Good Morning

Time: 6:12
Mood: Good

Misstrade Axed From VO

As many of you who follow along here know, Misstrade has been the reigning champ in the VO for the last 10 months or so, taking no prisoners. I mean, the dude has had like 5 losing days or something ridiculous like that.

I am now letting him go. No doubt he will find a bigger and better VO somewhere populated with other robot traders who will give him a better run for his money.

Here, for your viewing pleasure, is him playing air hockey in the VO "lounge" just before he received the news. I wish him continued success.


Robot Playing Air Hockey - Watch more free videos

The Pixies, "Velouria"

This band will always make me happy.

My Next Child Will Be Named "Momojuicing"

It will be hard to break that one to Judy, but I have to do it. Read on for details.

It's a little late for me to be starting this post (when you have a 3 year old, it gets late very quickly) so I'm going to make it somewhat brief. It's too bad actually, because there's a lot I need to work through. Still, if I'm anyone's bitch, I am the bitch of Father Time.

So here goes... I got a little smoked this morning trying to grab the breakouts in EOG and ECA. I was early to the game in both instances and was down a few hundred.



My first buy came at 9:50. I bought 600 shares just before the guy dropped 45 cents. So, I lost close to $300 there. My second buy came around 10:00, just before he dropped 45 cents... so, I was down over $500 in the stock. I was very discouraged at this point.

Luckily, the third time was a charm. Of course, when the stock finally broke out, I only had 400 shares (I was buying with 600 the first two times) but happily, I held on nicely (been working on that, so happy it worked out) and made my money back and then some. I ended up over $300 in the stock.

I had similar trades in ECA. So really, the first half hour of the day was a nightmare for me but I made it all back and was up a couple hundred by 10:30 or so.

Buoyed by my success in these oil trades, I felt very confident buying into DO when it traded $120. It was an important level on the daily, and I went in with 600. I was filled at the top of the move.



I lost a half point on most and, embarrassingly enough, even more on my last 200 shares. I lost $377 in the dude. Completely my fault. No ass-rape or anything like that... just a bad trade.

Okay, so now we get to the fun part, or the reason why my next child, girl or boy, will be named "Momojuicing."

So via email Momojuicing and I are conversing. He's like, "Man, I wish I could blog like you..." and, "I wish I was smart like you..." And I was like, "Yeah, well, I'd name my second child "Momojuicing" if I could trade like you..." and he was like, "Oh yeah? Well check out this MA on a break of $198." The graph tells the rest of the story.



I short 300 around $198. I covered 100 at $197.25, 100 at $196.39 and the last 100 at $194.18. So I went from being down a few hundred to up $400 after this trade.

So I felt good about the trades. The name thing sucks, but, what can you do?

Anyway, the even better news came when I closed the day strong. I caught the bottom in MA with 200 shares when the news hit about ABK. I sold 100 after I made a point, and rode the other 100 for 4 more points. So MA turned into one of my biggest winners in awhile, at $1098.

Here's the stats:

P&L, $804
Best, MA, $1098
Worst, DO, -$377

21,000 shares traded.
15 stocks traded. 8 winners, 7 losers.

Virtual Office, $1248. SPX, +18.00, 1373.50.

Me, $804 on 21,000 shares traded.
Ducati, $604 on 400 shares traded.
OBAT, $539 on 5600 shares traded.
Evolution, $352 on 37,000 shares traded.
Timmay, $205 on 1800 shares traded.
Retardo, no trades.
Wincity, no trades.
Denarii, -$12 on 300 shares traded.
Ainkurn, -$136 on 650 shares traded.
Dehtrader, -$1108 on 3391 shares traded.

Well, it was a pretty wild day today. The market didn't need Gasparino today, all it needed was S&P to reaffirm ABK's financial strength. This sent all the financial stocks higher at approximately 2:25 and with them, the market.

I hate to be a dick about it, but the volume was pretty lame for such an event. Actually, I take that back (sort of). The volume really sucked early and at the end of the day we probably finished about average. So, volume moved into the market after 2:25.

Meanwhile, one of these days, Dylan Ratigan is going to trip as he walks towards the camera and it will be pretty damn funny.

We traded just under 1.5 billion shares on the NYSE today and the VIX dropped another point, to 23.09.

The VO had a mixed day. Hopefully, with the eco-data out this week, we get some good movement and follow through.

Are Stocks Male, Or Female?

In all of the offices I worked in, they were male. As in, "that guy is a fucking dick!" However, when bloggers write about stocks, they tend to make them female.

So for you, are stocks male or female? Please vote in the poll.

