Virtual Office Moved Today And Tomorrow

Hey, check EvolutionTrader today for the VO. It's possible he is posting the numbers today and tomorrow because I will be unable to post.

If it's not there, feel free to leave him a nasty comment.

-DT

The True Call

Since I'm being delinquent and taking off tomorrow, I thought this was fitting. From one of my favorite movies, Slacker.

Amy Winehouse, "Rehab"

Not my normal music taste, but a friend of mine pointed this singer out to me. I like her.

Green And Glad

Well, the last 3 months have been a wild ride. Too wild for my taste.

8 years of trading and 2 down months. I like to make a little money everyday and minimize my losses on the down days. Every once in awhile you can have a big day. That has been my M.O. from the very beginning.

When I worked in the city other traders would have wild swings. They'd make big one day and then lose it the next. That's never been what I'm about as a trader. There were times when I wouldn't lose over $500 in a single day for months on end. That kind of consistency makes this (rather stressful) job much less stressful. But since March I have taken some big hits and the stress level went straight up. I'm hoping that it is all behind me now.

Though I doubt it is, completely.

Even days like yesterday rarely happened to me when I was "on". So I'm hoping that this summer will really see me regain my footing now that I have broken my down-month streak and that I can start to earn enough money to make this job worthwhile again.

Unfortunately, today I learned that my prop firm is passing along the NYX reg NMS fees. So that's another hurdle to overcome. I paid over $500 this month in those new fees. The more little fees they attach like that and the less sense it makes to actively daytrade because they eat directly into profit. We'll see what happens on that front. I may have to start shopping around for a new firm. I'd love to hear if other prop firms are passing these fees along. Please feel free to comment.

Anyway, my best stock of the day was DE. Here's a 2-minute graph of the stock today.


Here's some of the trades I made in DE.

9:44:48 Buy 300 @ 119.73 (300)
9:44:59 Buy 400 @ 119.75 (700)
9:45:46 Buy 100 @ 120 (800)
9:48:06 Sell 300 @ 119.94 (500)
9:50:11 Sell 100 @ 120.13 (400)
9:51:26 Buy 200 @ 119.69 (600)
9:53:53 Sell 200 @ 120.24 (400)
9:58:02 Sell 100 @ 120.60 (300)
9:59:04 Sell 100 @ 120.53 (200)
10:02:14 Sell 100 @ 120.80 (100)
10:11:05 Sell 100 @ 120.80 (flat)

I made a few other trades in DE as well, but was mostly flat to slightly negative in them.

The key to my number today though was that I minimized my losses. My biggest loser was for $59 in WCC. This is going to be my focus going forward. Minimizing losses. I'm seeing the opportunities to make money, now I need to get the discipline to stop the ugly losers and everything should be okay.

A lot of my losers are coming from having stubborn conviction or simply lunging at trades. As Misstrade said to me once, "Patience little grasshopper." and he is correct.

Incidentally, check the interview he has on his site about his trading methods. Good stuff! And it's nice to see one of the original VOers get some recognition. If you've been following along here you know he's been on a great streak from the VO inception.

Anyway, I'm out of here for the rest of the day. I may also take tomorrow off. I'm trying to get in touch with EvolutionTrader to see if he can post the VO for the next two days. If not, it will be here again on Monday.

The VO is set to change soon. Stay tuned.

Anyway, here's the stats:

P&L, $1441
Best, DE $466
Worst, WCC, -$59

shares traded, 19,600
stocks traded, 13, 9 positive, 4 negative
total trades, 113

I'll come away from this month with a little over $1000 in my pocket.

End Of The Month

Well, while I've been struggling with my intraday trading lately, at least my longer-term account is doing well. GAIA and MVIS (thanks Fly) are working wonders today.

Anyway, I've made some money here early with good trades in DE, ITG and CNH. Not sure if I've pulled positive for the month or not, but at least I've made it very close. I can start June with a pretty clear head. I have noticed some of my confidence returning despite another poor month. I am no longer as confused by the Freaky Hybrid trades. Now, they are just something that happens and I shake my head at them and think wistfully about the past.

I'm taking a half day today because a friend of mine has an art show in the city. I like to support artists and other poor people. Makes me feel better about myself.

Neutral Milk Hotel, "In The Aeroplane Over The Sea"

I had a rough day today mentally. So, despite not having made a dime in the last 3 months, I went out and bought a wetsuit. I haven't surfed in 15 years. Why not?

Virtual Office, $2747. Dow, +111.74, 13633.08.

Misstrade, $4000 on 4400 shares traded.
EvolutionTrader, -$40 on 12,600 shares traded.
Me, -$1213 on 41,400 shares traded.

Worst Trade Ever

This one broke my spirit. I didn't know it at the time, but I was already down over $600 on the day. Here's what happened.

14:05:44 Short 800 @ 47.32 (-800)

14:12:49 Buy 300 @ 47.86 (-500)

14:16:46 Buy 200 @ 47.87 (-300)

14:19:19 Buy 300 @ 47.89 (flat)

At the time, DE had dropped a point in 10 minutes and so I was playing the pair. The first mistake I made was entering a market order. I entered the order when the stock was trading near 47.55. I was filled at 47.32. It's a force of habit that makes me enter market orders still but I need to learn not to do that anymore. The hybrid market eats me alive when I do.

So, I was filled a penny off the low of the move on my short and then got immediately squeezed for over a half point and lost $450 on the trade. This one felt awful and I basically closed out my remaining positions and walked away knowing that my account was firmly in the red again.

After waking this morning in the green with 2 trading days left in the month, my plan was to take it easy. But basically, the trade I highlighted in CNH happened to me over and over in him. I lost $885 in that one stock today. It was one of those days where nothing went right for me.

To make matters worse, I had a couple of trades that really would have worked for me had I hung in there, mainly ITU and CPT.

Anyway, I feel gross. I just can't trade this market on the long side right now. Especially with the gap down off the open, it just added to my bearishness. So I was way too skittish on my long trades, getting out at the slightest hint of a downturn and too stubborn on my shorts. Disaster.

