[daddybyday]

Hello, All

Another NOOB question here (actually 2)

How much do you compromise on the signals?

I've been looking at tons of charts, and I've found quite a few that show a breakouts where the everything looks good, but the volume is not at the 2x level, or the relative strength is climbing but not above the zero line. Looking back at these charts, I see similar "imperfect" breakouts that lead to huge stage 2 moves. Do you tend to hold out for the "perfect" breakout, or do you tend to compromise a bit? If you do compromise, which of the criteria are more solid, and on which do you hold back a bit (i.e., will you allow volume to slip a bit, but hold inviolately to the relative strength requirement).

The second question has to do with stops, and trader versus investor stop strategy. In looking at charts, I generally will pull back to a 5-year chart. Say I have a stock that has a pretty choppy history, with really nice, strong stage 2 moves, but then dropping just as sharply, and giving back about half of the move before crossing the MA. With a position with that sort of history, do you ever say, "although I'm primarily an investor, on this positions I'm going to use a trader strategy with a trend line, to lock in the most gains based on a history of more (for lack of a better word) violent moves?" Or do you decide at a macro level that you are only going with setups appropriate for either trading or investing, and leave the others behind.

OK, one more NOOBISH question. As one who is just beginning to look at the charts on a weekly basis, I'm finding lots of charts that have broken out in the last 1-2 months. How far into a move will you generally buy (say that the move back to the MA has already happened). Do you tend to say, "Missed opportunity, I'll jump on the next one" or are you more likely to say, "Better late than never, this one seems to be moving will, I'm on it!"

I know that these are more personal decisions, just things that I'm thinking through as I'm thinking of crafting a strategy, and I'd love to hear some thoughts from the experts!

Thanks!

Tom