see 5 min charts with various statistical ranges.  Notice how the stocks bounce off the statistical low and sell off of the statistical high.  These are very low risk areas to buy and short and take profits.  It is most often wise to take profits at these levels and then if you feel the trend will continue re-enter on a pullback

Range Projection - Statistical High & Low for Any Time Period		Low Risk Statistical Entry & Exit Levels
As you can see in the above example, the stock pulls back every time at or near its statistical average hourly high.  Great exit levels for scalpers!		This is a PERFECT example of having three great reasons to buy at this level.  The first is that the stock has gapped up, a sign of strength.  Secondly it pulled back to its previous day's high (Green dotted line).  The third is it comes right down to and bounces off our Statistical Average Hourly Low!  You would have made 70 cents in 15 minutes with Low Risk.
The above example shows a 30 Minute Statistical High & Low.  Notice how the stock bounces off both levels over and over throughout the day.  This gives you a low risk roadmap in which to trade.		The above example illustrates how you can use this tool to see the average daily trading range.  Simply select 390 minutes, the length of a trading day and our software shows you where the most likely high and low will be.

Trend Reversal - High Probability Trend Reversal Levels		The Trend is Your Friend - UNTIL it reverses!
You will never find a better trend reversal tool than this.  It works on all time frames from a 1 minute chart to a monthly chart and is one of our most amazing tools.		Notice how our Trend Reversal tool called the high before it was made and to an unbelievable accuracy of just 13 cents!
This tool is a scalpers dream come true.  Of the three trades on this 1 min chart of GRMN it was 66% accurate and netted about 60 cents profit in only one hour.		The above EBAY 60 minute chart shows a sell signal within one hour of the high and perfectly predicted the low.  Few tools will as dramatically improve your trading as this one.  Even one trade can pay for the software.
On this Daily VLO chart you can see how well this indicator signals the end of trends.  It works on all time frames and can benefit scalpers, swing traders and investors better time their entries and exits.		You can see on the Daily chart of YHOO above our Trend Reversal signal called the low and allowed you to catch a 10% 4 day move!

Three Line Break Trading System - Trend Following System
Our three line break indicator can be used as a directional indicator or full trading system.  Many traders use this on multiple time frame charts.  If the hourly 3 Line Break is long, they then buy all buy signals on a 5 minute chart or scalp using our other timing tools in that direction		The more volatile the stock the more powerful this trading indicator is.  Few stocks move as much as Google and as you can see on this one minute chart, it found a fantastic Short that made $1+ and a Long trade that made over $2 all in an hour and a half.

Probability Bands - 65, 80, 88 and 95% Probable High & Low
Plotting the most likely reversal areas before the day even opens, you will not find this indicator in any other platform.  In the above example 3 days ago it reversed to the penny at the 65% Probability Band.  The next day the low was the 95% Low Probability Band.  On this day the low was just a tad under the 88% Low Probability Band.  Use this tool for a high probability exit profit target or look for reversals at these levels.		As you can see from this example, the Probability Bands are an amazing reversal area.  On all three days the above stock sold off from its 88%, 65%, and 65% High Probability Band.  The reason this tool works is because institutions that manage hundreds of millions of dollars use this concept to know when to heavily buy/sell and they often stop prices right at these levels.  By you knowing this ahead of time you can exit your winning trades at these levels and enter low risk, high probability reversal trades here.

Other Tools That Will Greatly Improve Your Trading Results

1) Volume Profile Charts - Advanced Charting that shows you the Open / High / Low / Close but more importantly where all the trading activity takes place.  This shows you REAL support and resistance areas to buy and short and exit trades.  Why do so many traders lose money trading?  Human emotion!  Here's what often happens.  Many traders enter positions in a certain direction, they are wrong and it goes against them.  They sit and wait and sweat as they are losing money, sometimes a LOT of money.  Many exit with losses.  Others hold on tight and hope the market reverses.  When it often does and comes back to the area they placed their trades they are so relieved to get out with a small loss or breakeven they almost always exit.  This causes the market to stall at this level at the least and usually reverse.   These areas are often the lowest risk and highest probability trades! Without Volume Profile charts you are really trading blind.

