Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Why CROX Are So Popular

If you watch this very funny Daily Show clip carefully, you will finally come to understand why CROX are so popular. This is something I've debated with Trading Goddess here and there, so hopefully, she'll be paying attention.

It's mindblowing... and it's not those little plastic toys that you attach to the shoes, TG.



HINT: If you're pressed for time, go to the 3:40 mark of the video for the beginning of the answer.

Ocean Meditation

Just in case the media tweaked your anxiety level today. Take a breath.

Blahhhhh-ging.

Perhaps you've noticed that there's been a little less energy and effort in my daily posts recently. There's a good reason. It's all about the surf. With the sun rising later in the morning, I've been forced to go out in the afternoons, right after the close (hence the partial VO numbers.) I get back home, eat dinner, play with my daughter and put her to sleep. By the time I'm through with all that, it's 8:30 and I'm just done for the day.

So, I apologize.

Today was an awful day for me. All day long I was down because I couldn't find any winners. It was a day to trade the open and then step away. Unfortunately, Bob Pisani never tells you when it's a good day to trade. CNBC just drools over the numbers which apparently, were "patriotic" today.

I had 4 stocks in the green today, not one was a winner over $100. On the flip side, I had 12 stocks in the red, 3 with losses greater than $100. Not much was working.

As I mentioned on Wallstreak, these are the most frustrating days because you look up, see the Dow up 180 and think, "Wow, why aren't I making money?" Trading doesn't work like that...

Anyway, here's the sleepy stats:

P&L, -$669
Best, DE, $91
Worst, QID, -$206

24,800 shares traded.
16 stocks traded, 4 winners, 12 losers.
119 trades.

Virtual Office, $4065. Dow, +180.54, 13308.39.

Misstrade, $4840 on 6000 shares traded.
Evolution, $652 on 84,100 shares traded.
OBAT, vacation.
Tapeworm, -$25 on 4 contracts traded.
Denarii, -$47 on 2000 shares traded.
Bubs, -$69 on 1100 shares traded.

Akalawoo, -$619 on 6 contracts traded.
Me, -$667 on 24,800 shares traded.


Okay, well, today was one of those days where I should have stayed in bed...

Just an ugly day to trade. You can tell. Usually a majority of the VOers are green, today it's just the opposite.

This is why I started the VO. It's like an indicator. It lets you know whether it was easy to trade or hard. Today it was hard.

That's not to say there weren't opportunities. Just that they were few and far between. Check out LVS or OSG today. There was stuff moving.

Light volume rally... sigh.

UPDATED: With Misstrade and Akalawoo's numbers.

Great Rally, But Where's The VOLUME???

Seriously! Does someone want to explain this? We have a nice rally on all the major indexes but once again, volume is light.

That really makes me doubt the strength of this move.

So, I'm putting my money where my mouth is and buying a few hundred QID for the swing account. I bought 300 at $43.45.

Time will tell. But I have to follow my conviction here and make this trade. If the "big money" believed in this move or liked the market here, they'd be buying hand over fist. That's just not happening.

That said, should we get a rally with good volume, I'll cover this position immediately.

UPDATE: Art Cashin, one of the only people on CNBC I listen to just said that this rally is like a "platypus." Why? "It's got some odd points to it... low volume, financials aren't really participating and 50-60 Dow points are in 3 stocks..."

Great Movie Scene

Chatter on Wallstreak today about the book I just finished reading, "The Search For Captain Zero" led to a mention of John Cusack which immediately made me think of the movie, "Better Off Dead."

I checked Youtube but couldn't find any of the classic clips from that flick. However, in searching, I found this great clip from the movie "High Fidelity."

Now unless you've seen the movie, it won't be that funny. However, understand that the guy who drops the air conditioner on Tim Robbins is a really meek and quiet guy in the movie who is constantly bullied by Jack Black's character. When he smacks the dude with the phone and finishes him off with the air conditioner... well, that's just good comedy.

Meanwhile, if you haven't seen the movie, don't. Instead, read the book. It's for people who love music, especially my kind of music... that is, good music.

Look How They Shine For You

The second plane passed about 100 feet over my head on 9/11. I'll never forget the sound of it (first) and then the sight. I originally planned on writing a post about my experiences that day. However, it will have to wait. It will no doubt work it's way into a "history" post someday.

Meanwhile, I'll just post this video. After the attack, we got out of the city and were glued to the TV all day long in the panelled recesses of my in-laws basement. The next thing I knew, it was 5:30 at night. I couldn't believe an entire day had passed.

This video came on MTV. At the bottom of the screen, there was a scroll running and it said something along the lines of, "We want to express our sympathies for all of the families who lost their loved ones today in the attack on the World Trade Center..." Of course, I don't remember exactly what it said, but I'll never forget the "feeling."

And for good or for bad, when I hear this song I'm brought right back to my in-laws basement, scared, watching the TV with my wife and suddenly hopeful that everyone will band together and things are going to work out.



For now, let's forget about what killed that hopeful feeling.

Spent

I outdid myself during last night's surf session. When the alarm went off at 5:00am, I just couldn't budge. It didn't help that it was raining pretty hard and a strong cool breeze was blowing through the window.

I'm gambling that the swell will still be there at the end of the day. We'll see. There will be something at least... I may need to switch back to the longboard though. Yesterday was my first day out on the shortboard in a long time.

Anyway, as for trade it looks like we may gap up a bit. Frankly, I don't care if we go up or down I just want to see some good trading volume come back into the market. Still, I think we may have to wait until the Fed meeting for the real volume to return.

Looks like CFC needs more money... oh, brother!

Meanwhile, I can't believe I just linked to the Post... sigh.