Week 50 Trade Recap

I made too many trades this week.  At one point during the week I had four stocks being traded at the same time.  That’s just too many for me.  For one, it doesn’t allow me time to do research looking for other buys since I spend all my time watching my current holdings.  I need to get my holding down to just one or two at a time.  Some of those trades were made with no firm plan or strategy involved.  I spent the whole week in IU’s chat and learned some things about momentum and spoke to a few people in there as well.  Some of those I spoke to are new to this like me as well as some who are more experienced.  It was nice talking to some of the new traders in there and see what they are doing to help themselves make better decisions.  I also took some of the advice of the more experienced traders.  I decided to re-work some of my rules and adjust my strategy for next week.

So, here’s my results from the last five days in alphabetical order:

ANDS – This is a pharma stock that I bought on positive drug news on Thursday morning (first red mark).  It gapped down overnight from Wednesday and started to uptrend from $2.60.  With the positive news and $3.00 appearing to be resistance, it appeared I could get a $.25 move during the day or into Friday.  Boy was I wrong.  It dropped to $2.50 on Thursday, went sideways then climbed back to $2.70, only to finish weakly.  I held it overnight and it dropped Friday as well.  Once it lost support there at $2.50 I was done with it.  I sold for another loss.  This is a two-day chart from Thursday and Friday.

ANX – I bought this into the close on Monday as it showed good strength and volume for an overnight hold.  It spiked up a little bit on Tuesday but I didn’t get out as it was only up about $.02, then it collapsed really fast.  I was still up on the trade and watched it consolidate looking for another climb, but it dropped again and I sold for a small loss.  I sold out of fear and panic as it was only down about $.02 and starting to go sideways.  Really disappointing as I should have held on for just a few more minutes because it started to go sideways and climb.  Then, you can see the rest of the story from there.  This is a five-day chart of last week.

BGEM – I held 5,000 shares of BGEM over the weekend on a tip that was chatted about on Investor’s Live.  I got in at $.345 about two minutes before the close and sold on the Monday morning spike at $.40.  I tried a new tactic and sold 3000 shares on the first spike in case there was a pull back and then second spike later on.  I wanted to make sure I locked in some profits just in case things didn’t work like was expected.  It pulled back and then jumped again but I only got $.40 the second time as well instead of the high on that second spike of $.44.  That’s okay.  Then out of nowhere, it got pumped mid-day and went to $.70 by Tuesday.  No way to predict.  Bummer.

I’m happy that I made a profit and I’m happy it reacted the way it was predicted.  This may not have been a stock I picked myself, but the process I’m trying to master is using my own ideas as well as listening to those that are far better at this then I am.  So, this trade was clearly a success.  Total profit, minus fees $244.96.  By the way, a 3-month paid subscription to Investor’s Underground is $250.00.  Food for thought.  The two marks on the 14th are my two sales.

FRE – Speaking of trades that I spotted.  I typically have CNBC on during the trading day in the room with me.  On Friday there was news out reference the passing of HR 4173.  FRE spiked on this news and closed flat into the close Friday but on increased volume so I bought 1,000 shares as it closed at $1.29.  On Monday morning the momentum continued and I sold out at $1.38.  I was concerned it wouldn’t break $1.50 (nice round number) and I wanted to take my profit since I had it.  It did go as high as $1.60 on Tuesday, but its FRE.  The company is dead, so I didn’t want to hold this too long.  Just like TLB from last week.  Quick profit and get out.  This is what I have been doing for the last couple days on paper.  I’ve seen this type action with mentions on CNBC before but rarely am I in front of my computer when it happens.

I’ll be looking for when HR4173 is signed into law by President Obama as there will probably be another spike on both of these companies.

FNM – See the FRE trade above as to the how and why I bought this.  I held it till Tuesday morning when it spiked up and I sold out.  Probably too early as it continued up all morning.  I got took my profits and left for the same reasons mentioned above.

LZB – I sold this on Wednesday.  I held it through Tuesday when it crossed over $11.00 but it held just under $11.00 so I held for a spike on Wednesday morning.  I didn’t get a spike, but it crossed $11.00 again and I sold it at $11.05.  This has been my best trade so far.  I showed good patience in holding it and timed my entry and exit pretty well.  Course, my entry was a Tim Sykes alert, which is fine in my book.  He bailed on this stock when it didn’t break out fast, but I held on when it didn’t crack what I interpreted to be support around $9.70.  That big blue volume spike right before I bought it was his alert.  I usually wait a few minutes after his alerts to buy.  In this case I got about a $.10 better entry point by waiting.  Unless you count the drop Thursday morning, of course.  Too bad I have about half a dozen other trades that sucked.

MSHL – I bought this into the close on Monday looking for more strength going into FDA news on Thursday.  The volume dried up Tuesday morning and it dropped pretty quick and I cut my loss.  As you can see, the news was insignificant anyway.

DPDW – This is my dumbest trade of the year.  By far, hands down.  Dumb.  I had just sold MSHL and ANX for losses on Tuesday and was looking for a quick play to make up my money from those losses.  I bought strictly on emotion and hunch.  The volume was spiking and I thought I could make my money back from my losses on MSHL and ANX.  I actually still have it in my account since it hasn’t collapsed, but it’s tying up some money for other things and I just should never have bought it.  The volume has collapsed as well.  Time will tell how things go but the position is small, like my other ones, so I can afford to wait things out.  If I get any pop at all, in either direction, I’m out.

