Building Searches

One thing I have noticed in the past is that, as a computer guy, I can find easier ways of navigating a program or website than my non-techie friends. So, I have started my portfolio building process using the investools website and thought I'd pass along the "easy" way I found to build a Bullish portfolio.

First, my instructor, Michael Drew, pointed out 3 pre-built searches to start learning from: Under ProSearch Backtested there is "Great Earnings, Sales and Cash Flow Growth" and "Strongest Stocks in Multiple Time Periods" and under Prebuilt TurboSearches there is "High Scoring Stocks with Positive Industry Momentum." Open each of these searches and click Select All and then Add these stocks to a Portfolio. Add the symbols to your Bullish portfolio. You should have a very large portfolio at this point . . .


Open the portfolio and switch to the "Auto Analyzer" tab. This tab summarizes the phase 1 and 2 scoring. By clicking the F/E score twice, you can sort the stocks that don't pass F/E Score (part of Phase 2) to the top. Select the ones without green arrows and delete them. Do the same with Price Pattern. If you have a volatility preference, you can do that here too . . . Now you have a portfolio from the 3 big searches with stocks that don't pass phase 2 weeded out.

No switch to the Technicals tab. This tab colors each of the technical indicators according to whether it is neutral (black), green arrow (green) or red arrow (red). Sorting by one of the indicators can give you an easy to read view of where each of the stocks is by arrow. The numbers indicated how many days since the indicator turned . . . nice!

The last step is the most painful. I have sent an email to investools to get the to fix this. You will want two windows open, or a piece of paper handy. Switch to the Thumbnails tab. Scan the charts for any down-trending stocks. Remember, as we learn, we don't buy stocks in a downtrend. Write down or use the other window to remove the stocks in a down trend.

Tada! 4 quick steps to building a portfolio of bullish stocks. Adding alerts to these is another pain point. You have to click each of the technical indicators for each stock you want an alert on. I'd like to see portfolio level alerts or at least an easy way to add all the technical indicator alerts.

Training Hard

Well, the vacation is over and our training begins for real. I have worked my way through the course material and I am getting my searches set up for my weekly review. I am getting my accounts set up, transferring 401(k)'s and such. Wow, it is a pain, but I can't wait to be done with it.

I don't have a lot of wisdom at this point, but wanted to give an update. AAPL, PCU and FCX have all done well. The paper trade will likely go south, but the long investment is looking good for FCX. I need a strong confirmation of a rally today. If that happens, I expect to see a new support form for FCX along the trend line as we head into earnings season!