Trading by emotions, by news events, or out of fear, is not very different than gambling. Successful market timers win because they follow a plan. Unemotional and with clear buy and sell signals.

The S&P 500 Index - SPX suffered a late day selloff that has the potential to turn ugly very fast.

Shares of the widely traded ETF S&P 500 Spyders (AMEX: SPY have pushed higher over the last two days, after taking a huge hit on Monday.

Shares of Bemis Inc (NYSE: BMS) have gained 18.7% since bottoming on October 15.

Shares of Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) topped out at $95.00 last week as a holiday rally took most stocks higher.

We are all familiar with the stereotype of the compulsive trader. Traders who are compulsively looking for trading thrills, while telling themselves they are doing it to make a profit.

Typically, when we first learn how to trade, we study the markets and try to develop our own personal theories about how the markets work. Because we don't actually conduct formal experiments though, we fall prey to psychological biases.

Shares of Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) dropped just as almost every stock did on Wednesday, November 19, but for Apple, there may still be hope.

Shares of the S&P Deposit Receipts (AMEX: SPY) have been testing support at the $84.00 level since the stock market reached its initial bear market lows back on October 10.

Shares of Streettracks Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD) have lost some 27% since they topped out in March 2008. They are likely to move much lower.

The winning market timer is the disciplined market timer. That very simply means he or she chooses a specific, dependable, market timing strategy and follows it.

After a week of devastating losses, the stock market turned on a dime Thursday, November 13, and rallied some 900 Dow points from the intra-day lows, to close with a gain of 552.59.

Shares of Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE: APC) pulled back on Wednesday, November 12 as the stock market again declined losing triple digits.

Shares of Streettracks Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD) broke below a rising trend support line on Tuesday, November 11.

Shares of Starbucks Corp (NASDAQ: SBUX) rallied from October 28 through November 3 but have since declined to give up almost all those short term gains.

All of the charts continue to show bullish patterns. The extreme volatility is, unfortunately, the norm after an extreme market decline.

At FibTimer, we rely on the fact that most investors are convinced they can predict the future. This is where most of our profits come from. Their errors.

Only two weeks after standing at the abyss, the stock market is again declining at breakneck speed. A week of solid gains has been decimated by two days of losses totaling 9.9%.

Shares of Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN took a huge hit on Wednesday, November 5 as the internet sector as well as the entire stock market sold off. Amazon.com lost $6.44 to close at $52.01, down 11%.

In October, we were watching support for Intel Corp (NASDAQ: INTC) at $14.26. That support held and now Intel appears headed higher. How high can it go?

Shares of Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) have been trying to establish a bottom just as most stocks are in this volatile market. But Google, which is down some 54% from its highs and is a bellwether for internet stocks.

Markets go up and markets go down. It shouldn't matter much, but many new market timers find that their own personal mood fluctuates with the markets, moving from extreme euphoria as the markets soar to new heights to deep despair when the markets plunge to new lows.

Last week the stock market stood at the abyss. The intra-day lows reached on October 10, at 839.80, were all that stood in the way of a second market meltdown. But those levels held and this week the S&P 500 Index (SPX) looks ready to rally.

Shares of Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) powered higher Wednesday, October 29 on a day the market lost ground after a half-point Fed cut.

Two weeks ago we wrote that shares of Intel Corp (NASDAQ: INTC) had reached a long term support level at $14.26.

Though shares of Tellabs, Inc (NASDAQ: TLAB) have been hit hard by the stock market declines, as most stocks have, they have put in what appears to be a solid bottom.

After a down week, the world markets appeared to have crumbled on Friday, and it looked like the U.S. markets would open with huge losses, possibly losses indicating a crash. Futures were limit down and trading in them had been halted.

Nothing is certain in the markets, but is this something to worry about?

The stock market stands at the abyss. The intra-day lows reached on October 10, at 839.80, are all that stand in the way of a second market meltdown. Over the past two weeks, the S&P 500 Index (SPX) has tested those lows twice.

Shares of Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) rose on Wednesday, October 22, after a better than expected earnings report. This on a day when the stock market shed some five percent as investors fled the financial markets on fears of a growing global recession.

Shares of Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) dropped on Monday, October 21 ahead of an after-market earnings report, but the report, when issued, was greeted by a rally.

There are two potential scenarios for shares of General Electric (NYSE: GE). The first is that a bottom is in around $19.00 a share (closing price). The second is quite bearish.

Uncertainty is a powerful emotion that can weaken the resolve of even the best of market timers.

After the Dow Industrials (DJIA) jumped 936 points on Monday, October 13, it certainly looked like the start of a new advance, but that one day rally was quickly erased only two days later when the Dow closed down 732 points.

