- Charles E. Kirk
-
Charles E. Kirk 
Mr. Kirk in front of his trading deskBorn April , 1971
Cedar City, UT, U.S.Occupation Independent Stock / ETF Trader Spouse Rachel W. Kirk Website http://www.kirkreport.com Charles E. Kirk is full-time independent stock/ETF trader. He is considered to be one of the first to produce a blog, The Kirk Report, focused on trading and investing the stock market. The Kirk Report's main focus is on teaching and mentoring. Mr. Kirk uses his blog to teach people to create their own personal strategy, allowing them to manage their portfolio successfully while making sure it fits their own personality and skill set. Mr. Kirk believes people learn best by doing the work themselves (as he always has) and creating a personal strategy they can manage, improve and fit to their own personality and skill sets. Charles Kirk is best known for his technical analysis and use of stock screens. He is also noted for educating people about how to build skills that will help them for a lifetime.[1] Charles and his wife, Rachel W. Kirk (a professor at Southern Utah University) live in Cedar City, Utah.
Contents
Education
Charles graduated from the prestigious all-boys high school St. Charles Preparatory School in 1989 and then attended Cornell College, where he graduated in 1993 with a joint major in Philosophy and Political Science. In 1994 Mr. Kirk attended Dekalb Technical College [2] in which he received certification for Private Investigation. In 1996 he then attended Hamline Law School. While there he was Managing Editor for the Hamline Law Review. He graduated from Hamline in 1999 with a Juris Doctorate degree.
Work Experiences
After graduating from law school in 1999, he decided to trade stocks independently and on a full-time basis. In several publications, Mr. Kirk has said he began trading with only $2,000 and has since grown the portfolio into well over $3 million dollars. His track record has also been examined by several media organizations. In addition to trading full time and publishing The Kirk Report, Mr. Kirk also serves as a consultant to several hedge funds.
Prior to that, between 1994 and 1996 he was employed as private investor for a law firm in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2000, he started a subscription newsletter, known as MoneyXperts which was closed in 2003 in order to start The Kirk Report.
About The Kirk Report
The Kirk Report is believed to be one of the oldest and most successful independent blogs. The website gained attention by word of mouth and through profiles of Mr. Kirk in publications such as Barron's, Stocks & Commodities Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Kiplinger, BusinessWeek, Time, among others.[3]
On September 3, 2003 The Kirk Report began offering frequent postings about stocks, trading, investing, and the market with a focus on education versus advice. As a completely self-taught investor and trader, Mr. Kirk desired to share his thoughts, research, and lessons from his adventures in the stock market so that others could learn and do the same on their own.
Unique to the field, Mr. Kirk has never accepted any advertising or marketing to support The Kirk Report. Instead, he opted in 2004 to begin a Members' Only website in which he provides daily information to help his members including a premarket report, after-hours report, a live notebook, interviews with other professionals, weekend chart shows, and more. According to his site, his membership has over 5,000 active members and a significant portion of the membership fees are donated each year to charity. In 2009, Mr. Kirk started a mentorship program in which he works one-on-one with other traders. After three years, members of The Kirk Report are encouraged to apply to join this unique program in which he provides free personal mentoring.
Mr. Kirk's Strategy
1993-1996 Mr. Kirk's strategy early on was from a buy and hold investor in individual stocks and index funds. His approach was to focus primarily on the fundamentals looking for a good mix of growth/value stocks. It was at this point where he also recognized the value of index funds and so-called lazy/passive portfolios which require no market-timing approaches to succeed in the market. To this day, Mr. Kirk still advocates the use of lazy portfolios for the majority of individual investors.
1997-1998 Mr. Kirk's focus shifted to swing/position trading versus long-term investing while in law school. The rising popularity of online brokers, affordable trading commissions and high-speed internet access enabled Charles to adopt more short-term trading tactics. During this time he started employing the mix use of both fundamentals and technicals to trade individual stocks. It was also during this period where Mr. Kirk also started developing new systems to screen for stocks matching characteristics common in previous stock winners. His strategy, in essence, focused on trading trends and stocks with the characteristics well known to produce tremendous returns.
1999-2008 Mr. Kirk shifted to trading full-time and his strategy changed with a focus on chart reading and technical analysis. During this period, the fundamentals played a far less significant role in his analysis and trade selection. His trading became far more active during this period producing hundreds of trades per year. While focus on price action as a priority, Mr. Kirk also uses ATR or average true range analysis in his risk management.
2008-2011 While still using stock screens as a foundation for his strategy, Mr. Kirk began trading ETFs far more than individual stocks. In 2011, it is reported that over 90% of the trades he makes in only via ETFs or exchange traded funds. In 2011, Mr. Kirk told members that most of the trades made are held for an average of less than two weeks, many which are swing trades for only a few days at a time.
