Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Recent trade comments

As I have said before, if I would just follow my rules, things I know to be correct, than I would be rich. It was absolutely idiocy to buy in a downtrend...which I did for both of them. I got stopped out of STAR, got wiser per my rules on some of the NFLX. The other NFLX was in an account that I needed to let previous trade settle prior to selling, to I am back in a profit. I felt like a shmuck with the loss I had on the other part, but rules is rules. All time frames say up for now, average price 41.63 (it would have been lower if I did what I was originally planning on).

http://www.netflix.com

Monday, March 30, 2009

Paid site

I've followed the above site for a few months. Searching for the holy grail of trading leads one on all kinds of searches. The above site is from a guy that talks to other traders about how they do things, there is a lot of info there, I enjoyed the old interviews also.

Recently it has become a paid site. Figuring it was something of great value after reading the sales pitch, I emailed the owner requesting info as to how he has done. After all it is the acid test of trading (and why one should use caution in following me). Keep in mind that he interviewed a guy that publicly recorded 2008 gains in excess of one million. I salute this guy for being honest in his reply. You be the judge of the value of the knowledge and interviews at the site. Reply follows:

Thanks for the note. I'm probably a better interviewer than a trader, but I
shoot for a conservative $500 a week with my trading and have been fairly
steady that way for a year. My issue, and I hope to figure it out by
talking with these traders myself, is that every time I start to increase my
position size to make that $500 go to $2,000 or $3,000 per week, I don't
seem to have the same success.

So I'm on a trading journey just as everyone else is. Hope that helps.

All the best,

Tim

---
Tim Bourquin, Co-Founder, Ideas For Download
27285 Las Ramblas Ste 235 | Mission Viejo, CA 92691

http://www.traderinterviews.com/

For some, the world is full of gold.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Forbes magazine

I caught up on my reading of Forbes the past two weeks. Once or twice a year I read back issues when visiting family. This time brought two things worthy of sharing.

1. To avoid being a victim of fraud from investment advisors they should not be the ones in charge of your money. Have a money manager and an advisor.

2. When watching TV such as PBS' Nightly Business Report it is interesting to note how those on the show have to make minimum disclosures regarding when they own what they talk about. Forbes has many columnists that "suggest" several trading vehicles in each publication yet I saw nary a disclosure. Part of the financial system overhaul needs to include much greater regulation of such things. I want dates, prices, relationships etc... In other words Forbes aint getting none of my money.

Waiting


The market has been amazing me in many ways. I fear I am missing out on a great new bull market, this stirs my greed to the point I consider some bad decisions. I've cleared my head a little with some comfortable time away from the bright lights. Yesterday and today I made a few hundred with two quick trades going long QID after it gapped opened lower. NFLX stays strong, I'll look to buy if it can pull back more Friday. This risks holding over the weekend after such a great run but I think the up days on 1/27 and 2/23 on massive volume show strong buying by the big guys. I bought some STAR today and will hold it for a bit. It showed up on my screening last night, numbers are good, 50 DMA is near 15 and is sloped up. RS and group is good. The big money to be made is with the 401K account, still in cash. SMA 50 on SPY still sloped down and short term averages still less than the 200 day average. SPY is peaking above trends lines in following, more to be revealed. Click on chart image for full size.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Bee on Hyacinth


Click on pic for larger image, note the moist looking light colored pollen sac

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Economic stimulus

Barry is our first African American president, truly history. I am proud to be an American. I wish he would stop talking so much on TV. Every time he talks he just has to tell the US how big his package is, and that he is going to stimulate us. Too much!

I do not understand much of what is being done with regard to the real stimulus and bailouts. The government in my view is wasting money, throwing good after bad. The autos are much cheaper than when the US bought in via loans. Th banks are significantly less than when they were first kept open. And AIG is another. Programs to create jobs seem to be more along the lines of temporary fixes rather than programs to help. I guess there is likely something to be said for teachers, policeman, and bridges but giving them money for jobs is not favoring growth. We need to increase incentives for entrepeneurs to start new business and to encourage profitable businesses to expand. That is how this will get fixed and it will not be quick. What percent of the bailout is designated along these means?

Politics

It is unfreakenbelievable to me that the state department does not have a Russian dictionary.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

October 87

I was listening to bloomberg radio this am, thought to watch some of Nightly Business Report and Wall Street week on youtube from "October 87 crash". Amazing to see where the market numbers were then relative to where they are now. And the market came back stronger than ever.

There are 2 major losses when it comes to the market. Lost opportunities and lost capital. I am willing to pass on some chancey situations to preserve money.

Wait

I sit in front of the computer most days off watching and waiting for the market to be better. I expect that I have learned an awful lot, I think I have all the tools to be a great trader and yet am full of character defects that have prevented the million dollar payday. Post analysis tells me I have done well in bull markets but my continual hope for money and fear of missing out had me trading too much for quite a while now. Discipline in this regard has been much improved. I'd set a rule a while ago to only trade when I was confident enough to have retirement funds in the market. Then the rising tide that carries all ships will again be in my favor.

The great thing about the market is that it always does come back and that demand for stocks will return. One just has to wait it out while raising more cash for the big paychecks of the future.