 Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome. This is Melissa Arma with the Stock Swoosh, and I'm here today to do a lecture on conviction. And I'm inspired to do this lecture today because of two reasons. One, someone gave me a very nice compliment last week and said, Melissa, you talk with such authority, with such confidence. And I said, yes, I call it conviction, and that's something that's very important. And the other reason I was inspired to do this lecture today is because of the fact that my conviction was tested in the last month because I'm in a trade. It's an option trade in Apple. I'm a long Apple in calls, and I took it right before the stock dropped off. So I've actually had been down in the position all but two days for the last three weeks. Now today I'm up on it. The stock has hit up over another most recent high and will continue rallying. So it will just keep going higher now. However, my conviction was tested because I was down actually almost 50% of the position. Actually, I was down a little bit more than 50% of the position in one of the days and I stayed with the trade. So why did I stay with the trade? Because I had conviction in the trade itself and more importantly, more than anything else, I have conviction in my strategy. Everything I do, whether it's options or day trades is based on my golden gap strategy and system. So one of the reasons I talk very authoritatively about trading when I make predictions or calls is because of the fact that I created my own system myself, which is what I use, and I don't use any other systems. I kind of laugh at that when people talk to me, they say, well, go follow this person, listen, or this person does that, or what do you think about this person? I block out absolutely everything that anyone else says, don't listen to anyone else but myself. I have an amazing intuition. And that's one of the reasons why I was able to devise my own strategy. When you're new, though, to something, you are actually teaching your intuition, you're honing it. It's a skill set. You're learning the skill set. When you're trading with me, for example, you're learning my skill set, which many people come to me and want to do. And I have a great skill set for predicting where stocks are going to go in gaps. And really, I have a great skill set for predicting where anything is going to go in a gap. That could be the overall market, ETFs, it could be any ETF, it could be any stock, anything to gaps, I have an amazing ability to predict. And this is what people come and learn from me because you can take that information and turn it into cash. So I'm confident in what I do and speak with a lot of conviction because I made my system up myself and I've also been doing it now for a long time, eight years. That may not seem like a long time to many people that have been trading for way more years than I might even be alive, but the fact is that's a long time to do only one thing. Many traders trade multiple different strategies and never become an expert in one thing. I say, go do other things if you want to, but not until you get really good at one thing. Have 100% conviction in one thing and then go learn other things if you want to. But to jump from thing to thing to thing to thing, you never get 100% conviction of confidence in anything. So it is really important and the lesson for today is to have conviction in any trade you take and the system that you use. And really, if you're learning from someone or trading with someone that's running a trading room, you should have conviction in your mentor. So when people come and they pay me money for my class, they're saying, Melissa, I believe in you and that's what the definition of conviction is. They're saying, I have conviction in you, Melissa. I believe in you. So I held through the trade in Apple. Now I'm up in it today. It looks amazing. This is a new buy point in Apple today. And I even said in the trade room last week, gosh, I'm so relaxed. I'm so relaxed in a position I'm down in, which is very unusual, very unusual. However, I had so much conviction in this trade because I use my system to do it and it's working and it's working and it is gonna work and it is working. And I have it out still for another few weeks. So the point I'm trying to make and the lesson that I want all of you to know is that if you think about whatever you're doing in the market right now, whatever strategy you're using, if you don't have conviction in it, either A, it doesn't work, okay? Or B, you don't know how to use it. So if you don't have conviction in something, then either it doesn't work or you don't know how to use it. What I've found is that many people are using things that don't work and also really aren't strategies. They think it's a strategy, but it's not. They think it's a strategy because it's a trade that they maybe have made money in the past using XYZ thing that they're looking at in the chart. But it doesn't work consistently to make money a profit because only a strategy that works is something that you can take and implement and use to consistently make money. So when I started my business, which was four years ago, I had so much conviction in my strategy and my method that I decided I would go out and teach it to people and charge money for it, which I've been doing now since I started the business in 2012. When you have something that other people can replicate for profits, it works and I do. That is not something that everybody out there that teachers can say. So that has given me even more conviction to take positions like I have an apple, hold it on through, and I also have a really good size position in apple. I have 50 contracts, which is 5,000 shares. That's a big position in this stock. That's a big position. And remember I was down in it for weeks before it started to go until today. So it is so important to trade with conviction. If you don't have conviction in what you're doing, you probably, to be honest with you, should stop trading and take a break and reevaluate what you're doing and find another strategy that you can have conviction in or strategy at all even if you don't have one. And maybe that's my strategy. Maybe that means coming to me and learning from me and taking my class. I don't know. I don't know everyone that follows me out there. I know that a lot of people are struggling in the market and wanting to make money and do not speak authoritatively. Even people that are educators I have found don't speak with as much confidence as I do. I make some wild predictions and very often they come true. That does not mean that everything, every trade that I take or every prediction that I make comes true. No, but more do than do not, okay? And so the bottom line is that knowing that, that belief, that belief that I have, the knowledge, the belief system, all of that together has helped to create me to be a good person for people to come and learn from and follow with and it makes it easier for them. A lot of educators out there do not speak with the same level of confidence and conviction I do and I explained the reasons why earlier because I created my own system. I'm teaching people how to do it. They're making money as well as me. It's been eight years. I've done nothing else and I am making predictions that no one else is making. One of just which is also that the market will hit up over the high and make another brand new all-time high and we'll have to see exactly when it happens. So it is really important to understand what you're doing, have conviction in it. If you don't have conviction in the trading strategy that you're doing, then my suggestion is that you take a break and you stop because you're never gonna really become successful in anything, any type of trading you do. Options, swing trades, day trades, anything if you don't have conviction in it because your conviction will be tested. It will be tested just like my conviction was tested in Apple and lo and behold, I passed the test. So very happy, very excited and we'll see what happens next. My lesson for today is to have conviction in the trading strategy and method you use in every single solitary trade that you take. Whether it's a big size or a small size, it's your dime that you put on the line in the market when you place that trade and you gotta believe that it's gonna work. And if you don't believe it's gonna work then maybe your strategy does not work and you need to step aside and think about that. If you'd like more information, email me at melissa at thestockswish.com. Have 100% conviction in every trade that you take and good luck everyone and have a great trading week and a great rest of the trading year.