Virtual Office, -$604. SPY, +0.29, $140.84.

Tokyo, $565 on 719 shares traded.
Me, $350 on 12,000 shares traded.
OBAT, $273 on 8000 shares traded.
Denarii, $21 on 8400 shares traded.
Tardo, nothing.
Timmay!, nothing.
Ainkurn, -$398 on 500 shares traded.
Sanglucci, -$1415 on 12,600 shares traded.

It was a pretty active day for the indexes. They all ran early and then sold off hard into the close. The Dow dropped over 100 points in the last hour and a half of trade. Volume, which was quiet all day, picked up late. I mean, the market still closed in the green, but only because the government won't let it close in the red anymore...

NO INFLATION MY ASS!

Anyway... it was a mixed day for the VO. Our newest member, Tokyo Trader, took the top slot. He edged me out... so instead of saying that he had a "nice day" or something "team building" like that, I'll say this... I hate Tokyo. I spent 10 days in Tokyo... I can't tell you how many times I got bodychecked by aggressive old Japanese women on the subway.

Meanwhile, Sanglucci took it on the chin again... I'd link him up and say "go visit his blog to see what went wrong," or something, but the fucker doesn't update his blog anymore... so, no linky. Perhaps if he updates his blog, mother market will let him make money again.

Finally, I have this idea for the VO which I'm not yet ready to share. However, pretend I had a mass of traders and I could report their P&Ls but not their real names... I need nicknames. I was thinking of historical Wall Street figures, and I have other ideas too, like all the rabbits from Watership Down and shit... but I figured I'd ask you people for some too... who knows if this will develop... I'm just doing this "in case." So, fire away.

NOTE: I haven't mentioned the VIX in some time... mostly because I find it too depressing. Adam, however, is just fine with discussing depressing. Note that he souped the post up with a shot of cheerleaders photoshopped as your favorite CNBC anchorettes.

Colbert Interviews The Anti-Gun Lobby

Man, this is classic. Dude is so damn smart.

Fuck All Cats

Long time readers of this wondrous blog know that last summer, we had a difficulty with one of our cats, Doc.

As a brief recap, we went away on vacation, and a friend of ours fed the cats. But instead of having our friend walk into our basement to feed them (people have entered our basement and never returned) we brought the food bowls into the kitchen. This seemed to trigger a strange reaction in Doc, and he started using our kitchen as his litter box.

Apparently, "don't shit where you eat" doesn't apply to cats.

If you've never had the chance to smell cat urine, consider yourself lucky. It's a vile, thick smell that is very hard to mask.

We worked out the problem, and after months of retraining, Doc resumed using his litter box in the basement.

Then, this morning, on my way back from a dawn patrol surf session, I got a call from Judy. "I have some bad news," she said.

I'm half Italian. When the phone rings and the voice on the other side tells you that they have "bad news," you're pretty sure someone has died. However, when Judy told me about the puddle of pee in the middle of the kitchen floor, I almost wished my Uncle Santo had died instead... he's had a nice, long life.

Anyway, I came home to find Doc sitting by the crime scene, nonchalantly licking his paw. "I will fucking ruin you!" I shouted at him... he looked up, without a shred of fear, and walked past me to lay in a sunspot.

So, fuck all cats.

O'Reilly At His Best

Maybe the only time I've been able to watch him for more than 5 seconds...

See more funny videos at CollegeHumor

"the Fly" Wins Again!

Congratulations to "the Fly" (small "t") for getting recognized by some third-tier Canadian newspaper... Actually, since Canada is a fourth or fifth tier country, and it's a third-tier newspaper, that really waters down the significance of the event... 

I guess it's not a big deal afterall.

Well, at least it spurred on the comment section of this post.  That "Martinez" bit and the karma points gag, was classic.

Fleet Foxes, "Katie Cruel"

Backstage Sessions : Fleet Foxes - Katie Cruel (Cover) from Hard to Find a Friend on Vimeo.

Respecting Stops

I think most of the time, when traders say they need to respect their stops, they're talking about the stops they place to control downside risk.

They'll set a stop, say, at $50, and if the stock comes down to $50.10, they then move that stock down to $49.85 or something, to give the position "more room." Then, some traders even add more...

I am, of course, familiar with that particular trading problem... I've been there. However, I'm having a slightly different problem with my stops lately.

Lately, when I'm in a winning position, instead of following the stock up with a stop, I cancel my stop and sell at market, only to watch the stock continue to move in my favor. I think this comes from my current "confidence crisis" because I'm so afraid the stock is going to reverse and take me out at a loss, that I sell and take whatever profits I have.

I know this is not unique.

I think that ultimately, it's a better problem to have than cancelling stops on the way down and not being able to accept losses, only to watch them mount. However, it may be equally frustrating.

