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Tag Archives: $AAPL

Overconfidence is an Expensive Habit

You see many new traders who are gun shy.  They here the loud noises, they see deranged men extracting thousands of dollars from the market, and they freeze up when their well-thought plan comes to fruition.  I remember that feeling, it is a dangerous one.  You should enter any deal (trade, contract, relationship) from a position of confidence.  If you cannot, then the first dose of adversity will scare you out of your idea.

I suffered from a different type of emotional state last week and I am paying the price today—overconfidence.  At times I feel invincible.  Like when I erase over 10% in losses in a few short weeks.  It is not that I feel the need to make more gains, but instead that I “know” I have the Midas touch and everything I procure will immediately conform and take flight higher.  To be honest, most do.  Then they stall, then they fall, then they spelunk.

Resident internet trader psychologist Brett Steenbarger had a great exercise for nipping either of the above symptoms in the bud.  He advises traders to keep an emotional thermometer.  Like a regular thermometer it has a scale, only this scale reads frigid cold coward to burning hot madman.  You measure yourself regularly to temper the emotion and also perhaps put a restriction in place.

In short, these last two days have reclaimed about 3% of my gains.

Moving on.  Jib at futures trading all you want, but today I literally called the bottom to the tick using market profile.  Going forward I intend to use straight futures to play the ultraviolent markets else end up stuck in a fag box like I was today.  Yes, I called the bottom to the tick and yes I went out and executed some buys.  I bought AAPL weekly calls, the strike is irrelevant.  The problem is AAPL made a modest move and then did NOTHING for what felt like many moons.  I am over here, taking conference calls and whatnot, constantly afflicted with a need to babysit the Apple chart intraday.  I would rather be duct taped to the ceiling then watch an entire day of Apple trading.  It was a tremendous waste of a solid market call.

Insistent upon making a winner out of this warm apple lemonade, I help the position overnight.  Here’s to hoping Tim Cook doesn’t do anything stupid overnight ::drinks said drink and smashes glass on desk::

 

 

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The Normal Day

It turns out the NASDAQ printed what is called a normal day in market profile theory and the fun thing about normal days is they are anything but.  In fact, they are rather rare.

And I must say I do not particularly like normal days, at least not up here at swing highs, because they tend to occur at or near inflection points.  A normal day is described as having a very wide initial balance (first hour of trade) which is not breached for the remainder of the session.  It suggests indecision, intraday, mostly signaling directional conviction is low.

That context makes sense if think about gapping higher, in a hot (too hot?) bull trend, into a short holiday week.  Short sellers do not want to get steamrolled in the thin trade, buyers are hesitant to initiate additional exposure at these elevated levels, and current longs are likely mulling taking profits.

Add to that the narrow pockets of market momentum and you have a solid recipe for indecision.

I have my book about 90% long at this indecisive juncture.  AMBA finally went to work, crushing the hopes and dreams of Morgan Stanley analysis hoping to make a name in the technology space.  I like to think this guy who downgraded AMBA will read the Raul blog, so I have a special message for him: this chipset powers the GoPro, it is on the X-mas list of every adventurer.  Short interest, albeit modest, will start to get icy hands as we approach December 5th earnings.  Then they will start making mistakes.

The chicken trade adhered to the November seasonality statistics, naturally, unlike the unnatural meat produced in PPCs new streamlined robot facilities.  December brings a tad bit more seasonality mojo, and we still have national eat 1-to-3-birds-at-once day Thursday.  I took an obligatory 1/3 scale today, but I like my prospects with the net.

I bought AAPL back right near the closing bell.  If you recall, I was in this trade a few weeks back and bailed with a little 2 percent gain.  It is an easy vehicle for me to lever long exposure up and down, as it consolidates along gently.

I now hold large positions in the following names, listed largest-to-smallest:

GOGO, RVLT, BALT, YELP, and CREE

These are all full size positions.  As you may imagine, this type of book requires attentiveness.  It has the capability of lopping 10% off my person rather effortlessly.