Shares of computer maker Dell Inc (NASDAQ: DELL) broke support at $15.00 a share. We had expected this level to hold, but it is history after Wednesday's Oct 15 selloff.

Shares of Intel Corp (NASDAQ: INTC) may have reached a long term bottom at the lows reached three days ago.

Shares of Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) reached their bear market lows in July 2008 at $18.52 a share. After a three month rally, they are back at those lows.

Imagine never missing a bull market and never being hurt during a bear market. Or even profiting during a bear market.

The S&P 500 index (SPX) has lost some 42% since the SPX reached all-time highs back in October 2007. Where will the selling end?

Shares of Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) have taken a precipitous drop in the last few trading days, bringing shares close to a support level that spells do-or-die.

Shares of Streettracks Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD) have been rallying over the past few days as the stock market has been selling off precipitously.

Shares of computer maker Dell Inc (NASDAQ: DELL) may have reached a bottom in its year-long correction from 2007 highs.

Winning market timers have learned to control their impulses. They can follow buy and sell market timing signals effortlessly. They show extreme self-control.

Although the stock market is declining as if there is no bottom in sight, with selling escalating even though it appears the bailout bill will be passed by the House on Friday, October 3; there is a potential bottom in sight.

We do not usually look at stocks that are less than $10 a share, with the expectation that if they are low, there is always a reason for it. But then this is Ford Motor Co (NYSE: F).

Shares of Biotech HOLDRS (AMEX: BBH) had been outperforming the stock market by a considerable margin prior to the huge declines and volatility of the past couple of weeks.

Shares of computer maker Dell Inc (NASDAQ: DELL) reached lows at $16.01 back in year 2001 at the bottom of the last bear market. On Monday, September 29, Dell broke those lows and closed at $15.41.

It is not enough to have a successful market timing strategy if that strategy is not traded with discipline. It is also not enough to trade with discipline if you are overly aggressive with those funds allocated to market timing.

The fate of the stock market hangs on the one thing free markets do not need; a government intrusion to the tune of over 1 trillion dollars to fix a problem caused by greed, pure and simple.

Shares of Citigroup Inc (NYSE: C) lost over 5% on Wednesday, September 24 on news it may sell its Primerica insurance unit to private-equity firm J.C. Flowers & Co. and Alabama insurer Protective Life Corp.

Shares of Vulcan Materials Co (NYSE: VMC) have continued to move higher even while the stock market has become unreliable.

Shares of computer maker Dell Inc (NASDAQ: DELL) reached lows at $16.01 back in year 2001 at the bottom of the last bear market.

Invariably, the best profits come with the highest volatility. That means as trend followers, we must react to changes in trends, stick to our guns and make all the trades.

The good news is, the market rallied in a big way on Thursday, September 17. But the reversal late in the trading day was a news inspired event.

Shares of computer maker Dell Inc (NASDAQ: DELL) have taken a huge hit over the past several weeks, losing some 38%.

Shares of Streettracks Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD) are now off about 21% from their July rally highs, and 23% from their March highs. Where to next?

Shares of Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) declined some 21% in Monday's stock market selloff losing $7.16 in the process.

The biggest enemy, when market timing the stock market via mutual funds, ETFs, even individual stocks (or in any trading for that matter), is within ourselves.

Thursday's late session rally for the S&P 500 Index (SPX) constitutes a bullish outside reversal for this key big cap index. But we are not convinced the rally will last for very long.

Shares of Wachovia Corp (NYSE: WB) reversed from resistance at $19.00 a share on Monday, September 8 and are likely to test support in coming days.

Shares of Lehman Bros Holdings Inc (NYSE: LEH) have fallen to lows not seen by this brokerage firm's shares since 1995.

Shares of Streettracks Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD) may have made an important bottom.

The reality of market timing is that the majority of timers think they can stick to a timing strategy, however when the market moves against them, as it always does as some point, they are swayed by financial news stories, the desire to be with the crowd, and their own emotions, often exiting the strategy at exactly the wrong time.

Thursday's market route took the S&P 500 Index (SPX) to closing lows that not only broke critical support levels, but also a rising trend support line.

Shares of the ETF Ishares Lehman 20 Year (NYSE: TLT) on Wednesday, September 3 and added to gains made since dramatically reversing to the upside from correction lows on August 6.

Shares of Streettracks Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD) took a huge hit on Tuesday, September 2 as shares gapped down at the open and closed the day with a 3% loss.

Since closing at 1305.32 on August 11, the S&P 500 Index - SPX has been reaching a series of lower highs on each attempt at a rally. It has also declined twice to around 1266 and reversed back to the upside.

