He has been a user of Investagrams since June 2017 and has definitely impacted the learning curves of the newbies who are just starting out on their trading journeys. Chart Archer shares, on a constant basis, content created by Investagrams or other traders that can benefit those who are new to the stock market.
Here’s one of Chart Archer’s posts where he shares several pieces of content created by Investagrams specifically catered for newbies. We here at Investagrams aim to be the catalyst to enable 10 million Filipinos to invest in the financial markets, which is why we continuously create content in written, audio, picture, and video format that can help anyone learn about trading the markets. This is why we are extremely grateful to Chart Archer for consistently sharing our content to help others take control of their financial destiny.
Trading the financial markets is a zero-sum game, meaning in order to gain a profit another person will need to lose money or miss out on an opportunity to make money. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t people who also look to help others take advantage of the ultimate equalizer of wealth. All of us enter the financial markets to achieve financial freedom, but only a few choose to help others along the way. People like Chart Archer are the reason why our community continues to grow and strengthen.
Chart Archer doesn’t only post content created by Investagrams, he also shares the content of other high-level traders as well.
In addition, Chart Archer also posts some of his chart reviews and forecasts on a particular stock that he is monitoring that could help as guidance (but not a recommendation!) for you if you are looking at the same chart as well. See the samples below:
We wanted to keep this feature short and sweet, so THANK YOU Chart Archer for being a big contributor in the health and growth of our community. Without a doubt in our minds, we are sure that you have impacted the lives of many aspiring trades; that’s something to be very proud of.
Happy New Year Ka-Investa! A new decade has begun. We have a lot of things in store for you this year: one of them being the Investa Trading Grounds 2020 Season 1.
We, even before the beginning of the new decade, dedicated a huge amount of effort towards continuous innovation. You all know what our vision is; to enable 10,000,000 Filipinos to invest in the markets. However, we understood early on that not everyone may be hooked on trading. This is why we created a more fun and entertaining way of interacting with the stock market: the Investagrams Trading Grounds (ITG).
The amount of love and enjoyment we felt when everyone was able to play ITG for the first time was intense. Little did we know that we were able to create a gamified learning platform to make compounding your capital in the ultimate equalizer of wealth enjoyable. If you guys thought what we first released was the final output of ITG, think again!
Our team continued to find more ways to rapidly improve Investagrams Trading Grounds to make the whole experience even more gamified and enjoyable. What better way to make ITG more gamified than to implement mechanics similar to other online games? This is why we created a competitive environment: The Investa Trading Grounds 2020 Season 1.
We are officially launching Investa Trading Grounds 2020 Season 1 — a lot of amazing rewards and surprises await those who will be on top of their game until the end of the season!
Improve your strategy as you compete with other traders
Learn new techniques and disciplines in the process
The Investagrams Trading Grounds 2020 Season 1 brings many prizes
For the past three years, we have been hosting the Investagrams Trading Cuo – BIGGEST stock trading competition in the Philippines. The goal of the trading cup is to find and recognize some of the BEST traders in the country along with helping others jumpstart their investing journeys. Aside from your usual trading competition where we simply send over the cash prize to the winners, we require the Top 10 participants to defend their strategies in front of a live audience.
In line with our vision of increasing the number of Filipino investors to 10,000,000, we also want to inspire aspiring traders/investors or help shorten the learning curve of experienced traders through these defenses. Our Top 10 participants share their trading journey, top strategies, best and worst trades during the competition, and words of wisdom to the audience.
Every year, we look forward to meeting new and upcoming traders who are able to rise the ranks in our competition. Trading in and of itself is already extremely challenging, especially psychologically. That’s why countless market wizards talk about how important psychology is to have an edge in trading. Imagine what the participants of the Trading Cup have to go through; they don’t only have to manage their psychology in terms of their usual trading, they also have to handle seeing their rankings fluctuate on a daily basis.
This is especially true for the Investagrams Trading Cup 2019, the rankings were EXTREMELY close until the last day! The difference in total profit of the 2nd placer vs the 3rd placer was only 500 pesos, the 4th and 5th placers’ profits were only separated by 200 pesos, 6th to 9th place was only separated by less than 1,000 pesos, while the 10th and 11th placer were only separated by 100 pesos!