EYSM – This is a pump and dump that is currently being pumped.  I’m still flat here waiting over the weekend as it gains some pump.  Friday started to scare me, but I held on as the pump emails came in and it gained strength the rest of the day to finish down just a hair.  It has been having a lot of morning volume which has dried up every afternoon.

VLNC – Like I mentioned earlier, I have the TV on during the trading day and CNBC gave positive news on this stock.  IU alerted to it as well and it took off.  It had a slight pull back and I bought some.  It then started to pull back to $1.00 and held that pretty well so I kept holding it.  It looks like its support is around $.85 (also its 52 week low) so I plan on holding unless it breaks that level.  This level here around $1.00 is also its 3-year support.  It dropped to there right at the close on Friday and I may end up losing on this one.  My feeling is, since the volume came literally in the last few minutes of trading, I have to wonder how much of that had to do with the quadruple witching hour and lots of sellers rebalancing their books.  If I see any strength off this support level I may add to my holdings after what may have just been panic selling from institutions.

Watch List for 12-14-09

BGEM – I bought this as a momentum play into Monday.  Investor’s Live chatted about it two days ago when it was around $.17.  I was new to the chat and didn’t buy it then and watched it uptrend for two more days.  I bought it into the close Friday and I’m looking for a rise Monday morning and take some profits.  Finally.

HPJ – This has been uptrending for a month and it is now at its IPO open price from May of 2008.  They recently announced that they were moving from the AMEX to the NASDAQ Global Market exchange.  There is no resistance after $8.35.  I would like to see more volume and I’ll see how it plays.  There doesn’t seem to be a lot of chatter on the message boards either.  Maybe this is a real move?  I would feel more comfortable playing this had I spotted it when it started this uptrend.  Now that it’s at its high and come off its base, I’m cautious.

HUSA – This broke through $5.00 with authority on Friday.  This was its second big move in a row.  I will watch this one but, again, I’m concerned I missed the move on Friday.  But like HPJ above, if it has another move in it for Monday, I don’t want to miss another one.

LZB – I am still long LZB.  I read somewhere last week that someone said that if this breaks out it will be a long slow process, “Like watching paint dry.”  Volume increased in the last 90 minutes on Friday and it finished over $10.20.  It tried to touch its 52-week high of $10.29.  That should be an important break if it clears that next week.  The next test after that is over $11.00 at $11.76.  I don’t plan on holding it that long as that might take another six months.  I will watch this on a daily basis and re-evaluate it each day.  If it takes out $10.29 and runs, great.  I’d like to see the high $10’s.

NEP – Broke its three-year high on heavy volume on Friday.  It had a big gap up from Thursday to Friday as well.  It bumped its head on $7.00 midday, faded then finished slightly strong into the close.  Earlier this year it had a couple pushes to $6.00 only to fade and come back, but this break of $6.00 looks much stronger than the previous ones.  It has had some mentions on large blogs and new analyst coverage as well in the recent week.

Week 49 Trade Recap

I sold off two of my stocks this week for loses.  LSCC finally fell under $2.60 and I sold out for a loss of $163.36.  Volume has been declining all week as well.  I should have waited to make sure that the $2.70 level was really a break out.  In hindsight, volume had been decreasing leading up to Dec 8 and the decreased volume continued and it just could not hold.  In looking at the break out on Dec 4, the volume was much higher and the break out more pronounced.  That is what I need to look for.  On Dec 4 it touched $2.50, fell back then broke through that level and ran later in the afternoon.  That’s the momentum I need to watch for.  When you look at Dec 8, that just wasn’t there.

I also sold TLB for a loss as recapped in this post on Dec 11.   This was a loss of $55.93.

I am still long LZB.  I read somewhere last week that someone said that if this breaks out it will be a long slow process, “Like watching paint dry.”  Volume increased in the last 90 minutes on Friday and it finished over $10.20.  I tried to touch its 52-week high of $10.29.  That should be an important break if it clears that next week.  The next test after that is over $11.00 at $11.76.  I don’t plan on holding it that long as that might take another six months.  I will watch this on a daily basis and re-evaluate it each day.  If it takes out $10.29 and runs, great.  I’d like to see the high $10’s.

I spent the last part of the week in the Investor’s Live chat room.  I’m learning a lot there about momentum.  Course, you would think the learning curve would be steep at the beginning.  I bought BGEM right into the close and tried to get JYHW as well, but couldn’t type fast enough.  JYHW spiked from $.61 to $.67 in the last 5 minutes or so and that scared me off.

I read over and filled out the Cy Group application over the weekend.  I have to call them on Monday with some more questions that came up when I was filling it out.  I haven’t found anything on the internet saying they are a scam or “They ripped me off.”  That’s good.  I did find this blog entry from Welcome to the Gutter, but no follow-ups to it as of yet.

I have to do some more research in the application concerning this comment left on this blog about customers being employees.  I read that in the application about explaining that relationship.  It is a very long and complicated application and I had no plans on submitting it till I read it a couple times to be clear.  I’ll update my posts as I move along in this process.

I tried to do some day trading on the Think or Swim platform on Friday but found out the quotes are delayed.  I couldn’t keep up with the delay so I had to stick with doing things with pencil and paper.   That’s too bad.  TOS’s explanation to me was that real time quotes cost money, which I understand, so they are no able to do so for the paper option.  Oh well.  Not a big deal.

My account is currently in the red by 6.07%.