My ¾ size positions are as follows, listed again largest-to-smallest:

AMBA, AAPL, PPC, LO, and TSLA

Note: AMBA was by far my largest position prior to taking a scale near today’s high.  Tesla and their innovative CEO Elon Musk are in the house of pain.  Much like any successful individual, the media will frame Elon with a skeptical eye.  Innovators hunt profit and self-gain after all, which is inherently evil.  The issue most closely watched at TSLA is the battery technology.  If it is to usher in the era of zero emission commuting, it needs to hold up to rigorous scrutiny.  If Telsa intends to roll out a model for the middle class, they need sound battery technology established.  The chart is just basing out, below my favorite moving averages, suggesting acceptance of these lower prices.  What likely comes next is a new exploration lower by price.  This will scare most of you.  But I will be casually observing the action, minding the drawdown to my books, and meticulously selecting an opportunity to ratchet up exposure because I love me some sweet baby Elon.

I have dog and pony positions in the following stocks.  These positions are practically placeholders and some are relics from prior trades:

F, FXY, ONVO, TWTR, MJNA, and O

I thought I would turn a clever trick in MJNA.  Now I am -40% on this stupid, STUPID, holding.  It will enjoy a fake pump service or go to zero otherwise I will continue to hold this dumbness.

ONVO needs to die for a while.  It trades poorly.  I will keep my toe in the water to keep my eyes on the name.

TWTR is another name I will hold until zero.  I use twitter more than any other social media service in the world, why wouldn’t I own it?  One day I will have huge size, but right now there simply is not much to base my risk on.  Therefore I wait.

This post has gone on far too long.  These are my holdings and some reasoning behind them.  Let’s see how they perform this week.

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1800 in Sight

1800_2

Today the old man woke up at a customary 4am, sans alarm clock, and slowly rose from his twin-size bed positioned appropriately across the room from his wife.  He prepared his straight razor with smooth swipes across the grit of his sharpening belt.  His thin lips held onto a cigarette as he removed any trace of facial hair with a generation of confidence.  He swung the washroom door open and emerged from a thick cloud of smoke in a Tom Ford suit and said, “I want Cisco.”

And so went the day.  Old men across the nation dialed their rotary phones and demanded their brokers buy shares of CSCO, in 1000 lot increments, until instructed to stop.  The action firmed up the Dow Jones as well as the S&P 500.

We are only 10 points away from the 1800 market on the SPX and I am 95% long.  There was a mix of winners on the day.  The peddlers sold down GOGO today after an impressive gap which is to be expected from the degenerate class.  Meanwhile ONVO ripped the hearts out of shorts and fed them to the pigs.

The chicken play in PPC is setting up finally, and if we close the week out strong prospects look solid for a rise into the gluttonous festivities of Thanksgiving.

Facebook wants needs to corner the sexting market.  Without it, they are vulnerable to rapid extinction due to lack of attracting teenage use.  On the contrary, teenagers are smoking LO’s Blu brand eCigarettes at a growing rate.  LO is winning over the next generation of smoking class.

I am completely out of energy, here’s my book:

AMBA, PPC, AAPL, GOGO, RVLT, TSLA, LO, YGE, WLT, SFM, BALT, CREE, F, ONVO, FXY, TWTR, MJNA, and O

Many of those are partials.  The main size is from AMBA-to-WALT

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We’re Really Going to Miss this Guy

I was having a modestly red day in the futures, but I stuck around and traded through the Ben, and now I’m happy to go home very green!

I bought two dips, sold two rips…Ben is a really good guy.

There was so much selling pressure today, especially after the FOMC pop was faded, that I knew any upward momentum could get these shorts running for their dear, stupid, lives.  And Ben delivered the crack rock.  As a matter of fact, he’s not even satisfied with the 6.5% unemployment threshold initially rolled out during the taper talks.  He’s convinced we’ll need to keep on easing well beyond that, blessing the market with capital gains until everyone is back to work.

Obviously this news is very bullish for TPX because, as unemployment drops, procreation must increase.  The safest way to procreate is within the confines of your bed.  So get a nice one, yes?

Anyone want to take bets on where we open tomorrow?