I had a few cases today where I sold out of positions instead of respecting my stops... with longs in YGE, MLM and GWW. Had I simply respected my stops, I'd be green, instead of slightly down.

First, MLM. I showed good patience not getting involved directly at $115, because I suspected a hosejob. I bought at $115.21, when it emerged from the base. The position immediately looked good, because it got some volume right away. This was an HCPG watchlist stock, with the target as $116. I checked the daily and saw that back in February, it gapped down from $116.96 and so I thought if it had some mojo, that it could even fill that gap. So I placed a sell limit at $116.24 and watched to see what would happen.



At $116, it hit some turbulence... but really, in retrospect, very, very minor turbulence. Still, I was afraid the stock would reverse back to my entry, so I took my $60 gain instead of respecting my stop and my target. Perhaps I was so afraid to lose my gains because this trade basically brought me flat on the day... still, had I respected my target, I'd be up $28 on the day instead of down $14.

The next stock, GWW, was one from my watchlist. I was expecting a run to $89. Again, I bought at a very good time, and was not really in danger of losing money on the trade.



As you can see, the stock ran straight through $89, picking up volume along the way. It ran easily up to $89.50 before taking a breather and forming a tight base between $89.35 and $89.50.

I save the most heartbreaking for last. YGE was another HCPG play and a run to $24 was expected. While the stock jerked traders around early, it cleaned up nicely into the afternoon. I think the main problem I had with this particular trade was that it came in the middle of the day... a time I don't like to trade actively.



As you can see from the graph, I completely fucked up this gem. I kept buying higher and getting more and more nervous... Really annoying to look back at that and think about what could have been.

Meanwhile, I have him blogrolled, but if you want to see how a trader at the peak of his game handles some of these same trades, go check out Wall Street Warrior.

Anyway, today was a battle. But really, I only have myself to blame for losing money in KSU, a complete waste of a stock. I need to avoid losing money in shit like this...



Bottom line, if I can have more bad days like this, where I lose only $14, I'll be a happy trader. Despite my poor performance, I can take some positives out of today.

Here's the stats:

P&L, -$14
Best, YGE, $249
Worst, KSU, -$170

13,600 shares traded.
10 stocks traded, 5 winners, 5 losers.

Virtual Office, -$1272. SPY, +.05, $140.51.

Ainkurn, $282 on 300 shares traded.
OBAT, $230 on 11,000 shares traded.
Tokyo, $135 on 1115 shares traded.
Retardo, no trades.
Me, -$14 on 13,600 shares traded.
Timmay, -$450 on 600 shares traded.
Sanglucci, -$1455 on 35,000 shares traded.

Still a quiet market out there, but with significant movement in energy names... in fact, today kind of felt like the 'ole, "sell financial, buy energy, ags and commodities" play from earlier this year. Only problem with that is that the ag names mostly dropped...

Also, FLR knocked the cover off the earnings ball ripped, creating "pin action" rallies in SGR and JEC.

My real office was at 50/50 again... the VO got a little smoked. However, score one for the kids from Mississippi. Perhaps in the ultimate irony, when I'm poor and they're rich, we'll trade houses or something... developing...

Anyway, it's that day I hate... the house is about to be overtaken by ravenous 3-year olds since we're hosting "playgroup."

Have you ever been to one of those drive-thru safaris at a theme park? You know the kind where a wild group of Baboons run out from a cluster of trees to rip the headlights off your car? Playgroup is like that... so I need to get the heck out of here... However, I'll have an extensive daily post up later this evening.

Free And Legal Music

Back in the early 90s, I liked Nine Inch Nails. I haven't bought an album of theirs since The Downward Spiral, but I'll listen to the new one, because it's absolutely free.

Check it out.

Keeping Perspective

After the cyclone in Mynamar and now the earthquake in China, your "quiet boring life" doesn't seem so bad, huh?



You never know when your "quiet boring life" will be turned upside down, so these kind of events should serve as a constant reminder to be thankful for what you have, when you have it. Perspective is all important.

Pavement, "Perfume V"

A Good Trade

I'll have you know, I don't enjoy being the "trainwreck of the stock blogging Internets" day in and day out.

What other shithead is out there currently struggling like I am? Who has fallen as far as I have? The story doesn't end with me in the gutter, by the way. I figure this shit out and this little stretch is a blip I laugh about in 2016.

So tonight, I share a good trade I enjoyed today... I'll ignore the sad fact that I only had 200 shares on...

HCPG mentioned EXM in their weekend newsletter. This one has been showing up on their watchlist for the last couple of weeks. $47 was the number to watch. The stock gapped open, dropped a quick 80 cents or so, but then strongly bounced back to the highs.

