Market Edge is the most all-inclusive, unbiased, easy to use stock market research site on the Internet. It combines fundamental data and daily commentary from Standard and Poor's with comprehensive technical analysis to supply you with a one-two punch that is tough to beat.

Whether you are a novice investor or a seasoned pro, Market Edge is the tool that will give you the information you need to be a successful investor. Market Edge consists of 14 modules, each designed to provide you with finished research based on both fundamental and technical analysis. Over the next fourteen days you will receive a total of six e-mails from us which will point you to the main features of Market Edge.

This lesson gives you an overview of Second Opinion, which is the core of Market Edge. Second Opinion provides you with a complete technical/fundamental picture for nearly 4000 stocks. The ensuing lessons will highlight the following modules.   Second Opinion: Shows you how to combine the power of the Opinions and Score to improve your investing results.   Market Letter: Our market-timing model has forecasted the market with better than 80% accuracy since 1974.   Smart Chart: Without a doubt the most sophisticated charting package on the web.   Technical Indicators: Over twenty popular technical indicators and their connotations are displayed for each stock.   Stock Watch: Put the power of Market Edge to work for you concentrating only on you portfolio and watch lists. In addition, we have the S&P Star Ratings, earnings reports, fundamental data and company profiles for over 1100 stocks.

Second Opinion

The focus the of Second Opinion module is the Buy, Hold and Sell Opinions that it generates for nearly 4,000 stocks on a daily basis. In addition, there are six parts of each Second Opinion report, which are designed to give you a complete fundamental and technical picture of the stock and guide you to profitable trading decisions.

The Opinion

The Opinion area presents key information. You will find the current Opinion (Long, Neutral or Avoid) as well as the date and price at which the Opinion was originally formed. To further assist you, Neutral Opinions provide you with direction and are listed as either Neutral from Long (a downgrade) or Neutral from Avoid (an upgrade). Finally, new additions to the Market Edge universe carry a Long, Neutral or Avoid Opinion but will not show a retroactive price and date. Price and date will be provided once the stock has its initial Opinion change.

The Opinions are valid until the next Opinion change. This is true whether the Opinion is a week old or a year old and whether the stock has moved one point or 10 points. To see how the Opinions are currently performing, click on "Second Opinion Performance" on the Market Edge home page.

Daily Commentary And Recommendations

The Daily Comments highlight the condition of several pertinent, technical indicators and translates the technical picture of the stock into action-based language. The Recommendation provides Buy-Hold-Sell guidance based on the status of these indicators and the Opinion.

Price Analysis

The Price Analysis section contains current and historical price data such as the trailing 52 week high and low and the percentage change in price over the last month. One of the most important pieces of information contained here are the Buy and Sell Stops.

If the Opinion for the stock is Long, there will be a Sell Stop in this area. An Avoid opinion garners a Buy Stop. If a stock trades below the Sell Stop or above its Buy Stop a change in the technical condition of a stock could be underway. Typically, stops trail the current price when a stock is trading in an established trend. If the trend begins to change or the stock flattens out, the stop will move closer to the closing price.

The break of the stop is one of the four warning signs that a high probability exists that a stock's trend is changing. However, since it is one of four signs used to confirm a change in a stock's technical outlook, the Opinion will not change even though the stop is broken.

Volume Analysis

This area contains various volume statistics. Of particular importance is the Up/Down slope, our most sensitive "smart money" indicator. A green "Up" is bullish and a red "Down" is bearish. The Up/Down slope can be a key indicator alerting you to a potential change in a stock's trend. While changes to the Up/Down slope are not incorporated into the four warning signs, you should keep an eye on it.

Technical Analysis

The Technical Analysis area contains 12 different indicators with the most important being the Power Rating. The Power Rating consists of several non-correlated technical indicators, which are weighted and reduce the technical condition of a stock to a single number. The Power Rating formulates the Opinion. Values can range from -50 to over 100. When the Power rating moves above +60, the stock's opinion is upgraded to Long (buy). Crossing below -27 causes a downgrade to Avoid while a Neutral Opinion occurs on crosses of zero. Therefore, a stock with a Long Opinion and a Power Rating of 12 suggests that the Opinion is close to getting downgraded to Neutral. If the Opinion is Long with a Power Rating of 65 suggests a healthy technical condition.

Score And Opinion

There are two key elements to the Second Opinion report. The first is the Opinion, which we have already covered. The second is the Score. Together they provide day to day guidance on how best to manage your stock positions.

Score is a number that indicates whether the technical condition of a stock is improving or deteriorating. The Score can vary from 0 to -4 for stocks with a Long Opinion signaling deterioration. For stocks with an Avoid Opinion, the Score will range from 0 to +4, indicating an improving condition.

Summary

First and foremost, it pays to remember that nothing works ALL of the time and there is no such thing as a magic "Black Box". If you want Market Edge to fulfill this fantasy, you will be disappointed. Adherence to some basic guidelines will enable you to position yourself in stocks in the early stages of up moves and alerts you to get out of stocks prior to a significant decline.

For more information and user tips, consult the FAQ's on the home page and the Help pages accessible from any page.