It’s a long way until 9:30am…

I’ll quickly run through today’s portfolio adjustments:

I dumped AAPL for a scratch after riding the name through a trough.  I can’t get excited about this name because it’s literally falling behind the power curve.  That’s dangerous in any business.  My assistant mocks my ghetto 4s about once a week and then changes the channels with her Galaxy.  It has the infrared beam like your teevee remote.  Plus I wanted to sell it at yesterday’s low, so why not sell it today, near the highs?  It can go to $1000 and I still won’t regret this decision.

I scaled off some Z as it pokes around near the all-time high.

I cut my ANGI long because I don’t have patience for it when YELP is crushing, Z is crushing, and ZNGA is flirting with me.  What was once a 6% gain was booked for a 5% loss.

All of this left me feeling cash heavy aka homo erotic.  So I scuttled into DDD and SD.  DDD is ¾ size and SD is ½ size.

I closed the day 80 percent long with TPX of course being my largest position because my top pick continues to be TPX, got it?

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Equities Continue Their Clumsy Appreciation

The ETF SPY is on track to print another tight and gapped candle to add to the ADR collection we’ve assembled since the big liquidation snap.  This is by far, one of the strangest and most unhealthy appreciations I’ve ever seen.

Nonetheless it is an appreciation, so longs are a-workin’

With the muted action taking place in the futures, making for a challenging day trading environment, I’ve been a spectator for most of the day.  None of my charts look broken yet none of my stocks are reaching their targeted destinations.  The exception I have is AAPL, which could be taking a turn for the worse.  It’s certainly my lowest conviction play and every hour I think about selling it.

Two of my larger positions, TPX and GS are not doing much.  I don’t intend to sell any TPX until $50.

My ANGI and Z trades seem to complement each other well.  When one is feeling down, the other is up.  Z is larger than ANGI, but not by much.  You would think ANGI was kidnapping babies given the internet sentiment.  I’ve never seen such disdain for a company, save for YELP.

People act like businesses owners have never had to grease a few palms to get the gears turning.  What the fuck?  You start a business.

ENPH is a daily epiphany since snaring the bears in that lovely trap.  This is one of those exciting new companies where I never want to sell shares, but I must.  My plan is to buy and sell but always keep a core, thus whittling my cost basis down into the threes.

FB looks kind of hot, finally.

My LED stocks are getting hammered today.  Let’s face it, they’re up huge YTD, they may not participate in every rally going forward.  I want more CREE, but will exercise stoic patience with the stretched name.

AIXG on the other hand needs to grab its schnitzel and man up ASAP.

F is extended, but I continue to view demand for this equity as pent up.

I’m currently at 13 longs.  I prefer a max 12.  But I need to buy something else unless I’m compelled to sell because something about 13 longs rubs me wrong.

 

 

 

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Charts Are a Bit “Meh” Until They ARE NOT!

Because when three months go by and every stock feels like a chase, you’ll pull out your weekly charts and be like, “Well when was that perfect setup and why did I miss it?  Oh, I see, it was the sketchy week leading into the 4th of July, when I tread lightly.”  And you’ll be like, “Damn, of course that’s when the opportunistic bulls went all capre diem, bastards!”  This scenario will resonate even louder for the cash-heavy vacationers…

…Raul is never on vacation, even when on vacation.

I’ve accepted that travel for the next 3-9 years must be within the confines of an acceptable internet connection.  Perhaps you’re like, “that’s sad, really.”  You shouldn’t.  I’m hungry, and we “all gone eat honey.”  Mine is simply being deferred into my early 30’s.

We’re all staring at the same charts, and it’s hard to look away.  SPY is like your favorite train-wrecked celebrity, blowing cocaine and walking through Hollywood naked.  We’re disgusted, but a part of us wonders if we’ll ever experience such luxuriously-destitute conditions.  You’re sure they’ll die or be arrested, but just then Richard Branson comes to their rescue, flying them off the streets in his spaceship.  That’s the ETF SPY summed up in one paragraph.

It’s a totally new world we live in.  Get out your space helmets friends!

So I’m Don Johnson long into tomorrow’s shortened trading session, fully prepared to hammock myself and drink cucumber water once the market closes.  Then blow shit up, and then have a remote presence Friday, like an alien.

I’m over MAX HOLDING COUNT, currently holding 14 longs, like a box of dynamite.

