Ween, "Dr. Rock"

Beat this, stock-blogosphere.

The RO Report, "Momojuicing Bottom" Edition

Does anyone around here remember the blogger "Momojuicing?" He had a nice blog, funny as shit, but then one day, just deleted the whole thing, "paranoia-style," in a matter of minutes.

I still hear from him on email all the time. He's always asking me about what he should trade, how he could be a better father, how he could be a better husband... shit like that. And I take pity on the guy because deep down, he's into cabaret and stuff... it must be hard.

Anyway, the other day we were talking about when "the bottom" would come (again) and he said something like, "the next time you want to buy weapons, buy stocks instead."

He didn't say it so eloquently, of course, (English may not even be his first language, I really don't know) but that was the gist of it. Looking back on today, when I made that post with the 3 stock charts, in my gut I really was scared, and thinking about buying guns and storing grains in my basement.

I actually went onto the Home Depot site and priced generators...

I hate to say it, but the dude was right. I went into my long term account and bought UYG at $6.12 and UWM at $16.85... true story. Minutes later, the market took off.

It was a wild day in the RO. Most of the traders were deeply red at some point or other. The swings that Trader A took, were legendary. And B and D were both down over $30,000 at completely different points in the day.

So make sure you respect those numbers I'm about to post... it's not easy even if the end result is often positive...

Out of 26 traders today, 22 were gross positive, or 85%. 17 traders finished up over $1,000 gross, 10 finished over $10,000 gross. Only 2 traders finished below $1,000 gross... one of them was a swing account. All told, excellent numbers. I was #7 of 26, very respectable.

The Manservants got fucked up today.

Here are the Bosses:

"Lucky Pierre" - Trader D, $178,595 on 843k shares traded.

2. Trader B, $150,697 on 1.4 million shares traded.
3. Trader A, $92,027 on 717k shares traded.
4. Trader Z, $77,754 on 493k shares traded.
5. Trader F, $54,588 on 311k shares traded.

And the Manservants:

"Chambermaid" - Trader 9*, -$2,798 on 0 shares traded.

2. Trader I, -$2,409 on 29,000 shares traded.
3. Trader E, -$731 on 278k shares traded.
4. Trader M*, -$30 on 400 shares traded.
5. Trader 7, $102 on 6,400 shares traded.

T. Boone On The Daily Show

More about energy independence. Kudos to the Daily Show for hammering on this issue.

How about reducing our dependence on foreign oil by 30-50% in 10 years? Impossible?

T. Boone points out what we've been lacking... LEADERSHIP!

Shit Is Getting Scary Again...

We're all trying to figure out how the market is only down 30 points with the carnage in these big names.

This One Makes Me Proud...

Oh, and look who's all the way down there at #5. Sorry Danny, DT Wins Again!

NOTE: This blog looks interesting... dedicated to CNBC sucking. My friend, please, you are not alone in your hatred of CNBC and your love of Barry Obama. We are kindred spirits. However, my blog kicks your blog's ass whenever anyone searches for "Dennis Kneale Is An Idiot."

Joe Cocker, "A Little Help From My Friends"

Dedicated to the RO.

The RO Report, "We Kick Ass" Edition

I'll tell you what, a year ago, no way would I have even attempted to come back from a $5500 loss in one day. In fact, we just passed the year anniversary of my FSLR blow-up. Funny, read some of the comments... remember that JJ troll guy? Check out SWC today... $2.40. He apparently put his life savings into it in the teens... LOL! DT WINS AGAIN!!!

Anyway, today I was able to come back largely due to the guys in the RO, they're good... even "Trader D."

If you're just starting out in this business, I can't over-emphasize how important it is to surround yourself with good traders. Through the good times and the bad, it helps to be around, and trading with, other people who understand your situation.

(At this point let me drop a brief reminder that the RO is always hiring... email me with questions. My email is under my profile.)

You could argue that I was around the same traders this morning when I first loss my money, but that'd be a "dicky" thing to point out. Don't be a dick.

