Dust Yourself Off

If you've been following this blog at all the last few months, you've watched me a:) Successfully profit from shorting 7 stocks in a row (when I stuck to my strategy), b:) Launch a website that focuses on my two passions: missionary work and the stock market, and c:) Completely disregard my strategy and hold on to two stocks that eventually led to a margin call, forcing me to watch my Covestor chart and $ dwindle to a negative % for the year. So what now? Being the movie buff that I am, I will explain how I plan to come back from this trading funk by rehashing a lesson from Top Gun. After Maverick, a fighter pilot for the Navy, loses his best friend in a training exercise, he finds it very difficult to fly again. He second guesses himself, is fearful, and quite frankly wants to quit. His commanding officer instructs Maverick's 'handlers' to "Get him back in the air- the sooner the better". This is the turning point of the movie, as Maverick comes back with a vengeance and achieves the success he was destined for.

There have been time constrictions lately (ie. still have two full-time jobs, planning the confirmed mission trip to East Africa, and opening another trading account), but I absolutely plan on keeping this blog alive. To bring you up to speed, in the past two weeks I've a:) Opened another Think or Swim account in which I plan to use for mission trip income (was already able to withdraw funds from successful FAZ and DDRX trades, as well as my first profitable LULU trade using put options), b:) was given a minor promotion at Target (moved from stocking to human resources- this is my morning job), and c:) Had a wonderful Mother's Day/Birthday with my entire immediate family, my brother-in-law, brother's girlfriend, and my sweetheart of five months, Michelle. Below is a great depiction of what truly matters in life:

From Left to Right: Brother and girlfriend, brother-in-law and sister, me, Michelle, Mom, Dad

Living in Exciting Times,

Evan

Margin Call Averted...For Now

It just doesn't get much closer than that! I had a scheduled margin call today with Think or Swim @3pm. I was told I could either A:) add funds to bring the account to positive, B:) liquidate positions to bring the account to positive, or C:) Take market action (trade) to bring my account to positive. By holding all my positions, I essentially chose option C. If today hadn't have been the tank it turned out to be, I my friends would have been SOL (and no, that's not a ticker symbol). Behold LULU, the main reason for the margin call (and what kept me from being liquidated today):

I'll see this trade through, but what a waste of time- not to mention missed opportunities like DFR (a stock that actually meets my strategy's criteria). Do I think LULU is headed back down? Yes. Do I think my initial resistance 'guess' could end up being support (thus making it difficult to cover for a profit)? Yes. Have I learned my lesson? Which one? Um...Yes. YES!! UNCLE!

Praying for discipline,

Evan

ps- PALM was up today (lovely- can the PRE phone just come out already so people can 'sell the news'). FAZ is rocking again, now that people are realizing the banks and financial sector may still be in trouble (big surprise).

Missed Money Is...

I know 99% of my readers know the ending of this saying ("Better than lost money"), but given my trades on JAVA today- I'm still apt to kick myself over missed money. JAVA is a stock I know all too well (unfortunately- having been a longtime bagholder last year before developing my strategy). When the rumor mill started working over time, saying that IBM wanted to buy Sun Microsystems (JAVA), the stock popped after hours like a misguided missle. This first chart is compliments of Stocktwits.com (If you haven't joined- it's a great Twitter-like tool used for stocks):

I can't tell you how I knew JAVA was going to see $7.85 today (that wouldn't help anyone learn a thing). I'll just say when I was scanning with Think or Swim for big % gainers, and JAVA showed up, I was immediately short-minded. I also knew, since this trade wasn't a perfect fit for my strategy, that I would have to let the price action/technicals decide JAVA'a fate for me. Since I'm home to watch the markets today, I decided to short and watch. Below is the chart showing my intitial entry, fearful cover, second entry (wanted blood!), and final cover for an overall profit (which you'll see could have been much higher):

BTW- as I'm typing this, JAVA is back at $8. You gotta be quick in this market, able to take small profits, and move on when a daytrade doesn't work out how you thought.

7pm Update- JAVA surged above $9

Any of you pirates have some cool trades?

Evan

Trade That Trendline!