And now I go into tomorrow staring at my third negative month in a row.

Anyway, here's the stats:

P&L, -$1213

Best, ITU, $72

Worst, CNH, -$885

shares traded, 41,400

stocks traded, 13, 4 positive, 9 negative

total trades, 157

Whales

Okay, I love whales too. They're hard not to like. But I'm beginning to hate those whales in California.

Actually, it's not the whales I hate, it's the media that is tracking their every move that I hate. Frankly, I'm tired of hearing about the "heroic efforts" that are leading them back to freedom. Do people really care so much about whales? Then how about the media takes more time to report on stuff like this.

It's like Anna Nichole Smith all over again but this time with whales. And they're on every network. Please... just keep telling us about the war so we realize what a mistake it was and never let it happen again.

Or educate people about who represents them... something, anything, but enough about the whales already.

TMBG, "The Statue Got Me High"

I Just Missed It

POT was my worst stock of the day. Here are my trades in it:

11:03:42 Short 200 @ 204.75 (-200)
11:09:56 Short 100 @ 204.74 (-300)
11:13:35 Buy 100 @ 205.25 (-200)
11:23:46 Buy 200 @ 205.61 (flat)
13:21:18 Short 200 @ 202.55 (-200)
14:01:01 Buy 100 @ 202.82 (-100)
14:44:16 Buy 100 @ 202.24 (flat)

The reason why I am posting my trades in POT and not my best stock of the day, AMR, is because the POT trade really marked the turning point of the day.

I had a good, easy morning, low stress trades and no significant losers. I looked at POT and saw that it was still up over 4 points on the day and that the market was acting weak and TNH had already reversed. So, I sold short and placed my stops about 75 cents away. In any normal stock I keep them much closer, but since POT is so expensive, 75 cents is really not much of a move.

As you can see, I sold a little too early. He hit my stops and filled me only about 20 cents from the top. Once he made that move, he reversed quickly and decisively and never really gave me an opportunity for a solid reentry. So, I missed the 4 point move. Instead of making over $1000 on the trade, I lost $250. More importantly, I lost my morning momentum. I really barely traded after my loss in POT because I didn't want to churn the rest of my profits away.

That's really where I am right now. If I have a good morning I'm just trying to hold the profits. I'm not going to be too aggressive because there have been too many times recently where I'm over-trading and churning profits away.

I am now up a few hundred dollars on the month with only 2 days to go. I can see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Other trades of note were good shorts in SPG and CPT after the morning run and long AMR because of the weakness in oil prices.

Here's the stats:

P&L, $680
Best, AMR, $652
Worst, POT, -$226

shares traded, 23,200
stocks traded, 7, 4 positive, 3 negative
total trades, 99

Virtual Office, $5218. Dow, +14.22. 13521.50.

Misstrade, $4880 on 14,000 shares traded.
Me, $680 on 23,200 shares traded.
Dehtrader, -$342 on 7600 shares traded.

Well, with the unofficial start of the summer, the VO has taken in down a gear.

OBAT will be on hiatus for the next month. He's taking a vacation. Must be nice to live the life of a playboy. ET also took a day off.

Misstrade had a couple of nice trades today and landed himself some nice gains on a day that's "supposed to be slow." Always have to be on the ready for easy money. Nice trading, MT. I myself had some decent, non-stressful gains. Would like to end the month with 2 more just like today.

My daily post will be a little late tonight. It was my wife's birthday over the weekend and today she's going out with her friends. So during the early evening I will be a Dad and not a blogger.

Wake Up!!!

It's always difficult waking up after a long weekend.



Instead of assuming it's going to be slow because it generally is after a 3-day weekend, I'm gonna keep an open mind and see what the market has to offer.

Al Gore Please Run For President

He addresses two of my biggest concerns: the environment and the propaganda machine we call "the media".

Virtual Office, Memorial Day Edition, $784

Misstrade, $1144 on 3400 shares traded.
EvolutionTrader, $196 on 15,400 shares traded.
One Bad-Ass Trader, -$3 on 2400 shares traded.
Denarii, -$152 on 400 shares traded.
Me, -$401 on 14,000 shares traded.
Dehtrader, -$509 on 10,000 shares traded.

Well, it wasn't as slow as I thought it would be, but it was a Friday before Memorial Day nonetheless. So, even if it isn't that slow, you think it's gonna be slow so you take the foot off the gas pedal a bit.

Anyway, everyone enjoy the long weekend. If you're going out to the Hamptons, be respectful and drive safely.

Stop Putting Shit On Us

A long weekend calls for a couple of long videos. This one is pretty funny.

The Democrats Suck Too

Depressing going into the weekend like this but it can't be denied. Our country is without leadership.

Hopefully, sometime within the next 18 months a leader will emerge (perfect time a third party candidate to step up) otherwise it's gonna be hard to find someone to vote for.



I think Olbermann should tone it down a bit, but I agree with all of his points.

The Band, "The Weight"

Thanks for all the encouragement everyone!

Back To Green For The Long Weekend

Well, it's been a bumpy ride but here I am with one day left in the month and I managed to bring my account into the green for the first time since the end of February.

I'm up $200 for the month after I clear my losses for March and April.

I'm pretty damn happy about it.

I had a few good winners today, mainly in AG, AMG and CROX. Here are my trades in AG.



