Happy Memorial Day, traders…
Ben here.
I hope you’re enjoying your holiday. God bless the U.S.A.!
The best traders I know all have one thing in common … they study constantly.
Warren Buffett’s partner of 60 years, the late great Charlie Munger said:
And this doesn’t only apply to traders…
The best folks in any field study their craft meticulously (even after achieving professional success), while those who don’t tend to dwindle away into mediocrity.
If you aren’t willing to study hard, you’ll be quickly outpaced by those who are.
That said, I know studying isn’t as fun as trading…
When I was playing college basketball, practice was never as exciting as the big game — but it was critical to victory.
(Yours truly, playing center for the University of New Hampshire, 2004)
And since the market is closed today, you have no choice but to study.
I might sound like your parents telling you to eat your vegetables. (You may not like broccoli as much as pizza, yet you know it’s good for you.)
But remember this: Winners do the hard work that losers aren’t willing to do.
With that in mind, let me show you how to use your day off to study like a pro…
3 Study Tips I Wish I Knew Years Ago
Study Tip #1: Build Your Watchlist
As many of you know, I send trade alerts out to Spyder Members almost every day.
While I’m happy to help point you toward setups that intrigue me, my watchlist can’t replace one that you build on your own.
I can’t tell you what (or how) to trade. You’ve gotta trade the setups that work for you.
So, at the beginning of each week, take some time to build a killer watchlist.
Keep it short and simple — reserve your weekly watchlist for the best setups only.
That way, if one of the stocks you’re watching starts to make a big move today … you won’t have to go searching through a massive list of tickers.
Instead, your five-star setup will be right there — waiting for you to pull the trigger.
Study Tip #2: Identify Key Price Levels
If you read my watchlists or watch my webinars, you’ve probably noticed that I often talk about the importance of key price levels.
This is because key price levels have helped me as much (or more) than any other technical indicator throughout my trading career.
I use these levels as goalposts for my trading as they tend to map out areas of support and resistance.
If a stock regularly bounces at a certain price on the way down — that’s support.
If a stock gets continually rejected at a certain price on the way up — that’s resistance.
After so many years of trading the stock market, I’ve noticed another consistent trend around key price levels … they tend to correspond with big round numbers.
Traders have a psychological sensitivity to round numbers like $10, $50, $100, $500, etc.
Time and time again, you’ll see stocks bounce (or fail) near these critical levels.
This isn’t a coincidence — it’s psychological resistance.
If you can get a grasp of how to identify key price levels, you’ll give yourself a superpower in the stock market.
Study Tip #3: Make a Game Plan
All of the studying in the world will be entirely useless if you don’t form an airtight game plan for every possible outcome of your trades.
After all, the stock market is like life — wildly unpredictable.
Back to my basketball career for a minute…
When I started playing for the University of New Hampshire, I had big plans and goals for my career there…
Then, in a turn of events completely out of my control, I got injured. And then injured again. And then injured again…
Every season, I was plagued by a different injury, sidelined with a broken ankle, mono, torn ankle ligaments, a separated shoulder, knee surgery, two broken bones in my foot, and a broken jaw … in that order.
Naturally, I was forced to radically recalibrate my expectations for those seasons after taking so many shocking injuries.
The same goes for trading…
You could be exactly right on a trade thesis, only for some shocking headline to completely shake market sentiment out of nowhere … and ruin your entire play.
What will you do if your options contracts open down 50%? Will you cut your losses immediately (I hope so) — or hold a little while longer?
What if they open up over 100%?! Will you sell them all right away — or keep some contracts on the table for a potential home run?
These are the types of questions you should ask yourself today when you have time to strategize outside of active trading.
Planning my trades carefully and studying hard have helped me reach the level I’m at today.
By employing these study habits regularly, you can potentially get a leg up on lazy “traders” who don’t put in the work.
No ‘smart money’ bets today because the market is closed.
Have a great Memorial Day,
Ben Sturgill
P.S. If you want access to more ‘smart money’ sweeps (like the one that led to my recent 250% win on KDP)…*
There’s no better place to start than in my Spyder Webinars.
TOMORROW, May 28 at 7:00 p.m. EST — I’m hosting an urgent LIVE WEBINAR where I’ll reveal the MOST PROMISING ‘smart money’ setups I’m seeing this week.
Don’t miss out — CLICK HERE NOW TO RESERVE YOUR SEAT.
*Past performance does not indicate future results
