It appears they have the flexibility to change rules at any point during the game without penalty. This would discourage most to not participate at all. The casino is open with no one at the table leaving the dealers to play amongst themselves. The rapid movements of share prices and giant swings in volatility each day are the result.

Opportunity seems to always present itself during the most disparaging of times. The challenge is selectively weighing your options and choosing the best performer.

What are the first three things one should consider before making a short, or long term investment?

These are winners to watch.

These are select ETFs, or Exchange Trade Funds that represent heavily traded commodities and sectors. Most of these funds offer a double long or double short interest in a particular sector or index.

DDM - Represents double long the Dow Jone Industrial Average.

DXD - Represents double short the Dow Jone Industrial Average.

UYG and XLF - Represent the financial sector. UYG is a buy at or below 17.50.

SKF is double short the performance of the Financial sector, or its counterparts UYG & XLF.

USO - Is a double long position in US Crude oil.

DUG - Is a double short in US Crude Oil.

QID - is double short the performance of the NASDAQ.

SDS - Short the S&P 500.

XLK - Is a Technology Index Fund.

These are winners to watch.

These are select stocks that we believe will yield significant returns over the next 6-12 months.

• FCX - Specializes in precious metals and mining.
• HES - Is heavily weighted by the spot price of crude oil. Our focus is strictly on utilizing this stock to get long crude oil, which we anticipate a return to levels above $130, which was seen earlier in the year.
• XTO - Is our favorite energy company with exposure to natural gas based on its current valuation.
• SLB - Is an oil services company. They will respond to fluctuations in the crude oil market. Because they are an oil services company, regardless of volatility, the trend is up and their price target is above 100 .
• CNQ - Is long Canadian crude oil. We are seeking an appropriate entry point as we anticipate crude oil prices rising.
• PCU - Souther Copper will do well if Global infrastructure continues to grow the demand for copper. We anticipate this growth will continue. And suggest selectively choosing your entry points.
• BIIB - This Biotechnology company lost 20% of its market capitalization in early August. We found this move downward excessive. Our current view of its risk reward situation is 10 up and 5 down. We have watched it trade sideways for the past several weeks and look to put a position on; at or below 50.
• UYG - This ETF, or Exchange Traded Fund is a basket of financial companies. The financial sector is due for consolidation and rebound in many of these companies’ share prices. Timing is crucial. UYG at or below 17.50 is a buy.
• JPM - Is a leader in the financial sector. They are an iconic banking institution. Because of continued credit concerns and write downs amongst banks the pressure continues to remain on bank stocks. It appears JP Morgan should weather this storm. We would purchase JPM at or below 33.

These are Brazilian ADRs, or American Depository Receipts.

Brazil continues to remain a tremendous region of growth and economic prosperity. These are select institutions from Brazil that under as “ADRs”.

These are winners to watch.

This list of companies are oil exploration.

If crude returns to its previous levels of well in excess of 120.00 per barrel; and legislation removes restrictions on the availability of land to drill, which seems very likely: They should offer significant returns on investment.

Mentioned on CNBC’s Mad Money by host Jim Cramer.

These are winners to watch.

The summer has guaranteed two things: The beginning of the Beijing Olympics and continued market volatility. Commodity prices have fallen and the weak dollar has strengthened. This is, in my humble opinion, all quite nonsensical. Home prices are still falling, unemployment has been increasing, and without question credit is tight. Credit has been the lynch pin to this market. It has allowed individuals and large business to take risk.

After a brief run up, the seriously toxic Financial sector has seemed to return to reality. Small regional and large investment banks have come under pressure. This can only lead one to believe it is still to early to buy the financial sector.

Alternatively, this sudden assault of deflation amongst the commodities and their valuations has made these stocks attractive; with caution.

These are a few areas of immediate interest for at least the next 6-8 month horizon. Oil, natural gas, and gold all seemed to have taken quite the pounding. I believe the key to this trade is selectively choosing your entry point. I brought some SLB, Slumberger at around 95 and was quickly down 12.5%. The same loss was seen in my position in XTO, which was purchased at 44 and change.

The market seemed to come to it’s senses as most of my loss has morphed into a slight gain in both these positions. I believe with the current sentiment of fear. My strategy is to add to these position on the way down and sell them on the way up.

I plan to trade some of the Gold stocks employing the same trading methodolgy. Particularly, on my radar is AUY- Yamana, AEM- Agnico Minds, the CNBC “Fast Money” favorite ETF ) exhange traded fund the GLD.

Mad Money’s, Jim Cramer has suggested a long position in Biotechnoology well into the month of October. We have chosen to watch closely the hard hit BIIB- Biogen. This stock lost almost 20 points in one trading session. This loss was in response to news the drug may be linked to a recent patient’s death.

Lastly, two hand picked stocks by Mr. Cramer are Jones Apparel at $17.00; and ORB- a natural gas play at $24.00. It’s not often that an exact entry point is suggsested so we though it might be interesting to include this with our current market watch list.

This list of symbols will be part of our focus list over the next several weeks.