Radiohead, "You And Whose Army"

Since I'm so happy that Radiohead is releasing a new album, and so soon, I've decided that all week I'm just going to post videos for my favorite Radiohead songs.

This song... man...

Yoga For The Back

Hattip to "artha" for finding this short article written by professional surfer Gerry Lopez about what yoga poses are good for the back. I'll simply say that one of the things that makes this blog worthwhile is the feedback I get from my readers. Thanks a lot, everyone!

If you've been reading this blog, you might remember that in March and April I was suffering from back spasms largely because I was locked in front of my screens every day trading and rarely getting up. This was before I began surfing again and I was basically not getting any exercise.

I've often wondered if my surfing has helped my trading. It's at least coincidental that when I began surfing again, (late June I think) my P&L turned around. It has definitely helped me mentally.

So listen, perhaps you are like how I was in March and April... maybe you can't start surfing because you don't live near a beach. Whatever, the thing is, as a trader you probably suffer from some back pain because you sit and hunch over your damn keyboard all day, staring at the screens. You have to do some exercise, man!

Check out these yoga poses for your back and give them a try. It's so easy and it will make you feel much better.

Swell

Well, as you can see I took the second half of the day off today to go surf. That means 3 things:

1. I didn't make a gajillion dollars just because the market was "up big today" Dad.
2. I'm really tired.
3. I'll probably never be filthy rich because I don't care about money "enough."

As for trading, I guess I was a little frustrated out there today. At least by daytrading. I made as much in my "swing" trading account as I did in my daytrading account with 1/100th of the work put in. I like it though... this mix of daytrading and swing trading.

I've learned that swing trading is really really easy when the market moonshots. I haven't the slightest idea about what to do when it starts moving sideways or heads down again.

I do have two swing trades to report that I didn't have time to make a separate post for in the middle of the day. First of all, I picked up some GRMN at $104.18. I only bought 75 shares though because after all, I bought it because a man who calls himself "Bluedog" suggested it.

I think it's wise to exercise a certain amount of caution in circumstances like that...

Anyway, I sold 25 at $105.94. Why? Well, because I wanted to lock in a small gain just in case he wanted to head lower. Now, even if I end up getting out at $103, I'll be flat on the trade instead of having a loss. My real plan is to let the stock test it's 50-day MA and the psychological support level of $100.

Then, I bought 100 shares of WNR at $38.30.



I did this only because the stock has been beaten down badly lately and I just feel like a bounce must come soon. I'm counting 12 straight down sessions for the stock. And today, while it had high volume to the downside, I'd expect more since it made a new low... this will be a short trade. I'm not going to let it move far against me I'm just hoping that the Wednesday oil numbers help the stock. We'll see.

Now, as for daytrading, I was a little frustrated out there today. My best stock of the day was CNS, a thin financial stock that I sometimes dabble in.



I had 1000 shares of this stock below $37.20. So the fact that it closed up at $38.88 and I only managed to make $446 in it should explain some of the frustration I felt today. I'm seriously getting this feeling that a lot of the time I "know" which way a stock will move, and I'm right about it, but I'm getting chopped around and not trading up to my potential. So I'm gonna keep working at longer time frames, even if I start thinking more in terms of hours, not just minutes.

Another good winner for me today was POT, both in the swing account and for daytrades.

On the downside, I got jacked shorting ANW early.



But again, at one point, I was short a few hundred shares over $39 but covered them all at $38.75. Since the stock traded below $37 in the afternoon, I can only look at that trade and be a little frustrated. I ended up losing $263 in him when I could have easily been flat, or even positive in him. I had a good entry and I screwed up my exit.

Anyway, that's it for my analysis. I'm shot and waking early to catch more of this growing swell. Wednesday and Thursday the waves will be big here as in "overhead." I'll need a lot of sleep this week otherwise I could get myself beat up out in the surf. I'm going to crack open "The Dogs of Winter" by Kem Nunn and go to bed. Meanwhile, I finished "Dark Noon" by Tom Clavin and will post a little "comment" about that book tomorrow.