In fact, if you are a dick, might I introduce you to "the Fly's" blog? The comment section over there needs you. Tell Jake Gint I said "Hi!"

Anyway, I'm starting to get a good feeling again about this market despite my intraday massacre. We should have a massive bounce again soon... it'll be short-lived, sure, but it should make for good trading. I hope it happens before Thanksgiving week, when I plan on taking off.

The Bosses took it to the Manservants today in an embarrassing way. In fact, most of the Manservants were swing accounts. Out of 26 traders today, 20 were gross positive, or 77%. 14 traders finished up over $1,000 gross today, while only 2 lost more than $1,000 gross. Great numbers.

I was # 18 of 26. Right now, I can look and say that's disappointing... however, if you told me at 11:00 that I'd be flat on the day, I would have taken it. So while I've had 2 straight days of gross underperformance versus the RO, it could've been far worse.

I'm happy and will tighten my game up tomorrow.

Here are today's Bosses:

"Lucky Pierre" - Trader A, $28,628 on 275k shares traded.

2. Trader B, $15,859 on 435k shares traded.
3. Trader H*, $12,265 on 14,000 shares traded.
4. Trader Z, $9,975 on 127k shares traded.
5. Trader C, $7,794 on 224k shares traded.

And the Manservants:

"Chambermaid" - Trader 6*, -$1,980 on 200 shares traded.

2. Trader M*, -$1,359 on 700 shares traded.
3. Trader Q, -$875 on 17,800 shares traded.
4. Trader U, -$216 on 0 shares traded.
5. Trader I, -$116 on 2,400 shares traded.

When The Market Gives You Lemons...

I, for one, take those lemons and squeeze the lemon juice into any available open wound on my body.

I'm completely smoked, like historically smoked for me, down 5 grand, mostly because of this shit PLD.



What I've learned the hard way in this market, is that 20% moves in cheap stocks is quite common. The only silver lining I see right now, is that there's good volume in the market and I'm hopeful that I'll be able to make at least a portion of my loss back this afternoon.

NOTE: As of 12:00, the Manservants are solidly in charge. I'm second worst in the office currently, and I'd be worst were it not for "Trader C" blowing up. But there's loads of big red numbers right now that hopefully we can pare.

UPDATE: My day is only getting worse, as my neighbor (and nemesis) has begun to blow his leaves onto my property.

Thomas Friedman On The Daily Show

I'd like this guy more if he didn't fuck up his views on the Iraq war so much. Anyway, here he is on The Daily Show talking with Jon about our energy infrastructure and the "green bubble" that needs to form.

Another Person Who Shouldn't Trade

You should never enter a trade in order to impress other traders... doing so invariably leads to massive pain.

The Opposites, "Dom, Lomp & Famous"

Trader Z didn't "spray" today, but he's getting the song selection anyway, because he led many traders into the green with a solid afternoon call.

The RO Report, "Schadenfreude" Edition

Trading is a cutthroat business. You have guys who wish you well to your face, but behind your back, they only want to see you fail.

Lately, talk in the office has been about how "bossy" I've been and how popular I am on the Internets.

People said things like, "Hey, DT, good going lately!" and, "Wow, your blog is 'neat-o.' I wish I could write like you do!" and shit like that... but I knew, they were waiting, no, hoping for my demise.

The fact that a group of traders made loot today, secretly, scummishly even, without me would hurt more if it wasn't so expected.

I've mentioned that the RO is hiring. But look, you don't want to work with these assholes.

(I'll finish this post later this evening...)

UPDATE: Okay, so I was a little churlish after the close there because the RO completely outperformed me. I forgive them. Plus, I was kidding, naturally... they're just better traders than I am.

Anyway, I think in yesterday's post, someone asked about the volume figures that I quote each night. I use only the trades made on the NYSE, not including ECN trades. It's a pretty reliable indicator about volume in the market, however I think I'm going to start focusing on another volume indicator instead; the total volume traded in the S&P e-minis.

