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