Investagrams Trading Cup 2019 Top 10 Regular Winners
The best thing about the past three Trading Cups is they were all done in different market environments. In 2017 we were in an amazing bull run which made it much easier to latch on to breakouts and ride winners for bigger moves. (Click here to watch the Breaking Highs Defense recap). In 2018 we were in a downtrend market, but there was a ton of speculation especially during the third telco fest. (Relive the moment of Outliers Defense and watch the video here). 2019’s competition was probably the most difficult as we were in a sideways market, which means everyone was prone to major whipsaws.
During the duration of the Investagrams Trading Cup 2019, there were also little to no speculative names popping out, not as much as compared to 2018. There were days that outliers could barely be found. Trading, let alone competing, in a whipsaw market is a very difficult task. Nevertheless, the WINNERS of the 2019 Trading Cup didn’t use that as an excuse to underperform. They showed true RESILIENCY in the face of adversity.
You’ve seen their results; it’s a product of hard work, perseverance, and extreme dedication. However, only one question remains: How did they do it? What strategy did they use? Learn from the WINNERS of the Investagrams Trading Cup 2019 during the competition defense this coming February 2020!
Watch out for our official announcement of the defense SOON!
Conventional wisdom tells us that in order to reap high rewards in any endeavor, a huge amount of risk must be taken. We’re here to tell you that this cannot be farther from the truth. Don’t get us wrong, there will be some instances where you may need to risk big to win bigger. However, if we’re placing it in the context of trading the financial markets, the “High Risk, High Reward” saying is not the absolute truth.
“Low Risk, High Return” is not something you’ll usually hear from your uncle when you ask him what it’s like to invest in the stock market. This is why many beginning traders go all-in on names that they think will go ‘TUDAMOON!’ Mark Minervini said it best in his book Trade Like a Stock Market Wizard; to cut it short, he gave factual statements showing that you don’t need to risk big to make a fortune from trading.
People who have an “I run on adrenaline” type of personality are usually those who do bad in trading. They’re in it to become a millionaire by next week, they want the returns to arrive instantaneously. However, what they don’t understand is that becoming a great trader is a process of perpetual learning. If you want to become a consistently successful trader you will first need to truly believe that you are running a marathon, not a 500-meter sprint.
If you’re in the markets seeking action, you will be very prone to breaking your own trading rules. Once that happens, all hope may be lost in an instant. Always remember, at any moment during your trading journey even just ONE mistake can lead to financial ruin. This is especially true if you fall for the temptation of going all-in because of the belief in “High Risk, High Reward.”
So what’s the best way to find “Low Risk, High Reward” scenarios?
1. You will first need to develop solid risk management parameters.
Above all else, you will need to have studied and applied solid risk management rules to your system. If you’ve read any of the market wizard books, you’ll know that RISK CONTROL is one of the most essential ingredients they mentioned needed for consistent success in all financial markets. Without proper risk control metrics, despite finding “Low Risk, High Reward” opportunities, you won’t be able to execute efficiently during times you will need to cut your losses small.
2. Have a RISK-FIRST mindset.
No matter how advanced or complex your risk management procedures are, without the proper discipline it will all be for nothing. The problem with most traders is that they only take into consideration the potential reward they will gain if their trade idea materializes. What they fail to take into careful consideration is the risk they’re taking. Whenever you make your trading plan for a specific stock, always remember to focus on protecting the downside first then the upside will take care of itself.
3. BE PREPARED!
Even with the most complex risk management parameters and the undying discipline to execute on your stops, if you’re not available to check the market at a specific time you might just miss out on cutting your losses small. This is a problem the INVESTAPRIME solves; all InvestaPrime subscribers gain access to the InvestaWatcher. With the InvestaWatcher, you will receive real-time price and news alerts via in-app notification, email, and SMS.
4. Understand how much RISK you’re taking in all trades relative to the REWARD.
This is definitely the most important factor you will need to consider; how much risk you’re taking in a trade relative to the potential reward. Conventional wisdom says that a Risk Reward Ratio (RRR) of at least 1:2 is ideal, but if you can find opportunities with 1:3 RRR or higher, then much better. Also, the best type of trades are those where the downside is limited while the upside of unlimited. We’ll be showing a series of examples for better visualization.
