To make money in the stock market you must be able to identify trends and patterns within individual stocks and within the overall stock market.   How to read the stock market is the crucial skill in the development of a successful stock trader. Trading stocks is very much about capitalizing on timing.  The successful investor knows when to buy and when to sell.  But more importantly a good investor really knows what signals to look for that tells him or her the the time to buy stock and what signals to look for that tells him or her the time to sell to sell. .