In the summer of 1989, nine-year old Chess was experiencing his first year of summer camp. The age group of guys I was with had already known each other for a year or two, and I was the new kid. Luckily, I backed into a goldmine.

The first week of camp, we were playing soccer. The activity was run by a few British counselors who had flown across the pond to see America and play sports with some young lads for the summer. One of the soccer instructors was named Richard. I asked him a question, starting off with his first name, and he immediately corrected me with, “Please don’t call me ‘Richard,’ mate. Dick will do.” I filed his preference away, and went about with the summer.

A few days later, I saw him walking across the other side of camp and overhead him slightly more agitated, screaming at another camper, “DICK WILL DO!” Only this time, he picked up the pace of his cadence to a more colloquial, London-sounding, “DICK’LL DO!” Apparently, the name Richard was still sticking.

Later that evening, I heard him screaming at a group of ten-year old girls on the soccer field, “DICK’LL DO! DAMMIT!”

A lightbulb went off in my head. Being the outsider to my age group, I saw an opening to be the cool new kid. The next time I saw Richard was inside the cafeteria where the entire camp was eating. As he walked by my table, I screamed at the top of my lungs, “HEY THERE, DICKLEDOO!” Everyone started laughing, and the nickname stuck. I became a hero of sorts. Other counselors would come back drunk from the bars late at night, come into my bunk where I was sleeping, and wake me up to high-five me and reward me with contraband in the form of pizza snuck back to camp.

As it turned out, Dickledoo was not a very well-liked guy to begin with amongst campers and counselors, and my nickname enabled his enemies to torment him to no end. After that, Dickledoo gave me some nasty look, but I guess he knew that I got the best of him since he never confronted me directly. Another camper did not have such good luck, though, when Dickledoo got fired a few weeks later for losing his temper and body slamming the kid on the soccer field, breaking the kid’s arm.

What does Dickledoo have to do with trading and the stock market? Think about it.

He forced a nickname that he badly wanted to have, but the marketplace of people at the camp refused to go along with it. So, he got frustrated and continued to force it even harder, which only led to his demise. If anything, he should have been more patient with letting “Dick” become his nickname by continuing to gently remind people he preferred that name instead of Richard.

Bottom Line: Do not force trades when they are not there, especially during choppy summer months, else wind up like Dickledoo, fired and on a plane ride home with nothing to do.

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After a soft month of May, followed by yesterday’s bull trap and today’s subsequent nasty reversal, one cannot help but conjure up memories of last summer’s correction and grinding trading range. Even during bull markets, bears are infamous for setting and properly executing vicious traps during those long and hot summer market months.

On the morning of Monday, June 21, 2010, the bulls were feeling pretty sure of themselves. They had survived the flash crash six weeks prior, and the S&P 500 had apparently just broken out from a steep downtrend. The market gapped open higher that day, and exuberance was in the air. Of course, by the end of the session we had closed in the red. It ended up being not just a one-day trap, but a trapper “keeper.” Over the next two weeks or so, it was a straight line down to the final summer low of 1010 on the S&P. Even though that was “the bottom,” many traders got badly hurt on the way down. Moreover, even though that was “the bottom,” there was quite a bit of backing and filling and directionless trading until Labor Day.

Applied to the current market, although we did not see an intraday reversal yesterday, we closed at the highs of the day, and even opened today in decent shape before cratering. Thus, a reasonable comparison can be drawn in terms of declaring today to be some type of major trap over the next week or two, at least. However, as fun as it may be to speculate on significant traps and reversals, the bottom line is that the bearish engulfing candle on June 21, 2010, required confirmation in order to take any sort of action first.

Similarly, today’s massive selling candle will need another convincing lower low in the next few days in order for one to really extrapolate that this market is doing anything more than simply flopping around like a goldfish plucked out of its tank by a mischievous little kid.

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It is hard to believe that it has been one full year since my inaugural post under the “chessNwine” tab here on iBankCoin. Over the past year, I have written close to 900 posts, working as hard as I possibly can to deliver a steady stream of quality content to you. I have been extraordinarily lucky in quickly amassing both a broad and loyal reader base. That large readership has translated breathtakingly well into The 12631 Trading Service, which has blown away any reasonable expectations in terms of subscribers and sense of community.