Here’s an example of a low risk, high reward trade. As seen in the chart, $ATN’s structural support was at around the 1.33-1.35 area and it was clearly in a trading range. While it’s major resistance at the time was around the 1.58-1.60 area. Having a swing trader mentality, you could’ve accumulated shares of $ATN at it’s support area then sold it close to its resistance. By identifying its support area, you could place a wide stop to give the stock more room or a tight stop (as used in the example) so you can quickly cut your losses in the case of a breakdown.
This is an example of a bad RRR trade. As seen in the chart above, the RRR is 1:1, meaning that you’re risking the same amount of money for the potential to make the same amount of money. Yes, if the trade goes as planned then you can make a nice profit. However, if you do this consistently in the long run, knowing that we’ll only be right less than 50% of the time on our trades, then at best your performance will simply be breakeven.
Here’s another example of a trade with a good Risk Reward Ratio, but this time in the context of a potential breakout. Seeing that $ISM was in a long consolidation, we should know that the longer the base the larger than potential breakout once price breaks the resistance. What you’ll need to do now is check a longer-term timeframe to find its multi-year resistance level as a potential target profit.
Looking at the longer-term timeframe, we now know that a good potential target profit area would be 7.50 to 8 pesos. And as we already know, $ISM was able to reach that area in only a few days time.
As seen in the chart, the RRR of this trade idea was 1:13 with an upside of 100% and a downside of only -8%. Take note, however, that trades like this don’t happen often. At best, these type of monster plays may only happen ten times per year.
IN CONCLUSION
In order to reap high rewards from trading the financial markets, it doesn’t necessarily mean that a great amount of risk needs to be taken as well. As traders, we will be wrong on our trade ideas at least half of the time. This means that in order to become consistently successful in our journeys, we will need to make more than we lose on a consistent basis.
The next day: “teka nasaan na pera ko?” Usually pag nagkakaroon tayo ng additional income eto yung mga naririnig natin.
Pero tama nga ba na dapat gamitin ang buong CHRISTMAS BONUS pang good time? Don’t get us wrong. It’s very important to also have a portion of your income spent on enjoying life. All of us work extremely hard to not only provide for our families but to also live a quality lifestyle. However, how much spending is TOO MUCH?
If you’ve been watching ourPersonal Finance Series here on Investagrams, you may recall our first episode where we tackled the state of the Philippines in regard to financial literacy. To cut it short, we’re still a long way from where we need to be as a nation. Let’s talk about a topic that often gets overlooked: HANDLING YOUR 13TH MONTH PAY.
You may be wondering, “Why focus on the Christmas bonus?” You’re right, there are so many other aspects we can focus on. We can talk about saving tips, budgeting strategies, and much more. However, we’re zeroing in on how to handle your Christmas bonus because it’s that time of the year again. While it’s just a bonus, it is still money that you can make the most out of. Rather than using it all on luxuries, let’’s tackle how we can be smart about it; while still enjoying the bonus for the holidays!
HOW TO HANDLE YOUR CHRISTMAS BONUS
1. PAY BACK ANY LOANS OR DEBTS
This may not be applicable to all. But, if you owe some money then it may be best to hold back on your samgyupsal cravings for a while. Take the Christmas bonus as an opportunity to pay off debts and lighten the burden on your shoulders. On a side note, try your best to avoid borrowing money from other people especially if it’s only to satisfy your wants. Eating out is great, but definitely better when you don’t have any debt worries after!
2. GIVE BACK TO THE COMMUNITY
Christmas time has always been known as the season of giving. Donating to charities or simply doing a kind deed for someone in need can go a long way. Of course, you don’t have to give your entire bonus away. Even small amounts can go a long way to impact the life of someone less fortunate. It’s also just something nice to do, especially around this time of the year. Humans are social beings, so helping out a fellow human should come naturally.
3. ADD IT TO YOUR EMERGENCY FUND
If you don’t have one yet, then now is the best time to start! Conventional wisdom says that you should have an emergency fund greater or equal to at the very least six months worth of salary. Not everyone can set aside cash for an emergency fund since we all have different circumstances. However, setting aside just half of your Christmas bonus can be a great start! Always remember, we will never know when a black swan event may happen. Better to be prepared than face the consequences.