9:45:31 Short 2000 @ 41.13 (-2000)
9:49:47 Buy 500 @ 41.18 (-1500)
9:49:52 Buy 500 @ 41.19 (-1000)
9:50:02 Buy 500 @ 41.29 (-500)
9:51:03 Buy 200 @ 41.26 (-300)
9:58:30 Short 300 @ 41.25 (-600)
10:00:24 Buy 300 @ 41.25 (-300)
10:00:26 Buy 300 @ 41.25 (flat)
10:36:45 Short 1500 @ 41.38 (-1500)
10:42:07 Short 500 @ 41.40 (-2000)
10:59:30 Buy 500 @ 40.96 (-1500)
11:09:16 Short 200 @ 41.21 (-1700)
11:16:34 Short 300 @ 41.02 (-2000)
11:22:49 Buy 500 @ 40.97 (-1500)
11:30:25 Buy 500 @ 40.60 (-1000)
11:30:56 Buy 200 @ 40.68 (-800)
11:42:43 Short 400 @ 40.71 (-1200)
12:28:39 Buy 200 @ 40.45 (-1000)
12:35:06 Buy 200 @ 40.35 (-800)
12:46:39 Buy 300 @ 40.35 (-500)
12:48:32 Buy 200 @ 40.59 (-300)
12:50:23 Short 100 @ 40.46 (-400)
13:16:46 Buy 300 @ 40.52 (-100)
13:24:38 Short 100 @ 40.51 (-200)
14:13:25 Short 200 @ 40.51 (-400)
14:44:34 Buy 300 @ 40.51 (-100)
15:15:23 Buy 100 @ 40.53 (flat)

These trades net me $1425, my first good winner in some time.

I also net over $500 in AMG and CROX (both on the short side) and had no substantial losers.

Anyway, looking forward to taking a half day tomorrow. However, I held CROX and AMG short overnight... hopefully I won't get burned on those positions. Either way, I'm setting a max loss limit for myself of $200 tomorrow so that I can go into June with a clean slate.

Here's the stats:

P&L, $3766
Best, AG $1425
Worst, UBB -$87

shares traded, 30,000
stocks traded, 16, 9 positive, 7 negative
total trades, 155

Virtual Office, $7633. Dow, -84.52, 13441.13.

Misstrade, $4324 on 9200 shares traded.
Me, $3732 on 30,000 shares traded.
Dehtrader, $433 on 14,300 shares traded.
One Bad-Ass Trader, $217 on 3200 shares traded.
EvolutionTrader, -$1073 on 90,400 shares traded.

For a week that is typically slow, there was a lot of volatility in the market today and that is reflected in the VO numbers.

Misstrade pulled off his normal perfectly executed trades while I had a couple of my own for a change. OBAT had a very efficient day. ET made a lot of money for his firm today... I haven't checked yet, but I bet his gross was close to flat. Trading volume like that should get you a commission cut soon, ET.

Anyway, don't forget to check Misstrade's new video chart analysis.

Looking forward to a nice easy half day tomorrow.

Which Country Should We Invade Next?

I say the UK... their "reporters" are smartasses!

Misstrade Video Analysis

Hey, I urge you all to go check out Misstrade's new feature. He talks his way through graphs and trades offering his opinion on entries and exits.

Very easy to understand and very informative for both Dinosaur traders and newbies.

Boards Of Canada, "Dayvan Cowboy"

Amazing footage of a guy Joe Kittinger jumping out of a weather balloon from 19.5 miles up in the atmosphere.



Anyway, we have friends coming over for dinner tonight. So my normal daily post will be pushed back until later this evening.

Virtual Office, $3054. Dow -14.30, 13525.65.

Misstrade, $3137 on 6800 shares traded.
EvolutionTrader, $91 on 57,200 shares traded.
Me, -$49 on 56,800 shares traded.
One Bad-Ass Trader, -$122 on 25,800 shares traded.
Dehtrader, -$125 on 18,500 shares traded.

Are those crickets chirping?

Obviously, a slow day in the VO. People gearing up for the big weekend.

While Mr. Greenspan did his best to add some volatility to the market, it was still a pretty sleepy day.

Looking forward to next week when we have some data again.

Kind Of Like The Market

Trading in the morning was good, but since then it's been a game of giveback.

Pixies, "Where Is My Mind?"

First We Cry, Now We Laugh

This is great.

Sigh

Some background.

I started this blog in March after I took the worst 2 day smoking of my 8 year trading career. At that point, I was nearly through my capital. I battled back in March and ended the month down only a few hundred dollars, capital intact. It was the first month that I had ever lost money.

In April I don't recall having any big bomb days, but I lost again, my second down month in a row. So my loss was a little over $1000.

May has been a bit of a rollercoaster. There were times when I felt confident again and thought momentum was building. I had a couple of good days. But I've had a few recent bombs as well. Therefore I am in the red and close to halfway through my capital. The end of the month is near. We're in a holiday week, I just don't feel any big gains coming my way anytime soon.

If in March I was at some type of crossroads I'm not sure where I am right now... ever seen footage of the polar bears swimming around looking for some ice to hold onto? It's like that right now. I'm simply at a loss.

I'm not sure how much longer I can continue to munch at my savings account. I had some good years and saved good money but that was before I had a kid and felt this sudden surge of responsibility hit me. Every day I lose I kind of feel like she loses too. Continuing this slide feels irresponsible to me. I feel that soon I may have to swallow some pride and go sit in a gray cubicle somewhere pretending to be busy again for a steady paycheck.

Damn this is a depressing post. Well, fuck it, I'm depressed.

The silver lining is that my longer term account made some money today. The Fly's stock, MVIS took off a bit and another of mine, KOG, rose as well.

I'm considering taking off the rest of the week. You can't trade when you have no confidence.


Here's the stats:

P&L, -$1452
Best, DSL $53
Worst, FWLT, -$466

shares traded, 21,200
stocks traded, 13, 1 positive, 12 negative (that's so bad it's almost funny...)
total trades, 110

Virtual Office, $3012. Dow, -2.93, 13539.95.

Misstrade, $3830 on 10,400 shares traded.
Dehtrader, $815 on 19,200 shares traded.
One Bad-Ass Trader, $66 on 11,200 shares traded.
EvolutionTrader, -$247 on 57,800 shares traded.
Me, -$1452 on 21,200 shares traded.

Not a bad day for the VO, but a bad day for Dinosaurs.

Misstrade and Dehtrader lead the pack today. Congrats to MT on a nice bounce back day.

