I have had many crazy trading days but today may take the cake. I sold some longs earlier this morning (COH) and bought AKAM for a technical breakout and RBY for a spec play on a new gold find. I studied the charts inside in and out and today I went took a shot and went short around 1:15p when the S&P was 811, by buying TZA. It began to roar, so I shorted PACW and bought more ERY, to watch the S&P at 792. I was pumped, money printing everywhere, and then 3p came. At the end of the day, I watched TZA go from 52 to 57, then I sold my 40 shares at 3:47ish for 53ish, for a $20 profit. I kept my ERY and PACW short but the PACW is scarying me. I did the homework and know the bear story; however, if we take off, this thing can roar, so I got a tight leash on this. I don't like oil here, so I will hold my ERY has a short hedge.
I sold half of my TTWO because the price performance was pathetic. I like AKAM but it didn't close above the 200 day MA, so a breakout is in question. The jobs number comes out tomorrow, so it should be interesting.
As for my portfolio, I built some short exposure and have a 70% cash position, 20% long exposure, 10% short exposure. As for top picks, I would stick with firm's with great balance sheets, particularly DELL, HUM, UNH, NTGR, etc. As for the market, we are still in a buy zone, as long as the S&P doesn't close below 805.
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Yea if you looked at the SP movement chart today, it looked like a ying-yang symbol. Unreal - the phrase to embrace right now is "flexibility"!
ReplyDeleteRF,
ReplyDeleteI sold TTWO today bud. I made over $500 on it RF.
Thanks dude.
RF,
ReplyDeleteI JUST OPENED A BROKERAGE ACCOUNT AND LIKE YOUR ADVICE. IF YOU HAD $10,000 HOW WOULD YOU ALLOCATE THAT? HOW MANY STOCKS? MY BROKER CHARGES $12.95 A TRADE SO THAT EATS AWAY AT MY MARGIN, ANY IDEAS? BEEN FOLLOWING FOR WEEKS NOW. I LIKE THE SCREENS AND YOUR COMMENTARY. GREAT BLOG.
RT - the phrase to embrace now is "don't trade, go eat a burger"
ReplyDeleteDennis - Thanks
Anon - With $10,000, I would buy 4 - 5 stocks. With these market swings, I would keep $2000-$4000 in cash. If you choose not too, I would buy 3-4 solid stocks and 1 speculative stock (stock under $10). Your broker should give you implied volatility measures, so use that as a risk measure. ATR is a nice measure too, if you are familiar with technicals (stockcharts.com is a free stock chart site and look up ATR). Good luck, its a fun. My best advice is "nothing is more important that the price you pay"