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.
The Donger Trades 