Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Dinosaur Jr., "Just Like Heaven"

One of the best covers ever... also, I like the band's name. Brings me back to college.

More Active, But Same Small Result...

I was very active today compared to my recent activity. I think mostly because there's just not much going on in HCPG-land in NYSE stocks right now, so I had to go "old DT" on the market.

I focused almost entirely on the energy stocks, and I'm going to continue with that for tomorrow. I'll just keep watching for intraday setups and try to stick with those trades.

My best stock of the day was PDO again... however, it wasn't really very interesting. I'm happy it closed near its highs. I'm hoping for one more gap up tomorrow and then for a fail. We'll see.

RIG, PBR, APA and NOV were my next 4 winners. None too big, but I was happy with each trade because I sold when they were breaking down out of bases. I think if I can take that part of the HCPG discipline, that is, waiting for a sound base before making buys or sells, and apply it to sectors with momentum that I could get more action.

The problem, is that too often these trades seem obvious to everyone who is watching and you're bound to have to endure shakeouts. And often, even if you're ultimately right, the trade fails. That happened to me a couple of times today in NUE. For example, my final cover of the day in this, my worst stock, came at 12:42, just before the fuck broke down... it's unbelievable that I keep getting shaken out at the worst levels like this just before the trade moves in my favor...



The one thing I noticed today is that when I trade more actively, more fluidly with the market, that I'm definitely prone to making emotional or revenge trades. I haven't done that in a while since I've been so controlled with my methods. So I need to watch that.

Looking forward to tomorrow. I'll just keep it at that.

Here's the stats:
P&L, $105
Best, PDO, $113
Worst, NUE, -$187

27,600 shares traded.
15 stocks traded, 8 winners, 7 losers.

Virtual Office, -$304. SPY, -$2.40, $139.39.

Me, $105 on 27,600 shares traded.
Denarii, $29 on 3000 shares traded.
Retardo, nada.
OBAT, -$28 on 9800 shares traded.
Tokyo, -$410 on 1289 shares traded.


Oil ripped again. It's now at $133.73 a barrel.

Everyone is blaming everyone else for the rise. The new buzz on CNBC is that it's the "index speculators..." Ooooh! Scary! Blame the heartless "index speculators." And if not them, BLAME CHINA! That's always safe...

Ignore that dude in the Hummer with the magnetic yellow ribbon and the American flag though... he's cool.

Anyway, it's only a matter of time before some sad "index speculator" gets called in front of Congress to testify. I wonder what an "index speculator" looks like...

There was good "juice" in the market today. We almost had a respectable volume level, as we traded nearly 1.4 billion shares on the NYSE, and the VIX rose a point, to 18.70. LEH is below $40 again and the talking heads are starting to yammer about the "ongoing" credit crisis... maybe the summer will be interesting afterall!

And what the fuck is up with Mike Huckman's stupid glasses? He's now a man who officially looks like an old lesbian.

As for the VO... shhhh! It's asleep.

Bottled Water or Tap? Volvic.

Readers of my blog know that I'm not a fan of bottled water.



Every time I go out surfing, I pick up 2 or 3 plastic Poland Spring bottles that have washed up with high tide and lay stranded amidst clumps of seaweed. Plastic doesn't go away... ever.

However, while I'm extremely influential, I understand a few of you may still be drinking bottled water. Fine... however, if you're gonna do it, perhaps buy some Volvic, at least until the end of August.

Why? Because for every liter you buy, they'll provide 10 liters of clean water to children in Ethiopia.

And I'm more "pro-children" than I am "anti-plastic."