 Hello, everyone, and welcome. This is Melissa Arma with the Stock Swoosh. And today, I wanted to talk to you about the importance of having a trading strategy. So a lot of times, people expect news or the outcome of whatever the news may be to match up to a certain sequence. For example, right now, Trump is in the hospital. People are expecting that the market's going to act positively when he's released to the hospital. That may happen, that may not happen. But taking trades based on that is really gambling. There's no strategy to that. Very often, things don't match up to what you think they're going to be. You cannot just assume that a reaction, that a market reaction, or stock's reaction, is going to be positive or negative based on what the news is saying. You saw this with the stock split with Tesla. A lot of people went long the stock. Before the split, then the stock fell and sold off after the split. Often you see this with earnings on stocks. You will see a stock have negative earnings and it will rally or gap up. Or you will see a stock have positive earnings and it will sell off. So whether it's news related, political news, or whether it is something that has to do with earnings, things don't always line up to what you think they're going to be as far as the stock's reaction or the market's reaction. I don't make trading decisions based on that. Sometimes I look at a chart and I read the gap and I rate the gap. I use my strategy and then the underlying reaction of the news or earnings matches up to what I'm seeing in the technicals of the stock in the gap of the stock or the market. And in that case, then it's really, really good when it goes in my favor. But I look at each trade choice that I make based on a strategy which is based on gaps that's all that I do. And I look at technical analysis and read and rate the gap in the pre-market before the market even opens. And that's how I also predict market direction as well. So I think it's a mistake for people to assume that somebody's going to go a certain way and then take trades and actually risk money based on those assumptions because it doesn't always work like that. And really that's gambling. A lot of people do gamble in the stock market. Many, many people, many, many traders are gambling when they take positions, they don't know what to do. And with the rise of all these different trading firms that are out there that are accepting people to trade with very limited funds or buying smaller shares or fractions of shares and stocks or without any margin or any set requirements even to open an account, it has flooded, flooded the market with lots of volume and people that really can't afford to lose and are taking positions because they can't afford to pay for training or education in the stock market. And thus they are gambling and lose. So be very smart about your trading choices. Do not assume that a stock of the market is going to have a certain reaction based on what you think or what the news says or what the earnings outlook is. What I look at is the price action and I'm looking at it in the post market and the pre market. Then I rate the gap and I predict whether the buying is going to come in or the selling is going to come into the stock. And that is how I choose the direction that I'm taking at each rate. If you'd like to learn more about what I do and more about my strategy, I teach a class once a month. The next golden gap course is October 24th and 25th. Email me with more information if you'd like to sign up and stay safe everyone.