Category: Featured

For the past couple of weeks not only has our local market crashed, but markets globally have also experienced the same fate as well. Trading opportunities have been hard to come by recently.

The best thing to do during times of extreme volatility and uncertainty is to sit tight and remain in cash until the opportunities arrive. Usually, the first set of trading opportunities will arise once the index hits major support levels. This happened when the $PSEi made its largest down day in HISTORY hitting back-to-back circuit breakers.

When the halt ended, names like $ALI, $AC, $BDO, $SM, and $SMPH began to show signs of recovery. Trying to pick the bottom of a market crash is no easy task, and it has resulted in countless traders losing money. However, it can be very rewarding if you’re able to accomplish it. We’re not saying that we’ve reached the bottom, but the relief rally from 4k levels towards 5,400 has definitely shown us a ton of opportunities to profit from despite the bearish environment.

The question many traders ask is what stocks should they keep an eye on during times like these?

The best way to spot potential reversals and outliers is through an objective process, we should separate our personal biases when going through the process of stock selection. Using the InvestaPRO, we have a set of algo-based generated watchlists you can take a look at while trying to spot potential opportunities in the midst of the current market environment.

If you’re looking for trading opportunities in cheap names that show value, you can take a look at these watchlists:

However, not everyone may be comfortable trying to pick the bottom or positioning in down-trending stocks. We understand that a lot of traders would rather wait for the reversal pattern to form and latch on to the market leaders in the first leg up of the next bull market. Here are some of the watchlists from the InvestaPRO that you should keep an eye on to spot the next potential market leaders:

We also took the initiative to ask a few users how their experience with the InvestaPRO has been so far. Our goal with this new feature is to make the entire process of stock screening much easier, effective, and efficient for our users. Here’s what they had to say about the InvestaPRO:

“Bago palang kasi ako sa market and hindi ko rin talaga alam kung ano nga ba dapat yun hinahanap ko. Pero salamat sa InvestaPRO, binibigyan ako nito ng solid watchlist sa mga stocks na potentially kumita. Laki ng tulong nito sa oras, performance, at lalo na sa learning ko!”

“Decided to go for the premium version of the InvestaPro so I can have access to more watchlists to be better prepared for each and every trading day. The premium watchlists filter out stocks even more which gives me the ability of choosing from only the best names based on the rankings shown. I am very grateful to the entire Investagrams team for their continuous efforts in creating products like these.”

In times like these, the worst thing you can do aside from not managing your risk is over-trading. Overtrading usually stems from allowing yourself to take low-quality trades due to the fact that you lowered the standards in your stock selection process. If you want to trade during market crashes, the thing you need to do is be ultra-selective. With the InvestaPRO and our algo-based generated smart-watchlists, choosing the right stock should not be a problem.

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Once we take our first step into the world of the financial markets, the information we usually seek is what’s the best stock or asset to buy as of today. We immediately search for buy recommendations or strategies focused on buying a stock. Many traders come into the market with the mindset of buying the best-performing stocks in the hopes of rapidly compounding their capital. There’s nothing wrong with this, but the problem is many newcomers to the market forget that there’s also the potential for financial ruin in any market. Most of the time risk management is forgotten about.

We discover the stock market either through something we saw online, a seminar we attended, or a friend who made some money in the market. However, what we usually see or hear is all the upside we can get if we begin our investing journey. What’s failed to be given the emphasis on are the potential catastrophic losses that can occur if done the wrong way.

It’s true that the stock market is the ultimate equalizer of wealth that has the potential to exponentially compound your capital. However, besides focusing on the amount of money we can make, we need to understand the risks involved as well. Most importantly, we need to ingrain in our minds that LOSSES will always be part of the game. Countless traders try to avoid getting losses, but the problem is losses are UNAVOIDABLE.

What’s important is managing your losses effectively and cutting them while they’re small. There’s a proverbial saying in the world of trading, “Keep your losses small and let your winners run.” This is something that has been followed by some of the best traders in history, but it’s easier said than done. In the words of renowned market wizard Ed Seykota, “The elements of good trading are 1. Cutting your losses | 2. Cutting your losses | 3. Cutting your losses. If you can follow these three rules, you may have a chance.”