I bought 200 shares up near the opening highs, which actually was a mistake. The stock was overextended, and needed time to digest the bounce. So it began to base. Now, what happened is that the stock headed back down to $46, where I had my stop and, assuming defeat, I gave up on the trade... I was pissed for buying before the stock based, and I walked downstairs to make myself a cup of tea. After last week, you understand, my confidence is at lows, and I almost expect every trade I enter to fail...

Of course, when I came back upstairs, only a few minutes later, I realized that I had just made myself a very expensive cup of tea. The stock vaulted through my buy point (actually providing me with a great chance to add to my position, which I was unable to do from the comfort of my kitchen while brewing tea) and straight to $47.



It's hard to add to a 200 share position... so I chose not to add any more at the breakout number. Instead, I threw in a sell limit, 1% above the breakout point. This number was easily taken out, so I added my second sell limit about a point higher from the breakout, at $47.90.

That was actually the high of the move. For about an hour, I was able to feel like a hero, selling at the high and all... problem is, the stock ran all day...



So, while my first trade worked out (even if I was a bit lucky) I left a lot of money on the table. The problem was not in selling... the problem was not watching the stock as it tested the original base that it emerged from. I could have had a nice, low-risk reentry down at $46.50... of course, this is a little 20/20 hindsight, but still... the stock was printing great volume... and was relatively strong. Other stocks in its sector were also strong... so, here is yet another aspect of trading that I need to work on, continuing to watch stocks that are behaving well even if I don't have a position for second opportunities.

Anyway, I was happy to finish green. I'm pissed I didn't have more shares, but after the carnage I suffered last week, it would have been somewhat irresponsible for me to trade heavy today. I need to up my win rate before I size up... it's frustrating, but true.

Here's the stats:

P&L, $190
Best, EXM, $222
Worst, MUR, -$45

2400 shares traded.
6 stocks traded, 3 winners, 3 losers.

Virtual Office, $148. SPY, +1.58, $140.46.

Me, $190 on 2400 shares traded.
OBAT, $10 on 3400 shares traded.
Tokyo, no trades.
Denarii, -$2 on 1400 shares traded.
Ainkurn, -$50 on 500 shares traded.

We just barely inched over the billion share traded mark today on the NYSE. Just for perspective, the last time we traded so little was on December 27th, Christmas week. Also, for fun, I checked the volume on this day last year... we traded 1.4 billion on May 11th last year (May 12 was a weekend).

So, about 40% less than a year ago... not great.

But who gives a fuck? I made money today, breaking my 5 day loss streak. I'll get into that all later, in my daily post as I describe how YOU TOO can make $200 a day in the market.

"How I Make $200 A Day In The Stock Market," by Dinosaur Trader... imagine how that would fly off the shelves of bookstores everywhere? It'd be an instant investment classic... fuck An American Hedge Fund. My book would be the "Catcher in the Rye" of the stock market world... while Mr. Sykes's book would collect dust.

Ah well... my real office clocked in at 50/50 winners to losers which, unfortunately, is also an improvement on last week. Still, perhaps it signals a better tone to trading this week, despite the volume.

Anyway, we know this market is in a weird place right now. How weird, we'll only know in a few months, when today is history.

Or instead, maybe things are just normal, and normal is boring.

Overemotional Wrestling Fan

Just to lighten things up a bit...

First of all, I'm green today, and staying that way. The streak is broken.

Second, I always find it hilarious when anyone gets too wrapped up in any particular hobby, movie, celebrity or whatever. Check this clip below... it's of a guy who is at an even with wrestlers from the WWF or something... he apparently, is a REALLY big fan.


Classic Clip - Wrestlings Biggest Loser - Watch more free videos

May Sucks

Not because of Mother's Day... although that doesn't help.

Mostly because every weekend we have some bullshit event to go to... Baptisms, Communions. Seriously, as an "atheistic Buddhist," I can only hurt these children's chances of ever getting to heaven. However, I'm not going to veer off into religion here. I have enough trouble with the trading and politics.

Guess what? Volume is tracking lower than even on Friday. Folks, the summer doldrums have arrived a few weeks early this year. Barring any beautiful event like a new subprime contagion, trading may well be over until October, or perhaps, even after the election.

In short, I'm doomed to poverty. Expect advertisements to grace this blog in some form or another in short order. The $11.83 I earn monthly from adsense will actually account for a fairly high percentage of our family income.

Ironic coming from a one-time millionaire, no?

Colbert On The Price Of Gasoline

Radiohead, "Lucky"

Great fucking week. I'm like, "high school depressed."

Why I Feel Like Lighting Myself On Fire

After last week, where I gained 5 successive green days, this week, I've been smacked 5 times, digging myself a deep and cold hole to start the month off.

Special note to mother market: You win. I've been permanently humbled. Should you ever see fit to let me be a profitable trader again, I promise always to show you the proper respect.

