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?

Fleet Foxes, "Innocent Son"

Backstage Sessions : Fleet Foxes - Innocent Son from Hard to Find a Friend on Vimeo.

Virtual Office, -$1963. SPY, +0.16, $139.68.

Denarii, $84 on 6200 shares traded.
OBAT, $18 on 13,600 shares traded.
Retardo, no trades.
Me, -$897 on 9200 shares traded.
Sanglucci, -$1168 on 40,800 shares traded.

If Monday was the lowest volume day of the year, today was either the second or third lowest of the year. The reason I tend to harp on volume is because as an active trader, it stands for liquidity. Liquidity is extremely important for very active traders, as those little dimes and nickels tend to add up over the course of a day. And, not surprisingly, this week has seen my real-life office get taken to the woodshed.

Anyway, here, we deal with the virtual office, and the VO also took a trip to the woodshed. In general, this is not a trader's market. Yes there are hot stocks here and there, but overall, not a friendly market.

I lost my money early and decided to try to make a negative a positive by finally cracking the books on my Series 55 exam. Damn these tests are boring... but I'd like to get back to trading at least a couple NASD stocks. We'll see how long it takes me to study for this thing... could take forever. Very slow reading.

Maybe I'll have to publish a Series 55 Juicy Cliff Notes or something, replete with sex scenes and cursing.

Developing...

John McCain On "The Daily Show"

Good interview, though I wish he had grilled him a little more on being so close to Bush... especially after the 2000 election. I was for McCain in 2000 before Bush's dirty campaigning ruined his chances of winning. The fact that McCain has so solidly supported Bush in the last few years makes him an untouchable candidate for me now.

Fleet Foxes, "Innocent Son"

I've gone max down on the day again... (-$546) so I've decided to take tomorrow off to regain some composure and perspective. The VO will be up this evening.

Enjoy the music.



This song is amazing. Here's the lyrics.

Go Vote!

A few of my blogrolled friends are fighting for supremacy... go help them here. You don't even have to sign up for anything, just click and be gone...

I supported, "The Fly," "Wall Street Fighter," "Alphatrends," and "Maoxian."

Thanks.

Tibet: Cry Of The Snow Lion

See this movie... you can watch all ten parts on youtube... for free... Below is the first.

Sonic Youth, "Youth Against Facism"

Virtual Office, $3371. SPY, -$2.43, $139.57.

Sanglucci, $2984 on 42,200 shares traded.
Timmay, $374 on 1300 shares traded.
OBAT, $237 on 6600 shares traded.
Ainkurn, $190 on 700 shares traded.
Denarii, $109 on 1300 shares traded.
Retardo, nothing.
Me, -$523 on 16,200 shares traded.

Well, it was a bad day for the market, but a good day for the VO.

It was strange... lately, commodities, fertilizers and financials have been trading somewhat inverse to each other... it felt like a sector rotation was occurring. Today, everything just got sold. The one silver lining the bulls can take from this session is that volume was light.

So you know what? I wouldn't be surprised to see a low volume bounce back above 12,900 tomorrow.

We shall see.

Since I've been in front of the computer way too much since yesterday, I won't have a daily post up this evening. It's a nice day here and I think a good bike ride will be more beneficial to me.

Enjoy the evening.

Ignorance Is Bliss, Afterall...

A new study finds that "right wingers" are happier than "left wingers."

Why? Because they tend to rationalize away inequalities. In other words, they lie to themselves more...

DT For Hire

As you can see from the chart below, I boosted "the Fly's" (notice, back to small "t") traffic by approximately 1356% yesterday.



Cynics may say, "Yeah, but didn't "the Fly" promote the elections for the better part of 2 weeks? Couldn't the bounce have come from such promotion?"

And to that, I'd say, you're a cynic, stop being such a dick. No one likes a cynic.

Shoot me an email if you're interested in hiring me to write shit for you. Since I can't make money trading currently, perhaps I'll just be a third-tier blogger for hire... we'll see where that gets me.

NOTE: If you didn't have a chance to stop by last night, at least check this interview with Jake Gint. It got a warm reception, despite the fact that Jake Gint is a twisted, wingnut.

You see, if I'm able to cast such an ornery figure in a likeable manner, imagine what I could do for your cynical ass!