Here's the daytrading stats:

P&L, $891
Best, CNS, $446
Worst, ANW, -$263

16,800 shares traded.
10 stocks traded, 7 winners, 3 losers.
91 trades.

Virtual Office, $9885. Dow, +191.92, 14,087.55.

Misstrade, $8410 on 21,250 shares traded.
Me, $891 on 16,800 shares traded.
Bubs, $450 on 2000 shares traded.
Evolution, $357 on 32,200 shares traded.
Akalawoo, $258 on 19 contracts traded.
Denarii, vacation.
Tapeworm, computer issues. Probably from the porn!
Momojuicing, -$43 on 8200 shares traded.
OBAT, -$438 on 29,400 shares traded.

Well I'll be the first to admit that I'm surprised the Dow is up at 14,000 again. For those who voted 14,000 in my first poll, you win!

And making it even nicer for the bulls, volume picked up a bit today as we traded 1,430,150,000 shares on the NYSE today. Not too shabby. I guess we'll have to wait until earnings season for volume to rise over 1.5 billion daily again though.

Anyway, Misstrade continues his strong performance in this market. What's surprising is to see OBAT down at the bottom of the pile. Normally you expect to see me or Tapeworm there...

Let's see what happens tomorrow. Do we continue this uptrend? Will we crash? Wonderful suspense in this market... okay, not really. Looks like we'll go up forever thanks to Uncle Ben.

Gone Surfing

Well, the Dow is up 200 and I'm only doing okay... so, I'm hitting the beach.

Expect a late VO though it should be up by 6pm.

"Radiohead Have Made A Record"

This band never ceases to amaze.

I mean, imagine announcing only 10 days before you release a new album that you're going to release it? And then, imagine allowing people to name the price they'll pay for that album? It says downloading the digital only version "may be subject to a transaction fee." Dude from Pitchfork bought the new double album for $8...

Get the details here. Meanwhile, this link is somewhat flooded... be patient, it will open in time.

They're the best.

Remember, if you think everything in the world is just rosy, that just means, "you haven't been paying attention." Check out 2+2=5.

Animal Collective, "Cuckoo Cuckoo"

I've been listening to the new Animal Collective album "Strawberry Jam" somewhat obsessively.

I've found that when I listen to an album straight through the "easy" songs stand out and they become my early favorites. For "Strawberry Jam," my first favorite was "For Reverend Green." However, after listening to the album about 25 times now the standout is Cuckoo Cuckoo.

There's this sweet piano loop running beneath the chaos of the song the entire time. The song contracts into quiet periods where you only hear the singer and the piano but then it periodically explodes into a percussive maelstrom that I can only describe as powerful sounding.

"War Made Easy"

I've only watched this trailer, but if you have never thought critically about the role the media plays in our country, it looks like this movie might help you out.

From a financial perspective... just think about the money spent on war as our kids lose more ground in education, our infrastructure sags and our overall quality of public life declines.

If it doesn't sadden you it may be time to stop and think about it. By the way, this movie doesn't only focus on the media runup to the Iraq war. It seems to be looking at the role of the media in the runup to our many wars of the last 75 years. So this isn't a movie "for" Democrats or "for" Republicans. It's "for" anyone who watches the media without some discernment.

Virtual Office, $27,800. Dow, -17.31, 13,895.63.

Misstrade, $25,892 on 19,500 shares traded.
Me, $1316 on 20,200 shares traded.
Evolution, $215 on 8600 shares traded.
OBAT, $131 on 13,200 shares traded.
Tapeworm, $120 on 2 contracts traded.
Bubs, $84 on 600 shares traded.
Akalawoo, $42 on 27 contracts traded.
Momojuicing, being a Dad
Denarii, vacation

Wow, what a Virtual Office to miss! I mean, not only did Misstrade defy the laws of trading gravity again, but every member who traded was positive. Ah.... the VO bringing out the best in everyone. Sigh...

Anyway, since it's Monday morning I'm not going to go to in depth here. Who cares about Friday trading when we've put the weekend behind us and are looking at futures up again?

For the record, we traded 1,345,233,000 shares on Friday. It was a slow day. However, there was a very noticeable surge of volume at 3:50 or so... much more than normal. Interesting...