As I consider quitting my job as a computer programmer and becoming a day trader, I have been thinking about the changes that will have to be made to my trading style. Currently I would consider myself a “position trader” - I buy a stock and may hold it for many months. The chart of the stock plays an important role in my decision to buy or sell. Usually I will examine the 6-month or 1-year chart of the stock. How different will it be to trade with an intraday chart? Consider the following three charts:

One is an excerpt from an intraday chart, one a 3-month chart, and one is a 10-year chart. Can you guess which is which? Click on the one you think is the intraday chart to see if you are correct.

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Thank you to Kathy Yakal and Theresa Carey for featuring uglychart.com in the Electronic Investor section of Barron’s this week (p. 46). I appreciate the plug - thanks!
For the new readers - check out the charts & research page for some of the stuff that was mentioned in the article. You can also access all past posts to the blog from the archives links on the left of the page.

I have been offered a proprietary trading position with a firm and I was wondering if any readers have had any experience with this and could give me any advice or opinions on the matter. I would be putting up and risking some of my own capital but I would have access to much greater leverage. Thanks for your help.

“It is one of the great paradoxes of the stock market that what seems too high usually goes higher and what seems too low usually goes lower.” - William O’Neil

– Click here for today’s full list –

“It is one of the great paradoxes of the stock market that what seems too high usually goes higher and what seems too low usually goes lower.” - William O’Neil

– Click here for today’s full list –

“It is one of the great paradoxes of the stock market that what seems too high usually goes higher and what seems too low usually goes lower.” - William O’Neil

– Click here for today’s full list –

The chart doesn’t single it out - PTN is not making any new all-time highs. However, there has been some recent action with news of its new inhaler-delivered love drug, PT-141:

New York magazine reported that women who took part in trials within minutes felt a “tingling and a throbbing” along with “a strong desire to have sex.”

Men told the magazine a snort made them feel “younger and more energetic” as well as eager for sex.

“You get this humming feeling,” one man told the weekly. “You’re ready to take your pants off and go.”

Do you have trouble reading uglychart.com at work, with your boss always looking over your shoulder? Now you can view it without worry using Ghostzilla - an invisible browser that blends in to your work applications. I hear that there is also work being done on a browser that is completely invisible to the naked eye and can only be seen on the screen with special glasses or contact lenses.

Good morning, my name is Ugly, and I am a loser. I have it in me to do serious financial damage to my account.

Dear Diary,
The market is on fire and it doesn’t look like it is going to stop anytime soon. Based on the charts I predict that it will continue up until it doesn’t.
CMTL has a nice strong chart.
GOOG is the man.
A reader informed me that CMED was not on the all-time high list. It is now, I apologize for its absence. It must have fallen through the cracks. Nice one.
The MDY keeps plugging along.
Gold is doing well. If you have made money, careful that your EGO does not swell. Keep it in check and trade like a samurai.
PNRA is rising.
I think TOMO could fly - keep an eye it.
I like the looks of NILE.
Nice move on ADZA today.

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“It is one of the great paradoxes of the stock market that what seems too high usually goes higher and what seems too low usually goes lower.” - William O’Neil

– Click here for today’s full list –