Tuesday, June 26, 2007

The Beatles, "Rain"

We need some rain to kill this humidity. And, on a related note, soon you may need an umbrella to head into the market as well.

Either way, there will be ways to make money.

Actually, and I know this is debatable, I think this song is about the stock market. Just kidding. But you could apply it.

Trading Stock

A simple post title because it was a simple day of trading. No over thinking, no churning, just some buys and then some sells.

I lost money today when I was stubborn and fought the market. My worst stock of the day was LNN, I lost $118 in him on a 200 share long position.



I bought 200 shares at 10:00 this morning at 43.14. This was really a mistake because the market was trading down at this time. I bought it because I'm very bullish on the stock longer term and I let it effect my daytrading. This is almost always a mistake.

That said, I love the pullback from the highs on lower volume. The next strong day in the market will probably see this stock trade north of 44 again. Still, I should have respected the market weakness today and not made this trade. At least I limited my mistake to one trade in the stock.

In fact, my four worst losers of the day were each traded only once. This is a huge departure from my losers of the recent past. Back when I was churning and habitually overtrading, my worst stocks of the day were almost always the stock I traded the most. This is a positive development.

My best stock of the day was TNH. I almost referred to him as "my old buddy" but then I remember that in the stock market you have no "friends".



Here are my trades:

9:58:08 Short 100 @ 130.93 (-100)
10:28:25 Buy 100 @ 126.89 (flat)
10:29:13 Short 100 @ 128.15 (-100)
10:30:47 Short 200 @ 129.44 (-300)
10:36:27 Buy 300 @ 128.80 (flat)
10:37:17 Short 100 @ 129.68 (-100)
10:38:50 Buy 100 @ 131.20 (flat)
10:53:20 Short 100 @ 129.25 (-100)
11:28:05 Buy 100 @ 129.75 (flat)
14:23:31 Short 100 @ 131 (-100)
14:45:49 Short 100 @ 130.17 (-200)
14:48:12 Buy 100 @ 129.72 (-100)
15:55:22 Buy 100 @ 130.80 (flat)

As you can see, I made one good trade in the stock all day, my first. After that, I basically broke even in the stock. I'm lucky I did, because the stock was up 5 points on the day. So while this was my best stock, netting me $322, I made a lot of trading mistakes in it today. Still, I was careful in my trades, so bonus points for that.

Other than those two, I had good trades shorting CNH, UBB and VMC. I had no bad losers.

I find that a hallmark of my good days is completely controlling my losers. Sounds obvious, but I wanted to write it down here so I would remember it.

Only 3 more trading days of the month. I'm up a little and I would love to build on it. Let's hope for some more volatility. So far, so good with this more efficient method.

Here's the stats:

P&L, $611
Best, TNH, $322
Worst, LNN, -$118

shares traded, 13,200
stocks traded, 16, 9 winners, 7 losers
total trades, 85

Virtual Office, $5138. Dow, -14.31, 13337.74.

HPT, $2147 on 95 contracts and 2700 shares traded.
Misstrade, $1792 on 4500 shares traded.
Me, $611 on 13,200 shares traded.
Evolution, $588 on 55,200 shares traded.

Another bearish reversal for the major indexes. While none showed major losses, I would keep an eye on the stocks that have been leading this rally since March. Should they show signs of distribution, I would begin to worry about the continued health of this rally.

As for trade today, the VO had a nice day despite the overall choppiness of the market.

My daily post will have to come later this evening as I am busy immediately after the close.

Freaky Hybrid Trade Of The Day

WE HAVE A WINNER!



Should news come out, I'll take back the award... But for now, it just looks like a crazy spike.

Get Rid Of Your Junk Mail

I'm sick of getting crap I don't want in the mailbox everyday.

You can get rid of it.

Too Damn Hot To Trade

Sitting in this small room, with my 4 screens and a TV when it is hot and humid outside is no green bar on a stock chart, I will tell you that.

I could turn the AC on, but I'm currently poor and choose to save the $10 it would cost me to cool my house today. I will save that $10 and use it this evening, when I want a nice, cool sleep.

Anyway, I went outside and mowed my damn lawn with my Brill Luxus mower. Believe me when I tell you that this mower makes mowing the lawn less a chore and more a pleasure. No fumes, no dust, just the soft whirring sound of grass blades getting cleanly cut. It is ideal for those with a small, level lawn. In an ideal world though, I would have no lawn. I hate it.

My daughter calls it a "Mawnlower".

Here's what we need now to kill this humidity.



UPDATE: I just turned on the AC at 2:11. I couldn't take it. The heat and the Monster Java I tried this morning were making me hallucinate.

TRIN v. TICKS

I'm going to use the TRIN today instead of the TICKS to try and gauge short term moves.

On Briefing, they give the following guidelines

TRIN reading:
.65 or lower, very bullish
.65-.90 bullish
.90-1.1 neutral
1.1-1.35 bearish
1.35 or above very bearish

Does anyone out there use this indicator and concur or disagree with these general levels?