4. INSURANCE. INSURANCE. INSURANCE
Speaking of black swan events, we will never know what may happen to us or any of our loved ones at any moment. As we’ve said, it’s best to always be prepared. You can use your Christmas bonus to begin investing in insurance. We won’t go deep into the different types since that would take up a whole article of its own. But, as early as now you can start doing your own research on them. There are many kinds and there should be at least one that fits your current situation.
5. MAKE YOUR MONEY WORK FOR YOU
Rather than spending your Christmas bonus on “luho,” why not invest it? It can be a great way to jump-start your investing journey! Anyone can learn how to invest, all you need is effort and dedication. To help everyone get started, we’ve released some guides to help you understand the basics. Of course, you can go over our vast resources to find information on fundamental analysis, technical analysis, and many more!
6. INVEST IN YOURSELF
One of the best investments you can make is an investment in yourselft. No matter what you do in life, there’s always a way for you to improve. May it be in the form of training videos, seminars, or books, investing in yourself is always a great idea. If you’re a trader, one of the ways you can invest in yourself is getting thePRIME ADVANTAGE. If you want to take your trading to the next level, attain your most powerful trading partner in the form of the InvestaPrime+. Curious about how it works? Check this out:
CONCLUSION
Again, it’s okay to use your Christmas bonus on stuff you enjoy. However, it’s not okay to splurge it all and then come back to your worries once the new year starts. We’re just pointing out that you shouldn’t spend ALL OF IT on impulse splurges. The importance of using your Christmas bonus wisely is that it forms DISCIPLINE.
If you can apply the same discipline in your day-to-day road to financial freedom, ‘edi solid diba? Always remember, it’s not just about how much you MAKE, it’s also about how much you SPEND.
As all of you know by now, our vision here in Investagrams is to be the catalyst that increases the investing population here in the Philippines to 10,000,000 Filipinos. In this article, we will be giving a few signs for you to check to identify if STOCK TRADING is for you. This is only focused for those who are looking to actively trade the stock market, this doesn’t include other financial markets like currencies, commodities, cryptocurrencies, and the like. Also, let us tell you that trading is not for everyone, but long term INVESTING is. This article will simply focus on five important signs to contemplate upon based on your own personal circumstances to know if trading the stock market is for you over than just simply being a long term investor.
Here are the five signs to know if the stock trading is for you:
1. YOU HAVE AN EMERGENCY FUND
It’s very important that you already have a good amount of savings, have already set up an emergency fund, and preferably already have insurance before you venture out into active trading. This is especially true for those who are already supporting a family. Trading the stock market involves a lot of risks, and losing money is simply a natural consequence of trading. Losses are unavoidable in the stock market, so placing all your money into your trading account knowing that you will also be using those funds to pay for your child’s tuition and the electricity bill is probably not the best idea.
If you’re still in your teen years or early 20s, then you won’t necessarily need to have all the items we mentioned above. Why? It’s because you have TIME. You have the time to work to make up the losses you incur in the market (if ever it comes to that point) and you may also not have the responsibility of providing for your own family yet. However, it’s still important to at the very least have some savings set aside.
You also have to be financially literate in the context of having the DISCIPLINE to follow your budget. How is that related to trading? When you start trading the stock market, you will need to create trading plans and also practice strict self-discipline. Anything less than that may lead to financial ruin, that’s why having the ability to follow a simple budget is very important.
2. YOU HAVE TO BE COMFORTABLE WITH TAKING RISKS
Every buy transaction you make in the stock market, whether it’s in the context of short term trading or long term investing, will always have a certain amount of risk involved. However, there’s much more risk involved in trading. When you invest in the long run, you would (ideally) take some time to research a specific company to see if it’s worth the investment and stick with it for a long period of time. In trading, you could hold a position as short as just a few seconds. When you’re trading you basically make more buy transactions which means you’re taking in risk much more.
But don’t forget, you’re taking these risks in the search of a much bigger reward. Conventional wisdom says that in order to reap a big reward you have to risk a big amount; high risk = high reward. Mark Minervini personally disagrees with this statement, stating that there’s a way to reap the high reward with only little risk involved if you buy stocks at low-risk entry points. Needless to say, there will always be risks involved. This is why you have to be comfortable with taking risks if you want to venture out to trading.
