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Brent Harris is the President of Brent Harris Elliott Wave [BHEW], which is located in Fountain Hills, Arizona. The company provides a daily advisory service via the Internet and other electronic delivery systems, and has been operating since 2003. Brent has been actually been running a daily advisory service since 1989—first, with a company called Timing financial, and then between 1993 and 2003, as the president of Harris-Mann, Incorporated. Brent is also a licensed commodities broker.  

I really enjoyed my recent conversation with Brent Harris about how he manages his trading business. This is the second part of that interview.

Optionetics: Are your trading systems geared more toward long-term strategies or short-term strategies?

Brent: Since my form of analysis is ELLIOTT-WAVE based, a lot of emphasis is placed on labeling, and forecasting the longer-term wave-progression.  So, while I do follow the intra-day, and daily chart patterns closely, my primary objective is to catch trending movements that will hopefully endure for weeks; if not months.  

Optionetics: What are some of the key rules or factors that you consider before selecting any potential trading opportunity?

Brent:  In ELLIOTT WAVE terms, all markets, at all times are moving in either  a larger IMPULSE-WAVE, or a CORRECTIVE-WAVE. The former, usually produces a more desirable, trending condition. Whereas, the latter can result in a more complex, two-sided pattern, especially if it is of a relatively small-degree. Consequently, by process of elimination, I focus my trading efforts on those markets that appear to either already be in a larger [impulse-wave], or are about to move into one. After that, it simply becomes a matter of weighing the risk of entry, versus the potential for gain, i.e., based on the current position of the key support/resistance projections for that market. 

Optionetics: What are your favorite markets that you like to trade and track with your analysis tools?

Brent: Because the seasonal tendencies of agricultural markets seem to produce more predictable Bull and Bear cycles, they would have to be my preferred targets.  However, I have spent many years analyzing both the S&P 500, and silver, so I also trade these markets frequently.  

Optionetics: What is your most memorable trade?

Brent: Since it was the first time that I really made a lot of money in anything, and I was only 21-years old, I would have to say that trading long T-bond call options back in 1984-1985 was my most memorable experience.

Optionetics: With all the different technical as well as fundamental analysis tools out there how does a new trader avoid information overload or "analysis paralysis"?

Brent: Unless you plan on becoming an "analyst" yourself, you''re obviously going to have to rely on some type of advisory service. The question is, what type of trading suits your wants, and you''re "psyche"? If you''re the type of person that can''t stand to watch an open profit diminish, AND you want to have some "action" every day,  then you should focus your efforts on short-term trading. In the business, we call this "swing-trading". Since this type of trading is obviously "technical" in nature, concentrate your search for information on that specific subject.

On the other hand, however, if you are more inclined towards longer-term trading, AND you can handle the prospect of giving-back some open profits, with the hope that it will lead to larger gains in the long run,  then you probably want to look for services that are "trend-followers". Of course, many of your "fundamental" services would also be considered longer-term traders. So, you may want to look at a service that combines both technical AND fundamental advice.

Optionetics: Thanks, Brent, for speaking about your trading approach with our Optionetics reading audience.

To read previous installments of this interview, please click here.

Jeff Neal 
Senior Writer, Options Strategist & Profit Strategies Radio Show Market Correspondent
Visit Jeff’s Forum
Listen to Jeff at www.ProfitStrategiesRadio.com 

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