As per the usual modus operandi (extra redundancy) I navigated today’s trade without media outlets like the teevee and with very little twitter exposure.  Instead the news came through the filter of a well curated group of elite traders in the 12631 trading room.   “No taper” they said, the exploding /ES and /6E charts told me the rest—risk rush on.

Reacting is a dangerous beast unless your reactions are decisions contemplated hours and days in advance from the war room (home office).  I took SKF off first, as I rehearsed in my mind last night.  Then I took a wish list of stocks and picked two: CLF and Z.  Zillow was an obvious buy because I love the company and housing will quickly become the catch up play as we dash to Xmas. CLF was a pure chart buy that could play catch up. Then I dove back into the big wave riding competition in the green lit halls of globex.  Futures good friends, I held my own with the big kahunas.

I’ve had 2k days on sessions like this.  Today was much more modest, but much less stressful and a hell of a lot more precise.  When November rolls around and I’m trading the size I want to deploy my scaling system, these will be 2k days again.  I ran before walking, fell quite a bit, decided to start walking, and soon I will run again.

6 trades: 5 long – 1 short, 6 winners.

Seeing as RBCN was my largest position going into today’s tape, yes, I did have a good day…thank you.  What would have made it only better but without it I still high watermarked would have been holding onto EXK which I regretfully cut this morning.  Regrets, I’ve had a few as Sinatra says.  It ripped the tits off and looks ready to continue ripping the tits off this week.  Now I feel like I am missing the action, therefore I am.  I will revisit the miners this weekend.

Oddly yet amusingly enough, RVLT paired up with IMMR, smoked entirely too much MJNA and enrolled in Clown College. Due to their heavy course load, 7 credit hours, they will be too busy to participate in this ramp up. They will instead focus on balloon animals, banana cream pies, and terrifying children.

The question that should be at the front of each of your minds is, “Is this euphoria?”  Because, I can tell you I feel a bit euphoric.  I will be breaking down the days leading up to this moment, all the blogs, all the behind the scenes homework, and psychoanalyzing this win ship to find repeatable strengths.

The work load only increases when you are winning, you must love the process as much (if not more) than the outcome.

Get some rest and come back early tomorrow, for today is only Wednesday.

http://youtu.be/nhflmIbyHbg

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I couldn’t pull the trigger on anything today, not to sell existing shares, not to buy new shares, and I have SKF already which feel like a bit much in this tape.

I stalked CREE today, it is setting up perhaps.  I wanted to buy shares much lower, so if this setup does trigger I may just trade a piece and go back into my core size (3/4).

Current longs, by size: RBCN, SKF, RVLT, AIXG, CREE, FB, LO, EXK, F, IMMR, MJNA, and O.

Cash around 25 percent.

The O was very strong at the open.  That is a nasty little fade right there.

I lost some money in the futures today when I was shaken out of my short by the clown show in my brain.  I called the head and shoulders this AM to the tick.  But instead of capitalizing on it, I sat in traffic listening to Traffic.  The clown ring leader is Gary Busey.

I’m holding out for my favorite setups before I put any more cash to work.

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My apologies for being a bit light on the pen today and yesterday, I have simply not had the time to properly address you, kind people of the interwebs.

You may be familiar with the Sold Too Soon club and its proud members, but I’ve become a certified member of the Bought Too Soon club.

Dips, I’ve been buying them too soon.  The problem with buying too soon, good people, is YOU HAVE TO TAKE HEAT, lots and lots of heat.

Then, you pay quite a bit of money to see your trade through.  Such is the case with my new stud picks SKF, RBCN, and EXK.

These are all trades to me, nothing more. I literally have a few cents more patience in all three.  You know what that means right?  I risk getting a larger loss via an overnight gap.  It’s hard for me to overly concern myself with such things though.  It seems silly to live a life of worry at such a tender age.  I still like these trades.

LED is working this week and I want a fund of LED firms.  So far, I have it owning CREE, AIXG, and RVLT.  I want more of all of them and a side of LYTS and OESX.

Stocks were mixed today, but overall down.  The same goes with my swing portfolio.

