And thus ends another week for the market.... with a lot less bullish enthusiasm than we saw on Thursday. While the undertow is still superficially bullish, that little voice inside my head says the undertow is still bearish. Stocks basically finished the week on the fence, which means there's nothing really to do or worry about this weekend other than enjoy the second leg of horse racing's Triple Crown contest... the Preakness. Yes, that's right - it's horse-picking time again. We did so well with the Kentucky Derby we're going to try our hand at it again. Of course, with a horse like American Pharaoh in the mix, it's hard not to do at least pretty well. SmallCap Network's Premium Advice - Elite Opportunity Actionable short and long-term NASDAQ and NYSE stocks poised for index average beating returns. Experienced daily in-depth analysis of major indices and their ETF's for short-term trading profits. Earnings options plays. Commodity trading precious metals & gold. Currency, bonds and much more! Get in the know now by getting on-the-ground trading and investing advice to make you more money. 30-Day Money Back Guarantee. Click Here and Sign-Up Today! Before we dig in here, if you're into horses at all, keep reading. If horse racing just isn't your thing, that's fine, but you may want to skip ahead to the next section. It's not too far down. OK, just as a refresher, the Derby was won by American Pharaoh, followed by Firing Line. Dortmund was third, and though it doesn't really matter, Frosted was a solid fourth. You may recall we were fans of Materiality, Dortmund, Firing Line, and American Pharaoh, suggesting a trifecta box with all combinations thereof. Not bad for a 20-horse field. Honestly though, the pick I'm proudest of was picking Frosted to even be a contender. [Then again, I added Mubtaahij to the Superfecta box, and he never had a prayer. Still, we're pretty pleased with our picks from a couple of weeks ago.] The Preakness field is going to be much smaller.... only eight horses, five of which were in the Kentucky Derby. A smaller field makes it easier to handicap the event, though honestly, I'm not sure it would matter if there were 50 horses in this year's Preakness - American Pharaoh is the odds-on favorite you can't afford to bet against. Problem is, if you're betting, there's not enough money to be made on Pharaoh to bother with a straight bet to win. If you want to make some money, you're pretty much going to have to pick some place and show horses too. John Monroe - who's a better handicapper than I am - agrees American Pharaoh is the horse to beat, but if anybody can do it, Divining Rod or Firing Line are your best shots. John's not a fan of Dortmund tomorrow, though he thinks Danzig Moon could do better than expected. His top suggestion is an exacta box with American Pharaoh, Divining Rod and Firing Line. He's also suggesting a superfecta with all the aforementioned horses EXCEPT Dortmund. My take? You know, if John had been the only person I know to not even be lukewarm on Dortmund, I might overlook it. He wasn't the only one though. A couple of other people who know more about horse racing than I do are also not looking for a great day from Dortmund. In any case, my abbreviated (and purely mental) betting strategy is a trifecta favoring Pharaoh, but including Tale of Verve, Firing Line, and..... ah heck, Dortmund. I'd rather lose overestimating Dortmund than underestimating him. Maybe an exacta with Pharaoh, Firing Line, and Tale of Verve? I know Tale of Verve is a long shot that didn't even qualify for the Derby, but he's been finishing very well lately, and this is still a pretty long race. He also had an extra week of rest none of the other contenders had. But enough about horses. Let's talk about something that's not quite the same matter of luck about horse racing - the stock market, and how to get more out of it. Kenny Rogers Was Right Most of my friends and acquaintances are well aware of what I did - and still do - for a living, and as such, they tend to ask me all sorts of questions. I don't mind. It just comes with the territory, and I love to help people figure out something that can make little sense most of the time... the stock market. Though asked in a variety of ways, the most common question I get outside of the half-joke "You got any stock tips?" is more along the lines of "How do you actually make any real money in stocks (without losing your mind)?" I completely understand the question, and I understand where those people are coming from. It's tricky, mostly because the financial media and the market are constantly sending mixed messages. But what's the answer to the question? I could write a book, but I can sum it very easily by borrowing some lyrics from Kenny Rogers' "The Gambler"... "You've got to know when to hold 'em Know when to fold 'em Know when to walk away Know when to run You never count your money When you're sittin' at the table There'll be time enough for countin' When the dealin's done" Yes, that's a simplified explanation that doesn't really answer the "how?", but no, I'm not being condescending or disrespectful when I offer that as the secret to real success in the stock market. I'd estimate about 95% of the people I know struggling to manage their own portfolio are ultimately doing so because they're selling too soon, or selling too late. They should have folded their hand (sold a losing trade) or held onto a winning hand (held onto a winning trade) much sooner than they did. That's it. That's the secret. Everything else is just details. They're important details, mind you, but the overarching philosophy is letting winners run as long as possible, and bailing out of losers as soon as possible. Or, as Larry Williams put it, "the secret to short-term trading is this.... the longer I can hold a trade, the more money I make." YES, IT'S EASIER SAID THAN DONE. There's no denying that, and the financial media's implied message of " you must do something now with this information" isn't helping either. But, defining the exact problem is half the battle, right? And to answer your next question, yep, something got stuck in my mind today to prompt the telling of this life lesson. Those of you who are also Elite Opportunity subscribers will know John Monroe and his team maintain an actual portfolio of the service's stock picks at the site for its members. I just happened to pop in today and noticed they've got not one but two double-digit winners in what's presently only a seven stock portfolio. What's amazing is that each of these picks was added this year. One of them was only added in March! It's amazing, because the broad market is only up 2.0% this year. It's been an environment that doesn't lend itself to big runups. While how John found these names would make for a good story, that's not the crux of today's thought. What should impress all of us is that Monroe and the EO team didn't take profits too early during a volatile period for the market when it would have been easy to justify locking in a gain while you had it. In other words, John knows when to hold 'em. And just for the record, yes, John also knows when to fold 'em. In fact, he builds-in stop-loss levels for most of the EO's long-term positions, automating the exit should an adverse move develop. That way the opportunity to talk himself out of an exit he knows he should make never even materializes. In trading, the best offense is a good defense. As for what this all means to you, if you're like 99% of the people I know, at some point in your investing life you've locked in a small profit that would have turned into a much bigger one. Or, you've not sold a loser while the gain was small, and ended up letting it turn into a much more significant loss. Indeed, it seems to happen to a lot of people over and over again. If any of this hits too close to home and you just can't master the fine art of knowing when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em, then the Elite Opportunity service is for you. While I'm superficially talking about delegating the trading (entries and exits) duties of your portfolio to the disciplined staff of the Elite Opportunity, you could learn a lot about trade-management and analysis just by standing over John's shoulder, so to speak. He explains most of his thought process in plain English for his stock picks as well as for his market calls. More than one subscriber has really "figured it out" just by reading John's daily thoughts in the EO newsletter. In other words, if you want to take your portfolio to the next level but have trouble doing so because you sell too soon or not soon enough, the best advice I can give you us to become an Elite Opportunity member today. Here's how, or cut and paste this link: https://www.smallcapnetwork.com/pages/SCNEO/v1/