Our Electoral System

Not only am I pissed off that I'm not allowed to vote in my state's primary, I think this whole "super delegate" thing is very undemocratic.

Why should governors and other elected officials get these "super" votes?

Screw the delegates...

I remember after the nightmare of the 2000 election that I hoped something would change as far as our election system went.

All primaries should be open and there should be no electoral college. One vote per person period.

Isn't that the way it should be?

NOTE: CNN has ruined my night of "pure politics" because they have me thinking impure thoughts about Campbell Brown.

Retardo Starts A VO War

I guess the VO has been quiet for awhile. Still, Retardo didn't exactly roll out the red carpet for Mr. Sykes.

And Timmay was quick to strike back.

This totally beats me and Ragin calling each other's blogs "gay" all the time...

UPDATE: Retardo strikes again. However, it may be unfair since he's wearing a helmet.

Quick Questions

Widgets... does anyone click on those little blue squares next to the stock symbols?

Also, I added a "recent comment" widget so that it's easier to track the conversation.

Just looking for some feedback.

Thanks,

-DT

Jefferson Airplane, "White Rabbit"

Can't leave this one out during 60s week.

Trading Stubborn Gets You Smoked

On a day where the market gets crushed, I lost money on the short side.

Can you believe that shit???



And I was up minimally going into this disaster of a trade.

I know that it sounds like I'm constantly repeating myself here and that I make the same mistakes, over and over again. It's true, I'm slow to learn from my mistakes.

However, after all this time writing about these things, I do get a little voice in my head that starts telling me I'm making mistakes as I'm making them. It's just that that voice happens to be very tiny and my big loud idiot voice still easily overcomes it and dominates my thinking.

Remember this recent post? I'm believing it more and more. Perfection in trading, like searching for and finding spiritual enlightenment, doesn't come easily and sometimes, you stray from the path. It's more of a practice. Wisdom builds slowly.

The reason I began to short PCR was because it was up strong in a weak market. In fact, its entire sector was weak too... I don't "get" why it was up so strongly, but I guess it was the whole "there were more buyers than sellers" thing. So, I lost over $500 in the stock because I got stubborn.

At the same time, I started getting cute and trying to pick the bottom in a couple of rather volatile stocks, namely, BEN and FLR. I lost another $350 on those trades.

The $850 giveback between those 3 stocks accounts for my entire loss on the day.

Mistakes feed off of other mistakes. It is one of the truisms of trading.

Anyway, just need to move on from this stinker. Until I went "on tilt" with PCR I was okay... so 80% of my day I was smart and I guess that's the silver lining.

Here's the stats:
P&L, -$872
Best, TIF, $187
Worst, PCR, -$505

23,400 shares traded.
19 stocks traded. 8 winners, 11 losers.

Virtual Office, -$2006. SPX, -37.10, 1341.70.

Evolution, $1044 on 38,600 shares traded.
OBAT, $44 on 19,800 shares traded.
Misstrade, no trades.
Wincity, no trades.
Denarii, -$30 on 1600 shares traded.
Timmay!, -$780 on 1500 shares traded.
Me, -$872 on 23,400 shares traded.
Dehtrader, -$1412 on 9620 shares traded.

Not only was the VO smoked today, but my real life office got smoked too. The best traders dropped big money today as absolutely nothing seemed to work, longs or shorts.

For a day where the Dow lost almost 400 points and the futures got clobbered, volume was suspiciously light. This led to a trading problem.

First of all, fills were shitty. Second, due to the light volume, it was easy to say "The selling is somewhat weak. There's no volume behind it." So people were hoping for a bounce that never materialized. They got sucked into the long side.

However, it wasn't that the sellers were weak, instead it was just that there were NO BUYERS.

And so what we learn is that the short covering rally has been exposed as just that... short covering, not legitimate buying.

Were there people willing to actually buy this market, they would have stepped in today. Instead, the sellers just took the market down methodically with nary a bull in sight.

Where were all the CNBC bulls today anyway?

I "Zinged" Ragin.... Again.

Check it out. Click on the link to enlarge the picture and then see how he "tagged" his blog.

Interesting, no?

Super Tuesday Poll

Simple... Are you a Democrat, Republican or Independent?

I'm pissed because I'm a registered Independent and can't vote in my state's primary...

This is a 24 hour poll so vote early and often.

Tuesday Morning Link-Love

Seems to be a slow news day for the markets, so I'll leave you with this from the IBD's Big Picture column: "In short, there's virtually nothing our there worth buying."

• A Guide To Super Tuesday
• How The Delegates Are Allocated, State By State
• Americans May Be Forced To Live Within Their Means (gasp!)
• Option Addict's Weekly Watchlist
• VO Friend Denarii Wrote An Article On The Currency Markets For TG
  
• Find The Link About T-Shirts You Don't Want To See On Your Daughter's Boyfriend...
  

Good Morning

Time: 7:07
Mood: Super! (with a lisp)