Since shares of Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) are closing in on a support level that will likely determine its fate over the coming weeks.

Since shares of Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) reached strong resistance at the $177.50-$180.00 level two weeks ago and pulled back, Apple has been hitting lower highs and has consistent lows at about $172.00 a share.

Shares of FedEx Corp (NYSE: FDX) fell Monday, August 25 and are now testing support at $80.00 a share.

Though Fibtimer's subscribers have not felt the pain of the bear market, with our conservative timers in cash since early January, many are nevertheless itching to start trading.

While the S&P 500 Index - SPX has been weak this past week, along with all of the major indexes, there is likely still some upside surprises ahead.

Last week, shares of Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) reached strong resistance at the $177.50-$180.00 level and pulled back.

Shares of computer maker Dell Inc (NASDAQ: DELL) are holding up well despite some serious selling in the stock market over the past couple of days.

Shares of FedEx Corp (NYSE: FDX) reached strong resistance at $88.50 in early August and over the next week fell back. A second attempt at this level was made last Friday, August 15 and again, FedEx is pulling back after reaching this level.

If you are striving to become a profitable market timer, it is vital that you cast aside the buy-and-hold mindset of the long-term investor, and learn to think like a market timer.

While the S&P 500 Index - SPX continues to gain, the Nasdaq 100 Index - NDX and Russell 2000 Index - RUT are in the midst of a steep rally.

Shares of Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) have continued to move higher, regaining much of the ground lost after disappointing earnings news.

Shares of Goldman Sachs Grp (NYSE: GS) responded to negative comments from several high-level bank analysts by shedding 3.5% on Tuesday and this decline places the stock right at critical support.

Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) have rebounded from their July correction lows and are now above two resistance levels, $40.60 and $43.24, that point to higher highs in coming weeks.

It shouldn't matter much, but many new market timers find that their own personal mood fluctuates with the markets, moving from extreme euphoria as the markets soar to new heights to deep despair when the markets plunge to abysmal lows.

The S&P 500 Index - SPX remains above its rising trend support line even though it took a substantial tumble on Thursday, August 7.

Shares of Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp (NYSE: FRE) are off some 90% over the past nine months since the credit crisis has taken its toll not only on the stock, but the economy as well.

Shares of Priceline Com Inc. (NASDAQ: PCLN) took a substantial hit in afterhours trading after releasing quarterly results below analysts expectations. Priceline had rallied adding some 5% in Tuesday's trading.

Shares of Schlumberger Ltd (NYSE: SLB) took a substantial hit in trading on Monday, August 4 as oil service companies across the board lost ground. Schlumberger shed some 5.8% closing at $94.41.

Shares of General Motors Corp (NYSE: GM) closed lower on Friday, August 1, after all of the big U.S. auto companies, General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC, announced double digit sales declines.

Market timers following trends generate great returns over time because their buy and sell decisions are based on the one piece of information that counts the most. Price.

Shares of Exxon Mobil Cp (NYSE: XOM) closed lower on Thursday, July 31 after a quarterly report missed analyst's estimates.

This is the week of triple digits as the Dow Industrials - DJIA has seen triple digit gains and losses on every day through Thursday. The S&P 500 Index - SPX is following in lock-step.

Shares of Starbucks Corp (NASDAQ: SBUX) declined into mid-July, reaching lows that equal the 78.6% retracement of all gains since Starbuck's 2001 bear market lows. This may be a tradable bottom for this beleaguered stock.

Shares of Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) traded a bit higher today but this analysis is about critical support that was reached back July 22 in intra-day trading.

Shares of Merrill Lynch & Co (NYSE: MER) shed some 11% in Monday's July 28 trading, as bank stocks in general shed most if not all of the gains they added last week.

At FibTimer, all of our strategies are non-discretionary. Emotions are not allowed. Our strategies offer disciplined execution of non-emotional buy and sell signals.

The bears came out of hiding as triple digit declines on Thursday knocked 283 points off the Dow Industrials - DJIA and 29 points off the S&P 500 Index - SPX.

Shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) surged almost 4% on Wednesday, July 23 as traders bet on a better-than-expected earnings report.

Shares of Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) closed lower for the fourth day in a row , even while the Dow Industrials rallied on Tuesday afternoon, July 22, closing with triple digit gains.

Shares of Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) broke below support in after-hours trading Monday, July 21.

Our goal is to catch every tradable trend, and when we do, to let it run as far as we can before exiting that trade.

Shares of Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) declined some 8% in afterhours trading after the company said second-quarter earnings came in slightly below expectations.

Shares of Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE: WFC) jumped to a huge gain on Wednesday July 16 after the company announced better than expected earnings and also raised their dividend, even though they too have rising loan-loss provisions.

