Use These Four Tools to Profit from Today's "Hidden Tech Rebound"

The mainstream financial press would have you believe that markets "have fallen and they can't get up." They're telling you to gather your capital and dash for the sidelines.

Those folks are clearly clueless about how to make money as an investor.

You see, since hitting bottom on Aug. 25, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index has rallied for gains of roughly 11%. That means, in about two months, this tech barometer has turned a year-to-date loss into a 6% profit.

Investors who sold and ran back in August missed the rebound. That's why my first piece of advice is, "Always have some money in the market."

Sure, we're in a volatile market. And rebounds and rallies never follow a straight line to the top. There are always zigs and zags along the way.

But leaving the market means you'll miss some off-the-chart bargains - like the ones that are popping up right now during what I call the "hidden tech rebound." These opportunities are yours for the taking - if you remain nimble in your approach to making money.

So, today I'm going to show you four tools you can use to turn this hidden tech rebound into gold...

Tech Rebound Tool No. 1: The "Moneyball" Method

Volatile markets like the ones we've seen this year are a fact of life. But just because a market is choppy doesn't mean you can't profit from it. The secret is to be willing to take smaller gains along the way.

Fortunately, I have a tool that will help us do just that. I call it the "Moneyball" method.

I named this technique after the book and movie "Moneyball," which told how Silicon Valley's hometown baseball team, the Oakland A's, went on a 20-game win streak during the 2002 season.

Only five teams had ever done that in more than 100 years of professional baseball.

The A's historic success didn't come from slamming a ton of homers. Rather, the team focused on getting as many runners on base as possible, which meant they looked for walks, singles, doubles, and stolen bases.

For investors in today's market, a "Moneyball" game plan might entail taking profits off the table when your stock is up, say, 30% or so.

Remember, the faster a stock moves, the more you'll want to protect some of those "windfall gains" before it has a chance to reverse on profit taking.

And in volatile markets, reversals are a definite possibility.

Tech Rebound Tool No. 2: The Cowboy Split

This is a technique I've used over and over to pile up profits for readers of my paid tech investing services, the monthly Nova-X Report and my premium trading opportunity, the weekly Radical Technology Profits.

Simply stated, the cowboy split is a staggered-entry system. It involves getting into your intended position "at market" and then putting in a "lowball limit" order to buy more of the position if a discount comes along.

I generally look for a 15% to 20% discount from the original price to use as a second entry point.

Here's how we recently put the cowboy split to use in Radical Technology Profits...

We made our first entry in a small-cap biotech-related firm at $5.86 a share and then set our lowball limit order at 20% below that price.

Ten days later, the stock corrected and our lowball limit order filled at $4.75, which lowered our average price for the total position to $5.30.

Just days later, the stock of this DNA-related firm went on an amazing tear, producing cumulative gains of 64% in three weeks. Our first leg gave us a 52.4% profit.

But the second half soared 83.5% in just 10 days for annualized returns of 2,922%.

Those returns set the stage for Radical Technology Profits members to deploy this next tool.

Tech Rebound Tool No. 3: The Autopilot System

After a big score, we always want to ensure that no matter what happens going forward, we'll exit our position with a specific minimum gain.

That's where what I call the "autopilot system" comes in handy.

It's a unique way to protect profits by combining profit-taking with trailing stops.

It works like this...

Recall that with the DNA stock I mentioned earlier, we used the cowboy split exit system to sell one half of our position for 64% profits. With those profits safely off the table, we could afford to let our remaining position run, to see how much more momentum it had.

But this is the key: We didn't just let the position run unchecked.

We protected our downside in such a way as to ensure combined gains of 32% even if we saw a correction. All it took to pull this off was to enter a stop-loss at our average entry price.

In other words, taking 64% gains on half the position, while at the same time taking steps to make sure we broke even on the other half, gave us a 32% return as a "worst-case scenario."

Best of all, we always had the option of setting our trailing loss above our entry price and locking in even more money. That's the kind of flexibility I had in mind a moment ago when I said you can make profits in any choppy market if you "remain nimble."

The beauty of the autopilot system is that it lets you set up your minimum profit figure in advance. After that, there's no need to worry about what happens because the autopilot is "on guard" and protecting your portfolio.

Which brings us to our last tool...

Tech Rebound Tool No. 4: Stop-Losses

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You can employ these essential portfolio tools in two ways.

The first method is a classic tool designed to avoid suffering catastrophic losses. You simply set the stop-loss so that it limits any possible losses on a new entry.

I suggest you never use a stop-loss greater than 20%.

The second method, the "trailing stop," is used to protect gains. Here, your stop-loss moves higher as the price of the stock advances. Just like with the first method, you'll want to set your stop at a maximum of 20%.

So let's say you bought a stock at $15 that's gone up to $25 - a 66% gain.

A 20% trailing stop gives you an exit price of $20. With that as your stop, you're sure to get out with profits of 33% (a $15 entry and a $20 exit) no matter what happens.

By using our Tech Rebound Tools, you can continue to invest in winning tech stocks and know that you're prepared for anything the market throws at us.
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Invest Alongside Tech's Top 5 Wealth Builders

When Michael Robinson looks for stocks to invest in, he zeros in on companies with the strongest operations. If he knows the company is well run, management will have a bigger impact on the bottom line. And higher profits will ultimately translate to a higher stock price. For example, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella certainly is contributing to MSFT's recent stock-price surge. Now Michael's identified five more top tech CEOs doing the same thing for their companies' stocks. You can find all five in his just-released report. To access it right away - plus receive Strategic Tech Investor, Michael's free, twice-weekly guide to the most lucrative tech trends - just click here.

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About the Author

Michael A. Robinson is a 36-year Silicon Valley veteran and one of the top tech and biotech financial analysts working today. That's because, as a consultant, senior adviser, and board member for Silicon Valley venture capital firms, Michael enjoys privileged access to pioneering CEOs, scientists, and high-profile players. And he brings this entire world of Silicon Valley "insiders" right to you...

  • He was one of five people involved in early meetings for the $160 billion "cloud" computing phenomenon.
  • He was there as Lee Iacocca and Roger Smith, the CEOs of Chrysler and GM, led the robotics revolution that saved the U.S. automotive industry.
  • As cyber-security was becoming a focus of national security, Michael was with Dave DeWalt, the CEO of McAfee, right before Intel acquired his company for $7.8 billion.

This all means the entire world is constantly seeking Michael's insight.

In addition to being a regular guest and panelist on CNBC and Fox Business, he is also a Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer and reporter. His first book Overdrawn: The Bailout of American Savings warned people about the coming financial collapse - years before the word "bailout" became a household word.

Silicon Valley defense publications vie for his analysis. He's worked for Defense Media Network and Signal Magazine, as well as The New York Times, American Enterprise, and The Wall Street Journal.

And even with decades of experience, Michael believes there has never been a moment in time quite like this.

Right now, medical breakthroughs that once took years to develop are moving at a record speed. And that means we are going to see highly lucrative biotech investment opportunities come in fast and furious.

To help you navigate the historic opportunity in biotech, Michael launched the Bio-Tech Profit Alliance.

His other publications include: Strategic Tech Investor, The Nova-X Report, Bio-Technology Profit Alliance and Nexus-9 Network.

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