You may be wondering, why does Ed Seykota have to be so redundant? Couldn’t he have said cut your losses just once?” Well, the reason why he puts the utmost emphasis on cutting your losses and not finding the best buying strategy is if you fail to cut your losses even once, it could mean the end of your career as a trader. If you miss out on a stock that goes up 100%, it may hurt but there’ll always be other opportunities. However, if you fail to cut a loss while it’s still small, sooner or later you’ll be taking the mother of all losses. All it takes is one big loss to ruin years’ worth of profitability.

Whenever we close a position, we want to see only three kinds of results. Either a big win, a small win, or a small loss. There should be absolutely no room for a BIG LOSS in this equation. As mentioned above, all it takes is one undisciplined day that you don’t cut a loss while it’s small to ruin everything you worked hard for. Remember, you’re dealing with your hard-earned money here.

Do you want to see what can potentially happen when you don’t practice risk management?

These are just some of the many names in the Philippine Stock Market that have gone down -70% and more in recent memory. This doesn’t even mention the numerous stocks that have suffered the same fate in previous years. This is also something that happens in ALL financial markets: Equities, Currency, Commodities, Cryptocurrency, you name it!

You will always take losses in trading, but the best way to treat it is the cost of doing business since it’s unavoidable. If you’ve read a good amount of trading books there’s always one theme that’s present; the importance of managing your risks. The examples above should be enough justification to encourage everyone to also give enough emphasis on handling the downside and protecting your capital.

Mga ka-Investa, this article was written in the midst of the market crash due to the Covid-19. We don’t know when the dust will settle and when the market will finally reverse, but what’s important for now is to practice risk management at the highest level. Until we’ve seen a confirmed bottom, we’ll never know how much further the global markets may drop. Risk management is what will keep you alive in the markets in times like these.

Godspeed, everyone!

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Veteran and newbie alike, no one is spared during a market crash. Well, not unless you have a stop loss and have the discipline to execute on it. If you’re someone who just came across the world of trading or investing, you may be asking yourself “What did I just sign up for?” That’s a good question, but what you need to understand is that the market always goes through these cycles. To keep it simple; the market goes through both good and bad times, it just so happens we’re in BAD times as of now.

What’s worse is in the Philippine stock market, you can only make money when prices go HIGHER. However, given the current market conditions, prices of most stocks are sinking faster as the days go by. This is unlike in global markets where you can make money while the price of the asset goes down, this is called SHORTING but will not be part of this article.

So you may be wondering, “What now?” “Is it the end of the stock market as we know it?” That’s another good question! For the benefit of the newbies out there, this is not the first or even the second time a market crash happened. There have been several crashes that have happened outside our lifetime, but the most recent one is the 2008 financial crisis.

Now the most important thing we need to know now is not when the bottom will happen, but rather what to do while waiting for the bottom to appear. In trading, you will never be able to call tops or bottoms. You may be able to do it a couple of times, but never on a consistent basis over a long period of time. However, you still need to be in sync with the market to spot potential opportunities once the reversal does come.

As Warren Buffet said, “Be fearful when others are greedy, be greedy when others are fearful.” But as we wait for the best time to get back in the market, what do we do now?

WHAT TO DO DURING A MARKET CRASH

1. CONTINUOUS LEARNING

There’s never a bad time to increase your knowledge, but now it is probably one of the better times to put even more effort into it. Instead of forcing trades while the market crashes, why not just take this time to find ways to improve your overall trading? Instead of forcefully trying to find low probability setups, it’s much better to use this time to sharpen your axe.

Your continuous learning process during this bear market can be in any form. You can consume quality content through books, online articles, videos, podcasts, and the like. Always remember, there is no one right way of learning. Everyone learns in their own ways, so find yours and go all-in! (Wag po all-in sa isang stock dedo po tayo diyan)

2. STAY IN CASH IN A MARKET CRASH

Again, in the Philippine stock market, we can only make money if prices go up. So the last thing you want to be in this dangerous market environment is fully invested. The best thing to do right now is to be patient and be at least 80% to 90% in cash. This also applies to those who trade global markets. Even if you can make money shorting assets during the crash you will need to remember that the volatility during crashes is on a whole other level.

Some people might think that staying in cash isn’t the best option since it’s basically like keeping your money in the bank with no interest. The whole reason you got into the stock market is to make your money work for you right? There’s a valid point in that argument, but what everyone needs to understand is cash is also a POSITION. Just because you’re not holding any stocks doesn’t mean you’re not doing anything.

