You can ‘get by’ being mediocre.  You may even be so lucky as to afford the occasional weekend vacation from your modest suburban home.  Your children can attend mediocre schools and earn mediocre grades in spelling and mathematics.  You can buy a dog off craigslist and admire its scruffiness and lack of AKC certification.

You might even set up a horseshoe pit to occupy your red necked relatives while you barbeque hotdogs.  Fun times will be had by all.

I’ve traded mediocre all day, when I should be trading like Chief Keef, if that makes sense.  Sure, I’m long, with about 50 percent of my book.  Yes, I took two planned trades today in the futures, that earned chicken and beer money.  But where’s the tenacity?  Where’s the gumption?

I’ll stop speaking to my own subconscious now and address you, good people of iBankCoin.  I traded like a little baby today, hiding under my sheets from the risk reaper.

Buying END yesterday was so perfect.  I sized the position perfect: 10 percent of my book.  The light and sweet ripped overnight, so I woke up like, “now these shorts can’t leave.”  Yet I SOLD 2/3 of my long below $4.50, for what?  I don’t know!  I wasn’t getting my fix fast enough.  I should have been scaling off right here, at 4.67, earning me more meat before trimming down to a runner.  The trade has tacked 50 basis points onto my YTD return already, but it could have easily tacked on 100.  I’m keeping my runner and aggressively hunting out more oil opportunities.

My second $ES_F trade I played along inside The Pelican Room, it fruited early and I earned my first scale, 1.25 points.  Already being a puss, I nudged my first scale in a tick.  Don’t ask why?  Because I don’t know except the market paused for like 30 seconds.  Then I sat through the lunch hour baby sitting my final contract.  I started thinking the upside progress would clunk out so I raised my stop a few ticks above the logical support.  You can guess what happened next: the market stopped me out to the tick then went One Direction, up, for four handles.  That was my pay day.

I feel really confident about my trading right now.  I’m so close to making a breakthrough, closer than most of you will ever be.  Perhaps you’re this close too or at least you have been, but just at this moment your willpower fails you and you give up.  That must be what happens, why 90% of traders fail, because they give up when they’re so god damned close.

RISE UP MOTHA FUCKAS!

 

I’m close

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I cleaned up my books early on like I stated earlier, cutting out EXK, TPX, and AMBA.  Elizamae and I have been running charts into the sentiment cycle like a couple of kids who found gamesages for the first time.  Like we’re cheating on the video games, you see!?

Gamesages.com and gamefaqs.com take me back to the simpler days of the internet, where message boards were the beacon of truth and trickery.  I still don’t think I would have beaten the Nintendo 64 Legend of Zelda without those sites.  Legend of Zelda for NES, of course, required the printed manual until it was memorized and executed without reference.

Holy shit childhood was awesome.

All this I say to convey to you the fact that I like the setup in Oil (with a capital ‘O’) and I intend to play along.  How brutal was it to read that sentence?  Heheh

I started getting this going via END because I like that chart.  Don’t buy it, leave it here for me to think about and accumulate. They report August 6th actually so buy it with great vigor so I can sell to you.

I want to ETF into the pure stuff too, perhaps USO or one of its relatives.  I want oil to go higher.  I want gas to cost $50 dollars/gallon too, so the traffic goes away.  One of these thoughts is a dream, the other a distinct probability, I’d say oh about 70 percent.

I want oil exposure gentlemen, don’t hesitate to share your favorite with me so I can poach them and hang their corpses from my walls.

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The inefficiencies of the market place are working their way to the surface this week, or so it seems to my eyes.  I want fresh cash ready to deploy into the market so I used this morning’s strength to toss out some old names and make way for new.

I closed out my TPX long near $40.  I thought it best to avoid staring at this gift horse for too long.  I lost 9 percent on the trade.  Not too shabby.  I like when I get excited about a loss, it means big wins are near.

I closed my EXK runner out too.  The USA dollar was ripping overnight and I’m not trying to get fancy.  The runner was still 4 percent in the profit so I cashed it out.

I cut AMBA, I’m not liking what the tea leaves are showing:

I planned on selling GTAT and OCZ this morning too, but after hesitating a brief moment they’re both back in the slop trough with other opportunities.

These sales brought my cash up to 50 percent.  I may miss a big blow off move on the Fed this afternoon, but should we see a downdraft I’ll be more prepared to pounce.

