Virtual Office, $6460. Dow, -20.40, 13,892.54.

Evolution, $1544 on 26,300 shares traded.
Me, $739 on 70,600 shares traded.
Akalawoo, $134 on 5 contracts traded.
Denarii, $25 on 2960 shares traded.
Momojuicing, fixing a house.
Tapeworm, -$55 on 2 contracts traded.
OBAT, -$89 on 12,000 shares traded.
Bubs, -$110 on 1500 shares traded.

I'm not really sure what to make of today's market. I guess you could say that the volume was "strong" since we got to around 1.4 billion shares traded.

It was nice to see the VIX rally midday, even if it means my lunch was messed up. However, I hated to watch it decline into the close. Basically, I make money when the VIX goes up and I lose it when the VIX goes down... it really seems to be that simple lately.

It was a mixed day in the VO. Most of the members made money but some did not. Early on I was down as well. I don't think it was a good morning for trade, you just had to be there when the market "puked itself" midday to make any money.

Meanwhile, after getting filled 4 points out of the money on an odd-lot short sale in FXI I hate the Hybrid Market all over again. There's just no accountability there. They blame the robots... whatever, fuck robots.

Basically, no matter how bearish I may feel I know the market is going higher. Dow 50,000.

Odyessey Marine, OMEX On CNBC

You heard it here first. Way to go, bloggerdotcom!

Click that link for his great article on this interesting company.

The Market Is Puking Itself

(h/t Doug at Wallstreak)

Brian Conley, "Nokans"

Truly amazing surf footage from inside the tubes. This guy has cameras mounted to the nose of his board. Even if you're not a surfer you'll enjoy these images.

Abbey Joseph Cohen

Is it me, or do they cart her out onto CNBC every time the futures gap up?

A Note On My Labels

It's hard to know what people do when they come to my site... it's harder yet for me to organize everything so that it's easy for you to find what you want to read.

The "Virtual Office" is easy enough. It comes up everyday normally between 4pm and 4:15 and it takes a second to read. It's a snapshot into how real traders performed trading the market.

My "Daily Trading Statistics" post, where I discuss the trades I actually made, comes up later but normally by 9pm or so.

Finally, everyday there's the music video. However, since not many of you deadbeats have expressed much interest in my musical tastes I've tried to broaden this out to some spoken word as well.

And then there's all the other stuff.

The "my history" posts (which I promise to start again soon) are my attempts to describe what it was like starting out as a trader in the big city. All names have been changed.

The "around the house" label encompasses my attempt to share portions of my life. I trade from home and sometimes it's hard to concentrate. I have a young daughter and a wife who are both in the house all day with me as I curse the markets.

The "surfing" posts describe my experiences surfing, but also include short readings about me buying egg sandwiches and stuff.

The "humor" and "politics" posts are pretty self explanatory. The "stock market humor" posts deal specifically with (gasp!) stock market humor!

One label that is quickly growing is the "CNBC stupidity" label. I mean, if you're forced to watch CNBC all day, you get to hear lots of stupid stuff. Here, I regurgitate that stupid stuff for your reading pleasure.

The "freaky hybrid trade of the day" posts have been dwindling lately. But they detail my specific frustrations with the NYSE Hybrid Market.

So I encourage you to go check out the right toolbar. There are many other labels there as well.

While they may not "make you money" they will keep you entertained as you trade and curse the markets along with me.

Wednesday Earnings

Nothing great.

I'll be keeping an eye on STLD, DSL, MAN, MTG, PJC and UTX.

Meanwhile, there was another late night discussion over at "the Fly's" place. A fun read, even if my blog was dismissed as a "third tier" rag.

Mateo The Idiot, Part 1

My friend called me and told me there was surf. I checked the online surf report and it said the surf was flat.

"Don't worry... Mateo was just down there and he tells me there's some nice small clean waves."

So I left the market and headed to the beach, foregoing lunch in the process. I rubbed my neck down with Tiger Balm and turned the heat way up in the car to keep my muscles supple and loose.

