THE FOUNDATIONS
The bare necessities
As I said in the introduction, this book is not for absolute beginners.
But you don’t have to be hugely experienced either. Rather than
spend ages re-capping or qualifying what I have to say in the
strategies that follow, I thought it might be helpful to share a quick
summary of my trading methodology and what I expect of companies.
All of this thinking goes into every strategy that follows. It’s The Naked
Basics. Or, if you like, the bare necessities. Please don’t think any of
these strategies are designed to let me (or you) skip them. The strategies
rely on them (with some exceptions, which I will mention at the time).
Strategies are ways of putting the odds a little in your favour, or of finding
effective angles of approach, or of surfacing new trade ideas – not shortcuts
past the essentials.
You may have evolved your own set of essentials that have done you right.
Please don’t think I’m saying my way is the only way, or that you can’t use
my strategies without my basics. I just want to be upfront about the
background work and thought that goes into every trade.
You might be able to swap bits of the below, or add to them, with your own
stuff that works for you. That’s fine!
1. I check company reports and news for good, bad and neutral news,
using ADVFN.com’s ability to highlight phrases (ADVFN.com >
News > Highlight Phrases). I go into this in more detail in The Naked