Think about the cheetah, probably one of the fastest predators on the planet, doesn’t go for the kill unless the conditions are absolutely in its favor. So as we wait for the market to bottom, you will need to have the patience to deploy your capital once the odds are finally in your favor.

3. FOCUS ON THE OUTLIERS

Yes, it’s best to stay in cash during market downturns. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any opportunities at all. There will be a few stocks that may reverse much earlier than the general index, but note that it requires high-level precision to catch these plays. Also, the reason why you don’t want to totally not look at the market during deep corrections is that you want to keep an eye on the potential market leaders once the market bottoms out.

This is one of the most important lessons Mark Minervini, one of the best investors of our lifetime, shared in one of his bestselling books. The market leaders in the next bull market will be those who bottom out BEFORE the general index. Even better, those who are making NEW HIGHS or breaking out of consolidations while the index continues on its downturn. So once you see these characteristics in a stock, keep a close eye on it.

To those feeling disheartened by the difficulties in today’s market, do not give up. All of the best traders of all time went through these periods. If you lost a ton of money during this market downturn, you’re not alone. However, what matters most is how you bounce back from your losses. Even market wizards have gone through points in their trading journey when they got wiped out. What will define you as a trader will be how to persevere during the difficult times in the cycle, not the good times.

Godspeed, mga ka-Investa!

The InvestaPRO is our latest feature that does the screening and thinking for you! Using Investa’s Proprietary Ranking System, the InvestaPro makes your life easier by simplifying the stock screening process by ranking stocks based on Investa’s proprietary formulas which will allow to zero-in on stocks of your choosing. Through our algo-generated watchlists, you can now objectively create a trading plan for the top stocks that are part of the list.

In this article, we’ll be going through a quick overview of the InvestaPRO to show you guys how to maximize our new prominent feature!

How to use InvestaPRO

To access InvestaPRO, you will first need an Investagrams account. As of today, the InvestaPRO is only accessible on mobile devices so you will need to download the Investagrams app on your phone if you haven’t downloaded it yet. If you have Investagrams app on your phone, simply update the app to access the InvestaPRO.

You may visit these links to get the latest version:
Android ➡ http://invs.st/AndroidInvestagrams
iOS ➡ http://invs.st/AppleInvestagrams

Once you open your Investagrams app on your mobile device, simply click the “APPS” tab on the lower right side of your screen then click INVESTAPRO.

On the home tab of the InvestaPRO you’ll see all the popular watchlists you can follow. We’ve made five algo-generated watchlists absolutely FREE for all users! The other premium watchlists are available for a small fee.

The “Tags” you see at the bottom of the watchlists are simply so you can choose which parameter matters most in your trading, so you can click that parameter then you will be redirected to specific watchlists that use the tag.

Once you click on a watchlist, you will see the stocks in order of importance based on Investa’s Proprietary Ranking System. Now you can easily see which names to highly prioritize based on the rankings. Simply click the name of the stock you would like to focus on then you can automatically check out its details, chart, or add it to your watchlist.

The following tab focuses all the watchlists you’ve chosen to follow. The top three stocks per watchlist are also highlighted for quick and easy viewing.

The search tabs show all the available watchlists on the InvestaPRO, you can easily find any watchlist you would like to follow here.

So what’s the difference between the free and premium watchlists? To keep it simple, the premium watchlists use much more ADVANCED parameters that filter out the best stocks to keep an eye on objectively. However, whether free or premium, all of these watchlists are ALGO GENERATED. This helps avoids any personal and subjective biases when screening for stocks.

Just like we mentioned in our previous article release, our team created the InvestaPRO to make your trading much more easier and to add convenience to your trading. We understand that not everyone has the time screen for stocks in the evening or has the knowledge on how to use different screeners. Hopefully the InvestaPRO will not only create an impact on your trading, but also on the time you spend in front of a monitor.

Visit this page to find out more about InvestaPRO: www.investagrams.com/pro

Being a consistently successful trader is not a simple task, especially considering we’re playing in a zero-sum game. At first glance, many may imagine that being a trader means staying isolated in a room staring at a screen for the whole day. Well, that isn’t a lie. There are some who choose to become lone wolves, and there isn’t anything wrong with that. However, one thing we have to remember is being a human means we were biologically social animals. Sometimes, finding a community can be the right move to progress as a trader.

