Finance Trends Letter

Cannabis stocks have had a big run this year. With the recent legalization of recreational marijuana use in Colorado and Washington, and growing public support of further legalization efforts in the U.S., the nascent pot industry is springing to life.  If marijuana legalization goes national, which may happen in 10-15 years, estimates on sales could range from $10 billion to over $100 billion annually.     Marijuana stocks infograph via jointindustries.com Because there are few large cap plays on the sector, info on publicly-traded marijuana firms, mostly traded in the OTC market , has been a bit harder to come by.  Since we've been talking about marijuana legalization and cannabis stocks on Twitter and StockTwits (not the "royal we", but a group of us on the stream) quite a bit lately, I thought it'd be useful to put together a convenient list of publicly-traded cannabis plays here.  Disclaimer note : I've added some thoughts on microcap "penn

"True self confidence is your mental edge" - Dr. Andrew Menaker While it may not be as glamorous or attention grabbing as a post detailing the latest trading setups, psychology is a very important topic for developing traders.   Examining one's trading psychology and dedicating time to self-improvement in the hours after the market closes may be the difference between failure and success in your trading career. After all, the most important battle you'll face in the markets is not with other traders - it is with yourself.  So with that in mind, I'd like to share a video with you from trading psychologist, Dr. Andrew Menaker, that addresses this very topic. But first, a few more quotes - from experienced, big-time traders -  to help convince you! "The key to trading success is emotional discipline. If intelligence were the key, there would be a lot more people making money trading." - Victor Sperandeo "Unfortunately, most aspiring trader

An oldie, but a goodie... In Reminiscences of a Stock Operator , protagonist Larry Livingston (aka Jesse Livermore) reminds readers of an old phrase, "He went short of Harlem" , which veteran speculators used as a shorthand for "he went bust". Maybe the modern version of that phrase is, " he went short of Tesla ".  He shorted Tesla. http://t.co/UDMCJAhh2x $TSLA — David Shvartsman (@FinanceTrends) September 30, 2013 Your ego may be telling you that the stock is "overvalued" and the bulls are wrong, but the market is telling us that Tesla is an emerging new leader in its dynamic growth phase . The price chart shows a very clear uptrend in progress - demand for the stock is fueling its ascent (for now). Until the facts change and the stock chart reveals a topping pattern and a shift towards a "stage 4" decline (see Stan Weinstein and Mark Minervini for more on this), a long or neutral (on the sidelines) bias would likely