Radiohead, "You And Whose Army"

Since I'm so happy that Radiohead is releasing a new album, and so soon, I've decided that all week I'm just going to post videos for my favorite Radiohead songs.

This song... man...

Yoga For The Back

Hattip to "artha" for finding this short article written by professional surfer Gerry Lopez about what yoga poses are good for the back. I'll simply say that one of the things that makes this blog worthwhile is the feedback I get from my readers. Thanks a lot, everyone!

If you've been reading this blog, you might remember that in March and April I was suffering from back spasms largely because I was locked in front of my screens every day trading and rarely getting up. This was before I began surfing again and I was basically not getting any exercise.

I've often wondered if my surfing has helped my trading. It's at least coincidental that when I began surfing again, (late June I think) my P&L turned around. It has definitely helped me mentally.

So listen, perhaps you are like how I was in March and April... maybe you can't start surfing because you don't live near a beach. Whatever, the thing is, as a trader you probably suffer from some back pain because you sit and hunch over your damn keyboard all day, staring at the screens. You have to do some exercise, man!

Check out these yoga poses for your back and give them a try. It's so easy and it will make you feel much better.

Swell

Well, as you can see I took the second half of the day off today to go surf. That means 3 things:

1. I didn't make a gajillion dollars just because the market was "up big today" Dad.
2. I'm really tired.
3. I'll probably never be filthy rich because I don't care about money "enough."

As for trading, I guess I was a little frustrated out there today. At least by daytrading. I made as much in my "swing" trading account as I did in my daytrading account with 1/100th of the work put in. I like it though... this mix of daytrading and swing trading.

I've learned that swing trading is really really easy when the market moonshots. I haven't the slightest idea about what to do when it starts moving sideways or heads down again.

I do have two swing trades to report that I didn't have time to make a separate post for in the middle of the day. First of all, I picked up some GRMN at $104.18. I only bought 75 shares though because after all, I bought it because a man who calls himself "Bluedog" suggested it.

I think it's wise to exercise a certain amount of caution in circumstances like that...

Anyway, I sold 25 at $105.94. Why? Well, because I wanted to lock in a small gain just in case he wanted to head lower. Now, even if I end up getting out at $103, I'll be flat on the trade instead of having a loss. My real plan is to let the stock test it's 50-day MA and the psychological support level of $100.

Then, I bought 100 shares of WNR at $38.30.



I did this only because the stock has been beaten down badly lately and I just feel like a bounce must come soon. I'm counting 12 straight down sessions for the stock. And today, while it had high volume to the downside, I'd expect more since it made a new low... this will be a short trade. I'm not going to let it move far against me I'm just hoping that the Wednesday oil numbers help the stock. We'll see.

Now, as for daytrading, I was a little frustrated out there today. My best stock of the day was CNS, a thin financial stock that I sometimes dabble in.



I had 1000 shares of this stock below $37.20. So the fact that it closed up at $38.88 and I only managed to make $446 in it should explain some of the frustration I felt today. I'm seriously getting this feeling that a lot of the time I "know" which way a stock will move, and I'm right about it, but I'm getting chopped around and not trading up to my potential. So I'm gonna keep working at longer time frames, even if I start thinking more in terms of hours, not just minutes.

Another good winner for me today was POT, both in the swing account and for daytrades.

On the downside, I got jacked shorting ANW early.



But again, at one point, I was short a few hundred shares over $39 but covered them all at $38.75. Since the stock traded below $37 in the afternoon, I can only look at that trade and be a little frustrated. I ended up losing $263 in him when I could have easily been flat, or even positive in him. I had a good entry and I screwed up my exit.

Anyway, that's it for my analysis. I'm shot and waking early to catch more of this growing swell. Wednesday and Thursday the waves will be big here as in "overhead." I'll need a lot of sleep this week otherwise I could get myself beat up out in the surf. I'm going to crack open "The Dogs of Winter" by Kem Nunn and go to bed. Meanwhile, I finished "Dark Noon" by Tom Clavin and will post a little "comment" about that book tomorrow.

Here's the daytrading stats:

P&L, $891
Best, CNS, $446
Worst, ANW, -$263

16,800 shares traded.
10 stocks traded, 7 winners, 3 losers.
91 trades.

Virtual Office, $9885. Dow, +191.92, 14,087.55.

Misstrade, $8410 on 21,250 shares traded.
Me, $891 on 16,800 shares traded.
Bubs, $450 on 2000 shares traded.
Evolution, $357 on 32,200 shares traded.
Akalawoo, $258 on 19 contracts traded.
Denarii, vacation.
Tapeworm, computer issues. Probably from the porn!
Momojuicing, -$43 on 8200 shares traded.
OBAT, -$438 on 29,400 shares traded.

Well I'll be the first to admit that I'm surprised the Dow is up at 14,000 again. For those who voted 14,000 in my first poll, you win!

And making it even nicer for the bulls, volume picked up a bit today as we traded 1,430,150,000 shares on the NYSE today. Not too shabby. I guess we'll have to wait until earnings season for volume to rise over 1.5 billion daily again though.