I could do no right today. I have no quick summary of the day's action because frankly, I have no idea what's going on anymore. This blog may be morphing into a discussion of employment opportunities for washed up stock traders soon... stay tuned.

Wallstrip Bought By CBS

Congratulations to Lindsay and Howard!

Dan Deacon, "Drinking Out Of Cups"

You know those Geico commercials with the gecko? Well, apparently this lizard was the runner up. It's been hard for him to watch the gecko become world famous. He's understandably bitter... this is hilarious.



Anyway, you can find more from Dan Deacon over on the forkcast. Enjoy!

Al Gore On Good Morning America

Doesn't Diane Sawyer realize that she proves his point with every idiotic question she asked him?

How much do you weigh, she asks him? I don't know, how much do you THINK, Mrs. Sawyer?

If we had a real media our country wouldn't be in the mess it's in.

Ted Leo & The Pharmacists, "Where Have All The Rude Boys Gone?"

Sleepy Market, Sleepy Trader

Like I mentioned in my morning post, it was a long weekend here. What I failed to mention was that before I spent 17 straight hours in the field documenting bird species for a local environmental advocacy group I had only 2 hours of sleep because we had friends out for the weekend. So I woke up this morning feeling very groggy.

It worked out because I really traded lightly on a day where I otherwise would have over-traded.

My best stock of the day was again, TNH.



Although I really missed the money trade by getting long off the open. However, with the way this stock has been moving, I decided that was more of a missed dice roll than a missed trade.

Here are my trades:

9:55:03 Short 200 @ 85.87 (-200)
10:07:07 Buy 100 @ 86.39 (-100)
10:16:13 Buy 100 @ 84.80 (flat)
10:47:50 Buy 100 @ 84.94 (100)
13:04:11 Sell 100 @ 86.60 (flat)

Short and sweet. I made $218 in the stock and enjoyed a nice lunch out with a friend to boot.

Anyway, I traded TNH today just to basically "keep up" with the stock even though I knew I would be taking it easy today. He's been such a good mover and I didn't want to get out of the game. Basically, by trading him (however small or infrequent my positions were) I was forced to actively watch him. That will put me in a better position to trade him tomorrow should he be moving.

Although, I do expect that unless TNH can make a new high soon that the volatility will dry up in him. That's unfortunate, because right now I'll take volatility wherever I can find it.

Tonight I plan on sleeping well. Tomorrow I plan on trading.

Here's the stats:

P&L, $355
Best, TNH $218
Worst, DE -$62

shares traded, 12,200
stocks traded, 16, 9 positive, 7 negative
total trades, 109

Virtual Office, -$3226. Dow -13.65, 13542.88.

EvolutionTrader, $584 on 88,300 shares traded.
Me, $355 on 12,200 shares traded.
One Bad-Ass Trader, $88 on 13,400 shares traded.
Denarii, $19 on 1000 shares traded.
Dehtrader, -$54 on 19,500 shares traded.
Misstrade, -$4218 on 6400 shares traded.

Well, what can you say? It was a slow day. Not much going on. ET did his best to trade the heck out of the market to give it a boost, but despite his best efforts, the market was quiet and tired.

Misstrade ends a long string of really remarkable gains with a bit of a downer today. If it's any consolation MT, I think CROX are ugly as hell too.

Unfortunately, there really is a lack of economic data out this week and we're up against the Memorial Day holiday weekend. It could be a tumbleweed-blowing type of week. Perhaps this will give me some time to work on a new history post. We'll see.

Slow day... some more sick humor

"Oh, I think she's actually hurt there..."



Because I posted this, I am sure to have my wind knocked out soon...

Sleep.... Ah, Sleep!

141

That's the number of bird species I saw yesterday while taking part in a local "faunathon" to raise money for an environmental advocacy group.

We were out in the field by 3am searching for noctunal birds (like Chuck's Will-Widow and Barn Owl) and ended in a field at 8pm watching American Woodcocks display.

It was an amazing day. However, I'm completely shot today and I think I may be forced to trade very lightly.

Gui Boratto, "Beautiful Life"

I'm in a good mood.



Have a nice weekend.

-DT

A Happy Ending

Today was all about TNH again.


I went into the day short 100 shares of this freak. That was stupid. Worse, I added to the short position right after the open and got my face ripped off. It hurt, but finally, things made sense to me. It was not my job to be squeezed, it was my job to be the squeezer.

At around 10am, a small offer showed up in TNH at 90.94. A few days back when the stock nose-dived, an offer like this would send the stock right down. Today, it sent the stock down about 40 cents, but then it came right back up and took the offer out. That's when I decided that it was time to buy TNH all the way up to the early morning highs of 92.15.

Why? Because I knew there were a bunch of idiots like myself who saw the retracement in TNH from 78 up to 92 and decided that it was a good short. But things are never easy, especially in TNH, and that's why I knew they were going to have to feel more pain for the short to work.

Here's what I did once I figured that out:

10:08:51 Buy 200 @ 91.51 (200)

10:09:10 Buy 100 @ 91.50 (300)

10:09:24 Buy 100 @ 91.62 (400)

10:11:16 Buy 200 @ 91.20 (600)

10:16:24 Sell 100 @ 91.71 (this was actually a mistake... i meant to buy, 500)

10:16:52 Buy 200 @ 91.90 (700)

10:17:40 Sell 100 @ 92.32 (600)

10:19:57 Sell 100 @ 92.10 (500)

10:20:33 Sell 100 @ 92.31 (400)

10:23:51 Sell 200 @ 92.19 (200)

10:23:56 Sell 200 @ 92.04 (flat)

So at this point, my long trade was over. He had broken the early morning high and I expected him to reverse and head lower. POT was selling off and this added to my bearish feeling on the stock. So I entered limit orders at around 92.10, 92.15... but the stock broke below 92 and was heading south aggressively.