The life of a trader, especially here in the Philippines, can get lonely since not a lot of people can relate to our challenges and struggles. Given that there’s approximately around 1% of our total population investing in the stock market, and the majority of those people are most likely long term investors, we tend to just keep all our trading problems to ourselves. Again, there’s nothing wrong with that, until everything starts to pile up.

As social animals, we operate at our best when it’s with other fellow human beings. Now that doesn’t mean we need to begin trading as a group, but it wouldn’t hurt to find a trading buddy or two to share your experiences with. Or even better, try to find a community of traders who can help speed up your growth. We’re pretty sure you’ve heard this quote before, but we just want to reiterate it: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

So do we recommend finding a community? Absolutely!

However, just as choosing who will be part of your inner circle, you will have to choose your community wisely. You become who you spend most of your time with, so being with a community that embodies bad habits and disempowering beliefs will only derail your growth as a trader. So now the question is, how do you find the right community?

FINDING A COMMUNITY

1. ASK

Now before we focus on how to find the RIGHT community, let’s begin on how to actually find or form a community of traders. This one might be obvious, but it’s something people tend to avoid doing. If you want to try and find a community of traders all you have to do is ask. Post on Investagrams that you’re trying to find or form a group or traders who will help each other on the road towards profitability. You can also chat traders you follow using the InvestaChat to see if they’re near your area and willing to meet up for coffee or even join any traders’ community related to your interest/preference.

2. ATTEND EVENTS

Another great way to meet new people and potentially join a community is by attending investing/trading related events. It doesn’t need to be a big event that only happens once a year, you can find great people even in smaller seminars. Not only do you learn more about trading by attending events, but also gain the opportunity to build relationships with like-minded people.

FINDING THE RIGHT COMMUNITY

1. VALUES

When finding or even creating a community, one of the key considerations needs to be the values the people emulate. This may differ from person to person, but it’s important that the people within the group share the same values. Some great characteristics or values members should have could be honesty, integrity, passion, perseverance, dedication, accountability, openness, and the like.

2. VISION DRIVEN

You want to be with people who have a vision of the future. You want to be surrounded by GOAL-DRIVEN individuals who not only have goals for themselves but who also set out goals for the group as well. When you’re spending time with people who have a vision of what their future will become, you also strive to do the same especially if you’re conservative when it comes to setting big and audacious goals.

3. SURROUND YOURSELF WITH PEOPLE AT HIGHER LEVELS

One of the best ways to improve is to learn from the direct experiences of someone who has been where you currently are. When you surround yourself with like-minded people you guys talk about the same things. However, when you surround yourself with people who have put in the 10,000 hours in the craft you want to master, that’s when things get tremendously great.

As we enter a new year, there is one thing that is surely in every trader’s mind right now: how can I trade better this 2020? 2018 and 2019 were no doubt very challenging years, even for the best of us. However, there was a key difference between both years; the 2019 market was challenging on a whole other level. 2017 was a roaring bull market which made a ton of investors a lot of money, and a lot of people resigned to become full time traders. However, in early 2018, little did we know that we were at the tail end of that amazing bull run. Before the bulls went home they made their final run in the form of $NOW, $HVN, and $VITA to name a few. But when the world needed them most, they vanished. (Yes Avatar pun intended).

But there’s a huge disparity between the 2018 and 2019 market environment; in 2018 we were in a bear market, while in 2019 we were in a whipsaw market. After the bull run topped at 9k levels, we immediately experienced a turn in the market. We were in a downtrend, and it was obvious. And that’s the best part, the fact that it was obvious. Knowing that we were in a bearish environment, any trader could’ve simply remained in cash and wait for potential outliers.

The next best part about 2018 is despite being in an overall downtrend, there was a ton of speculation going on. I’m pretty sure most of us remembers the telcoserye and how that went down. There were also other outliers like $ATN, $FB, $PPG $ABA, $VUL, etc. There were obvious times where we needed to remain in cash, and there were obvious times where speculation led to several opportunities. 2019 was a different animal.