Anyway, Misstrade continues his strong performance in this market. What's surprising is to see OBAT down at the bottom of the pile. Normally you expect to see me or Tapeworm there...

Let's see what happens tomorrow. Do we continue this uptrend? Will we crash? Wonderful suspense in this market... okay, not really. Looks like we'll go up forever thanks to Uncle Ben.

Gone Surfing

Well, the Dow is up 200 and I'm only doing okay... so, I'm hitting the beach.

Expect a late VO though it should be up by 6pm.

"Radiohead Have Made A Record"

This band never ceases to amaze.

I mean, imagine announcing only 10 days before you release a new album that you're going to release it? And then, imagine allowing people to name the price they'll pay for that album? It says downloading the digital only version "may be subject to a transaction fee." Dude from Pitchfork bought the new double album for $8...

Get the details here. Meanwhile, this link is somewhat flooded... be patient, it will open in time.

They're the best.

Remember, if you think everything in the world is just rosy, that just means, "you haven't been paying attention." Check out 2+2=5.

Animal Collective, "Cuckoo Cuckoo"

I've been listening to the new Animal Collective album "Strawberry Jam" somewhat obsessively.

I've found that when I listen to an album straight through the "easy" songs stand out and they become my early favorites. For "Strawberry Jam," my first favorite was "For Reverend Green." However, after listening to the album about 25 times now the standout is Cuckoo Cuckoo.

There's this sweet piano loop running beneath the chaos of the song the entire time. The song contracts into quiet periods where you only hear the singer and the piano but then it periodically explodes into a percussive maelstrom that I can only describe as powerful sounding.

"War Made Easy"

I've only watched this trailer, but if you have never thought critically about the role the media plays in our country, it looks like this movie might help you out.

From a financial perspective... just think about the money spent on war as our kids lose more ground in education, our infrastructure sags and our overall quality of public life declines.

If it doesn't sadden you it may be time to stop and think about it. By the way, this movie doesn't only focus on the media runup to the Iraq war. It seems to be looking at the role of the media in the runup to our many wars of the last 75 years. So this isn't a movie "for" Democrats or "for" Republicans. It's "for" anyone who watches the media without some discernment.

Virtual Office, $27,800. Dow, -17.31, 13,895.63.

Misstrade, $25,892 on 19,500 shares traded.
Me, $1316 on 20,200 shares traded.
Evolution, $215 on 8600 shares traded.
OBAT, $131 on 13,200 shares traded.
Tapeworm, $120 on 2 contracts traded.
Bubs, $84 on 600 shares traded.
Akalawoo, $42 on 27 contracts traded.
Momojuicing, being a Dad
Denarii, vacation

Wow, what a Virtual Office to miss! I mean, not only did Misstrade defy the laws of trading gravity again, but every member who traded was positive. Ah.... the VO bringing out the best in everyone. Sigh...

Anyway, since it's Monday morning I'm not going to go to in depth here. Who cares about Friday trading when we've put the weekend behind us and are looking at futures up again?

For the record, we traded 1,345,233,000 shares on Friday. It was a slow day. However, there was a very noticeable surge of volume at 3:50 or so... much more than normal. Interesting...

Stepping To The Sidelines

Made some money in TSL and EXM on shorts and I'm choosing not to get overly involved in this low-volume market.

As far as swing trades go, I closed my DE position at $148.70 and my FED at $50.27. I also initiated a LAZ short at $42.37. "The Fly" best be right about that one...

So for now, my swing account reads:

100 POT
100 NMX
-200 LAZ

The good news on my swing account is that (as of yesterday's close) I made $1135 in it for the month. Doesn't sound like much, I know, but considering that I was down $1500 in it right after the FED cut, I'll take it. Also, I only traded this account with small positions... 100 and 200 shares. I may try to build those positions slightly in October if the market is still cooking.

Going surfing.

Global Warming IS Real Afterall!

Hey, if Bush says it's true, it must be... right? True leadership!

Actually, now I'm beginning to doubt it.

CNBC And Their Damn Anchors

Melissa Lee has the worst voice on TV. It defines nasal.

Animal Collective, "For Reverend Green"

In their prime.

I listened to Strawberry Jam on my ride to the beach in the afternoon and then on the way back. Get it... it's explosive.

A New Appreciation For My Neighbor

My earlier post really says it all.

I only wish I had gotten home at 3:59 and not at 3:40... it would have meant $750 more in profits. Instead, I came home and was thrilled, shocked even, to see my P&L green and so I just sold out of most of my position near $31. I had also set limits to sell 400 at $31.20 and 400 more at $31.50 while I was out... amazingly, they too were hit. So upon my return, I had 1000 shares left and sold most of it around $31.10.


Believe me, I'm not going to complain too much about missing that last 65 cents.

You know, I said that I was doing that to prove to myself that I wasn't attached to money, but really, it seems like I'm more attached to trading itself than I am to money. I really "felt" that the stock was going to go higher but I "felt" even more that if I hung around to watch it that I'd screw it up.

Funny the way lessons can be learned.

