Blitzen Trapper, "Wild Mountain Nation"
Good music people...
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Staying On "The Path"
Sometimes it doesn't pay to anticipate anything when you're trading.
I mean, here we are July 4th week and the market chooses to freak out a bit. It's like last summer... I remember being caught entirely off guard by the late-July and early-August lunacy.
The market volatility is not on that level yet, but neither does it appear the market wants to go quietly into the summer night.
Looking at my RO today hurt a little. Guys made bank, pure and simple. Top dog was up over $15k... 8 traders were up over a grand and 3 of those were up over 3 grand each.
However, I have to remind myself that I changed up my trading style not because I wasn't making money with it (even last year, my shittiest year ever, I cleared 6 digits) but because it was driving me crazy. I need a system where I can be profitable more and have fewer drawdowns. I need to remind myself that most of my profits from last year came on a handful of big days... the rest of the year was painful churn.
When I was single, had no financial obligations and had a sliver of the responsibility I have today, drawdowns didn't effect me as much as they do now... now however, I really hate them. Drawdowns freak me out, and post Hybrid, I just haven't been able to avoid them using my old methods.
These days where the market freaks out are not the norm... so I'm catering my trading style to be able to make money on the "normal" days... not the odd volatile day.
Anyway, I had a good day again, and it was all one trade. Then, I head out to the beach for a midday surf session. BID was trading with good volume and showing relative weakness off the open, and within striking distance of $25, which has been a support level since mid May.
See? I don't want to be rich... I want to be rich AND happy. I don't want to be stressed out all the time, waiting for the market to change and "be good." I want to take my money out of the market each morning, with a consistent, tried and true method, and get on with life.
Okay, that was really a pep talk to myself, to keep myself on "the path" as it were, and to remind myself that I have a plan and I'm in the middle of executing it...
If it would just rain for an entire day, I could post my June recap... but it looks like we'll be spending another evening at the beach, so NO RECAP FOR YOU!
As for the tone of the general market, despite the volume, I can only view today as a big short squeeze. Even I was squeezed, as I covered my LEH short. I short at over $40 in my LT account and covered today around $21... not bad. I think with my extra funds, I'll just buy more HCBK.
Indeed, slow and steady wins the race...
BTW, don't forget to check Tokyo's site for the VO... Meanwhile, I see he's now posting what he considers "good music" on days when he makes money and "bad music" on days he loses... Surely, mimicry is the sincerest form of flattery, but I won't be asking Tokyo to be my roommate anytime soon. If he takes up surfing, I will change my address and buy a big gun.
Good music dropping with the sun.
Who Is The British Australian Chick With The Pearls?
Here she is interviewing the CEO of HCBK, my favorite bank stock of the last year.
The RO Is On Fire...
Good volume, volatility... some big numbers today and no "smokeages."
Top guy up over $13k... low man down $300.
The Daily Show Discusses Our Oil Dependency
Man, I love the way they've been all over the oil issue.
As we get closer to the election, I will rely on The Daily Show more and more for things like, truth, and accuracy in reporting.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Fuck Balloons
My surfing buddy is away. Today, I drove to the beach at 5:30, alone, and didn't go in. The wind was strong onshore and the swell was just a bit too wild and loose for my taste.
So I picked up wet helium balloons from the shore.
"Happy Birthday!" "Congratulations!" "You're 50!"
Instead, they should just say "Future Beach Litter!"
I found 5 balloons in about 10 minutes, tangled around seaweed or blown into the dunes. With a light drizzle, gray skies and blown-out surf, it made for a moody beginning to the day.
-Evil children and their environmental weapon of choice.
This place is full of tourists this time of year. Some guy pulled into the lot in an SUV with out-of-state plates (and incidentally, given where the wind was blowing from, his state was probably responsible for the balloon litter). Anyway, he ambled over to me while I was picking up a balloon and said, referring to the surf, not the beach, "When do you think it's gonna clean up?"
I said, "Probably never. The wind is going to be onshore, forever." I was kind of being a dick, but it was also true. There was no chance of clean surf today.
