How to Use our Service

Please note that several questions in the FAQ section also address how to use our service.

Are you new to the market, a Novice Trader, or Expert Trader?

If you are new to the market we would recommend paper trading or investing a very small amount until you feel comfortable with your results. 

We believe that you should never commit an amount of money to the market that could alter your lifestyle if you were to lose it.  This has a tendency to make the trader defensive or unable to pull the trigger on trades that should be taken.  You will find that your results will be much better if you trade too small vs. too large.

How much you commit to your trading account is obviously your decision but we encourage our customers to commit no more than 15% of your net worth if you are a novice and no more than 5% if you are a beginner.  You can always be more aggressive later as you develop confidence.

Also, we use a five star rating for each stock pick.  The rating indicates how much capital you should allocate to a pick given the potential of the pick and what the bias of the market is currently.  For example, a 3 star pick would mean we suggest putting an average amount into a pick.  A 4 or 5 star pick means putting more in and 1 and 2 star picks would mean putting less than the average amount into the pick.

For example, you have 30K in your trading account.  Lets say you decide that you want to put $3000 into an average trade.  If you had a 5 star stock pick you might want to put $4500 into that trade and then put $1500 into the 1 star pick.  We don’t give exact percentages for the different ratings.  This is just an example of how someone might do it.  You should determine what you feel comfortable with in terms of how much you put in various stock picks.  However, we would recommend utilizing the ratings in some fashion.  If we are in a bear market that is very weak volume to the upside and, we won’t be rating our long picks as 5 star picks.  That would be very irresponsible.

We will also give the reason for the trade:  pre-earnings play, bounce off support or resistance.

You will also receive an entry point for the trade, a stop loss exit, and at least one profit point exit sometimes two.

It is your decision on how to enter the trades.  You can set an alert when the stock reaches the entry point then place the trade, which is the preferred method.  You can set an alert with many online brokers.  This will allow you to evaluate the stock after the alert has been set.  This keeps you from getting in on a huge move where the story of the stock may have changed in fundamental way.  The second method is to just set a limit at the entry price.  This will be more favorable for traders who can’t be near a device where they can enter a trade during the trading day.

You can set alerts for the stop loss exit points as well but we would recommend putting in a stop loss order with your online broker for stop loss orders.  As the stock gets closer to your profit point you will have to cancel the stop loss order before you will be able to place the profit point order.

The most important thing you need to know with this service is take your losses.  Many traders take a trade and then when it moves against them they become long-term investors.  Trading is about playing great defense.  If you are down by two touchdowns at the end of the 1st quarter it will much more difficult to stage a comeback vs. being down by a field goal.  This is the deadliest mistake a trader can make. 

Another mistake traders make is not taking partial profits on a stock when it moves substantially in their favor.  You don’t want to give it all back so take part of the trade off and then you still have the potential for more profit on the remaining position.

We will usually send out the e-mail to you by 10 pm (EST) on the evening before the market opens.  Sometimes we will send it out in the morning before the market opens (especially if the market conditions dictate caution).

If you have more questions about how to utilize our service, please contact us at support@crushthismarket.com
or call us at 423-544-3089.