Virtual Office, $184. SPX, -0.10, 1351.25.

Timmay! $485 on 5400 shares traded.
Dehtrader, $444 on 6380 shares traded.
Equine, $400 on 3800 shares traded.
OBAT, $240 on 22,400 shares traded.
Wincity, no trades.
Denarii, -$144 on 2800 shares traded.
Sanglucci, -$590 on 41,900 shares traded.
Me, -$651 on 34,600 shares traded.

It was a chopfest out there today as evidenced by the mediocre VO stats.

Guys in my real office made good money today shorting the heck out of the coal stocks. I didn't get the memo.

Anyway, we traded about 1.5 billion on the NYSE today. Pretty light considering it was a quadruple witching. The VIX dropped slightly, to 25.02.

Enjoy your 3 day weekend. Not sure what I'll have going on blog wise. If you get a chance, check out VO member Timmay on the CBS Sunday Morning talk show. He'll be talking about how joining the VO has turned his life around.

Actually, if he's smart, he'll give a shout out to the VO, as he's top dog today.

Black Flag, "Six Pack"

Burnt In Early Trade

Hint... I'm the raccoon. The rat, is a metaphor for profits.


Raccoon Chases Animal Into Bonfire - Watch more free videos

A Stock On The Move, ESI

Check out that volume in ESI yesterday.



I guess the story is that investors are beginning to worry about students and their loans. This has hurt the education stocks the past few days. Who knows what happens today, but I'll be watching for movement.

Morning Link Love

• Banks have written down $150 billion and could write down $120 billion more.
• The Auction Rate Bond Crisis is gaining momentum. Yay!
• Ben Bernanke: "The Economy is completely fucked, okay?"
• Retard Trader close to blowing up. Dude, where's the blowup video?
  

Ducati Shitcans The Fly, DT Shitcans Ducati.

Ducati has left "the Fly's" struggling blog and hence, is also left without a platform from which to perform his VO duties.

The man is blogless.

Therefore, Ducati has shitcanned "the Fly" and I, in turn, have shitcanned Ducati.

That said, if you were following along yesterday, I thought things went down in a very awkward way. Ducati was accused publicly of voting only one star in the Peanut Gallery, and with his voting record leaked in such a manner, he chose to leave the blog altogether.

I expect the voting turnout in the PG to drop drastically.

Meanwhile, who gives a shit about commercial lending?

Oh, and good morning...

The Pixies, "La La Love You"

For Valentine's Day.

One Good Trade, Many Bad Ones...

I had a nice trade today in UBB. Of course, it could have been better, but I'll take it as a sign of progress.



It gapped up this morning on (what I thought was) no news. However, after 10:00 they reported earnings. Still, BBD and ITU were weak to flat as were the rest of the financials. So I felt comfortable getting short. The reason why it worked out as a good trade was because I got short at good prices, around $131.80 and didn't panic and cover one I had small gains. Instead, I held for awhile. I was short 500 shares (a good amount in this lunatic) and only covered when I thought the stock might hit support.

So my first covers were around $131 since he had found support there early. I also covered a little in front of the opening range low in case he found support there. The other 200 shares I held for the entire move (down close to $128) and I had a nice winner, $757, my biggest in awhile.

However, I also had my first sizeable loser in awhile, in EDU.



This was a stock that announced buy back news today... big deal. I still don't get it. I got short and the thing just never came in... my mistake was not at least taking some off the table when it traded down to $58. Instead, I let the stock bounce all the way back to the highs and I covered over $59. I even added to the short. So really, I could have gotten out with a $200 loser. It turned into a $514 loser. A mistake.

Also, this stock was trading way too thin for me.

One thing that I have found is that I now hate to trade thin stocks. That is one lesson I have learned about the Hybrid Market that has actually stuck. Thin stocks are just too difficult to trade now... the liquidity is just not there to make it worthwhile.

Still, even with the EDU, I was up $300-$400 on the day. I gave it all back when the bond insurer news started hitting CNBC at around 2:40. I lost $200 in XL and another $100 in other financial stocks.

One thing is clear to me. When my win/loss ratio is poor after the morning trade, I should not trade the afternoons. The ratio always just seems to get worse. There will be exceptions to this rule, like, a major news event or market move, but from now on, on a churny low volume day like today, I'll take the afternoon off.

Another funny thing about today. I was complaining in the chat room how I was only up $300 and a guy wisely pointed out that a few years ago he was working for FDX and would have loved to make $300 in one day. I need to remember to have perspective. When I don't and feel the need to "make more" even in a suspect market, I will lose that $300, as I did today.

Here's the stats:
P&L, $8
Best, UBB, $757
Worst, EDU, -$514

27,800 shares traded.
23 stocks traded. 7 winners, 16 losers.

Virtual Office, $1700. SPX, -13.40, 1350.50.

Dehtrader, $946 on 2740 shares traded.
Ducati, $368 on 4800 shares traded.
Equine, $365 on 2800 shares traded.
OBAT, $50 on 33,600 shares traded.
Me, $8 on 27,800 shares traded.
Retardo, no trades.
Wincity, no trades.
Evolution, VO vacation.
Timmay, -$37 on 5200 shares traded.

First of all, let's give it up for CNBC who at around 2:40 said that Ackman, the dude who has been shorting the shit out of ABK, was buying a large position in the company. 5 minutes later, they had to explain that what they meant to say was that he was buying more PUTS in the company... he's getting SHORTER. He thinks the stock is going EVEN LOWER.