I met my friend in a parking lot. He entered the car and started to cough... "Fuck man!" he said, waving his hand in front of his nose while wincing, "it smells like a fucking locker room in here!" He opened his window.

We drove the 30 minutes to the break in near silence as he scrolled around on his "crackberry" and I sung every lyric to the "meaty" Pavement album "Terror Twilight."

It was obvious when we pulled into the beach's empty parking lot that there was no surf. "This looks bad," I said.

"Yeah, but this guy Mateo..." my friend began as his voice trailed off. The mightly Atlantic looked like a mighty mirror.

"Lunch on me then!" he offered.

We downed our burritos. Between bites, we took turns cursing Mateo.

Then this crazy dude from the gas station with curly hair and eggy eyes sat next to us. He had food in front of him but instead of eating it, he just sat there looking at the girl behind the counter. This brought the vibe up to an uncomfortable level and we decided to drink our coffee on the bench outside the shop. That's when we saw Mateo crossing the street in our direction.

"DUUUUDE!" Mateo called once he saw us, playing the air guitar like Wayne from Wayne's world, circa 1989.

(more soon, I'm out of battery... going to bed)

Dane Cook, "The DMV And The Year 3000"

In need of some comedy.

Virtual Office, $8272. Dow, -71.29, 13,913.51.

Evolution, $1134 on 30,900 shares traded.
Momojuicing, $962 on 12,000 shares traded.
Tapeworm, $345 on 2 contracts traded.
OBAT, $159 on 8600 shares traded.
Bubs, $116 on 400 shares traded.
Denarii, $48 on 1600 shares traded.
Akalawoo, no trades.
Me, -$494 on 26,000 shares traded.

Great day for the VO, fucking frustrating day for the Dinosaur.

Again, since I feel like it, I will repeat my new mantra, "volume sucks." Why? Is it because more people are trading away from the Hybrid Market? Is 1.2 billion shares the new normal? I don't know. All I do know is that I hate low volume markets.

Still, why complain about volume when the rest of the VO is making money hand over fist. Volume in the overall market is really inconsequential when you have moves like those made in DRYS and ANW today. Heck, even RDN moved a lot...

When the volume is absent, you need to go where the volume is.

Anyway, I'm not sure if I'll get a daily post up tonight, I have lots of non-blog related stuff to do. I'll sum up my day for you with 2 words. I sucked.

Enjoy your evening.

The Humble Beginnings Of Fox Business News

Two lame business stories and then, straight to sports!



I can't even get this channel where I live (in an undisclosed location near the sea surrounded by screaming toddlers) so it's hard for me to really rip into them.

Meanwhile, the poll is almost closed. According to my readership, FBN will fail, or at best, be no more popular than Bloomberg TV.

Sucker Punched By Mother Market

Same ole, same ole... I was up and gave it all back. I wasn't really paying attention, didn't see it coming and then SLAP!



Anyway, even I'm sick of this crap by now. I'm taking my laptop and heading off to the library. Not sure what I'm going to do with it there, but I don't want to get involved with revenge trading.

NOTE: Here's the story behind the punch.

JJ Is Back

It's amazing that "the Fly" can post a sentence and get close to 100 comments on it. He is a gifted blogger.

Meanwhile, it highlights the fact that this JJ is a controversial figure.

A match made in heaven.

I Need A New Chair

My back is shot, my neck is shot and my posture as I sit at the computer all day is awful.

Have any of you ever used this chair?

Beastie Boys, "Looking Down The Barrel Of A Gun"

I listened to Paul's Boutique on my drive to the beach today. What a great album, 21 years later. Definitely their best.

Paddling Nowhere

My first trade of the day should have been my only trade of the day. I short 1200 shares of BBD between $31.85 and $31.75 because the MOFO line diverged with the MILF indicator telling me I would make 76.3 "R" on the trade.