Cash is only 10 percent and here are my longs, listed by size, largest-to-smallest:

TPX, F, Z, GS, FB, ANGI, SHLD, AAPL, IMMR, O, CREE, AIXG, ENPH, and YGE

I’m certain this list has little value to you because, well, it’s too many names.  I’ll cut the solars on any additional weakness, but I couldn’t stand the thought of cutting them before they actually become fireworks…they’ve done nothing wrong.

O shot out of a clown cannon into the bell.  The move lower looks way overdone, and inside 12631 we talked about how this is one of my favorite setups.

AAPL made it back to my basis, so I cut it in half.  Sitting through that drawdown full sized was muy shitty.

F closed out at 52 week highs, fantastic looking chart.

ANGI is still “meh”

CREE: all year I’ve wished I had more, but all year I’ve been long so….I can’t beat myself up too bad.

GS needs to do some fancy bear-trapping, because right now, they’re asserting themselves rather well.

Enough, I grow tired.  See you homos later.

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Patriot Rally

Today’s follow through atop yesterday’s move atop last week’s move HIGHER is fueled by pure patriotism.  As I type, the index futures are “giving it up” but I don’t care.  You may in fact be hard up to find a bull who cares, because “the good stocks” are higher; stocks like Fords (sic), Cree, and Apple.

The long wick on XLF and all the jitters it produced have to this point been swept aside, and the financials are behaving rather constructive.

REITS are defying bearish setups, TLT is up, and so is our dollar.  Keep in mind, our jungle informant, deep in the Forex bush, is expecting an ambush on the dollar soon.  Always keep an open ear to Kong.

Pincus over at ZNGA decided he wants his net worth to appreciate, so he replaced himself.  In perhaps the best decision of his life, he hijacked Microsoft’s head of Xbox, brilliant.  I’m constructive on ZNGA henceforth, and will patiently tan my body and plan my entry.  I will likely pepper myself in in 1/2s, 1/3s, or ¼’s due to the nature of ZNGA shares.

My only actions thus far have been tossing fish in the futures, making lunch monies, and scaling off some AAPL shares as we rocketed into the 33ema @ Jerry Garcia aka $420.

I still want SHLD, and I thought your bastards may have beat me to it, but here it comes, right to mama.

ANGI needs to go soon or it’s out, I want to keep my holdings to 12 and this one is, how do you say?  Stalling.

As we enter afternoon trading, the question is, do the bears really want to be short into the kickass fourth of July?  Cover your shares, or face a barrage of whirly birds, mortars, and wolf packs.

Bonus: What’s your favorite firework?  Let me know in the comments below.  I’m going shopping.

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1 for 6

June, Q2, and all of its awesomeness are in the books.  Now we must press into everyone’s favorite quarter, the third, infamous for blowing up accounts.

We had a little scare there for a minute, with bonds going tits up, but so far these fears have been swept under the rug with all the other market villains.  Will the V-shaped bounce stick in PCK?  It seems unlikely.  Volume has tapered off on the bounce up, making the move appear to be of the dead cat varietal.

So I don’t think we’re out of the woods, whistling and skipping across the prairie…blue skies and Teletubbies, yet.  If you are carrying yourself in such manner, have a plan.  Otherwise a surprise cyclone could drop a garbage truck on your person, like the finger of God removing your sperm from the gene pool, benefitting humanity as a whole.

I say all this to you while I stand atop 80 percent long equities, most of which are consumer discretionary.  Why would I carry such funk stocks in this uncertain climate?  It’s simple really, like always.  The wealthy, like always, they’re confident.  They’re always confident, but lately their confidence is at all-time highs, as measured by the Consumer Sentiment Index.  One of the best ways to improve the overall quality of your life is to upgrade your bed.  Don’t sleep on some piker mattress from a garage sale, covered in sweat stains and bed bugs—filth, I spit on your bed.  Most people (not most iBC loyalists) spend close to 40% of their lives in bed, why be ghetto about it?  The answer is they aren’t, they’re buying TPX mattresses by the factory load.  Good lord these babies have a sweet margin, too.

iBC Loyalists:

pilot

Also, there’s a big consumer push into adjustable beds.  They promise ergonomics, improved circulation, and an ace reading position.  Traditionally only the elderly and hospitalized enjoyed such decadence. Now they come with 52-inch retractable plasma screens at your feet.  UUUuughghgu!  Guess whose mattresses work best in such conditions?  Yep, TPX.