All I could do was to enter a market order. I was filled at 91.67. I hated this fill and so I covered very quickly. I covered 100 at 91.50, 91.20 and 91.40 and I was flat again. I entered Short limit orders above 91.80 and again, wasn't filled. The stock broke again and so I had to chase with a market order.

10:34:30 Short 100 @ 90.77 (-100)

10:38:19 Short 100 @ 90.60 (-200)

The next 20 minutes saw a spectacular selloff in the stock. But because the stock broke so quick and so suddenly I was unable to add to my position. This was very frustrating. I almost read the trade perfectly but I just didn't expect it to break so fast and hard.

10:57:55 Buy 100 @ 88.35 (-100)

10:59:05 Buy 100 @ 86.07 (flat)

In 2 minutes the stock dropped over 2 points! The thing had tanked down to 86 and now I was flat. I was also getting bullish. So, I had to start buying.

11:00:56 Buy 200 @ 85.42 (200)

11:01:42 Buy 100 @ 84.68 (300)

11:03:51 Sell 100 @ 85.69 (200)

11:03:54 Sell 100 @ 85.66 (100)

11:25:37 Sell 100 @ 84.91 (flat)

11:26:09 Buy 300 @ 83.69 (300)

11:32:33 Sell 100 @ 83.02 (200)

11:37:23 Sell 100 @ 82.76 (100)

11:38:59 Sell 100 @ 82.02 (flat)

11:42:23 Buy 100 @ 81.71 (100)

11:43:14 Buy 100 @ 82 (200)

11:45:53 Buy 100 @ 82.54 (300)

11:54:39 Sell 200 @ 83.65 (100)

12:00:12 Sell 100 @ 84.48 (flat)

12:23:19 Buy 200 @ 83.10 (200)

12:28:22 Sell 100 @ 83.70 (100)

12:29:01 Sell 100 @ 84.60 (flat)

And that was that. I didn't trade in the afternoon. I made good trades in TNH today after I lost on my first shorts. My total gains in TNH were $1214. I lost probably over $800 on my initial shorts, so really, once I got my act together, I made over $2000 trading him today. Of course, the potential to make so much more was there.

I'll miss TNH when the volatility goes away...

Anyway, here's the stats. I have to cut this short because we have friends staying the weekend who just showed up. I hate friends...

P&L, $715

Best, TNH $1214

Worst, DE -$330

shares traded, 25,800

stocks traded, 12, 3 positive, 9 negative (another awful ratio)

total trades, 186

Virtual Office, $3452. Dow, +79.81, 13556.53.

Misstrade, $2849 on 4300 shares traded.
Me, $715 on 25,800 shares traded.
One Bad-Ass Trader, $82 on 12,800 shares traded.
EvolutionTrader, $82 on 63,800 shares traded.
Denarii, $8 on 4000 shares traded.
Dehtrader, -$284 on 18,400 shares traded.

Largely a green day for the VO. A nice way to end the week. Not bad volume either.

Will the market ever go down again?

One reminder... If you click on the name of the trader, you will be directed to their website. There, you can read that trader's daily post about how they made (or lost) their money today.

My daily post is forthcoming.

Enjoy your weekend,

-DT

"I'm exhausted"

(from The Science of Sleep)

Ministry, "Thieves"

I plan on alienating any female readership I have by posting this song.

But hey, last week I posted Joanna Newsom!



Joanna Newsom at a Ministry concert... there's an interesting idea.

I Threw Up A Little In My Mouth

Today was disgusting.

This job is so harrowing. You're on a roll, making money and then BAM! you get hit.

Yesterday, I made money by trading DE and AG together. Today, I got smoked doing the exact same thing. Shorting AG today because of the weakness in DE cost me over $619.

I could have bought a nice lawnmower with $619. Better yet, I could have paid a landscaping service to mow my lawn all summer. Sigh...

I did make money in DE, shorting the weakness that he was clearly exhibiting. But sometimes, I guess you have to step back and watch stocks individually. AG wasn't showing weakness. I remember it was very clear to me right off the open because I short some and was trying to buy back some shares with a limit order at 41.80. He just wouldn't hit 41.80 and he never looked back. He rallied from that point on. AG rallied from 9:50am until the close.




Ben Bernanke didn't help me today either, or was it the LEI? I dunno, all I know is that at 10:00am I was short everything and I got squeezed in everything. It was awful. UBB and POT squeezed the bejesus out of me. It was awful.

Anyway, the one stock I really made any money in today was DE. So, for your reading enjoyment, here are my trades in DE.

10:23:46 Short 500 @ 118.59 (-500)
10:31:02 Buy 100 @ 118.52 (-400)
10:33:27 Short 200 @ 118.26 (-600)
10:34:03 Buy 200 @ 118.05 (-400)
10:37:56 Buy 100 @ 117.91 (-300)
10:43:09 Short 200 @ 118.19 (-500)
10:44:14 Short 100 @ 118.03 (-600)
10:47:40 Buy 400 @ 117.84 (-200)
10:51:14 Short 100 @ 118.34 (-300)
10:56:22 Buy 100 @ 117.81 (-200)
10:56:43 Buy 200 @ 117.84 (flat)
10:56:45 Buy 400 @ 117.90 (400)
10:57:05 Sell 200 @ 117.84 (200)
10:57:14 Sell 200 @ 117.91 (flat)
14:21:49 Buy 100 @ 117.61 (100)
14:21:54 Buy 200 @ 117.56 (300)
14:21:57 Buy 300 @ 117.58 (600)
14:24:21 Sell 200 @ 117.61 (400)
14:24:36 Sell 100 @ 117.63 (300)
14:25:06 Sell 300 @ 117.58 (flat)
14:42:39 Buy 200 @ 117.69 (200)
14:42:51 Buy 100 @ 117.72 (300)
14:45:31 Buy 100 @ 117.66 (400)
14:45:51 Buy 100 @ 117.69 (500)
14:56:33 Sell 100 @ 117.79 (400)
14:58:26 Sell 100 @ 117.90 (300)
15:09:43 Sell 300 @ 117.88 (flat)

Anyway, with that, I'm putting this day behind me. I'm looking forward to ending the week green tomorrow.