3. YOU HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO CHECK THE MARKET
When you’re a long term investor, since you’re looking at a longer-term timeframe, it’s okay to only check your holdings once a week whenever you’re available. However, if you want to trade the stock market it’s highly advisable to check the market at the very least once per day. Wanting to trade the stock market doesn’t mean you have to stare at your screens from 9:30am to 3:30pm, but it does mean that you will need to find time to check the market. If you’re unable to check the market in the morning, you can simply adopt and END-OF-DAY approach and only check the market between 3:00pm to 3:25pm, right before the market closes. If you really can’t make the time to check the market before it closes, then maybe long term investing would be a much better (and safer) option.
The reason why you need to check the market at least once a day is so you wouldn’t miss out on potential big winners and so you won’t hold on to losing stocks. You never know, that one day you couldn’t check the market might be the day a stock goes up 50% in one day or one of your positions drops -30% in one day. If you want to be alerted whenever your entry price, cutloss, or target profit is hit, you can always subscribe to the INVESTAPRIME in order to gain access to the InvestaWatcher so you can receive the real-time price and news alerts via in-app notifications and SMS.
Being a profitable trader, let alone a market wizard, is not something you will accomplish by watching a few YouTube videos and reading a couple of articles online. When you venture into trading the stock market, you will need to understand that you are ALWAYS a student of the market. The stock market always changes, so you will need to learn how to adapt in order to survive. Also, being a consistently successful trader is a process of perpetual learning; meaning you will need to continuously learn more and more about trading.
One of the major downfalls that cause many traders around the world to blow up their account is when they think they already know all there is to know about trading. Once you believe you already know everything, then there’s no area where you can improve on. If you don’t improve, your performance will remain stagnant. Due to that, many traders get frustrated and start going all-in on their positions in the hopes of achieving stellar performance just to eventually wipe out.
5. YOU’RE DEEPLY PASSIONATE ABOUT TRADING
This is the most important factor of them all, PASSION. We all go into the stock market seeking a way to achieve financial freedom; something we all aim to achieve. You have to remember: IF YOU WANT THE THINGS YOU’VE NEVER HAD, YOU HAVE TO DO THE THINGS YOU’VE NEVER DONE. Simply put, you have to work extremely hard to be great at your craft. Sure, you can go to half-baked, but don’t expect to achieve stellar results. If you don’t give your all in any craft, you won’t achieve it at the highest level.
It’s the same with trading; the only way to achieve triple-digit returns is to put in insurmountable effort to attain that goal. The only way a person would be willing to work extremely hard for something is only if she sees it as her passion. Ask yourself, would you put in so many hours each week working on something you hate? Probably not. Also, if you’re not deeply passionate about trading you might quit after a few rough times. You may miss out on an opportunity to achieve financial freedom only because you couldn’t go through the short term setbacks.
To conclude this article, to those who are still contemplating whether or not they should take the leap and begin trading the stock market, try to take into consideration the five points we enumerated above. However, these are all written guidelines, the best way to know if something is for you is to experience it yourself. If you want to experience what trading the stock market is like first-hand, then you can just simply use our virtual trading platform here in Investagrams so in this way you can experience trading without actually risking real money. Good luck!
If you’re like most perpetual students of the market, you’ve probably read a good amount (or plan to) of trading books. Many of which have been published even decades ago like Market Wizards, How To Make Money In Stocks, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, and the like. One common theme appeared in all of these old books; it was SO MUCH harder to trade the markets in the past. Many of these traders had to go on the floor of the exchange every day just to trade while we’re able to trade at the comfort of our homes.
The execution wasn’t an easy task either. Many of the traders back in the 1950’s – 1990’s, especially pit traders who trade commodities, had to go through an all-out screaming battle to get their orders filled. It wasn’t fast either, even if you traded at the floor of the exchange it took time for your broker to buy or sell your positions. With all the advancements in technology, along with the birth of online trading, executing trades can be done in mere seconds. Traders like Mark Minervini used to have to draw and update their charts by hand every single day. All we have to do is open up Investagrams to gain access to the charts.
Aside from being able to trade anywhere in the world as long as you have access to the internet, retail traders today also have access to features that used to only be available to institutional investors. Traders like David Ryan, Mark Minervini, Mark Ritchie, and William O’Neal didn’t have access to real-time price alerts, advanced screeners, automated analytics, and broker information when they were still in the early days of their journeys. Everything they did had to be done manually.