Why? Because this is what I watch intraday to decide whether or not I should be trading actively. If the volume is less than 25k traded over a 5-minute period, that's light. In the office, we call this the "whisper line" after "Trader A" who we also call "Whisp." We call him other things too, but nothing appropriate to mention here. Anyway, total volume in the E-minis today was 2.1 million shares... very light.

The RO had a solid day. Out of 24 traders, 14 were gross positive, or 58%. 9 traders made over $1,000 gross while 5 lost over $1,000 gross. I was #11 of 24, or disappointed with my performance. Still, it beats being "Trader D," who is breaking all kinds of "Chambermaid" records.

The Bosses easily beat out the Manservants today.

"Lucky Pierre" - Trader Z, $12,589 on 43,800 shares traded.

2. Trader C, $8,491 on 134k shares traded.
3. Trader A, $7,075 on 137k shares traded.
4. Trader F, $6,661 on 22,600 shares traded.
5. Trader N, $4,609 on 32,000 shares traded.

"Chambermaid" - Trader D, -$4,454 on 101k shares traded.

2. Trader E, -$1,840 on 61,600 shares traded.
3. Trader M*, -$1,163 on 0 shares traded.
4. Trader 6*, -$1,153 on 0 shares traded.
5. Trader J, -$1,019 on 37,400 shares traded.

Japanese Candle Rape

I'm all about maximizing my reading audience.

I mean, ostensibly, this is a finance blog, and I cater mostly to those who trade stocks. But apparently, I also serve onanists who are into "Japanese Candle Rape."

See below. (h/t "Trader E")

Where Homes Are Worth Less Than They're Worth

Click here for a map that shows just how fucked certain states really are.

Nevada seems to be the most severely screwed, with nearly 50% of homes worth less than their mortgages. Also, two huge states, California and Florida, are near 30%.

No data for Wyoming however. Most likely this is because more than 80% of the state is Dick Cheney's bunker.

Beta Band, "Needles In My Eyes"

The RO Report, "Indian Summer Market" Edition

We enjoyed unseasonably warm weather around here the last few days and with it, the market has reentered its summer volume doldrums. We barely edged above the billion share level today on the NYSE. It was one of the lowest volume days since August.

That doesn't bode well for trading. It also seems to me that we're due for some consolidation here, another negative. However, as "Trader P" pointed out to me today, the VIX is still trading near 60, and that should mean the market in general is good to trade for some time. There will be slow periods, but the volatility isn't going away too fast.

The lesson here is that as an active trader, you need to pick your spots... don't overtrade a dead market. We'll have our chance again to trade like crack-addicted hyenas.

A perfect example of solid trading today goes to our #1 and #2 Bosses, "Trader A" and "Trader Z" respectively.

Trader A traded hard right out of the gate. He had a plan, it worked out and he took his money. Most of which was made in the first 15 minutes of the day. "Trader Z" on the other hand, stayed on the sidelines until just after 3pm and hit the close hard. Neither trader churned away precious profits or whittled away hard won confidence by trading the low volume middle of the day time period.

Anyway, overall, it was a fairly crappy day for the RO. Out of 26 traders today, 11 finished gross positive, or only 42%. 4 traders finished up over $1,000 gross, while 5 lost more than $1,000 gross. I was #6 of 26, or happy.

The Bosses barely edged out the Manservants thanks to afternoon trading.

"Lucky Pierre" - Trader A, $6,708 on 110k shares traded.

2. Trader Z, $4,527 on 41,200 shares traded.
3. Trader E, $3,026 on 39,800 shares traded.
4. Trader N, $2,138 on 23,000 shares traded.
5. Trader T, $775 on 3,600 shares traded.

And the Manservants:

"Chambermaid" - Trader D, $7,416 on 76,100 shares traded.

2. Trader R, -$2,520 on 60,000 shares traded.
3. Trader C, -$1,341 on 61,600 shares traded.
4. Trader B, -$1,131 on 225k shares traded.
5. Trader H*, -$1,089 on 4,000 shares traded.

See you tomorrow.