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And just like that I’m managing a -10% position.  It’s 2/3 size too, dragging my book down nearly a full percentage.  I’m talking about none other than action camera extraordinaire Ambarella, Inc.

“It just happened so fast.” – Famous last words.

Seriously though, this is what happens when you’re caught in a momentum downdraft.  There were too many weak hands in this name apparently.  Perhaps the weak hands still exist, flailing around, in need of correction.

I’ll have you know I’ve been corrected my entire life.  My 4^th grade teacher would slap my hands with a yard stick for disrupting Bible studies.  Even with carbon dating, I could never convince her dinosaurs existed.

“God put dinosaur bones in the ground to test our faith in Jesus.”  Right…may I have another slice of Jesus body?  I’m starving.

With AMBA, we’re in an IPO environment and the company creates camera components.  It’s not some social concept that curious minds gather around and debate where the money comes from.  IT COMES FROM SELLING PRODUCT.  There ought to be some buyers down here, perhaps at my final buying tranche.

I’ve clearly built into the name too soon, enticed by the virgin blood.  I’m in bed with the name now, prepared to deploy more capital between $15.50 – $14.25.

TPX went on a rally today, still my largest position, and perhaps I should just cut my losses at this point, down a mere 10 percent.  Perhaps, but the chart resembles bracketed trade, ranging from 35 – 50 so the greater risk at this very moment is to the downside.  That is, if my bracket theory is correct.

FaceBook is really bringing some heat to the market.  It’s exciting to see.

I had quite the run on GTAT today, but I’ve already sold most of it, booking a cool 6 percent in profits.  I’ll always grab that bread when it’s offered.  I still hold a runner that wants more, more, more.

I’ve held AIXG for so long, since June, and it has done NOTHING.  HOWEVER, it has done nothing.  All the while Europe is sucking, including Aixtron’s brethren from another reverend Deutsche Bank whiffing on earnings.  So perhaps any updraft will lift this name with great vengeance and furious anger?  I’ll stick around a bit longer.  This is my German LED play, BTW.

I have several other small positions, 25% cash, and a 10% FXY position as we ride into a very headline heavy day tomorrow.  I suppose I’m feeling lucky.

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I’m having an interesting morning as the Chinese say, with much to keep my attention and interest.  I closed out FIVE for a 2% loss after the broad market lost its momentum.

Early on I had eyes on both GTAT and RBCN, suspecting one of the sapphire names to run.  I went with GTAT and the position is up 2 percent so I should be happy right?  Wrong!  RBCN was the choice to make, up as much as 10 percent on the day.

TPX is working off some of the post-earnings selloff and the only news I see is they’re supplying the Chicago Bears with beds during training camp.  Please dispose of said beds in the proper biohazard receptacle afterwards.

FB lead by heartthrob Mark Zuckerberg is gliding along like a boat on the Spanish Riviera, all the while Marc whispering sweet nothings into my ear.

AMBA is going full Jeb Corliss for the time being.  I like it because it lets me know the name has a pulse.  Remember, momentum cuts both ways.

One long in the S&P futures, took a 1.5 handle loss. The trade had an 85 % plan compliance.

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I’m testing out a new run-and-gun strategy with about 50% of my swing portfolio.  Like any approach I take to the market, I start by writing out a plan.  I usually keep these private because they’re very dear to me, but iBankCoin is for the people.  I have written close to 50 of these plans.  Any good plan should be amorphous to survive in the markets.  Therefore I start with something basic and add or remove rules as I become more familiar with the approach.  Enjoy.

Raul

 

I will trade stocks from the popular intraday momentum screen within The PPT  (Link: PPT Members Click Here!)

I will trade long only

I will enter trades either when the S&P 500 as represented by the eMini S&P future contract “/ES” is at a support level I suspect could mark the low of the session or when the index shows upward momentum.

I will choose whichever stock in the list presents the best daily chart setup

I will drill down intraday and enter the first buyable dip

I will risk about 0.50% of my portfolio on each position

The above plan is already in action with the following trades:

Current positions undertaken according to this plan are OCZ, SCTY, & FIVE.

SCTY was entered too early according to my third rule.  Therefore the entry was only 80% within compliance with the plan.

FIVE conversely was entered in the afternoon, when the overall market showed signs of upward momentum.  The first buyable dip was entered upon, and the position size was correct. 100 percent.