Maybe Next Time... They'll Walk!

I hate SUVs. However, I love it when stupid SUV drivers think they're in some car commercial but then get into trouble.

Last summer, some woman in a white Cadillac Escalade drove it onto the beach and got stuck in the sand. Walking by it and laughing made me very, very happy.


SUV Loses Traction And Slips Off A Cliff - Watch more free videos

Art Cashin's Comments, Feb. 25th 2008

Art, what's going to break us out of this range?

Firm up that Ambak deal quick or the rumor mongers will be out saying that it's going to fall through. Also, we have lots of data this week and Bernanke will be speaking in front of Congress.
If our elected officials will stop hamming for the camera, perhaps they can take him through the FOMC minutes.

Comments on the Visa IPO? Is it a good sign?

The interesting thing is that it's going to eat up a lot of sideline cash, and that's going to lock things up. Also, keep an eye on Greenspan's comments this morning... he's talking about zero growth in the US.

Morning Link Love

Just one today since I'm late in getting to my desk...

• Trading Probabtion, a great post (influenced by Stewie), written by new VO member Ainkurn.
• Okay, one more... Richard over at MtM was hypnotized this weekend and gangraped by crazy female hypnotists. Okay, maybe not... but that's my hypnosis fantasy anyway.
  

Good Morning

Time: 7:33
Mood: Dark

Study Your Trades

I went through each of my trades on Friday. While I made money, it was only because of the "Gasparino Lottery" at the end of the day and not because of any legitimate trading skill. Here's what I learned.

• I’m still adding to positions wrong. It’s okay to add to a position when it’s going in my favor. However, adding after a position corrects back close to my entry is a losing strategy even if that position is technically still a winner. 
• Don’t trade thin stocks in the hybrid market. The odds are too stacked against you with the spreads and illiquidity being what they are.
• Unless a trade looks perfect, a major news story breaks, or there is excellent volume in the market, DO NOT TRADE between 12 and 2. This is free time. Move away from the monitors and read a book or something… seriously…
• In a choppy market environment, don’t short the first breakdown or breakout. Often the stock will chop back up to your entry. If the level holds the second time, then enter the trade. Of course, in a market with good momentum and volume, this rule would change.
• Short failed breakouts. If a stock attempts to break out of a base and then stalls, heads back into the base and breaks that base, short it. It’s been working well in this environment.
• Know the bigger picture. I wasted $250 on Friday trying to short DV for a break of $44. Each time I tried it, I lost 25 or 30 cents. Meanwhile, a quick glance at a 15 minute graph would have showed that even if he broke $44, he most likely would have found support at $43.40. So I was risking 25 cents for a possible gain of 60 cents… that’s just not enough incentive…

So, more of the same... trading and hopefully evolving.  Working hard to keep a positive outlook but it's been a brutal month.  I'm working for a strong close this week. We'll see.

Note To Ralph Nader: Go Away!

Now, truth be told, I voted for this guy in 2000. However, since I don't live in a "swing state" I knew my vote didn't really matter anyway. I did it as a protest because I knew Bush was a nightmare and I hate Joe Lieberman (Gore's running mate in 2000).


-Ralph Nader's car, circa 2000

However, one reason why George Bush has had the opportunity to ruin our country for the last 8 years is because Gore lost Florida, where there were plenty of Nader supporters. I mean, Gore also lost his home state of Tennessee, which is ridiculous and not Nader's fault, but still...

We don't need you this time Mr. Nader. You will take votes away from Obama, effectively handing John McCain the presidency.

Do something else... like disappear.

UPDATE: Here's a link to the NY Times article about his entry into the race.

Weezer, "El Scorcho"

NOTE: "Win" an attack from Retardo.

Charlie Gasparino Bailed Out Dinosaur Trader

Charlie Gasparino, of CNBC, that glorious business news channel, bailed my poor ass out today at 3:25.

He said that the bond insurer ABK will be bailed out this weekend. As some dude said on CNBC earlier this morning, "somebody has to bail out somebody soon." Indeed.

Anyway, at 3:25 I was down $500 and feeling sorry for myself. My big loss on the day was in CW.



I'm calling that a "modified ass rape" as opposed to the run of the mill "ass rape" because of the little bar between the spike down and spike up. That tiny little green bar in between the big red and big green bar represents hope. Dashed hope.

I short the stock because on the daily, it had come down to $42 a number of times. With the market weak and the stock near the number, I thought a break would at least be a "safe" trade. However, I made the rookie error of not noticing how incredibly thin this stock trades.

