yep, an interesting thread Mr McQueen.
I'm not yet sure where this post fits in as I'm to time strapped to digest all this at the moment, but here's what I do;
I trade a basket of stocks (about 20% UK through spreadbetting, 80% US through IB) that are from about 20 mechanical screens. I hold aroundf 120(!) stocks with anything from a few % to up to 15% of my portfolio to each screen.
I filter down the stocks that pass the screen by eyeballing the chart - basically looking for stocks in an uptrend or that have broken a downtrend. If they pass that "test" I then set limit orders to trigger entry, based on pullbacks, using fibs / S/R but nothing very scientific. Exits result when the stock fails to pass the screen, a limit order is set pased on fibs again or basic S/R lavels.
My overall portfolio is then hedged using ER2 contracts and spreadbets against the FTSE and £/$. The level of the hedge varied depending on signals that I pay for (there, I've said it) but overall the whole "system" would be profitable and maybe less risky without this.
I devote about 5 hours a week to the maintaining the portfolio. Any mug could do what I do (well I am a mug, afterall), though you need a relatively large account to hold the volume of stocks.
As I say, where this fits in to this thread is debatable but as you mentioned me, it felt rude not to contribute
From April 25th I'm a full time "trader" and will hopefuly contribute more valuably to these forums. I'm not sure what I'll add, only that if I can do it just about anybody can.
UTB