I too, have had better results this year in my mutual funds than in my trading account for the same reasons as you.

You should consider charging a few bucks,like the KirkReport does, to cover your time and expenses – except for your students, of course.

you have many followers who have a tough time following only periodic posts;
why not start a fee service that publishes daily for $100 year, 1000 subscribers should be easy;
It would be better if published daily, as another observer said if you are absent, people seem up in the air; I know we could look all of this up, if you take Worden.

Thanks for your efforts,

Jack in Florida

With regard to Proposition 3 of your trading philosophy you state that “one’s success in the market depends on identifying trends.” In research that I am doing for a statistics project, it has become glaringly apparent that many technical indicators rely on the assumption that stock prices are normally distributed. In agreement with your proposition 3, I have found that as stock prices become more stable in a prolonged uptrend they come closer and closer to a normal distribution. Subsequently, many technical indicators (I am looking at Bollinger Bands for my project) provide a significantly strengthened means of determining buy points. However, stock prices being time-series events cannot be normally distributed because they lack independence. Can you explain why this assumption of normal distribution seems to capture price movements given a stable market? Also, along with stability (reduced volatility and a clear directional trend), what are some other prerequisites for identifying an uptrend in which these indicators can be used most effectively? And finally, how do we presage the breakdown of a stable uptrend and the onset of the irrational behavior that renders many indicators useless? Thanks for all the info and keep up the good work with this blog, it has been a tremendous resource.