At both the Toronto Financial Forum and the Orlando World Money Show I was asked if VectorVest would email messages on its trades in the Model Portfolio. The answer was no.

First of all, VectorVest is an end-of-day service and we don't intend to give intraday signals with this product. We are working on a RealTime product, however, that will automatically email messages to you, so we might be able to use that capability in the future. VectorVest RealTime will be released in a few months...think June 1st. In the meantime we just have to do the best we can with what we have.

The second major and, perhaps, even more important reason for not sending these email messages with our current service is that I want you to learn how and when to make these trades yourself. The "Riding-the-Wave" strategy of the Model Portfolio is meant to illustrate how one might go long or short as the markets' trends unfold. It is not intended to be a newsletter for you to follow. If you do want to use it as a guide to make trades, however, I want it to be as easy and effective to use as possible. So here's a short summary of how I have gone about managing this portfolio:

I have been using the Up and Dn signals of the Primary Wave as my triggers to go long or short. I have always gone to cash when switching from long to short or vice versa. I have always informed you in advance of whether I intended to go long or short the next day. On many occasions, this policy has hampered my ability to trade as effectively as I could have, had I had the freedom to switch strategies if the market sharply went in the reverse direction. In other words, I have passed-up many opportunities to go long on big up days or short on big down days because I was prepared to go the other direction. I don't want this to happen to you. So I want to show you how to anticipate a change in direction of the Primary Wave by using the Market Timing Graph.

For example, the Price of the VectorVest Composite, V V C, closed at $27.60 per share yesterday, February 14, 2008. It closed at $27.32 last Friday, February 8, 2008. So it has to go down at least 29 cents per share today for it to close below last Friday's Price of $27.32. If it does, the Primary Wave will go from Up to Dn. Will it happen? I don't think so. The Price of the V V C fell 30 cents yesterday when the Dow fell 174 points and the Nasdaq fell 40 points. As I write this essay, the Dow is down only 42 points and NASDAQ 15 points, so I expect the V V C to fall only about 10 cents per share today. Consequently, the Primary Wave would remain in the Up mode. So what am I going to do Tuesday? (The market is closed Monday.)

Frankly, I'm fixing to go short if the sell-off continues. But, and this is a big but, I'd like to go long if the market explodes to the upside. I'd go long with top VST stocks. There's no good reason to sit and watch a big day go to waste. If I were sitting in cash, fixing to go long, and the market crashed, I'd go short with the "Worst Stocks Over $20.00."

With these two strategies, top VST stocks on up moves and Worst Stocks Over $20.00, I could take advantage of big up or down days whenever they occurred. I think you should too. The anticipation of short-term changes in market direction and the ability to react to big counter moves should allow us to achieve Better Entries.

WORST STOCKS OVER $20.00.
As an alternative to going long or short with the Primary Wave, Mr. Glenn Tompkins illustrates the rewards of sticking with the underlying trend in this week's "Strategy of the Week." Visit the VectorVest University to see how it's done.