Short term trading with LVS

LVS seems to have a support line at 15ish and resistance at 20. It seems to go up and down between 15 and 20. If it goes back down to 15, it would seem like a good buy. Selling around 19 or 20 would give a good 20-25% gain.

What Does Cup and Handle Mean?

I was reading about how people should read charts as a tool to invest. One of the most common chart patterns is called the Cup and Handle. It seems a bit complex to read. Below is the description of it. I know this isn't the only thing you should look at when buying but one of the tools. It's worth looking at it.

A pattern on bar charts resembling a cup with a handle. The cup is in the shape of a "U" and the handle has a slight downward drift. The right-hand side of the pattern has low trading volume. It can be as short as seven weeks and as long as 65 weeks.

As the stock comes up to test the old highs, the stock will incur selling pressure by the people who bought at or near the old high. This selling pressure will make the stock price trade sideways with a tendency towards a downtrend for four days to four weeks... then it takes off. Below is an example of a cup and handle chart pattern:

A couple points on trying to detect cup and handles:   Length - Generally, cups with longer and more "U" shaped bottoms, the stronger the signal. Avoid cups with a sharp "V" bottoms.    Depth - Ideally, the cup should not be too deep. Also, avoid handles which are too deep since the handles should form in the top half of the cup pattern.    Volume - Volume should dry up on the decline and remain lower than average in the base of the bowl. It should then increase when the stock finally starts to make its move back up to test the old high.    Retest (of old high) - doesn't have touch or come within a few ticks of old high. However, the further the top of the handle is away from the highs, the more significant the breakout needs to be.

Invest in banks

Goldman Sachs dropped a good 5-7% late last week. This is mostly due to Obama's statement that the banks should be regulated and controlled so they cannot grow too large. The stock market overreacted and Goldman Sachs and most bank stocks fell. I expect them to recover as Obama should say something to appease the investors soon.

Gamble Gamble Gamble!!!

Las Vegas Sands (LVS) is a stock that was over 100 only a year and a half ago. Then it took a huge hit when the economy went bad and went down to 2 in March. However, it has since recovered some of that even though the economy did not really increase its fundings in 2009. I believe it was due to the drop in real estate values and the lowered income from less people gambling. I am thinking that it will increase again with business being driven by Macau where the Chinese are known to be addicted gamblers.

A good play on Baidu?

Stock play? With Google planning to leave China, is this a good idea to jump into Baidu? Without Google taking part of Baidu's market share, Baidu will most likely dominate, especially since they have the backing of the Chinese government. In addition, millions of people in China still have no way of accessing a computer or the internet for that matter. With the continuing growth and development of China, look to Baidu continuing to increase its market share.

Investing for dummies?

I opened up a stock trading account on scottrade just to see what this hoopla would be about. After the market tanked and hit its low in March of 2009, the stock market has gone soaring since then. Feeling as though I am missing out, I decided that I should invest some money to hopefully earn some money. I dabbled in it in the past but after the internet bubble burst in 2000, I stayed away from fear. Time has dissipated some of that fear so I am back to trying. Lets see how it goes.