I entered the SCTY trade very soon after taking my third scale in OCZ.  I’ve been scaling OCZ off in quarters because it was a huge position.  I was frustrated when I took my morning scale at 1.89 only minutes before it rallied to 1.99.  I immediately utilized The Stop Method© but I did so in slight haste, pouncing a bit aggressively on the SCTY long.  It offered a lower risk entry soon after.

Prices I’ll be targeting on the aforementioned three trades:

OCZ – n/a I’m down to a runner that must trade below 1.70 on a closing basis to stop me out.  I want to let my winner run free like a wild horse.

SCTY, Targeting 43.25 then 44.50 then runner.  Risk below 39.95 on a closing basis

FIVE, Targeting 42 for a 2/3 scale then runner.  Risk below 38.80 on a closing basis.

Rinse repeat, rinse repeat.

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THE RETAIL INVESTOR IS SAVED!  And I’m up over 40% on the name.  Everyone wins!  Thus, I’m officially married to this position.  A match made in heaven.

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The markets are soft this morning and they’ve afforded me the opportunity to buy more shares of AMBA.  This trade is playing out exactly how I hoped it would, allowing me to back the truck up.  With a bit of luck you’ll trade it down to $15.50 so I can buy more, yes.

I’m aggressive dip buyer in this name until further notice.

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It was a week of setbacks in the market for yours truly, being on the receiving end of two major blows.  Going into the weekend, I had to rid myself of one of these losers and of the two, TPX and ENPH, I decided to cut ENPH.

It was not an easy choice but it was most certainly a necessary choice.  I want loose capital, ready to pounce of fresh ideas.  Hell, I may even buy some ENPH next week, who really knows?

There were big winners this week. Zillow spent most of the week pressing into the necks of their high short float…I wish I hadn’t sold, but perhaps we’ll get a downdraft next week to latch onto.

Facebook was hands down the darling of the market, perhaps restoring the confidence of the disheartened retail investor.  I knew this day would come, where I would have a low cost basis in the name, able to now kick back and let the future pan out.

I made OCZ full size early last week, a rare move even for me.  To go full size in a sub $2.00 stock takes a certain amount of gumption and laser clear risk parameters.  As dicey as it seemed to hold the position for 8 sessions with zero progress, it continued to behave constructive.  It was only a matter of time until the shorts were spooked.  Today, I sold ¼ @ 1.75 earning around 5% and another ¼ at 1.825 (damn algos) earnings over 8%.  It’s a great trade so far: a very constructive chart with lots of shorts to fuel a rally and a company that creates wonderful value for the world.  I love it.

I’m beginning to see the potential of smoking shorts out of their favorite hiding places in this aging bull market.  With the tools this site provides, I intend to do exactly that.

I backed off the futures this week, taking a more passive approach.  They intrigue me to no end, and I see huge potential in trading them, but my interest is shifting to day trading these momentum stocks.  There’s an edge to be had in sousing short sellers with the buy cannon and grabbing .40-.50 cents in movement.  If you align your orders with a change in trend in the /es, you’re riding the tide holding a water bazooka.  It just sounds fun!  And I want to put more capital towards this new sport.

I’ve accepted that TPX will likely trade down to $35.00.  Then I want to see how this price level is met as it is of HUGE importance.  I may buy more shares, I may sell, or I may simply hold on to what I have.

This has been another fantastic week working alongside the brightest minds in finance, and I look forward to doing it all again next week.  Have a great weekend.

I’m such a sucker for Bruno Mars, I can’t help it…he reminds me of James Brown in this video, enjoy:

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Shorting the market this year has been a sport reserved for the elites because, to be frank, the tape is up.  That means although there’s a bear market out there, it’s lined with a more traps than an Indiana Jones expedition.

RaginCajun was courteous enough to highlight a PPT screen he is using to find intraday momentum pockets and I’m quick to get all manic about the potential on this one.

I’ve been watching all day as the list thinned out on the way down this morning, then, at the support I highlighted this morning where the market turned the corner, the list started building.

It was all over the nuclear move, and right now it has @tpain and me hunting shorts in GMCR.

Over the last hour I’ve watched one after another squeeze higher and you can see in the tape that it’s the tears of short sellers combusting and fueling the movement.  The transient nature of these moves is fantastic for the run-and-gun lifestyle I live.

Thus, I’ll be committing more resources to this list and playing these moves.

But first, I must find my way out of a few big losers on my books…..developing…

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