I also feel fortunate to work with a talented group of traders and writers, who happen to be great guys. We all know that The Fly is the heart and soul of iBC. Having met him in person and having spoken to him on the phone many times really drives home the point that iBC is a special place. We might be the “bad boys” of finance, but when it comes down to putting forth a consistent effort and quality work product, we are the good guys.

My 12631 business partner and good friend, RaginCajun, not only has the best pure instincts of any trader that I have ever known, but he is also a trustworthy man with tremendous character. He clearly deserves the best compliment that a trader can receive: Great trader, great guy.

Since late 2008, the precious metals and miners have been on a fierce bull run. Within the entire world of finance, including television, famous periodicals, bloggers, pundits, hedge fund managers, etc., there are very few, if any, who can hold a candle to the precise calls that our own JakeGint has made. Simply put, if you are not reading Jake, then it is literally your loss.

Woodshedder continues to deliver exceptional results with his Power Dip System. His work is professional, thought-provoking, and almost always dead-on. He is old school iBC, and I am honored to work alongside him.

Scott Bleier has years of legitimate “street cred” and experience under his belt. His morning radio show is mandatory listening for market observers and participants, as it is far superior to anything else that you can find in the financial media.

Our two most recent additions, Mr. Cain Thaler and Analyst Bomber, are great writers with talent who are really putting out some provocative material. It is only a matter of time before their traffic starts to ramp up. I also want to give a huge shout to Jeremy, our awesome workhorse of an IT guy, who is the closest thing there is in the techie world to a one-man gang. Last, but certainly not least, Cronkite has been tearing up the iBC news section. Make sure you follow our news alerts on Twitter: @ibc_fn.

In case you did not know, roughly fifteen months ago I came out of nowhere and decided to try my hand at writing about the markets. I knew the odds of me garnering any kind of readership or attention at first were slim to none, but I was willing to accept whatever the marketplace of readers thought about my work over time. If they liked it, I would keep at it. If, after a reasonable amount of time, the feedback was bad or nonexistent, all I would have lost was some time and energy. I started a Typepad blog and used social media, putting out daily recaps (called “The Post Market Courier” back then), and as many trading ideas and videos as I could.

Eventually, I realized that I should try my hand in The Peanut Gallery here on iBankCoin, given the large amount of traffic the site gets and possibility, however slight, for a full-time position. The competition in the Peanut Gallery was heated, and the readers were a tough bunch in rating my posts. I kept at it, though, to the point where I was respected, at the very least, for my work ethic. By early May of last year, a spot opened up for a full-time tab on iBC and you, the readers, voted me in.

The bottom line is that without the readers, there would be no “chessNwine,” let alone iBankCoin, The PPT, or 12631. I would like to sincerely thank all of you. In particular, I want to thank those loyal folks who cheered me on in the Peanut Gallery back on those cold, dark winter nights in early 2010, when I felt like I was carrying on a soliloquy with no audience in the middle of the forest.

Whether it be to the delight of our supporters or to the chagrin of our enemies, iBankCoin is going places. There is simply no other website out there, in any industry, that can compete with us in terms of how well we are able to constantly deliver a stream of content that informs, educates, inspires, entertains, and keeps you coming back for more.

Year one is in the books. Bring it on, year two.

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As the internet takes the next step forward with social media, your business will need to focus on growing through specific, targeted interactions with present and future clients. Here at iBankCoin, we have a large and growing audience, averaging over one million page views and four to five hundred thousand unique visitors per month. Our growth rate is in the high double-digits, including our wildly successful premium services with thousands of lifetime subscribers since they were launched. Moreover, our audience is fiercely loyal, as exemplified by the fact that the number of readers who bookmark our site is exceptionally high compared to other sites who simply try to game Google search keywords through their content. Unlike other financial sites who solely cater to educated males over 50 years old (we cover that demographic as well) we have strong female readership, as well as many readers in the 18-34 age range.

Today, we are officially launching a beta program, opening up our ad space to businesses that have the acumen to seize upon iBankCoin’s success and tightly knit community.

You can advertise your business via our top banner exclusively for $5,000 per month, while our sidebar ad can be exclusively had for $2,500 per month. Given our highly favorable demographics, these rates are more than fair. If, however, you do not want exclusivity and are on a tight budget, we can offer you non-market hour pricing at $1,250 for the top banner, and $500 for the sidebar. For non-exclusive ads during market hours, we offer $2,500 for the top banner and $1,250 for the sidebar.

