TradingMarkets 10 Trading Rules: #4 Only Short Stocks Below Their 200-Day MA!

Since 1989, in spite of the major upward bull move, the market has returned (after 1-week) two-fifths of what it returned above the 200 day moving average. Said another way, the average weekly gain of the S&P 500 has been 2 1/2 times more above the 200-day moving average than below. What does this tell us? First, that it is tough to pick bottoms. Secondly, that it's better to be shorting stocks and the market when they are trading below the 200-day moving average. As we saw in rule Number 3, trend plays a strong role in determining the potential success of your trades.

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David Penn is Editor in Chief at TradingMarkets.com.