Shares of Intel Corp (NASDAQ: INTC) appear to have held at support. The Fib 78.6% retracement support level at $19.62 was likely a critical turning point for Intel.

Shares of Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) are rapidly approaching their 2000 panic lows at $18.15 a share.

Typically, those new to stock market timing work under the assumption that winning is all that matters. Obviously winning is important, but being profitable is more important.

Both the S&P 500 Index - SPX and Nasdaq 100 Index - NDX have reached or are near support levels that should result in a technical bounce. Whether that bounce will last for long is another question.

Shares of Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) broke below their trading lows for 2008 on Wednesday, July 9.

Shares of Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ: ADBE) have declined with the rest of the stock market but with a 10% loss from their 2008 highs, Adobe has held up better than most.

Shares of Wachovia CP (NYSE: WB) have reached levels not seen since 1994.

Last week the S&P 500 Index - SPX reached the panic lows of January and March. That set up the possibility of a reversal or a break below support that would set up the scenario of lower lows ahead. It appears that lower lows are what we have to look forward to.

Knowing that the timing strategy you are following will be profitable over time builds the confidence needed to take all of the trades.

Shares of Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) are again testing support.

at Wednesday's June 25 close, Biotech HOLDRS (AMEX: BBH) was just a fraction below the Fib 61.8% retracement - resistance level of its April-May decline. If Biotech HOLDRS closes above this level...

After reaching the $190 level, shares of Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) moved mostly sideways till June when the current market weakness pulled shares lower.

All market timers, traders and investors, in every kind of market, feel fear at some level. Turn on the news one day and hear that a steep unexpected sell-off is taking place, and most of us will get a queasy feeling in our stomachs.

The S&P 500 Index - SPX declined some 3% on Thursday, June 26 as the financial markets sold off across the board, not only in the U.S. but also around the world.

Shares of the exchange-traded fund Biotech HOLDRS (AMEX: BBH) have outperformed the stock market over the past several weeks but have now reached a critical resistance level.

Shares of Intel Corp (NASDAQ: INTC) declined from their January-May rally highs over the past month, and appear to have found support at the 50% retracement level, around $21.69 a share.

Shares of Starbucks Corp (NASDAQ: SBUX) reversed from what appeared to be a long awaited rally, from bear market lows, for this very distressed stock.

If last week was a bullish one, this week was its opposite. They say it is always darkest before the dawn. If this is true, dawn should be around the corner because the S&P 500 Index - SPX chart is about as bearish as can be.

Trends are created by the masses. Those same masses who are buying stocks at the top of a rally, and selling stocks at the bottom of a correction.

The S&P 500 Index - SPX has held at support, at least for now. The SPX declined to the 50% retracement of the March to May rally at 1341.22, and though this has not been a week to write home about so far that level has held.

Shares of Utilities HOLDRS (AMEX: UTH) have not only held up well in the current stock market declines, but have pushed to within a fraction of their 2008 rally highs.

Shares of Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) were on a tear from March through mid-May adding 58% after bottoming around $120 in the stock market correction.

It shouldn't matter much, but many new market timers find that their own personal mood fluctuates with the markets, moving from extreme euphoria as the markets soar to new heights to deep despair when the markets plunge to abysmal lows.

In only a single week, the S&P 500 Index - SPX went from what looked like the start of a rally to test the prior highs, to a decline that is now testing critical support.

Shares of Oil Service HOLDRS (AMEX: OIH) reached $220 on May 21 and pulled back. OIH tried again on June 6 but stopped at the same level and has been pulling back since.

Shares of Streettracks Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD) gapped down at the open Tuesday, June 10 and closed below short term support.

Shares of Utilities HOLDRS (AMEX: UTH) have not only held up well in the current stock market declines, but are poised to make a run for their 2007 highs.

Fear and greed may control the masses, but if they are allowed to control you, you become one of the millions who can't understand why they cannot make a profit when, supposedly, everyone else is.

The S&P 500 Index - SPX erased two weeks of losses on May 22 with a powerful rally adding almost 2% to this big cap index. We wrote three weeks ago that the rally was very much intact, and the current round of profit-taking was only to be expected after the sharp gains to date.

Shares of Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE: APC) have pulled back from their rally highs but have several strong support levels just below current Wednesday's close at $73.71.

Shares of the ETF Ishares Lehman 20 Year (NYSE: TLT) rallied on Tuesday June 3, after breaking strong support levels on May 29. Are we headed higher from here?

On a down day for the stock market, shares of the exchange-traded fund Biotech HOLDRS (AMEX: BBH) rallied to close up just over 1% at 167.78.