Other publications and writing
Kirk is a professor at Minyanville. In 2011, he wrote Chapter 42 in "The StockTwits Edge: 40 Actionable Trade Setups from Real Market Pros". Peter L. Brandt of StockTwits called him an "excellent chartist" - May 24, 2011, "Stocks down, Silver up -- short-term charts I was looking at today"[4]
Interviews
- A Dash Of Insight: 2010 Interview [5]
- Your Trading Edge: 2009 Interview [6]
- Wall St. Cheat Sheet: 2009 Interview [7]
- Trading Markets: 2009 Interview [8]
- Stocks & Commodities: 2007 Interview [9]
- Barron’s: 2006 Interview [10]
Honors
- Seven Invaluable Investment Resources: OI AI Blog (2011) [11]
- Best Financial Blogs: Savings Account (2011) [12]
- Readers’ Choice Award: Stocks & Commodities (2010) [13]
- Best Stock Traders On Twitter: The Social Executive (2010) [14]
- Top 50 Stock Market Blogs: Online MBA (2010) [15]
- Top 25 Blogs of 2009: Time Magazine (2009) [16]
- 10 Blogs Every Penny Pincher Should Read: Freelance Folder (2008) [17]
- Worthwhile Investment Website: San Francisco Chronicle (2007) [18]
- The Best of Financial Bloggery: The Wall Street Journal (2007) [19]
- The Best Investment Blogs: Ask The Advisor (2007) [20]
- BESPy Award: The Disciplined Investor (2007) [21]
- Must-Read Bloggers: Kiplinger’s (2006) [22]
- Top Blogger: MSN Money (2006) [23]
- Best Financial Blogs: CNNMoney (2005) [24]
- Must See Website: AAII (2005) [25]
- Blogging For Dollars: Bloomberg Businessweek (2005) [26]
- Recommended Website For Traders: Stocks & Commodities (2005) [27]
- Best Of The Web Picks: Forbes (2005 & 2004) [28]
- Babes in Blogland: Barron’s (2004) [29]
References
- ^ Exclusive Interview: Charles Kirk from The Kirk Report" from Day Trading on NYSE, Sept. 8 http://nyse-trade.com/exclusive-interview-charles-kirk-from-the-kirk-report/
- ^ Dekalb Technical College http://www.dekalbtech.edu/
- ^ The Kirk Report, press page http://www.kirkreport.com/press.html
- ^ Peter L. Brandt http://peterlbrandt.com/stocks-down-silver-up-short-term-charts-i-was-looking-at-today/
- ^ A Dash Of Insight http://oldprof.typepad.com/a_dash_of_insight/2010/10/turning-the-tables-on-charles-kirk.html
- ^ Your Trading Edge http://globalgrowthinvestor.com/295/charles-kirk-interview-trading-for-a-living/
- ^ Wall St. Cheat Sheet http://wallstcheatsheet.com/interview-knowledge/exclusive-interview-charles-kirk-from-the-kirk-report.html/
- ^ Trading Markets http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/stocks/commentary/editorial/Charles-Kirk-QA-with-Larry-Connors-Part-1-81748.cfm
- ^ Stocks & Commodities http://traderscom.stores.yahoo.net/stcov255inch.html
- ^ Barron's http://online.barrons.com/article/SB114385462692414248.html
- ^ OI AI Blog http://www.onlineinvestingai.com/blog/2011/05/05/seven-invaluable-investment-resources/
- ^ Savings Account http://www.savingsaccount.org/frugal-saver/
- ^ Readers’ Choice Award http://www.kirkreport.com/10/sc_readers_choice_award_2010.jpg
- ^ The Social Executive http://thesocialexec.com/100-best-damn-stock-traders-on-twitter/
- ^ Online MBA http://www.onlinemba.com/top_stock_market/
- ^ Best 25 Financial Blogs http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1873144,00.html
- ^ Freelance Folder http://freelancefolder.com/10-personal-finance-blogs-every-penny-pincher-should-read/
- ^ San Francisco Chronicle http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/27/BUGC1Q1FBA1.DTL
- ^ The Wall Street Journal http://online.barrons.com/article/SB119465211423188598.html
- ^ Ask The Advisor http://www.yourcreditadvisor.com/blog/2007/03/the_investors_t.html
- ^ The Disciplined Investor http://www.thedisciplinedinvestor.com/blog/2007/12/20/tdi-podcast-38/
- ^ Kiplinger's http://www.kiplinger.com/magazine/archives/2006/10/blogs.html
- ^ Top Blogger: MSN Money http://www.kirkreport.com/10/Harry_Domash_MSN_2006.pdf
- ^ CNNMoney http://money.cnn.com/2005/10/06/markets/financial_blogs/index.htm
- ^ AAII http://www.aaii.com/journal/article/using-social-media-for-investment-issues.pdf
- ^ Bloombertg Businessweek http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_28/b3942113_mz070.htm
- ^ Stocks & Commodities http://www.kirkreport.com/graphics/sc.pdf
- ^ Forbes http://www.forbes.com/bow/b2c/review.jhtml?id=7623
- ^ Barron's http://www.kirkreport.com/10/Barrons2004.pdf
Categories:- Stock traders
- American businesspeople
- Living people
- American financial businesspeople
- 1971 births
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