Here's the stats:

P&L -$1467
Best, DE $549
Worst, AG -$619

shares traded, 60,800
stocks traded, 23, 6 positive, 17 negative (bloody ratio)
total trades, 333

Virtual Office, $719. Dow, -10.81, 13476.72.

Misstrade, $2480 on 4700 shares traded.
EvolutionTrader, $657 on 40,600 shares traded.
Denarii, -$55 on 2000 shares traded.
Dehtrader, -$426 on 7000 shares traded.
One Bad-Ass Trader, -$470 on 23,600 shares traded.
Me, -$1467 on 60,800 shares traded.

And this after a day the whole VO was green for the first time ever...

I'm honestly shocked that anyone figured out how to make money today. I got smoked on my shorts and chopped in my longs. Congrats to Misstrade and ET for putting up some nice numbers in a tough market to trade.

For the rest of us poor slobs, there's always tomorrow.

Frontline

No, no... not that oily crap you put on your pets for fleas... I'm talking about the show that investigates the oily fleas that currently run our government.

Check out the latest documentary here. It's about people who are spying on YOU!

Great, now they'll be after me.... sigh.

Ear Sex Is Just Unnatural

No reason to not state facts. Trade is choppy, signals are mixed. I'm chilling here until there is some reason to make some trades.

Yuck.

Here's a funny video. That's right, take your eyes away from the quote screens for a second, you won't be missing much.

Revenge!

I'm a little pissed that I gave so much back at the end of the day yesterday. So, instead of actively seeking out revenge in the market, I'm getting it out here in this blog post so I can go into the day with a clear head.

From one of the best movies of all time (and one of the best scenes too, except for that one where Bill Murray jumps into the pool while they play that Kinks song...)

R.E.M. "Country Feedback"

Classic R.E.M.

When Life Interrupts The Trading Day

My morning, and really my day is best understood by looking at the two graphs below. DE reported earnings, gapped up and then went negative. AG trades with DE, so the trade was to short both. This I did and I made good money in both stocks.

Unfortunately, I was in "light trading mode" because of the excessive churn of yesterday and also because I had an appointment to visit a potential nursery school for my daughter this morning. Therefore, while I caught over a point move in each stock, I only had 300 shares for each.




I also had good trades getting short HXM and LNN.

I had gains of a little over $1000 by 10:45. I had to leave for my appointment though, so I left a bunch of short positions. Everything was going great when I left so I felt pretty safe. I put my stops pretty far away and walked out the door whistling a tune of financial freedom.

Five minutes after I left my computer, the market bottomed and all my positions went against me. When I returned from my appointment, I had lost over half of my gains on the day. I was pissed, so instead of trading angry I just turned off the screens and focused on some spring cleaning.

Anyway, here's the stats:

P&L, $552
Best, AG $379
Worst, CPA, -$344

shares traded, 16,200
stocks traded, 14, 7 positive, 7 negative
total trades, 145

Virtual Office, $2586. Dow, +103.69, 13487.53.

EvolutionTrader, $1574 on 72,400 shares traded.
Me, $552 on 16,200 shares traded.
Denarri, $218 on 1400 shares traded.
One Bad-Ass Trader, $145 on 16,400 shares traded.
Dehtrader, $97 on 18,300 shares traded.


It was a light volume rally day, but whatever, you have to give this market some respect. Like a good sports team, it's finding ways to win. And the VO found a way to win too. For the first time since it's inception, everyone reported gains. Of course, we were a little shorthanded today, with Misstrade taking a day off and the Scalper on hiatus, but still... we'll take it, it was historic.

ET had a nice solid day and I had a decent day even though I only traded until 11:00am. Everyone else was slightly positive which, is always positive.

Let's see what tomorrow brings. Probably another up day that I'll just shake my head at in wonder... I'll post a brief synopsis of my day later. Right now, I need to go buy a lawnmower, my old one died a quiet death in my garage this past winter.

It won't be missed.

Lindsay's Hallmark Ad

I don't watch the Soprano's but I regularly watch Wallstrip. Anyway, I don't even have HBO. Even if I did, I probably wouldn't watch the Soprano's because I'm Italian and I hate that everything Italian has to be mob related. I won't even start on the Olive Garden commercials..., but click that link for a hilarious parody of one.

Anyway, so I went on Youtube hoping someone had posted the clip of Lindsay in the Sopranos. No luck. However, I found this Hallmark ad that she was in.

I rate it a 10 on a puke-meter. It almost made me throw up. Who writes these ads? Does this shit sell cards? Lindsay was good though even if this stuff is below her.

CNH - Freaky Hybrid Trade Of The Day!

It's been awhile since I posted one of these, but I couldn't resist.

Check out that 10 minutes of complete lunacy and disorder between 9:40 and 9:50 this morning. I don't have time to post a detailed analysis of this one (since it's the middle of the day) but I thought some of you might enjoy having a reason to say "Wow"!

Anyway, yet another bearish reversal in the indexes. Let's see if the market can hold on here. If not, we may be in for some (gasp!) down days in the near future!

Republican Debate

Misstrade was the first to point out Ron Paul to me as a good candidate. I consider myself an independent, so even though he's a Republican (party of Bush, don't forget) I'll consider him.

Well, you know he must have some good ideas when it's clear that Fox News is out to get him. Makes you realize why the Democrats won't participate in any debates sponsored by Fox. Unfair and unbalanced.

Wall Street, "Greed Is Good"

Just to get everyone in the mood this morning. Let's make some money today.

Animal Collective, "Grass"

This really should be a "music video of the week" but after the churning session I went through today I needed something with some kick.

Right now, I can't stop listening to Animal Collective.

I'll be at the Seaport Festival on June 1st where they'll be playing for free. With my trading where it's at, free is good. Enjoy!

