
--Albert Einstein, Physicist
Predicting the market has always been a fool's game. If you know anything about the stock market and investing, someone will eventually ask you your prediction of where the market is headed. The answer is that it's either going up, down or sideways. No matter what you say you'll be right only 1/3 of the time. And if you're wrong, you've set yourself up for ridicule. That's why I never predict the market. I'll leave that for others.
One of the things I've learned to do is look at a company's history of revenue, profit and dividends to make sure they have continued to increase over time. Another thing I've learned is to view the company's stock chart to see if the stock is currently overbought or oversold. Finally I try to determine what I think the company is really worth and then I put in a buy or sell order, whichever is appropriate. It's a simple plan but I've learned that simple plans are usually the best.
If you're buying into a stock because you think you know what it's price should be rather than what it's price is then you'll soon be in for a big surprise. Do the fundamental research to screen for a list of candidate stocks and then research the charts to determine entrance and exit points. Most importantly make sure your decisions are based upon your own trading plan. There is no better expert on your investments than you.