When the market is as volatile and dangerous as it is now, you should consider a technique that I borrow from the world of professional chess playing.

The key to playing a good game of chess at "master" levels is to "accumulate small advantages." A small advantage in chess might mean having a better protected king or controlling an open file with a rook.

The same strategy applies in investing but a small advantage here might mean top management is buying shares or Warren Buffett owns the stock. If you accumulate enough of these advantages you have a tangible edge.

Perhaps the best small advantage to follow is to follow what insiders are doing, be it a CEO purchasing shares or a company engaging in a buyback. At Stockpickr (and to this column's right) you can see several portfolios that monitor key insider buying and share repurchase programs. Each portfolio has ten stocks that we think are worth noting.

General Electric (GE)

GE, the world's second largest company by market value, has doubled its stock buyback program to $14 billion, and plans to repurchase $12 billion

NEW YORK (AP) -- Blackstone Group L.P.'s profit more than tripled in the second quarter as clients poured more money into the private equity firm's funds, the company said Monday.
Blackstone Group said second-quarter net income surged to $774.4 million from $224.1 million in the second quarter of 2006. The company reported a loss of 20 cents per share, but it only covered the last 12 days of the second quarter. Blackstone went public at the end of June.

Revenue climbed to $975.3 million from $324.6 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial forecast $1.06 billion in revenue and net income of $614.4 million.

Revenue in Blackstone's corporate private equity funds, which buy public companies using borrowed money and later sell them, more than tripled to $426.1 million. The division charges fees for managing clients' money. The funds charged fees on $23.5 billion in clients' assets during the quarter,

NEW YORK (AP) -- Goldman Sachs Group on Monday said a group of investors that includes Eli Broad and Hank Greenberg will sink $3 billion into one of its biggest hedge funds that has seen its value plunge amid market volatility.

The investment bank said its Global Equity Opportunities fund "suffered significantly" as global markets sold off on worries about debt and credit. The fund lost as much as 14 percent of its value during the past 12 month, according to media reports, and is currently worth about $3.6 billion.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. will lead the group of investors to help bail out the hedge fund, which relies on computer-driven trading strategies. Other investors include Broad, Greenberg's C.V. Starr & Co., and Perry Capital LLC.

In addition, the investment bank said that two other hedge funds it manages -- Global Alpha and the North American Equities Opportunities Fund -- have also suffered during the market dislocation. Goldman said it "reduced risk and leverage" in the funds to stem losses.