Chop, Chop, Chop

Today was a very frustrating trading day. I think that I had some pretty good gains by 11:30 and gave almost all of it away by the end of the day. Worse yet, I feel like I was on the right side of the market (short) all afternoon and kept getting squeezed out of positions at awful prices.

I just wasn't sharp today, or the market was very choppy. Probably a little of both.

TNH was the highlight again for me though I probably gave back over $1000 in him. That's a stock I should have stopped trading at 11:00 am. Rookie mistake, inexcusable, really. I'm not going to post all my trades in this stock today like I did yesterday, just because I overtraded him. It would take me all afternoon to type all the trades in. I traded over 10,000 shares in TNH alone, mostly in 200 and 300 share lots. Churn and burn.



Another highlight was the SPY. I read on EvolutionTrader's blog yesterday that he has been dabbling in it and so have I. And it's perfect today. I feel I read the market correctly (weakening) and so I traded SPY well, but I was getting chopped up in individual stocks.

Volume was pretty high today on the NYSE versus recent sessions. I think we can expect more volatility in the next few weeks. Bad for investors probably, good for traders hopefully.

I'm glad I finished green today. I really had no idea when I opened my P&L at the close where I would be. I must have had an excellent morning, because the afternoon felt pretty awful.

Anyway, let's see if I can get another green day tomorrow.

The confidence level is slowly improving despite the blowup from Friday.

Here's the stats:

P&L, $230
Best, TNH, $429
Worst, AG, -$354

shares traded, 81,200
stocks traded, 22, 10 positive, 12 negative
total trades, 415

Virtual Office, $1459. Dow, +37.06, 13383.84.

Misstrade, $707 on 3000 shares traded.
Dehtrader, $602 on 46,800 shares traded.
Me, $230 on 81,200 shares traded.
One Bad-Ass Trader, $150 on 22,400 shares traded.
Denarii, -$38 on 2000 shares traded.
EvolutionTrader, -$192 on 84,000 shares traded.

I think it's pretty clear from the numbers and share totals that today was a very choppy (and frustrating) day to trade. If I could do it all again I would have stopped trading at 11:00 am. That's what my instincts were telling me and I should have listened.

Anyway, good numbers from Misstrade and Dehtrader and no big blowups. Let's try again tomorrow.

p.s. Maria Bartiromo is annoying as hell.

Wacky Morning In The Dinosaur Cave

They're outside priming the house. Perhaps the fumes are getting to us. My daughter has been screaming all morning. I thought for those of you who have toddlers, that you may appreciate this recent exchange as my wife tried to get my daughter dressed so they could go food shopping. Conversations with toddlers are always interesting...

Judy: "Ok, let's put your shoes on!"
Unhinged Toddler: "I don't need shoes, Mom! No! I don't need shoes!
Judy: "Everyone needs shoes outside. Otherwise you can step on something and hurt your foot."

Long pause...

Unhinged Toddler: "No shoes! I DON'T NEED SHOES!!!"
Judy: "Okay (giggling nervously as she's about to lose her mind), how about we just bring them in the car then?"

Pause...

Unhinged Toddler: "No, I don't want to just bring them in the car!" Crying... foot stomping.

And all the while I'm trying to stay sane trading TNH and POT... sigh.

"I Am Good At Dealing With People!"

Giant Sand, "Shiver"

Great song, great album, great band.



p.s. the first 6 seconds of this video are just black screen

Fare Thee Well (for now) NYSE Scalper

I was a little shellshocked to receive email from the Scalper today informing me that he was suspending his blog for a little while.

He was the first person I invited into the Virtual Office and reading his blog inspired me to start my own, so I owe him some thanks.

Good luck Scalper! I look forward to seeing you resume your blog and only hope it's a short hiatus!

-DT

I Just Missed IT

My day was dominated by TNH, so I will post here all of my trades. This will give you an idea of how close I came to hitting this one out of the park today. I'm not taking anything away from my day today. I'm very happy with the results, but I just missed a real breakout for myself and I am a little frustrated. I'm sure that may sound a little obnoxious given the profits I made today, but when you trade day in and day out, it's also about trading well. I mean, just feeling like you did a good job, made some nice trades. There's a satisfaction in that separate from the money made. Yellow indicates short sales, my position size is reflected in the parentheses to the right of the trade.

9:37:33 Short 200 @ 99.72 (-200)

9:39:27 Buy 100 @ 98.88 (-100)

9:50:05 Buy 200 @ 98.85 (100)

9:50:17 Sell 100 @ 98.53 (flat)

9:51:54 Short 100 @ 98.50 (-100)

9:52:40 Short 100 @ 98.34 (-200)

9:53:59 Short 100 @ 98.06 (-300)

10:10:25 Short 100 @ 96.69 (-400)

10:13:45 Short 200 @ 96.95 (-600)

10:18:54 Short 100 @ 97.45 (-700)

10:30:56 Buy 100 @ 95.46 (-600)

10:33:06 Buy 200 @ 94.52 (-400)

10:35:07 Short 200 @ 96.20 (-600)

10:44:12 Buy 100 @ 95.26 (-500)

10:45:18 Short 100 @ 95.90 (-600)

10:52:01 Buy 300 @ 96.94 (-300)

10:58:46 Short 200 @ 96.31 (-500)

11:07:28 Buy 100 @ 94.83 (-400)

11:32:45 Buy 100 @ 96.20 (-300)

11:38:43 Buy 200 @ 94.99 (-100)

11:50:30 Short 100 @ 96.30 (-200)

12:00:41 Buy 100 @ 95.36 (-100)

12:50:38 Buy 100 @ 96.47 (flat)

13:27:03 Short 100 @ 96.79 (-100)

13:45:22 Short 100 @ 95.36 (-200)

13:52:35 Short 100 @ 95.68 (-300)

14:07:57 Buy 100 @ 93.48 (-200)

14:47:29 Buy 100 @ 92.24 (-100)

15:15:13 Buy 100 @ 92.24 (flat)

15:18:56 Buy 200 @ 89.10 (200)

15:19:06 Sell 100 @ 88.50 (100)

15:20:21 Sell 100 @ 89.36 (flat)

15:23:35 Buy 300 @ 88.80 (300)

15:24:26 Sell 100 @ 88.64 (200)

15:25:10 Sell 200 @ 88.41 (flat)

15:30:48 Short 200 @ 88.52 (-200)

15:35:35 Buy 100 @ 88.74 (-100)

15:36:09 Buy 100 @ 88.76 (flat)

15:47:49 Buy 600 @ 84.92 (600)

15:48:07 Sell 300 @ 84.56 (300)

15:48:31 Sell 100 @ 84.50 (200)

15:50:18 Sell 100 @ 85.53 (100)

15:50:35 Sell 100 @ 85.42 (flat)

Total Profits in TNH $2786 (net).

