Thursday, October 6, 2011

Swinging Thursday

I was having a pretty good day until one of my dental crowns pulled off, now I am a bit annoyed. No matter, it's Thursday night. Have a mini vacation coming up starting Sunday in NYC. If you ever wanted to meet me, and you a fellow blogger/writer in NYC, well here's your chance.

Get your requests in for Friday night. Make it count!

Swinging Thursday
Markets are rolling this week and at this point meeting strong resistance overhead. We could discuss chart levels, sentiment, and other stuff but you have probably seen that all day. What I like about this week, and this is news, some stocks started to act somewhat normal, making trading them something I could do without being in fear a 20% drop in 1 minute was going to happen any second.

When swing trading (2 days to a week or two) I use Japanese candles coupled with the awesome iBankCoin tool, The PPT. This allows me to screen for the kinds of looks I want, and quickly. My way of picking stocks can work in almost any market, as long as there is some kind of trend. Up, down, or sideways is ok. Where candles become just things to try and set a room mood to get lucky in is heavy wash out down markets, rip roaring up markets, or 100 point S&P 500 range-bound sideways markets. They just don't work well and I know that. They have not been working for a while. I stopped trading while the drama happened.

They worked well this week.

Now you might think that of course in a melt up market they all worked but it has not been that way for all the rallies so far. This week was different.

I bought the stock NI on Tuesday and the stock CVLT on Wednesday. I sold NI for a +3.5% gain and CVLT for a +5.5% gain today. Here are charts for them with crappy arrows for entry and exit. I am short on time so it's the best I can do:
NI
CVLT
What was good about these two stocks is that they were the only two positions I had and I knew solid exit points, even if the market tanked, would hold. This allowed me to put more money into both than I would normally. They were large positions. NYC here I come with a bit of cash for the trip!

Right now I am thinking that it's best I am going on a mini vacation. Earnings get going next week and I cannot shake the feeling like things are still not fully priced in to the downside. That said, when my charts start working and news flow is neutral one can see how this market wants to run. It's just a tough show.

"Discretion is the better part of valor."

I don't need to catch THE bottom or even be close. When markets get settled I know I can work them, it's just still not time. Soon I hope, and I have a whole room of Pelicans to work with.

Have a good night.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

My Mix For Friday!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRsZnJzS-yA&feature=related

Toto - Take My Hand - Dune - David Lynch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlS_Rnb5WM4

Skynet Symphonic (Terminator 2 Remix) - POGO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3far9oHZOsI

Rubber Johnny - Aphex Twin _ Dir. Chris Cunningham

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjAoBKagWQA&feature=related

All is full of love - Bjork

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADBKdSCbmiM

Röyksopp - What Else Is There ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kE0pxRkMtQ

Groove Armada - Superstylin'

AIRBORNE OP NEXT WEEK!

G

GawainsGhost said...

You have a feeling that things are not priced to the downside? Ha!

Let me tell you something. I'm looking at price reductions on a monthly and weekly basis for houses. This entire economy is going to tank, so get out now while you can.

I received my copy of Reckless Endangerment today. I'll read it over the weekend and send you my review thereafter.

Anyway, I had to go to Elsa today and find some stupid house. I wonder if you have any idea how much a pain that was.

See, Elsa is a small town about forty miles east of here. Problem is, it doesn't have a post office. Every resident has a P.O. box. Thus, there are no mailboxes, no street numbers and very few street signs. Ever tried to find a house in a town like that?

It took hours of research and the whole damn day, but I found it. My mother was actually impressed.

A crappy little house, with 2 bedrooms, 1.5 baths (who would put a half bath in the master bedroom?), a utility room, 1-car carport. 1 living, 1 dining, a kitchen with no appliances, no water heater. Evidence of structural damage on the outside walls.

Gee, how much do you think I can sell this house for? Not much. How long do you think it will take to sell this house? A while, probably at least six months, maybe a year. That's assuming Freddie Mac agrees to make the necessary repairs.

As it stands now, only a cash investor could buy this house, because it's unliveable. No one could get a mortage to fincance the purchase.

Sigh, life in the wonderful world of real estate.

Jennifer Hillier said...

Interesting post. I think I almost understood part of it. :)

Can I request Goody Two Shoes by Adam Ant? Because that's what I am. Don't drink, don't smoke.

accredited online colleges said...

very interesting post. This is what i was looking for. I enjoyed a lot.

GawainsGhost said...

I have a little time before I have to head out, go find another stupid house, so I thought I'd chime in here with something completely different.

I have a trivia question for you, GYC. Do you know why ice cream cones have little squares on them?

Chicago World's Fair, 1920, there was this guy who set up a tent to sell bowls of ice cream. Soon he ran out of bowls. Now he can't sell ice cream.

The guy in the next tent was selling waffles. So he walked over and made a deal with him. You give me waffles and I'll split the profit with you.

Then he took a waffle, twisted it into a spiral, and put a scoop of ice cream on top. Sold like mad.

The first ice cream cone was a waffle. Wrap your mind around that.

See, this is how business is done. You come up with an idea, make a mutually beneficial deal with a partner, start a craze, and ultimately lay the foundation for an entirely new industry, ice cream cones. They still look like waffles, nine decades later.

You would be surprised how much of what we take for granted was invented on the fly.

The Sovereign Bohemian said...

Glad to see you made some money for your trip. Have fun in NYC.

My music request this week is Manfred Mann - Blinded By The Light. It's an oldie but a goodie.

I'm soo glad the weekend's almost here!

GawainsGhost said...

Is it too late to change my recommendation for Friday Night Entertainment? If so, well I stand by recommendations.

Before there was Kiss, there was Slade.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gPulu85q04

EconomicDisconnect said...

Yeah that will work Gawains.