Anyway, apart from my intraday number today, I made almost $600 in my "swing account" with gains in NMX (thanks Momo), POT, and DE. FED is dead in the water... if he doesn't move to the upside tomorrow I may bail on that one for a tiny loss.

Also instructive today is the fact that the other two positions that went against me, CNS (long) and LDK (short) would have worked out quite well had I let them be and not exited them for losses. I'm not saying that taking the losses when I took them was wrong, but I am saying that I should probably take smaller positions and give myself more room in them because it could be that I'm often on the right side of a position over a longer timeframe... I'll be exploring this more in the days to come.

Here's the stats:

P&L, $217
Best, ANW, $1007
Worst, CNS, -$544
23,200 shares traded.
14 stocks traded. 6 winners, 8 losers.
97 trades.

Virtual Office, $22,111. Dow, +34.79, 13,912.94.

Misstrade, $21,000 on 21,000 shares traded.
Momojuicing, $734 on 32,200 shares traded.
Tapeworm, $300 on 2 contracts traded.
Me, $217 on 23,200 shares traded.
Bubs, $97 on 1900 shares traded.
Evolution, may trade again tomorrow.
OBAT, -$8 on 15,400 shares traded.
Akalawoo, -$106 on 20 contracts traded.
Denarii, -$123 on 2400 shares traded.

Well, I guess I should address the obvious here... Misstrade did the heavy lifting today. I guess when you cover a chunk of your JRJC short at the low of the day you deserve those kinds of profits. Nice trade.

The rest of us slobs barely scratched out an existence today.

Anyway, volume sucked. I mean, seriously... the NYSE traded 1,180,687,000 shares today. That's like a summer Friday... is there a new Jewish holiday or something?

Looking forward to earnings season. Perhaps that will add some volume into the market.

My Neighbor

I hate his leaf-blowing, wood chipping ass.

Seriously the guy just blew some leaves into a pile (it's windy here... a rake could have done the job in half the time) and then proceeded to pick the leaves up in clumps, throwing them into his woodchipper, "making more" leaves.

Idiot.

Or, I could just be upset because I'm getting completely smoked. Currently, I'm down well past my limit which means I can no longer enter any new positions. So I'm left with this situation. I have 1800 shares of a thin, crappy stock. Do I sell it and accept my loss or do I just hold this piece of shit all day knowing that it's my only hope at regaining any of my lost money?

I could just go to the beach and let the chips fall where they may. When I get home I could either be exactly where I am now, -$1750 or down double that, or I could be positive again. My gut tells me the stock is moving higher today.

Since I've never done this before, and as an exercise in losing my attachment to money, I'm going to walk away and just post the graph here for your pleasure.



I'll be back at 3:59 to close the position. Wish me luck.


UPDATE: HA! HA!!!!!



I'm under no illusions here, I got pretty lucky. Okay, very lucky. Anyway, maybe my neighbor isn't such a bad guy after all, he drove me out of my house, into the surf and away from the computers.

Your Relation To Money

Will over at Dummyspots asks a big question.

He's been blogrolled over there on the right for some time. However, if you haven't taken the opportunity to check out his blog, today is a great day to do so. He always writes thoughtful, clear posts and has also made a couple of great trading calls.

ORA On Wallstrip

That's right, go green! Great Wallstrip today, check it out.

Gusty Southerly

Surf has been flat or unrideable here since early Sunday morning. 4 days has been the longest I've gone without surfing since I began again a couple of months back.

My surfing buddy relies a lot on paid surfing reports and "models" that tell him whether or not it's worthwhile to drive out and get in the water. I'm more inclined to drive out and get in the water despite the reports just because I think there's no better way to start your day than with a dip in the ocean. And hey, if I manage to catch a crappy closeout wave or two, so be it.

Anyway, we spoke late last night and he told me that the "models" were wrong and that the surf was going to be a mess today. I told him I was heading out regardless and that if he wanted a ride, to let me know.

I woke a little late this morning and noticed that the trees were still. No wind! I clamored in the darkness for my clothes and kissed Judy on the head. "I'm gonna go see what's out there," I said. Our daughter was nestled up next to her in bed, looking warm and comfortable. I ran downstairs and out the door.

By the time I arrived in my town, only a few miles away, the flag was stiff with a gusty southerly. One look at the flag and I knew what the surf would be like. White water mush with strong currents.

At 6:00am, the only people in town are the sanitation department guys, running around in fluorescent orange vests emptying garbage bins and hooking large hoses up to the hydrants, to hose down the streets. Since not many people are driving through town every morning with surfboards on their car, they've come to recognize me, and I waved to them as I decided to turn around and head back home.

I turned on the teakettle and walked back upstairs to the bedroom. I slid into bed next to our daughter and buried my nose in her hair, the hair that we cut for the first time just yesterday. Since she's not going to nursery school until January now, every extra moment we have with her has taken on a new importance... even if we appreciate those moments before she wakes up.

As I listened to her breathe and smelled her hair, I thought maybe getting in the ocean isn't the best way to start the day after all.

The Dead - Billy Collins Animated Poetry