twitter quote

You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.

This is the essence of technical trading.  You are very much a surfer on the ocean, waiting to catch a big wave.  Sometimes you are carried far, sometimes you fall off.  Sometimes the wave dies as soon as you get on.  But you accept the (hopefully small) losses and keep trying.

The waves that will carry you far are the strong stocks with powerful volume.  Volume is key.  There are other elements like a small float and sometimes a high short interest that can create a powerful move (see SFLY).  Hot sectors can also push stocks.  ARMH sells components for iPads -- the stock trades at over 10x revenues but it won't slow down.  It will of course, slow down eventually -- but this is the nature of the ocean -- always changing.

You never get attached to these stocks.  How do you attach to a wave?  You ride the wave, you stop riding the wave, you ride the next wave.

Changing, changing, always changing.  But done right, your portfolio moves in a single direction.