Please note that rates can be negotiated, depending on longevity and ad placement.

For more information, please contact me by emailing: chessNwine at gmail dot com. Please include your name and business.

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The importance of perspective when analyzing charts cannot be emphasized enough. In particular, when dealing with an historically accurate broad market gauge, such as the transportation stocks, it is crucial to not jump to conclusions without first considering the price action over multiple timeframes. As an example, last year around this time the elder statesmen of Dow Theory, Richard Russell, was literally telling people to “sell everything,” and he was calling for the end of America as we knew it. In large part, he based his analysis on what he figured was a massive breakdown in the trannie stocks.

However, as I detailed every single day in my market wrap ups all of last summer (feel free to look in the archives), the trannies never so much as took out their February 2010 lows last summer, despite the S&P 500 doing so. Hence, despite people paying him handsomely to hear Old Man Russell’s exhortations, it was actually your good friend “Chess” that was right on the money, giving you all of this information for free right here on iBankCoin, day in day out.

Over the past several months, the daily chart of the trannies has been quite sloppy, indeed. It would have been so easy to turn bearish on the market and play for a big breakdown, once again, based on this Dow Theory extrapolation. Instead, zooming out to the weekly chart, we can see that the bullish pattern is still intact. It truly is amazing to see how sloppy a daily chart can be, while the weekly remains simultaneously pristine. Until we really see any type of damage on the weekly, the trannies command your respect, as they took out their April 4th, 52-week highs today.

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As a general rule, I am pretty strict with my discipline in all forms of gambling. However, even in the famous book, Market Wizards, you see wildly successful billionaires note that there are occasions when it is not only acceptable to break your rules, but when you should actually feel compelled to do so. Far too often, though, overly aggressive traders use that loophole as a convenient excuse for reckless gambles and, in the end, breaking your rules that frequently will cost you too much money. A classic example of this happening is when it comes to your position sizing.

A few years ago while in Las Vegas, I found myself in an interesting $80/$160 Texas Limit Hold ’em game at the Bellagio. The game was pretty good (weak players, but a lot of action), and I was playing my usual tight aggressive style. At one point, a seat opened up to my right and in came a well-dressed guy who could have been a stunt double for Dr. Christian Troy from Nip/Tuck. He had two attractive blonde ladies with him, and he was wearing a white golf glove. He sat down next to me, and started chatting me up. He told me that he had just flown in on a private jet from California after playing golf all day. He had alcohol on his breath, but said he hadn’t had a drink in a few hours. The women he was with wore a lot of jewelry and had expensive handbags. Basically, this is exactly the type of person that I want to play poker with in an upper limit game–Flashy, wealthy, pretentious, probably just looking to have fun and doesn’t mind if he loses some money. He played every hand he was dealt for the first 15 minutes at the table, and hardly ever folded thereafter.

The cocktail waitress came over and took our orders. Most of the pros at the table ordered green tea, coffee or water. Mr. Golfer looked confused. “No one is drinking here? Cmon, guys! We’re supposed to be having fun!” He shouted at the table so loudly that players at other tables in the room shot annoyed glanced over our way. Of course, a few of the losing “pros” at my table were losing badly and were too frustrated to even play nice with Mr. Golfer, which is a huge mistake. You always have to be affable with the mark in the game.

Now, as a pretty strict rule, I never, ever, drink at the casino when I am playing for any kind of serious money. If I am out with some friends playing $1/$2 Hold ’em, then maybe I will have a drink. But, not a chance for the upper limits. However, in this situation I knew that if Mr. Golfer didn’t feel like he could have fun at the table, then he might very well get up and leave. At the very least, he would probably focus on playing better poker, which is exactly what I did not want to see happen.

So, in this specific situation, I broke the rules. I told him I’d be happy to drink with him, and I let him order a few shots of tequila for us. Right on cue, he unwound and started throwing money around the table some more, allowing me to win a few big pots off of him. While the phrase, “rules are made to be broken,” is too extreme for trading and poker, it is important to have the discipline to know exactly when you should break the rules…and when you are just fooling yourself.

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