Anyway, so that was my day in TNH. For the record, I lost over $2000 in him on Friday. I was a day early on Friday. Looking back, that really screwed me up today because I was so nervous trading the stock. Had I not lost that confidence in him on Friday I may have had the nerve to hang on to more shares. It was so obvious to me today, even in the morning when he wasn't trading down aggressively that the buyers were gone. Bids would appear and then get hit, or step back. On Friday, a bid would send the stock up 80 cents...

This was a near miss. But I think I learned a lot between Friday and today. I hope it will benefit me next time I see a monster trade like this.

Anyway, here are the stats:

P&L, $3340

Best, TNH, $2786

Worst, AG, -$495

shares traded, 49,600

stocks traded, 17, 5 positive, 12 negative

total trades, 324

Virtual Office, $6807. Dow, +20.56, 13346.78.

Misstrade, $3730 on 2400 shares traded.
Me, $3340 on 49,600 shares traded.
Evolution Trader, $373 on 34,300 shares traded.
Denarii, $50 on 1000 shares traded.
One Bad-Ass Trader, -$305 on 14,500 shares traded.
Dehtrader, -$381 on 38,600 shares traded.

Besides Misstrade and Dinosaur there was not much happening in the VO today. For a beautiful spring Monday, there was some interesting movement, and that gives me hope that the volatility will begin to rise again. This is a strange market we're trading. Even today on a day where I felt the market was going down all day, it was up.

Something has to give soon... stay tuned and keep your ear to the ground.

Wilco, "Side With The Seeds"

I can't really explain this "video" that was put up on YouTube, but who cares, it's a great song. Their new album is due out soon, and even though Pitchfork panned it today, I still may pick it up. I just like this band.

Big Fish

Loved this movie... except for the part where you see Danny Devito's ass.

Jon Stewart For President

Okay, maybe that's going too far. But can he get an anchor position at CNN or something? It's ironic (and, I guess then perfect) that you can actually learn stuff about the world by watching the Daily Show. If you turn on MSNBC, FOX or CNN, you're probably getting news reports about a celebrity, a mass-murderer, or a lost child.

Anyway, great interview with Reza Aslan, author of "No God But God". They discuss Iraq and Iran and how everything we are doing right now in the mideast is just really the opposite of what needs to be done.

Maritesse

Sometimes laughter is the best medicine.

Arcade Fire, "Intervention"

Back to feeling dark.

Virtual Office, $513, Dow, 111.98, 13327.11.

Misstrade, $1623 on 7800 shares traded.
EvolutionTrader, $984 on 42,700 shares traded.
One Bad-Ass Trader, $245 on 7000 shares traded.
Denarii, -$95 on 200 shares traded.
NYSE Scalper, -$177 on 40,000 shares traded.
Dehtrader, -$591 on 7500 shares traded.
Me, -$1476 on 51,200 shares traded.

A choppy day for the VO.

I'm outta here, enjoy your weekend!

-DT

FIRST!

Blonde Redhead, "23"

Whew!

Well, it's about time. Today, I made up my losses from March ($300), April ($1200) and May ($600) in one swoop and managed to actually get green for the first time since the end of February. That's right. If the month ended today, I would walk home with a check for $400. It's been a long time since I was paid.

Worst part about being in a trading slump is that you feel like you're working harder than ever but you're not getting paid. It's awful.

Anyway, I had a couple of good trades today. The first came right off the open. I saw that CBI was gapping up. I heard from Denarii that it was because of Cramer and so I figured that was as good a reason to go short as any. So I sold short off the open. What's annoying is that I wasn't filled at the opening price (I wasn't "entitled to those shares") but instead at 39.32. That was annoying because immediately after getting a fill I was squeezed. I sold again, this time 1000 shares, at 39.81. After playing around for a few moments, the stock broke.



I covered half at 39.50, but then immediately short a couple hundred more there. I covered some more at .40 and some more at .24. Then, I short 300 more at 39.22 and covered at 39.12 and 39.06. From there, the stock headed south and I was able to cover the rest at 38.62. It was a nice trade and it ended up being my best on the day, netting me over $700.

Other notable shorts were in AGU and Misstrade's excellent short call in FWLT.






My worst stock of the day was, again, TNH. And it's a shame, because at one point, I had some good paper profits in him. But paper profits are worthless. I was waiting for the thing to crack wide open, I was short 700 shares from above 88 when he broke 87 but I thought for sure that he was going to break and I was going to have a real sizzler. Instead, he ripped my face off. But really, because I had such good entry it never hurt me so bad... it felt worse than it was in actual terms. I lost almost $300 in the stock. He's a lunatic. I'm beginning to doubt if the stock will ever drop again.

Although, Cramer talked about it tonight...



Anyway, we've had the house painted all this week so I've been locked in this room with the windows closed all day. That's why I've been getting out of here immediately after the close, so it's been difficult to blog regularly.

By the end of next week, things should be back to normal around here.

Anyway, here's the stats:

P&L, $2508
Best, CBI, $707
Worst, TNH, -$293

shares traded, 65,800
stocks traded, 23, 16 positive, 7 negative
total trades, 353