Now I won’t chop my dick off if TPX isn’t trading to $50 in July, but I have a ton of conviction in the name.  I crushed this trade late last year based on the same conviction.  Are you going to tell me I’m wrong?

I have 11 other longs aka peak position count.  I present them to you, largest-to-smallest, headed into July:

AAPL (lol), TPX, F, FB, ANGI, YGE, IMMR, Z, CREE, GS, AIXG, ENPH

May Julius Caesar and his month bring gifts to my person and yours.

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The Market Feels Heavy

Yet the sellers can’t gain traction.  Every attempt at sending price lower to fill the gap below stalls out.  The sell orders are pressuring the bid this afternoon in the S&P minis but not achieving any progress.  All of this pressure building up has to go somewhere.

Meanwhile, with the help of The PPT I found some shorts in ENPH and squeezed’em pretty well today.  I scaled some profits, but left ½ the position on in case the pain trade continues.  The weekly chart suggests it could.

I hopped on board Zillow today after the impressive Pending Home Sales Index, which crushed expectations.  I hate when a house goes pending, BTW.  When I was about 9 months into my hunt and houses would go pending in less than 3 days listed, I would chastise my real estate agent and damn the illiquidity of homes.  This chart looks mint and I want it to keep looking mint so I can size it up.  For now, I’m ½ size.

These F shares are working out, up around 4 percent since my entry.  So far, we’re looking at a v-shape bounce in a big consumer discretionary.  The same goes for TPX.  This is like the housing trifecta: Z, F, TPX.  You find the house, you buy the car, you buy the bed.

We’ve been trend up all week, which SHOMP-wise makes sense, but for all other intents and purposes seems odd.  Now the questions becomes, do we run into the 4th of July?  If we do, I want to be in patriotic names, like F.

I’m still in FB, did you know that?  I’ve ridden through the trough, and now things are looking really good.  This also fits the suburban lifestyle, shack up and talk politics with your delusional relatives.  Note: I don’t do FB.

Anyhow, I’m 35 percent cash and long the following names.  I’ve bolded my favorites and they’re listed by size, largest to smallest:

AAPL (fml), F, FB, SODA, YGE, Z, IMMR, CREE, TPX, ENPH, and ZION

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The Gains Are Hard Fought

The tape we’re navigating continues to be tough on me, hesitating to grant me generous sums of money.  I came into the day a little over 60 percent long, as where I was more like 80 percent long on the way down, so I’m not recapturing my losses.

Plus I own some overpriced AAPL.  I’m afraid this stock lost its momentum a few weeks ago and is now destined to drift lower until a catalyst presents itself.  And here I am, -6% on the name.  I suspect we’re seeing profit taking by the huge funds who have called AAPL home for many years.  After a lousy quarter, who wants this name on their books?

My only action today in the portfolio was taking a ½ scale on my ZION shares.  Regional banks continued their strength today and we reached my initial destination.

I’m sick of solar stocks and I own YGE and ENPH.  I thought about selling both no less than three times today but I wanted to give them a chance to regain their mojo.  Perhaps they would think about how cool it used to be when they would run hard.  I don’t know.  Put yourself in a business owners shoes for a moment.  Would you rather build gigantic solar panels on your roof to generate a fraction of the energy you need, or cut your lighting expense by 75 percent?  Lighting which in most business settings accounts for 25 percent of the electric usage.  If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times, “The easiest was for a business owner to place themselves in the graces of Premier Obama is to upgrade their lighting to CREE bulbs.”  CREE should have been accumulated on the dip…that’s your hindsight trading tip of the week.

I wanted to add to SODA all day and then I didn’t.  It just never convinced me.

Today was one of those sessions in the futures where I grind out all day long to compensate for two mistakes I made.  Then, sitting on a beige-green day, fairly confident the HOD was in, I got cocky and went long again and gave back my daily gains.  I made 1500 in profitable trades and 1650 in losing trades.  The lessons keep coming.

I’m off to tend to other business then swim no less than a mile.

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