Starting off 2019 was actually a good period, bears were still mostly in control but there were still a couple of outliers like $WLCON, $GREEN, $HOUSE, $PHEN, and $HLCM. But the latter parts of the 2nd quarter all the way to the end of the year was totally different. Yes there were still opportunities in names such as $KPPI, $PPG, and $MWC, but for the most part we were in a whipsaw environment.

Unlike in 2018, the 2019 market had no clear direction. If you didn’t have a macro view and relied purely on technicals, the market has basically been sideways. Every time the sentiment shifted negatively, that’s when the index begins to rebound. Then every time the index tries to break key resistance levels, it gets sold off a few days after. It was “A Death By A Thousand Cuts” type of scenario.

Nevertheless, it’s a start of a new year. We’re not in blue skies yet, but that doesn’t mean we can’t find ways to improve our trading. Let’s take this beginning of a new decade as an opportunity to become better and wiser traders. Here are a few tips on how to trade better this 2020:

TIPS TO TRADE BETTER THIS 2020

1. TAKE RESPONSIBILITY 

One of the key things we all need to begin doing this year is to take responsibility for ALL of our outcomes. This includes all the mistakes, difficult periods, and setbacks. There’s always one common phrase we hear whether it’s from our trader friends or on social media, “Hirap ng market eh!” That’s a phrase we need to stop saying in order to truly take responsibility.

Blaming the market for a drawdown is an excuse. We do not control what the market does, so what we should focus on are the factors we have control over. We have control over our entry, stop loss, position size, strategy, work ethic, discipline, and the like. It’s time to begin focusing on those and taking full responsibility for all our results and outcomes.

2. JOURNAL RELIGIOUSLY

In his book, Think and Trade Like a Champion, Mark Minervini mentions how conducting regular post-performance reviews made him a market wizard. It doesn’t take much to journal every trade you make, all it takes is the discipline to turn this into a habit. Even summarizing all your trade logs doesn’t take much time since everything is automated these days.

If you’re an InvestaPrime+ subscriber and have access to the InvestaJournal, all the fancy graphs and advanced analytics are automatically computed and shown after every trade log is entered. The same goes if you have a handy excel sheet. Most of the effort happens when you actually analyze all the numbers and statistics. As Mark Ritchie, famously known Momentum Master, said, “You find some of the best ‘Aha’ moments when you study your previous trades.”

3. RISK MANAGEMENT

You’ve probably heard this over and over: “Cut your losses and let your winners run.” It’s also most likely in almost all trading books just simply rephrased to avoid boredom. Well, it’s said again and again for a reason: IT’S FACTS. There’s a reason why the importance of risk management is in most trading books and interviews with some of the best traders.

Ed Seykota, world-known market wizards, said that three key things you need to do to have a CHANCE of being a successful trader is: 1. Cut your losses 2. Cut your losses 3. Cut your losses. Ask any market wizard or successful trader you know, they will always mention that risk management is key to becoming profitable.

4. PREPAREDNESS

Here’s another thing we hear all the time, “Have a trading plan.” It’s also probably something most of us do religiously already. But there are still some out there who trade on impulsive behavior, which may work in some cases but for the most part, will not benefit you in the long run. Trading out of sheer impulse may get you a winner or two, but do this on a consistent basis and you’ll eventually run into a stock that goes up 15% in three minutes just to go down another -20% the next. If you want to trade better this 2020, you need to have a plan for all scenarios.

5. COMMITMENT

You don’t lose when you lose all your money, you lose when you QUIT. Any trader can make one winning trade that can change their life, but to make money consistently from the markets over a long period of time requires a deep-rooted commitment to becoming the best trader you can be. In the words of Javi Medina during InspirePH, “You have to COMMIT to MASTERY!” Without that undying commitment for the game, small bumps on the road will bring you down instantly. If you want to trade better this 2020, you NEED to have that undying commitment.

Also, only those who commit to mastery put in the work required to become great. Always remember, anything great won’t come easy. You have to dedicate a tremendous amount of time to be one of the best at this craft, you have to become a perpetual learner. When the going gets rough, when your back is against the wall, and all odds are against you, the only thing that will keep you up is your undying commitment to become the trader you always BELIEVED you can become.