So it was with that darkness that I arrived home to take a look at the market.
Since it was the last day of the month, I wasn't looking to take too much risk. I'm solidly green, and happy to take at least a little check home. So I decided to just focus like a "frikken laser beam" on the HCPG plays.
MEE gapped up a bit, consolidated quickly, and broke out. It was a fast trade, and really all I needed.
I also caught a nice little move in MUR, scratched in JEC, and lost a bit in SU.
Nothing else.
Anyway, since this is the first day without the VO, I feel the need to also add a bit of market commentary here. However, since I barely traded today (and probably won't trade too much all week, since it's a holiday week and should be slow) I don't have much to offer.
So how about this for market commentary? All things must pass.
I also haven't figured out how many other statistics (besides my newly absent P&L) I'm going to share. In short, this blog will be evolving again over the next few weeks. It'll take some time for me to figure out what to do with my free time and thought. Suggestions? Fire away.
Finally, if you're looking for the VO (and admit it, crackhead, you enjoyed it) you can find it starting tomorrow at Tokyo Trader's fine site.
It's like this... you know how you have a favorite band and you really liked their first couple of albums but then they changed their sound? Well it's like that around here. I just got a new drummer (old one died, overdose) and I'll be experimenting with some new sounds.
Some good music forthcoming.
A Short Day, Goodbye June
I made a few trades right off the bat this morning, took my customary small monies from the stock market, and invested the gained confidence right back into my "trading confidence" account.
The account is rapidly growing in interest.
I will detail said growth in an upcoming June review post.
For now, I will take my daughter down to the bay beach, stand her up on my surfboard and push it around, all the while making swishy noises with my mouth.
We have beautiful weather here and she's not getting any younger.
Junior Mance, "Don't Cha Hear Me Callin' To Ya"
Let's start off this week on a good note.
And listen... Tokyo Trader has adopted the VO. Him, Timmay and Denarii will continue to report their daily P&Ls over there. In addition, Tokyo is actively seeking out new members. I urge you to visit his well-written and interesting blog. It's definitely worth a daily visit.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Russell Rebalancing, June 27th, 2008 (Final Bump)
The past couple of years, the Rebalancing of the Russell 3000 has been a big event for traders. It is a day of huge, exaggerated MOCs and wild moves in otherwise quiet stocks.
In other words, it can make or break you.
So, to get out ahead of the game, I've found the important dates to follow this year.
I'll "bump" this post as we get closer to the dates. I just wanted you to know, loyal Internet readers, that I'm on top of this shit.
So, here are the dates to watch:
June 13th: Preliminary additions and deletions to the Russell Global Index and the Russell 3000 published.
June 20 and 27: Updates to the list of additions and deletions.
June 27: Reconstitution final after the close of the US markets.
They Might Be Giants, "Road Movie To Berlin"
So this is the last day I'll be posting the VO for the foreseeable future. Here's a wistful tune to mark the occasion.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Virtual Office, $486. Dow, -358.41, 11,453.42.
Me, $253 on 15,000 shares traded.
OBAT, $159 on 6000 shares traded.Tokyo, $110 on 8 shares traded.
Denarii, -$36 on 600 shares traded.
The market got smashed.
I have to say, I'm a little sick of making $200 a day. Worse, I can't afford to be making $200 a day for too much longer. Even worser, I'm not even averaging $200 a day... more like half that... almost. In general, it's the worstest ever.
Shoot me.
I called out a 9 point drop in MA today before it happened and took 50 cents. I'm pretty awful. It's a wonder I'm not panicking more... I must be in denial.
I may need to go back on hiatus soon. However, instead of letting the blog just die, I'll try and get someone from my office to contribute... I however, may need to just get back to focusing on trading again. I hate to do it, because I like to blog, but I'm fucking sick of being a mook.
Developing...
The SCOTUS? More Like SCROTUM.
This is even more depressing than my trading.
Couple this with their other ruling yesterday, and I have to say, I think our Supreme Court is a big scrotum.
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