Al Gore's Op Ed

I've stayed away from the news for the last few days. The election is over, time to take a breath. Luckily however, I ran across Al Gore's recent piece from the NY Times. It reminded me why we should feel good going forward if we can finally get on the right path.

Below is an excerpt, click here for the full piece.

Here is the good news: the bold steps that are needed to solve the climate crisis are exactly the same steps that ought to be taken in order to solve the economic crisis and the energy security crisis.

Economists across the spectrum — including Martin Feldstein and Lawrence Summers — agree that large and rapid investments in a jobs-intensive infrastructure initiative is the best way to revive our economy in a quick and sustainable way. Many also agree that our economy will fall behind if we continue spending hundreds of billions of dollars on foreign oil every year. Moreover, national security experts in both parties agree that we face a dangerous strategic vulnerability if the world suddenly loses access to Middle Eastern oil...

...What follows is a five-part plan to repower America with a commitment to producing 100 percent of our electricity from carbon-free sources within 10 years. It is a plan that would simultaneously move us toward solutions to the climate crisis and the economic crisis — and create millions of new jobs that cannot be outsourced.

Husker Du, "Chartered Trips," Frank Black, "Headache," The Field, "From Here We Go Sublime"

Volume today is already tracking very low and it's only 10:15. We have no major economic news all week and the indexes, unfortunately, could be setting up for some low volume consolidation.

This is probably good for you swing traders, but bad for active daytraders.

I'm just guessing here. Anyway, I'm gonna listen to some music and take it easy with the trade until I see some intriguing reason to enter the market. Enjoy.

Meanwhile, if you're not a fan of rock, and like trippy electronic music, be sure to check out that track by The Field.

Smashing Pumpkins, "Rocket"

As you know if you've been reading this blog, I think the Smashing Pumpkins suck. However, before they started to suck, they made one really great album which can easily bring me back to 1993, a good year for DT.

Smack dab in the middle of the album is this song, and the build from 1:50 to 2:45 (or so) is one of the highlights. Enjoy some real music for the weekend... however, don't watch the video too closely... way too many close-ups of bandmembers trying to look blissed out and spacey.

The RO Report, "Weekend Edition"

I won't be able to get the RO report up until late this evening or perhaps tomorrow.

UPDATE: Okay, as "Jd" or "Trader P" mentioned in the comment section, it was an ugly end to the week.

After the carnage of Wednesday and Thursday, we welcomed a little buying off the open which was followed by a fairly steep midday sell-off and then some ultra low volume consolidation heading into the afternoon.

The fun really began after 2:45.

Obama was giving his first news conference as "President Elect" on the troubled economy and the market seemed to be holding its breath. Just before he spoke, the Dow ripped 100 points. Then, when he began to speak, it dropped a quick 200. Finally, at the conclusion of this speech, the market decided to rip 200 points back to the highs.

So, if your strategy was to position for a continuation of the trend of the morning, you were frustrated and quite possibly, "ass-mangled" in the wild afternoon chop.

Anyway, out of 23 traders, 13 were gross positive, or 57%. That's not awful. The problem was in the extent of the losses. The bottom 7 traders all lost over $2,000 gross, while only 6 traders finished over $1,000 gross. You see the math doesn't add up well for the bosses... I was #5 of 23, or bossy.

Given the fact that I had 3 hours sleep and a sick kid, my bossiness should serve as a rebuke to the entire office.

Here are Friday's Manservants:

"Chambermaid" - Trader D, -$20,344 on 305k shares traded.

2. Trader B, -$19,010 on 365k shares traded.
3. Trader N, -$6,018 on 65,400 shares traded.
4. Trader C, -$5,350 on 124k shares traded.
5. Trader V, -$2,369 on 36,200 shares traded.

And the Bosses:

"Lucky Pierre" - Trader A, $10,456 on 144k shares traded.

2. Trader H*, $6,701 on 2,100 shares traded.
3. Trader F, $1,653 on 25,000 shares traded.
4. Trader M*, $1,485 on 0 shares traded.
5. Trader S, $1,223 on 18,400 shares traded.