I'm down a little today, instead of taking the day off, as planned, I decided to come in and trade small.

Here are the two trades that "broke my heart" today.

First off, in OII. I liked the base under $70, a key level, the high volume, and the relative strength versus the market. I entered 400 shares at an average price of $69.85. The stock shot up, with convincing volume through $70 and hit a high of $70.47 before reversing back to the $70 level. I did not lighten my shares during the move up, because frankly, I was expecting at least a 1% gain on the breakout. I had a limit to get out of 200 shares up at $70.67.



When the stock reversed, I expected $70 to hold, so I added 200 more shares at $70.08. Alas, the stock broke $70 and I was forced to exit my entire position, all above $69.85. So, not a big loss, but depressing, because I really felt good about the trade.

Later in the day, I reentered this stock at $70, got shaken out at $70.44 and watched it run over $72. Truly, I am due to catch one of these moves soon...



And then there was CAM. Here's I missed the original entry, but bought on a pullback to the entry level, at $51.12. I held while the stock moved up to a half, and adjusted my sell stop up to $51.15 where it came back to take me out of the trade, before ripping up to $52.



I can point to many more examples like this today. Seriously, I feel as if I'm jinxed lately, getting stopped out of positions at the lows of their moves (or highs when I'm short.) I'm extremely frustrated right now.

Oh, and fuck "TraderMD"for having so much success using this HCPG stuff while I struggle like some refugee in a third world country. To make matters worse, the dude isn't even a trader... he's gonna be a doctor. He's just doing this shit for fun.

Pure hate.

Anyway, I doubt the weekend will do much to clear my head. I'm that pissed. I'm just gonna come in Monday and keep my size small, until I start catching good moves.

Off to kill bugs and mutilate cute furry animals.

Here's the stats:

P&L, -$178
Best, OII, $130
Worst, JEC, -$190

10,600 shares traded.
11 stocks traded, 3 winners, 8 losers.

Virtual Office, $2223. SPY, -0.26, $138.95.

Sanglucci, $1920 on 46,000 shares traded.
Tokyo, $394 on 1312 shares traded.
OBAT, $263 on 5800 shares traded.
Retardo, nothing.
Denarii, -$16 on 4600 shares traded.
Ainkurn, -$160 on 500 shares traded.
Me, -$178 on 10,600 shares traded.

Hey, you notice that? There's a new trader in the VO, Tokyo Trader. Ultimately, his entrance may "top tick" the VO, as I'm extremely close to canning it in it's current formation and starting it over again, in a different way. I also have another new member all ready to go... we will see.

If you're wondering why those two poor souls didn't get the normal VO welcome, it's because I'm in a horrendous mood. Even my terrific sense of humor is failing me... sigh.

I have many reasons to hate the VO right now, but not enough time to really elaborate. Just know that soon, it may disappear, or radically change. I feel like it's become a sort of "special olympics" of the stock blogging world. Not that there's anything wrong with people who participate in the special olympics.

Anyway... guess what, we set a new record for the lowest volume day of the year. What a fucked up week. My real office suffered some true damage... not "special olympics" damage either... I'm talking significant losses.

Enjoy your weekend. Don't light yourself on fire or anything... that's for me to do.

SPECIAL MESSAGE TO PARANOID PEOPLE: You're right.

How To Make Gasoline Cheaper...

Bush was on the television the other day discussing his desire to make the tax cuts permanent. That would be wonderful... I can't stand taxes.

But how do you make up for those lost revenues? Here's an idea, and it would also make gasoline cheaper... Cut the income tax, like Bush wants (and I want) and supplement the lost money with a higher gasoline tax. Simple.

Encourage people to work harder by allowing them to keep more of their income while discouraging them from purchasing gas guzzling vehicles that are not only bad for the environment, but for our overall foreign policy as well.

We don't need to drill in Alaska, like they were discussing on CNBC today. That's just another short-term solution. (I agree with most of what Vince Farrell was saying, BTW.)

We need bigger, longer term initiatives that will end our dependence on oil and gasoline, not increase it. The oil guy was saying we'd get 10 billion barrels (potentially...) from ANWAR... that amounts to an extra 1 million barrels of oil a day. We're currently using 20 million barrels a day, so that'd give us a potential 5% increase in supply.

So what kind of savings can you really expect at the pump? To be generous, 5%? Or, 20 cents on $4 a gallon of gasoline?

Is that really the best we can do? Is it worth continuing to ruin the environment? Absolutely not. We need to show leadership and develop new technologies. Imagine America exercising some positive leadership in the world again? That would be nice, and it would also provide jobs.

A decade ago, we produced 40% of the solar panels made in the world... now we produce 8%. Look, you don't have to be a genius, or even a liberal democrat, to see that oil and gasoline production is not the future... so why are we heading backwards?