     I came to a landmark conclusion about this blog today: There's nothing set in stone that says I can't stray from my Sykes/Swing strategy if I spot another opportunity to profit from this market's recent volatility. If you've read my past couple of posts, you know I've been trading FAS and FAZ, two ETFs (Exchange traded funds) that mirror the ups and downs (respectively) of the financial sector. I profited from FAS, as shown in this post, and held FAZ short overnight (3/5). Below is the chart of my two recent FAZ trades- yes, TWO. The first short was not real disciplined, and planned to be a longer term hold if necessary. Even though I was only short 35 shares at $95, I was more than ready to cover when it closed just shy of $100. Since this isn't my primary strategy, I wasn't comfortable holding FAZ overnight. As the volatility in these two ETFs have shown over the past year, it's kind of like holding the tail of a dragon. When the market opened, I waited patiently (never easy) for an opportunity to cover. Once it broke $94, I sent my limit order of $94 to TOS to cover. Since this thing was tanking at the time, my order was actually filled at 92.85 (fine with me). My next trade was far more honorable. I've studied technicals over the past few years (books, DVDs), and trend lines are sometimes screamingly obvious to spot. Not sure if Muddy over at Darkside Trading was using trend lines the last couple of days when he traded FAZ profitably in 53 of 54 trades (ridiculous), but I sure did:

     Notice how FAZ stays within the trend lines I've drawn until it goes a bit too parabolic, giving me the opportunity to short above 110 (psychological round number). Also, as you can see at the bottom of the chart, the volume at that point had dried up (lunch time). I could have covered the first time it settled back down toward the lower trend line, but since one of my precious day trades was at stake (thank you PDT Rule), I rode it out a tad longer. Really wanted to short over $110 again later in the day, but wasn't thrilled about holding it over the weekend (which I happen to be taking off to visit my brother in Ft. Lauderdale). Looking at the after hours price (under $100), it probably would have been a good trade- but thanks to Charlie G.'s reminder, I need to be more disciplined.

Enjoy the weekend,

Evan

That Old Feeling

     My Strategy's 2009 results (so far) would indicate that I may be on to something. That being said, I've been tempted lately to stray off course, and resort back to the types of ideas and trades that never used to pan out so well. Take for instance FAS. This etf (exchange traded fund) is pretty much at all time lows. Simply put, (from Yahoo! Finances) "it seeks to replicate, net of expenses, 300% of the daily performance of the Russell 1000 Financial Services". Here's the chart of FAS (or 'Forget Any Strategy') since it's inception:

     Looking at the last two years (and the wonderful debacle the financial world has found itself in), one may tend to think these 3 things about FAS:

1. It has to have either hit bottom, or come dangerously close. I mean really, how much farther could it drop- it's like $4 now, after being above $50 not too long ago.

2. Man, if I can buy a couple thousand shares Monday, it's sure to reach at least $6-$7 within the next few trading days with all it's violent swings- and I'll look like a cyborg on Covestor!

3. This is the easiest money I could ever make- I'll be able to pay off that credit card debt I got from purchasing every Timothy Sykes DVD!

     The catch is simple. FAS (and the market as a whole) could continue it's slide for the next 6 billion seconds (didn't do the math on that). No matter how 'Candy from a baby' this trade may appear, you'd be basing it on what? Gut feelings, the market 'owes you one', it's in play because Muddy's running a contest on it? (Btw, my guess for that contest, found here, is $7)

Fighting every urge to 'gamble',

Evan

Mission Accomplished: ANDS

     No, this wasn't on my 'Missions Briefing' watchlist- it happened way too fast! I was alerted to the stock ANDS by this post on Timothy Sykes's site Thursday evening. Since it didn't meet all the criteria of my strategy yet, I had no intention of shorting- until Friday's price action changed my mind. Morning spikes on stocks that meet most of my strategy's criteria (this one fits the bill except that it hasn't had it's first down day yet) are great to ride back down. Since I was working all day and couldn't watch the chart, bid/ask, etc., I texted my mom early on so she could try and reserve 150 shares with Think or Swim in case of either A: morning spike, or B: afternoon fade. She texted back with, "What price?" I instantly knew the broker had located the shares and wanted to know the price in which to short, but I wasn't ready. Not able to call my mom, I just decided not to answer (She would never enter a trade on her own, even though she's pretty good after a year of listening to me and reading Tim's posts on stocks I'm in). She texted back that she couldn't wait for me any longer (apparently she had other things to do all day:) and that the stock opened at 7.49 and was already at 7.79 at 9:55 am. I decided (since it was definitely showing signs of a spike) to tell her to short the 150 shares at limit price 8.15. I figured one of two things would happen: 1. if it got that high there was an excellent chance it wouldn't hold, and 2. I was easing into a stock I would want to eventually short anyway. Enough of my jibber-jabber, here's the chart that shows my (Covestor-verified) trade:

And here's a 3 month chart to show where this stock has come from:

     How I picked my exit- after what felt like 2 seconds, my mom texted, "Got it:)". This confirmed it was a genuine morning spike! Now what? I called her on my lunch break and asked her what the chart looked like at open, and if there was any volatility before the 'rocket launch'. She said around $7.45 it stuttered. I figured, if it did in fact collapse, it would shimmy a bit at that support level- so I told her to put a limit order to cover in just above it, at 7.50. And there you have it. The best thing about the trade is that it finished up for the day, which means I'm placing this stock on both my 'Missions Completed' and 'Missions Briefing' lists.

Enjoying the weekend,

Evan

Mission Accomplished: GERN

It's a shame my Covestor widget (right hand side of page) hasn't updated yet. I'm at all-time highs (yeah, what is this- my first week active?)! We'll start with GERN, the stem cell stock I admitted to being a bit leary of after reading Yahoo! Finance message boards. Seriously, pick any stock I'm short, pull it up on Yahoo! Finance, and enjoy the ridiculous pumping and bashing that goes on 24/7! I'll always try to post a chart of my completed shorts, though the longer it takes to cover, the less detail online charts will show.

In other news, I bit the bullet and sold 3,000 of my 5,000 shares of SIRI. If it goes to the moon (like you'll see repeatedly in Yahoo! posts) I'll do alright, but if it goes belly up (probably 7 out of 10 posts on Yahoo!), I'll survive. I'm banking on these shorts for the time being, and my strategy was quite profitable again today. Enjoy the weekend and check out my Covestor account Sunday-ish (it should be updated by then and you'll be able to see my trade prices if you're a member- which is FREE!)

O.K. with two 'Not-So-Volatile' Days (hopefully),

Evan

Sirius Problem

No, that's not a typo. If you've been following my trades since I began this blog (and even more recently since I signed up on Covestor), you'll notice two stocks in my portfolio that I never mention: SIRI (Sirius XM) and THMR (formerly TMA, or Thornburg Mortgage). Everyone has skeletons in their trading closets, and these fellas are mine. I've ridden them down to almost nothing from about six months ago. I haven't the heart to part with them now, even though they continue to bludgeon me while yelling 'Yee-haw' on their way toward Subpennyland. Have any skeletons you'd like to share?

Besides the fact that Sirius's recent 'possible' bankruptcy news has eaten my gains from yesterday, I decided to short ARNA, and completely ignore rules #1-#3,#5 of my strategy. Everyone does this from time to time, but since I'm forced to ride my mistakes out (Rule #7), this trade could get ugly before the sun comes out. At least I only shorted 150 shares, and the stock is eventually due for a reckoning.

Learning about discipline the hard way,

Evan

My Four Horsemen

So while the world of finance came a-crumblin' down again today, being short MAXY, GERN, PALM, and SKYT (even though SKYT gained .01) paid quite well. Covestor is usually one day behind on updating their clients' portfolio values, but somehow my link (on the right) is two. I can't wait for it to show my most recent shellacking of the S&P. I would rather have the chart showing myself vs. Timothy Sykes (currently #1 on Covestor), but can't figure out how to configure the widget that way (any suggestions?).

I made two trades today, both profitable and loss preventing. I don't mind admitting that the talking heads over at Yahoo! Finance message boards are beginning to get into my head. Seriously, I don't know why I even read the ridiculous posts (9 out of 10 are bias with an agenda), but GERN is a stock focused on stem cell research, a science nobody really knows what to expect from yet. Given that Obama fully supports this type of research, I sold 100 of my 200 shares of GERN today at 7.48. I know, I know- I'm letting fundamentals interfere with my technical positions. I'm still learning the 'true' relationship between fundamentals and penny stocks.

Today was all MAXY needed to finally drift back below my initial buy (how many months ago?), so I covered 100 shares of my 300 at 8.17 near the close. I did this for three reasons:

1. Didn't want to be greedy (been there done that at the end of a down day only to see a gap up the next morning).
2. There was an earnings announcement after close. Don't think MAXY has a prayer (announcement hasn't come out yet 7:27pm 2/10/09), but why risk all 300 shares?
3. The stock downtrended aaaalllll day, and I followed Rule #6 of my strategy.

Unfortunately watching the market tread closer to year lows,

Evan