Page 763 - How to Make Money in Stocks Trilogy

Breaking Boards: Successful Trades and Lessons Learned 57

“Everyone has a home run story to tell, but in the investing world, it’s the
singles and doubles that add up to real results consistently over time. To
steadily make money in the market, you must stay focused on preserving
capital and minimizing risk. Investing when the market tells you it wants to
go up—and staying in cash when the market starts to give signs of a top—
are the most important criteria to remain profitable over the long run.”

• KEY POINTS •

• The most important part of investing is to determine the
strength of the overall market. Read The Big Picture column
daily.
• Investing in an uptrend is the easiest way to make money.
• Watch for stocks making new price highs counter to the
general market; this shows strength.
• Search for stocks breaking out of base patterns or areas of
consolidation after a new uptrend begins.
• Aim for singles and doubles for consistent results.

Using Leaderboard to Save Time

Kathleen Phillips likes Leaderboard, a streamlined list of IBD’s top per-
forming stocks, “because it focuses on current market leaders that are ready
to break out from their base patterns. The Leaderboard charts are anno-
tated, showing the base pattern and the buy point. This saves me a lot of
time by focusing on the very best stocks in the market with top fundamen-
tal ratings. I have done very well with stocks from the Leaderboard list,
including Baidu, LinkedIn, Monster Beverage, Rackspace Hosting, and
Tractor Supply. Leaderboard saves me a lot of time, and I have a lot of con-
fidence in the product because I know the top editorial staff at IBD picks
stocks for the list.”

Rackspace Hosting. 24% gain
Tractor Supply. 34% gain