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We all know that beginning your investing journey at a young age will reap tremendous benefits in the future. Even if it’s not in the context of trading; if you’ve attended a basic investing seminar you would’ve probably heard that the younger you start, the better. Imagine how much more impactful it would be if you started trading as a student. Nevertheless, whether it’s trading or investing, starting on your journey towards financial freedom at a young age is a HUGE advantage.

If you’re a student reading this article you may be saying to yourself, “I’m too young, trading as a student is impossible” or “Investing is only for those who are already working.” Let us be the first to tell you, there is NOTHING hindering you from starting your journey at a young age. The only thing stopping you from achieving financial freedom is your own disempowering beliefs. In order to succeed in trading as a student, you will have to believe with all your heart and soul that YOU can do it. Your age will never define what you can or can’t do.

But don’t go thinking that everything’s going to come easy since you started early. It’s without a shred a doubt going to be a difficult challenge, but great things shouldn’t come easy anyway, right? One of the defining factors that will lead to future success in the market is your willingness to PUT IN THE WORK! Now that we got that out of the way, here are a few advantages of starting your trading journey as a student:

ADVANTAGES OF TRADING AS A STUDENT

1. TIME

The biggest advantage young people have above all else is TIME. You have more time to learn, make mistakes, refine your strategy, and learn more about the markets. However, you will also need to have patience in a longer-term perspective and understand that the success you seek in trading won’t come quickly.

We tend to overestimate what we can accomplish in a year and underestimate what we can do in five. What’s important is you have to understand that achieving success in the markets is a long process, but also have the balance to know that a ton of work will need to be done on a daily basis. Oh yeah and you also benefit from compounding interest, but you already know that.

2. LESS RESPONSIBILITIES

Don’t get us wrong, we know that you all have your own responsibilities and circumstances. Being in school feeling academic pressures is no easy task to deal with. However, that’s mostly where the struggle ends for most students.

You don’t have to provide for your own family yet, you don’t have to pay for someone else’s education, you don’t have to deal with real estate, tax, and the like. You guys are at the time of your lives where you may possibly have the least amount of responsibilities to deal with. It’s much harder for a 40 year old person to go all-in on becoming a great trader considering that person may have a full-time job and three kids.

3. YOU BECOME FINANCIALLY LITERATE

Before you even begin on your investing journey, we all know that you will need to start saving up money first. By wanting to start trading as a student, then that means you also build good financial habits you carry over once you get older. Eventually, you will also begin building an emergency fund, getting some form of insurance, all while going through your trading journey.

TOMATRADER’S TIPS FOR TRADING AS A STUDENT

We have a good amount of teammates here in Investagrams who began trading the stock market while still in school. Our youngest teammate, TomaTrader, began his investing journey at the age of 16 when he was still in first-year college. We asked him to give a few tips and tricks for everyone looking to navigate their way through the financial markets while navigating their way through life as a student as well.

What’s up, mga ka-Investa! I’m more than thrilled to share a few tips I have for all the current and aspiring student traders out there. First of all, just the fact that you’re reading this article up to this point shows a level of dedication that only a few have. So kudos for that! Now let’s get going with a few tips I used when I was still a student trader:

TRADING AS A STUDENT TIP #1: ASK PERMISSION

Now, this tip is pretty basic, you may have some professors who don’t allow the use of gadgets during their class or the use of gadgets for things unrelated to what’s being done in class. I got caught a couple of times myself, so I simply asked all my professors if I could trade during class. Well, they all allowed me and it was great!

TRADING AS A STUDENT TIP #2: USE THE RESTROOM WISELY

Now before I continue, I’d just like to say that I do not promote cutting your classes just to trade. BUT I didn’t say you couldn’t use the restroom. There may be an instance where a professor may not allow you to trade during his/her class, so the only way for you to quickly execute on your trades is to step out of the class. What better way than to use the restroom really quick, right? But make sure you come back after a few minutes!

TRADING AS A STUDENT TIP #3: SET ALERTS

This may sound like a plug since I’m already working at Investagrams, but the INVESTAWATCHER played a huge role in my ability to latch on to huge winners even if I was busy with school. Even if I was allowed to trade during class I didn’t just glue my eyes to the screen. So with the InvestaWatcher’s real-time alerts I was able to quickly pull out my phone or laptop and quickly execute on my already set out trading plan.

To know more about TomaTrader and see his market and stock insights, you may follow him via this link: Tomatrader at Investa