It was hilarious. But also led to some wacky moves in the stocks. Ah, CNBC.

Anyway, it was a pretty good day for the real world office. Most traders made money. The Beard spoke, though I don't know what he said. Hank Paulson spoke too and he moved his hands a lot... I had the TV on mute. I was just watching their expressions. Had I not known who they were I would have been convinced, with the TV on mute, that they were salesman.

The VO had a mediocre day. Also, volume was light in the market. The VIX was up a little. The real story is in the credit markets, as the yield on the 10 year rips. I think this kind of move is problematic for the FED. As they cut, yields should go down, no? Instead, with credit spreads continuing to widen, credit should continue to be crunchy... I think.

Black Crack

I mean, why look at anything else when these stocks are moving points every day? Below is the index graph. The main suspects are ACI, BTU, CNX and MEE.

Morning Link Love

• Asian markets ripped.
• Auction Rate Securities can't attract buyers and the auctions are failing. That means holders can't sell.
• Hillary and Obama attack their respective economic plans. Jake Gint says, "they're both commies."
• Things get even worse for the "dirty subprimers." MWAH-AH-AH-AH-AH!!!!
  
• This story moved the health insurance stocks yesterday.
• Woodshedder attempts to panic me out of my SKF position. Since the IBD has called a follow through day in the QQQQs, it just may work.
  

Good Morning

Time: 6:36
Mood: Worn

Gustafer Yellowgold, "I'm From The Sun"

If you have a 3-year old, you'll want to check out Gustafer. I like to support anything that has nothing to do with Disney.

Virtual Office, $1303. SPX, +16,40, 1366.20.

Dehtrader, $573 on 5570 shares traded.
Equine, $430 on 16,400 shares traded.
Me, $194 on 19,000 shares traded.

Ducati, $96 on 16,800 shares traded.
Denarii, $75 on 1800 shares traded.
Wincity, $23 on 600 shares traded.
Timmay, $0 on 3400 shares traded.
Misstrade, no trades.
Retardo, no trades.
OBAT, -$88 on 32,200 shares traded.

It was the kind of day where you just heard politicians trying to score points while grilling or defending Roger Clemens. So fucking stupid.

Hey, you idiots, why don't you go pass a damn law or something?

Anyway, so the market was up big, but on low volume (again). We've seen this before... after the carnage last February, we rallied for months on light volume. After the carnage in August, we rallied on light volume... and now, after the carnage in January, we rally on light volume.

Given that scenario, I just have a hard time being bullish here. But as we were discussing in my company's chat room, your longer-term bias shouldn't really effect your daytrading. There were plenty of nice longs out there if you could get past that.

Also, the health insurers freaked out midday. There were trades there as well.

Now, my house gets ripped to shreds by 3 year olds. Fun. My daily post is below since I didn't trade the full day.

Trouble With Site?

Are any of you having page load issues? I think blogger is fucked...

Done Early

I got smoked off the bat shorting ACI. Funny, I guess being downgraded doesn't matter when you're in the strongest freaking sector.



I made most of it back when it dropped from 10-10:30. Still, it was my worst stock today as I lost $158 in it.

My best trade was a short in GGP.



The REITS were coming off and GGP was still up decent. Ironically, esignal and its late news reporting helped me out. LEH had a positive note out on GGP that I didn't see (because esiggy didn't publish it). I may not have been short in light of positive news.

Anyway, I got short up around $37.40 and covered most below $37 for a $339 winner.

I also caught nice longs in MEE and ESI.

However, I'm stopping because my win/loss ratio is pretty poor today and a lot of the guys in my office are getting smoked. The volume sucks and this feels like another slow melt up. I'll take the small win and keep some positive momentum.

Meanwhile, my house is about to be demolished by 3 year olds. I need a little peace before they descend.

Here's the stats:
P&L, $194
Best, GGP, $339
Worst, ACI, -$158

19,000 shares traded.
6 winners, 12 losers.

Beastie Boys, "Paul's Boutique"

Last week I drove to the beach with this CD playing. I haven't listened to it in awhile, I can't believe it's almost 20 years old. Anyway, here is an amazing song sequence that still sounds great today.

I Finally Agree With Dennis Kneale!!!

The man is right. Congress should not be grilling Roger Clemens given the current state of the world.

It's absolutely stupid.

UPDATE: It's over... finally. I just want to know if my Roger Clemens rookie cards still have any value.

Morning Stock Trading Idea

ACI was downgraded today. Check how the volume has recently ballooned. This stock should move today.



NOTE: I'm not recommending this as a buy or sell. I'm merely pointing out that it may be a good stock to daytrade today since I expect movement.

Morning Stock Market Links

• Rio Tinto posts solid earnings making a higher bid by BHP a possibility.
• The FED has cut like lunatics, yet credit spreads continue to widen. This is bad.
• What was Dinosaur sex like?
• Obama is leaving Hillary behind, focusing on McCain.
• Could you spend $300 million in two weeks?
• I had to link this to prove there are people named "Jerker" who get ahead in the world. Previously, I wouldn't have thought this possible.

And here is a nice little video on Obamanomics. Remember, they only discuss the tax hike here (on the rich) but the entire middle and lower class would receive cuts. I'll have to read more about this... a 12% hike on people over $100,000 kind of bothers me, a lot.