In keeping with my "all Radiohead all week" theme (to celebrate the release of their new album In Rainbows, which you can download for whatever price you wish to pay on October 10th), here is a Radiohead song that makes you want to slit your wrists.
Ah! But then you realize, "If I slit my wrists, I can't listen to this song ever again" so you don't.
So, in a weird way it depresses you but then it makes you want to live.
A good day because I only really worked until 10:45 and then I pretty much walked away. I watched and monitored positions, but I definitely didn't overtrade.
At one point, I had $700 more in profits, but I got squeezed in all of my shorts when the market rallied between 1:00 and 3:00. I'm pissed I didn't lock those profits in, but at the same time, I had good gains on the day and I decided to try and let some positions run. This time I was wrong, but they'll come a day where I turn my $2800 gain into $4500 with that strategy.
Anyway, my best trade of the day was a short in EXM.
Over at Wallstreak we were watching the shippers. DRYS hit $100 but then sold off all the way back to $96. During that time, EXM more or less followed him and I was short about 500 shares. So, I made $846 in him. This was one of those positions that I let "ride" so as you can see, I gave back when the market rallied between 1:00 and 3:00. Probably $400 in this guy alone.
Basically, the whole morning I was selling stuff short. It was dicey for awhile, but eventually I caught nice moves in X, AZO (h/t Doug at Wallstreak), LDK and TSL. The solars and the shippers have really been great to trade.
I have my work computer off and I kind of hate to blog here on the desktop. It's a Mac and I just can't figure out how to get it into "compose" mode. So I'm signing off.
I don't even have the stats... sorry. What I remember is that I had an awesome winners to losers ratio.
Misstrade, $6025 on 21,500 shares traded.
Me, $2185 on 30,400 shares traded.
Momojuicing, $2132 on 10,600 shares traded.
Bubs, $940 on 3700 shares traded.
Akalawoo, $259 on 23 contracts traded.
OBAT, $207 on 8400 shares traded.
Denarii, vacation
Tapeworm, computer virus-ridden... porn.
Evolution, -$519 on 36,500 shares traded.
Well, back to low volume. 1,272,851,000 shares traded today on the NYSE. Yawn.
Still, it was an excellent day for the VO. Even Bubs, who's out hitting the pavement looking for a new job, made good money.
Anyway, overall, you have to really say today was a great day for the bulls. The market is acting great. Gains on higher volume and declines on lower volume. We have a lot of eco-data set to hit the last few days of this week. It will be fun to watch how the market takes it all in. When the market rallies (or at least doesn't decline) on poor data (like the housing data we got today) that is a very bullish sign indeed.
By the way, if any of you are so inclined, feel free to share your P&L in the comment section of the VO every day.
The votes are in. A startling 103 of you voted. It will be tough to match this poll as far as voting tally goes... apparently, sex does sell.
Perhaps I'll try violence next.
Here's the final tally to the poll question, "Which CNBC Anchor Would You Most Want To Sleep With?"
Erin Burnett, 32 votes, 31% of tally.
Becky Quick, 17 votes, 16% of tally.
Maria Bartiromo, 15 votes, 14% of tally.
Trish Regan, 11 votes, 10% of tally.
Rebecca Jarvis, 10 votes, 9% of tally.
Melissa Francis, 6 votes, 5% of tally.
Dylan Ratigan, 4 votes, 3% of tally.
Melissa Lee, 3 votes, 2% of tally.
Jim Cramer, 3 votes, 2% of tally.
Bertha Coombs, 2 votes, 1% of tally.
UPDATE: OKAY, Okay... just kidding... clearly, that's not Erin... it's some other "news" anchor.
Anyway, watch Chris Matthews hit on Erin in this clip. Notice how bright red he gets at the end of the clip.
Sold 50 GRMN @ $108.18. Position closed.
Sold 50 POT @ $112.24. 50 shares remaining.
Bought 200 DSL @ $59.18. 78% of float sold short... housing rallies on bad numbers.
Short 100 LAZ @ $44.27. This short position is getting old, fast. Still, I added to it.
Sell 100 WNR @ $38.58. Stock is down after getting upgraded. WTF?
As you can see, I initiated a new position in DSL. I mean, the stock is mostly sold short. Even if there's bad news, shorts will cover pushing the price higher.
I also added to my LAZ short position. I'm not loving it though... we'll see.
So as of right now, my swing account reads:
50 POT
100 NMX
200 DSL
-200 LAZ
The day didn't start out too great.
I woke at 5:20 to get to my buddy's house at 5:45 so we could carpool to the beach. When I got there, all was dark. I peered over their backyard gate and saw his wetsuit in a wet ball and his surfboard laying on the wet grass, covered by a towel as if it had died.
In a stage whisper I called over the gate, "Shithead! Wake up! It's me!" and listened for bedsheet rustling for the upstairs windows... nothing. I crunched through the gravel, got back in my car, and drove off into the dark morning.
