Investing and Trading in Shares - Practical Steps

In order to use PEND and TREND you will need:

    1. A source of fundamental stock market data.
    2. A source of charts.
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For basic charting and trend-following Big Charts is free. Big Charts enables you to chart stocks on most of the world's markets. If you choose the Javachart option, the chart becomes interactive, enabling you to adjust timeframes, add trendlines, and many other functions.

If you intend becoming a serious stock trader and intend using charts or technical analysis, you may wish to consider buying charting software. Charting packages such as Metastock are not cheap but they are versatile and are automated - searching charts and data for whichever patterns you choose to look for.

You will need a data source for Share Prices, Earnings, NTA and dividends. Some online stockbrokers provide this data free to their clients. Others charge for it. Alternatively you could consider using the services of a specialist data provider for your fundamental data.

If you wanted to use the PEND method of screening stocks, bear in mind that, ideally, you want to be able to download a spreadsheet containing PEND data for every stock on the stock market. You can then paste the data into our PEND Spreadsheet to calculate PEND values for all stocks simultaneously. You can download the Excel PEND spreadsheet here.

After you have paper traded for a sufficient number of months to test your methods, you will want to start buying and selling shares. There are many online stockbrokers who provide an excellent, cost-effective service for small investors.