About

There are two authors here: Lionel Silva from Ipog LLC and Brian Broske from Optimum Systems. We are full time traders and investors who started this because people asked us to share how we are so successful. Unfortunately most people we know lost lots of money recently. Both of us have been profitable. Brian is the originator of the trading systems featured here.

The goals of this site are to:

• help others be more financially successful by sharing our trading and investing knowledge
• share valuable resources for stock traders
• provide a place where other stock traders can interact so we can all benefit from their shared wisdom.

Lionel Silva, PhD

I have been investing and trading since I was a teenager (late 1960’s). My focus has always been on capital preservation (”staying in the game”), then returns. In other words, I focus on risk first, then reward.

Asset Classes

This focus quickly led me to study and implement asset allocation, into different asset classes and within asset class. From early on I deployed my money into precious metals, collectibles, treasury bonds, foreign currency and equities (stocks and mutual funds).

Later as my portfolio grew larger I diversified further by entering into commodities (futures), options (on stocks, indexes and futures), real estate, active businesses, oil and gas. Much of what I learned about asset allocation came from the Oxford Club (lifetime member), somewhat from the AAII, and most recently from Loral Langemeier at Live Out Loud (Loral’s Big Table #20). In this blog, I focus on equities but will describe asset allocation too, since that has been key to my success. I have never had a calendar year loss greater than 10%, mostly due to my asset allocation strategy and capital preservation focus. That dates back to the late 1960’s!

Methods and Systems

For stocks and funds, the key systems I have used are Value Line, Morningstar, Telechart, Omnitrader and VectorVest. VectorVest is my current favorite.

Depending on my planned holding period, etc., I use some fundamental analysis. I like undervalued stocks if I am planning on holding for a while. In the past I used much more technical analysis than now. I have built many market timing systems, over different time periods. I helped Brian incorporate some of my timing experience into the stock trading systems he developed.

While most people focus almost exclusively on when and what to buy (timers and stock selection), I put more emphasis on when to sell and how much to commit to a position (exits and position management). My approach in these areas is heavily influenced by the work of Dr. Van K. Tharp and Charles LeBleau. These advanced techniques used by professional traders have been applied to the stock trading systems featured here.

You can learn more about me from this interview of me by a prominent Australian trader regarding trading and trading plans.

Role on Blog

My focus here is primarily on stock trading and investing strategies and tactics. While I do help Brian with evolving the trading systems, that is not my focus here. I am also the blog administrator, which means I do all the web master stuff here.

More Info

You can get more information on me at linkedin. If you would like to connect to me on linkedin, join and send me an invitation (mention this blog in the invite). It is free! You can also follow me on twitter and on Facebook.

Tags: FAQ, options

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