An occasional enjoyment of mine is trying to catch some photos when we're out on an
adventure.  Here's a couple of shots from our recent family holiday in Winchester Bay, Oregon. ~Scott


        

On the ChartSmith Weekly Market Updates and on Special Reports located within the website we have included fundamental news and information on various commodities.  When it comes to actual trading decisions our decisions are primarily based on technical chart data. 

Here's some thoughts on technical vs fundamental...

     Charts give us the up-to-the-day information needed for making actual trading decisions.  Each day's trading range has incapsulated the opinion and emotion of the world's trading clientel--taking into consideration supply & demand issues and concerns, the vote has been cast and the open-high-low-and close tell the story without human emotion.  The prices represented on the chart are what they are, plain and simple, and based on specific factors as described in ChartSmith-Forging Your Financial Future, we can create trading plans that place the odds of success greatly in our favor while simultaneously reducing risk. That's the way we like it.

     As for fundamental information, many of you have heard me call it "funny-mentals". The credit for that term goes to Mr. Ed Seykota of South Lake Tahoe.  Funnymentals is a great description because this type of market information includes mostly ambitious opinions and emotionally driven sensationalized thoughts and ideas with sprinkles of factual data.  Obviously this makes for a tough combination when trying to make sound trading decisions, not to mention attempting to stay committed to one's decisions.  Like the legendary trader, Ted Warren, said in his book, How to Make the Stock Market Make Money for You, "...the trader (speculator) begins to run at the sight of his own shadow..."

     Funnymentals are a part of the investing marketplace that Shawna and I find interesting and fun.  This is why we love to include tidbits of recent news items along the way, keeping in mind that the fundamentals are more for entertainment than anything else.  

     Technical vs fundamental; now you know that we likem' both, but for two distinctly different reasons.  

To your ongoing success (and fun!),  Scott
 

July is commonly known to be a vacation month for many of the floor traders on the exchanges.  As such, this can create a situation where trading volume dries up and the markets are not as fluid as usual.  The result can be an extra dose of volatility in price action.  We're mentioning it here just so you're aware of the market's ability to seem a bit more rambunctious when planning out your trades. 

To your trading success, Shawna

Just looked at the weather forecast for this weekend--Phoenix is calling for 113 degrees F.  Ouch!  Enjoy the weekend and try to stay cool!!!  Scott

To everyone that joined us at Jerona's Lunch & Learn yesterday, I want to say thank you. 

Thank you for the opportunity to talk and share some of the exciting aspects of the world of commodity investing.  I am honored and grateful to each and every one of you to have had this time and look forward to visiting with you again in the future. And, thank you Alan for your encouragement and kindness!

Also, Mary you are a jewel for hosting these wonderful lunches and you are appreciated by all of us!!!

Have a wonderfilled 4th of July, Scott