But your boy RAUL did work today, regaining all of the Bossram losses from last week.  As you may have noticed, the /ES has been a snoozer.  Seeing in advance the need to recoup my losses and suspecting the /ES may offer insufficient opportunities to do so, I pegged out the i7s all weekend to build a high probability trading picture in the /6e aka the Euro dollar.  I used to trade this instrument three years ago and I remember why—it’s a wiry SOB.  Chalk it up as beginners luck if you’d like, but I pulled another 0.0040 out of the /6e today, putting me back on track to increase my position size by the end of October.

This very much pleases me.  I’m not taking excessive risk either.  The gains have come faster because the /6e is on the move and setting up more often.

In summary, the /ES rolled over a bit today after taking out a trend line I drew on my chart.  That’s some advanced analysis.  Value migrated higher, we printed a neutral day which tends to show up near inflection points and tomorrow is Friday the 13^th.  Hide your wife.

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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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As the rally pushes on, showing small signs of exhaustion but by no means cueing the fat lady, stocks…well most of them…are simply not providing the returns necessary to support the superfluous lifestyle we desire.

How is one to afford three-tiered infinity pools when their variable income is only a few hundos?

And I get it, it’s a tough tape, a stock picker’s market if you will, but none of this matters.  I want my cake.

Let it be known that I crushed the EXK trade so far and the BPZ awesomeness.  And I needed to because my two jumbos ENPH and TPX and a pair of smitten homos at a pride festival: useless to society.  On the day, I was up just a tad below 1%.

Futures are considered a different beast by some, but I think you just have to sharpen your lens and get a good timeframe that works for you.  For some it’s the 2500 contract volume bar, for others it’s renko bars or minute bars.  I use a range bar, currently the 6-tic.  But if you find a chart and like the way it trades over a few 100 days of data, go for it.  It’s no different than trading a stock.

My futures game is getting tight as in I know it’s getting close to reaching the next level of profitability.  I need to make sure the next time we see a real intraday opportunity in the market I can stick to my plan and not go cowboy on the tape.

Anytime the tape is levitating and I’m not making money, I start jamming into lots of names.  Instead, I’m doing the opposite, trimming some long exposure where I have wins and cutting out a few names.  I sold GRPN for example…at break even.

I’m sick of talking about myself, what’s working for you?  Are you playing the biotech lotto?  Are you utilizing an option strategy during earnings?

Are you crushing some earning’s action?

I know someone is coming all over this tape, I’d love to hear about it. (no homo)

I’m off to peddle graveyard roses for grocery money…

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After spending the morning getting myself well positioned in the futures, talking a bit of smack on the twitter network, and other general business tasks I grew hungry.

The pickle of it all was my damn minions aren’t here today, bastards.

So I had to go get some grub myself, oh the humanity.

And while I did, I was sequestered from my kickass electronics and forced to view the market through the lens of an iPhone.  Stupid-archaic-fossil phone!

As luck would have it, I was well positioned in the futures, buying 1687.25 in the ES_F.  I took a scale at a point and a quarter because the sellers appeared as if they would not relent.   Then as I cursed society’s insistence on dawdling through life, a small burst of selling caught me off guard and I covered my long for +0.75.

At that very moment, the move I planned on riding occurred, back the VPOC, without Raul.  All because I had to fetch my own food.

So far I missed my first scale in EXK too, because I held out for a few more pennies.  I’m sure it still gets it, but I wanted to get my first scale quick to fulfill the old instant gratification desire.

ENPH is plagued by a seller in and around $7.50, a jackass really.  TPX, my only position larger than ENPH, has been a cold fish for weeks, freezing my assets in place.  Do you see how much time I’m wasting?

Instead of getting frustrated, I went and talked to strangers about anything and everything besides the markets: the rampant bug infestations occurring, the blood red moon, the biblical rain storms…you know, stuff the common folk discuss.

All this, while I wait for my next setup…

 

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Today’s session had a smack of indecision which led to me selling First Solar into the closing bell.  It goes like this:  you’re sitting in a well-sized, well entered position in an industry—in this case solar.  You’re also sitting in an oversized, well entered position in the same industry.  The oversized position, in my case ENPH, gets beaten over the head for the third straight session and now you face a decision.  Do you cut the loser, even though it’s technically still on track with your plan?  Or do you cut the small winner, thus reducing your overall exposure to a bipolar industry?