So I broke a cardinal rule of trading post hybrid market, "thou shalt not trade thin stocks." I got some pretty bad slippage on my outs. So I lost $244.

Another nightmare for me today was DV. The stock was trading awfully today and I should have just stayed away... I lost another $240 there.

I won't even talk about my Gasparino longs. I'm embarassed I only made $700 during the rally. Everything ripped. My best, was AGO.



Anyway, I have a long weekend ahead of me. I'm going to go through each of my trades made today. EVERY DAMN ONE! Because I'm getting sick of this shit.

Meanwhile, the VO was late because after the close, we met with a life insurance dude. Talk about a guy with no sense of humor! He asked me if I used tobacco products and I told him, straight-faced, "only when I'm drunk and high." Judy spit her coffee out but the guy didn't crack a smile. Perhaps he's heard it like 1000 times before... I dunno, I thought it was funny.

This weekend, during a quiet moment, be happy.

Here's the stats:

P&L, $173
Best, AGO, $144
Worst, CW, -$244

17,400 shares traded.
16 stocks traded. 11 winners, 5 losers.

Virtual Office, $1268. SPX, +8.50, 1355.50.

Dehtrader, $481 on 7450 shares traded.
OBAT, $353 on 10,800 shares traded.
Sanglucci, $173 on 17,000 shares traded.
Me, $173 on 17,400 shares traded.
Ainkurn, $89 on 300 shares traded.
Wincity, $18 on 400 shares traded.
Retardo, no trades.
Timmay, no trades.
Denarii, -$19 on 600 shares traded.

Charlie Fucking Gasparino... the man responsible for the 250 point end of day rally in the Dow.

All I have to say is, a lot of people are going to call for that dude's head should the bond insurers not get their bailout this weekend.

Anyway, before the market freaked out there at 3:25, it was a slow grinder of a day. We made a strong move down in the morning, but on no volume, and then churned until the Gasparino rally ensued at 3:25.

We traded just over 1.4 billion shares on the NYSE and the VIX dropped a point, to 24.06.

Our new member Ainkurn made enough to go out to eat. Ducati, was AWOL on his first day... never a promising sign. Perhaps he didn't like the video. For now I'll assume we're having email issues... for whatever reason, his email travels at 1997 Internet speed.

Have a sweet fucking weekend.

Maria Bartiromo Loves Dennis Kneale

The VO will be late...

Meanwhile, Dennis Kneale just said, "Instead of the NYT being called the 'gray lady' they should call it 'the lousy old tart.'

And Maria giggled like a little schoolgirl.

Shoot me.

Ducati Rejoins VO

As many of you know, Ducati quit "the Fly's" piece of shit blog a couple of weeks ago when "the Fly" exposed Ducati's voting record in the Peanut Gallery.

Unfortunately, that left Ducati blogless and I was forced to fire him from the VO.

In the last couple of weeks, it was unclear what had become of Ducati. As it turns out, he was working to become a poet, somewhat in the vein of Willam Burroughs... below, you will find exlusive footage of him performing his poem "I Fuck Dead Pigs." (Note... NSFW)



With that, I welcome Ducati back to the VO. May his new blog be successful.

Ainkurn Joins The VO

Part of why I started the VO is to make myself feel better when I have bad days.

Like yesterday for example... I got smoked, but Dehtrader and Equine got smoked even more. So while it sucks that I got smoked, I say to myself, well, at least I'm not those guys!

Anyway, here's a new member to pad the lower depths of the VO. I mean, check out the name of their blog, 10kthrownaway. They need to speak with the "gold-toothed one" about the power of names.

Now, before you watch the exclusive footage, let me break it down for you.

The VO is underground in an undisclosed location near the center of the earth. (Incidentally, the office of the Vice President, Dick Cheney, is nearby. Sometimes I bump into him when I'm out to get lunch. He's a Dick.)

Anyway, so Ainkurn was riding the special underground train (which we've cleverly and uniquely named, the "subway") for the first time with some of the other VOers. He saw Equine and started acting tough... like he'd never seen a girl before. So Sanglucci, (the "bouncer" of the VO) stepped up and taught him a quick lesson.



Welcome Ainkurn.

News on the other new member will be released shortly...

Morning Links (the faceplant is sweet, BTW)

• An interesting post on trading and self control
• The debate was hardly "contentious" but I guess that sells newspapers.
• Tapeworm's new site... often NSFW, I found a "clean" post.
• Jon Swift weighs in on the hot new John McCain scandal.
• Option Addicts asks, "Would You Take This Trade?"
• Finally, your daily faceplant.
  

Good Morning

Time: 7:43
Mood: Hesitant