Example:  In the chart below you can clearly see not only the open, high, low and close of each bar but where all the trading activity took place.  This works on all intraday time frames, Daily, and Weekly. Notice on the first day the HUGE amount of trading activity at $84.00.  It is not a coincidence that on the following day the stock can not get above this level.  In fact three and 6 days later it fails at this level.  As you can clearly see, those who bought at $84.00 were thrilled they could get out at break even at or near this level.  This caused selling and the market stalls at this level.  This is the most REAL support/resistance tool you will ever find and is fantastic for all traders - Intraday Scalpers, Intraday Swing Traders, Multi Day Swing Traders, and Investors to help perfectly time their trades.

2) Buy/Sell Pressure - Wouldn't it be nice to see in real time how much buying and selling is going on in the stocks you trade?

TopGun Software's Buy/Sell pressure tool lets you see just that.  Real time buying and selling and the ability to watch what the world's largest traders are doing.  You can set this tool to show Institutional buying and selling.

Buy / Sell Pressure - Watch Real Time Buying & Selling
Our buy/sell pressure tool is amazing.  It lets you visually SEE real time buying and selling.  In the example below you can see on the first 5 min bar in middle of chart how much more buying there is vs selling.  Also you can see near the close of the previous day there was mostly buying.  When the stock breaks out it is clear this will be a successful buy at $39.  It went up over $1 in less than an hour.  This tool will give you CONFIDENCE.		This amazing tool not only can help you find trades but also KEEP YOU OUT of bad trades.  Here is an example of low volume the first 2 bars of the day with slightly more selling than buying.  Then ENER breaks out with significant buying but the following bar there is a lot of selling.  In stocks where the breakout is real and there is likely to be continuation you do NOT see this.  This gives you an early warning that this trade is less likely to continue going up and as you can see it goes sideways on low volume for over an hour.
In this example you can clearly see that AET gapped up and during the first few bars pulled back a little yet there was still more buying than selling.  A lot of buying came in and provided support.  It went up about $1 over the next hour.		This is a great example of how well our buy/sell pressure works.  You can see there was some selling during the previous day but today the stock opened with HEAVY buying.  It went straight up $1.50.  This tool gave you the confidence to take this trade and hold for the nice move.

3) Multi Size Time & Sales Window- Watching trades in real time is a secret of the world's best traders.  "Reading The Tape" is what this is often called.  Our software gives you the best Time and Sales window you will ever find.  We let you watch 3 Different Size Traders buying and selling, and show you the Ratio of Buying vs. Selling.  This tool will give you CONFIDENCE!

In this example you can see our Time & Sales Window for EBAY.  The left window shows trade size less than 400 shares, the middle pane shows trades greater than 400 and less than 2,000 shares. You can set these values to whatever you like but we've found this works great for most stocks. The far right window shows what the largest traders are doing.  

Example - If you had bought EBAY you would feel comfortable holding as there was 270% more buying by small traders, 380% more buying in the mid size traders and 340% more buying by the largest traders.  There's no reason to exit this trade.

We color code Buying Green and Selling Red.  With this tool you can clearly see: 1) How frequently trades are occurring.  This is often referred to Trade Rate.  This lets you see if there is heavy buying activity now, heavy selling, or mixed trade. 2) How much Buying vs Selling is occurring in each trade size.  In the above example the smallest traders bought 364,290 shares and sold 133,160 shares.  The ratio of buying to selling shows 270% more buying than selling!  The chart clearly shows that the heavy buying lead to a nice advance. 3) Ability to Reset - What is so nice about this tool is you can reset the count whenever you wish.  Most traders reset this when they enter a position.  It lets them clearly see if the "Market Forces" are going their way or not.  This can be used to get out of bad trades earlier and reduce your loss.  Also it gives you confidence to hold winning trades longer and make more money.