In today’s day and age, all traders, no matter where they are in their journeys, can have access to advanced features the traders in the books we read used to only dream of. No time to watch the markets? No problem, the InvestaWatcher’s got you covered with real-time price and news alerts. Don’t have the time to manually screen through stocks after work? No problem, the InvestaScreener+ will filter out all the stocks for you. Do you want to know the analytics of your trading to improve your performance? Then just simply enter your trades in the InvestaJournal and it will automatically compute all the statistics you need.
These are just some of the features all InvestaPrime+subscribers gain access to. Our tech team works tremendously hard to develop features that can help the community improve their trading. We interviewed Enzo Cagampan, an early InvestaPrime+ subscriber, to share his experience with the different premium features and how these have helped him unleash the best trader he can be.
Q: Why did you subscribe to the InvestaPrime+ and how has it benefited your trading?
A: Honestly, I wanted to grab the best option possible, moneywise. It cost PHP 5,998 and it included all the Investa products, the auto fib, auto sr, auto 52wkhl, and a booster pack (advanced learning modules) that is good for the year. What more can you ask for? Additionally, I wanted to have a streamlined, clear, and concise way of handling my trades. The InvestaJournal helped me assess my overall performance, and the effectivity of my different trading methodologies. The InvestaWatcher helped me during my busiest days when I couldn’t keep an eye on the market during school hours. The InvestaScreener also gave me a huge advantage to pick stocks that are at par with my standards (my parameters) with a click of a mouse.
Q: What’s your favorite premium feature in the InvestaPrime+ and why?
A: My favorite feature is definitely the InvestaWatcher. This feature alone has already provided so much value to me considering my personal circumstances. I’m still a student, so most of the day I’m busy with class. Not all my professors allow the use of gadgets unless permitted, so there are times I’m unable to keep an eye on the market. With the real-time price and news alerts all I have to do is feel my phone vibrate in my pocket then take a quick restroom break so I can execute if ever my entry, cutloss, or target profit is hit.
Q: Would you recommend other people to subscribe to the InvestaPrime+ as well? Why?
A: Definitely! Even for beginners in the market. As what I have said before, the InvestaPrime+ is INDEED UNDERVALUED. Also, the booster pack alone is worth more than what you have really paid for. This product is not only for individuals who want to take their trading to the next level, it’s also for those who have just begun on their trading journey or those who are too busy with their day jobs to watch the market all day.
The InvestaPrime+ gives those who are busy the capability to take advantage of the opportunities of the market. Having a full-time job or being a student shouldn’t hinder one from being able to compound their money; the InvestaPrime+ helps take this problem away with the real-time alerts from the InvestaWatcher and the fast filtering of stocks using the InvestaScreener+.
Q: How would you feel if the InvestaPrime+ suddenly disappeared?
A: With all honesty and objectivity, I would feel extremely disappointed. When the InvestaPrime+ was first announced, I was initially hesitant to subscribe due to the simple fact that I’m still a student and PHP 5,998 is a big amount for me. I could’ve asked my parents to pay for it, but I’m the type of person who wants to invest his own money into things that can help him improve. I really took my time in reflecting if I should invest in this product or just take my girlfriend out to Samgyupsal six times in a row (joke).
I thought about my personal circumstances, I knew I would benefit greatly from both the InvestaWatcher and the InvestaScreener+ since I’m busy with school work during and after market hours. These were the two features that I knew I really needed. After a few more days of deliberating, I finally made the investment. Let me tell you this, the InvestaPrime+ annual subscription was definitely a great investment; no cutloss needed.
I immediately made a return on my investment in the InvestaPrime+ on my $HLCM trade. I was in class when $HLCM broke out from its base, but luckily I was alerted by the InvestaWatcher immediately. I was able to buy it near 11 pesos then I sold it around 15 pesos. Also, I now journal my trades diligently and conduct monthly reviews of my performance with the advanced analytics given by the InvestaJournal. As of late, I have also been studying on how to use the InvestaJockey to add broker analysis to my strategies. Overall, I love the InvestaPrime+ and I would be extremely disappointed if it suddenly disappeared.
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