I don't particularly like paddling out alone. Especially with the swell coming up, but when I got to the beach I was the first surfer there. I pulled my cold wetsuit on and walked towards the sand where there was a group of 4 old men surfcasting.
"Anything biting?" I asked.
An old guy wearing a baseball cap stuck full of pins and fishing lures turned towards me and joked, "Things were great out there until that one large shark showed up and scared all the fish away." His other 3 buddies snickered and twittered. That's when I reached down and pulled a large rock out of the sand and walked towards them.
"Are you guys going to laugh when I take this rock and bash your old-men-skulls to pieces?" I said, menacing them with the rock.
I shook my head at them and walked into the water.
I surfed for about 3 hours yesterday afternoon and upon chesting my board in the water I realized that my arms were not fully recovered. They were tired and aching. With no other surfers in the water as a reference point and the sun not yet risen, it was lonely out there getting to the spot where the waves were breaking. The swell had come up more since yesterday afternoon. I estimated it to be between 2.5 and 3.5 feet but the winds were gusting easterly and really making it sloppy.
I caught a few waves but didn't really have any great rides. The waves were closing out and sloppy. I put my chin down on my board and paddled back to shore.
The old men gave me wide berth.
A couple of surfers had shown up and were watching the waves while sipping coffee and sitting on benches.
"Kind of crappy out there, eh?" one offered.
"Yeah, a real slop and chop," I replied.
And that was it for surfing.
As for trading, I made some good money with shorts in EXM, X, LDK, TSL and AZO. I also caught MOS off the bottom for some quick money.
Basically, I'm done until the afternoon. Maybe today is the day where I should be bagging 10 grand again, I don't know. But whatever, I like walking away. I have some shorts in, some have already squeezed me out of about $400 in profits but for now, I'm out of here.
Just another feather in her cap I'm sure... you know, perhaps this doesn't seem like a big deal to her now, but when she's old and washed up perhaps she'll stumble across this poll and get a nice laugh from it.
For now, it seems that she will be the reigning "sex queen" of CNBC according to the readers at Dinosaur Trader.
I'd love for the poll to get up to 100 votes by the way, we have 5 hours left to get there. Regardless, it's a record for a Dinosaur Trader poll. Thanks for your participation.
And, it looks like sometime in the last week, we went over the 1000 comments made mark on the site. I think that you can really judge the health of a blog by the participation and comments it receives, so thanks for commenting. It keeps the blog alive.
UPDATE: We just hit 100 votes! Sweet!
WNR upgraded this morning to Market Perform from Underperform @ BMOC.
Well, whaddya know? I guess sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.
Depending on how the stock acts based on this news, I may keep this trade a little longer than originally planned. If it rallies and stays strong I'll keep with it. If it opens up and sells on the news, I'll bail.
It's also nice to see GRMN and POT gapping higher!
UPDATE: HAHA! Looks like it's going to open lower on the upgrade. Go figure!
First of all, I just want to say that this isn't a book review. It's more like a "book comment."
About a month ago, I was sitting on my favorite bench overlooking my surf break and I struck up a conversation with another surfer. We began talking about surf books (I had just finished "In Search of Captain Zero") and he said, "You should check out this book "Dark Noon" by Tom Clavin. It's not about surfing, it's about a fishing boat that capsized, but it's a sweet read."
So on the way home I stopped at the local (not Barnes and Noble or Borders...) bookstore and picked up the book. As you know, I've been getting a lot of my books from the library recently but for whatever reason, I shelled it out for this one. While I was in between library books, I began reading "Dark Noon." (And again, if you haven't been to your local library recently, go check it out. With the "interloan library system" chances are whatever you want, book, DVD or CD can be had through your library. I'm still not sure why I've purchased anything in the last 5 years...)
Now, the book is about a fishing boat that sunk off of Long Island in 1951. The first third of the book is basically an introduction to each passenger. I mean, the author literally describes what almost every passenger was doing that morning up until the time they boarded the "Fisherman's Express" to head out to Montauk.
While I was reading this portion of the book, I was pretty bored. I thought it was dry and repetitive. That said, after finishing the book, I recognize why Clavin did it that way. Because when the boat finally goes down, you feel like you "know" all of the people on it and it made the book very sad.
The final 2/3 of the book really flies by. The way the author reconstructed the day and got inside of the characters heads was amazing and I was angry every time I had to put the book down to attend to something. If the phone rang this weekend while I was reading the book, I didn't pick up.
In short, if you're looking for a book to read I would pick this one up. Just know the beginning is a little slow but get through it and it's all worth it. I'd especially read this book if you are interested in fishing, the sea, or live near a fishing village or the sea.
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...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
Hey, if Bush says it's true, it must be... right? True leadership!
Actually, now I'm beginning to doubt it.