Alas, I covered it all by $31.50. Why? Because I don't like to let my winners run. Instead, I take small winners and then slowly bleed away profits by overtrading.

Dinostyle.

Last week (after one of my bad days) my Dad called me. He said, "I don't get it. I read the blog at night and I think 'Sounds like he figured out what he's doing wrong this time. He really nailed it.' but then I see you making the same mistakes the next day."

Well, guess what... I overtraded again.

Meanwhile, to get back to the positive aspects of my day, I made some good trades in DSX.



First I got long and then I got short. All due to the trading action in DRYS which was much discussed this morning on Wallstreak. The thing about Wallstreak is that everyone was watching the only strong sector today (the shippers) and that kind of screwed with my bearishness. Had I focused on the short side today (as the AD lines were instructing) I would have been much better off.

I split midday because of some idiot named Mateo (perhaps more on Mateo if I finish the post I started today titled, "Mateo The Idiot") who called my surf buddy and told him there was surf. There was none. However, it's been weeks since we had surf here and I was desperate. In the end, it screwed me up because I came back and seeing that the market had stabilized I decided it was ready to rally.

So I began buying stock just before 3pm. I got washed out by 3:15 and almost gave away all of my profits. I more or less sold the bottom.



And, I walked away.

I pulled my wetsuit on and walked down to the bay. I strapped on my leash, pushed my board into the calm water, walked in along side of it until I was up to my waist in the water and then hoisted myself up. I began to paddle with absolutely no idea where I was paddling to. I probably paddled about a mile in the now chilly water. It was the only thing that was going to make me feel better today after giving back all my money.

Fuck Mateo. I'll get that post about him up by Wednesday. Also, I recognize that this post needs to be heavily edited, but we're heading out to a dinner soon and I don't think I'll be back in time to edit it, so I apologize for the sloppiness. It was either a fast post or nothing.

Here's the stats:

P&L, $350
Best, DSX, $611
Worst, UBB, -$479

26,000 shares traded.
14 stocks traded, 7 winners, 7 losers.
81 trades.

Virtual Office, $8589. Dow, -108.28, 13,984.80.

Evolution, $1007 on 21,800 shares traded.
OBAT, $501 on 11,400 shares traded.
Momojuicing, $492 on 9000 shares traded.
Me, $350 on 26,000 shares traded.
Akalawoo, $118 on 4 contracts traded.
Denarii, no trades.
Bubs, no trades.
Tapeworm, -$289 on 4 contracts traded.

Well, it was a pretty good day for the VO as almost everyone finished in the green. The only straggler was our lowly futures trader, Tapeworm.

Volume came in above Friday's abysmal levels with 1,287,430,000 shares traded. However, that's still pretty crappy. The disappearing volume should be some story by now however I don't really hear it being spoke of much. What gives?

Despite the big rate cut, I'm very nervous about this market. I tried to be bullish for awhile, but I'm just not feeling it anymore. Volume only comes on the downside. It's making me worry.

Are we due for a hit soon?

In the weekend thread, HPT called for a big fall today... he got a fall but the late afternoon resilience kept it from being "big." We'll see.

WSJ Online Remembers 1987

On this 20 year anniversary of Black Monday.

Ted Weisberg says some very interesting stuff when asked about what lessons he took from the day.

Some old footage as well.

Going Surfing

I shouldn't do this because the market is tanking and I'm making quick and easy money. However, money isn't everything and I haven't surfed for 2 weeks due to various back/neck ailments and lack of waves.

Need to practice what I preach.

Radiohead's"In Rainbows" Reviewed By Pitchfork

Why bother even trying to write record reviews when you have these guys? I can't remember the last time I disagreed with them.

At this point, I trust their judgement so much that if they rate an album over 9 I just go out and buy it. That's how in line I am with them.

Now if only there was a stock blogger out there making calls that were as trustworthy...

Here's a beautiful song that they mention in the review.

And here's another article about them in The Times. (h/t Denarii)