I chose the latter, and I’d do it again if I had the chance.

It does take a certain bit of blissful ignorance to let your balls swing low in this market.  We printed another doji candle in the $SPX, and I plum don’t like where this one is placed.  So I cut FSLR.

FSLR in all honestly, because I’m an honest mother lover, presents a better chart setup than ENPH.  But I see less downside risk in ENPH, as we near my max pain level.  About $6.50, on a closing basis, is max pain.  I won’t become an investor in ENPH, if you know what I mean, but certain setups take time to reward you, and the reward is sweet money.

That and I bought EXK and played grab ass in the futures.  That’s my day.  Good night.

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The popularity pendulum has swung again, and the bunker lifestyle is back en vogue.  This trend, like parachute pants, may not last long, but goodness it is fun while it lasts.

Home gamers and pros alike will spend today clamoring over a small basket of stocks.

For the patient types, RGLD

For the-runner-the-gunner, EXK

For the degenerate gamblers, any-and-all-miners

I was quick to engage,”gangnam style” this morning via EXK as it sports my marque setup which caught my eye over the weekend.  It should have caught my eye Friday when I was in my summertime coma.  I’m not caring so much.

Here’s my plan, as you can see I’ve jumped the gun a bit:

The plan is a trigger above $3.75, target 1 is $4 (6.7% gain), target 2 is ~$4.50 (20% gain), then you just let the final piece ride and see if the big bankers want to turn this thing around. Risk is below $3.40.

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The old me would be stalking EXK today like I did Miley Cyrus last time she was in town, but I’m comporting myself with a bit more grace and self-respect today…like Pepe Le Pew.  I learned not to chase miners, EXK in particular, through a long history of daggered hairpin reversals.  The name is volatile, I felt early on that I missed the action, therefore I did.  I’ll have to tickle my fancies with something else today.

I’ve quite enjoyed being kicked in the scrotum this morning by my newly minted long OCZ.  They came out with some preliminary earnings data rather out of the blue, and lo and behold they’re still combating supply issues.  “SUPPLIES!” …no surprise.  There are worse problems for a company to have, like no sales.  Anyway, the stock market is the final arbiter.  If the name doesn’t shape up into the bell I may axe it (no piker body spray puke).

I sold a bit more O which is fantastic, this trade played out LOCKSTEP, and now I have my final 1/3 which the market must work very hard to take from my person, as my cost basis (net of booked profits) is now $38.50 aka well below swing lows.  I hope we take out the recent swing low, run some stops, and then I’ll add some back on.  This is going to be my new AWK, collecting me a coupon while I skip to my lou though the market minefield.

My solar trifecta has me more pleasured than Lil Wayne ‘turked up’ on opiates at a stripper convention.  Take your pick: YGE, FSLR, and ENPH the sector is leading higher just as prophesied by the immortal Le Fly and other iBC cast members.  Use the green juice to power some CREE bulbs and you’re on the right track, guy.

DDD and PRLB did this morning what I like to call the bear pinch: drive lower, pullback for shorts to enter, make a new low, barely, than quickly rip higher, leaving asshole bears stuck in their underwater positions.  Have a great afternoon you harry bastards, it’s hot out there.

RVLT finally lifted off and it has done so without me.  I’m instead nearly balls deep in German LED play AIXG, down 1 percent.  All dogs have their day, RVLT is a decent company, but they’re no CREE or AIXG fundamentally.  RVLT is an instrument for degenerates to trade.

I’m happy to have paired my IMMR with some INVN because to me, they’re the same thing: new tech, chips.  INVN appears to be more en vogue.

F won’t let good Americans in unless their 401-k is set to ‘auto-allocate’.

FB still wants to win, while you’re looking elsewhere.

I’ll never own enough Z, but I own it nonetheless.

TPX is still my largest.  You will all feel its gentle wrath.

Who thinks BPZ has another squeeze in it?  (Raises hand)

That’s my book in a nutshell.  I’m considering an FXY long as protection.  Call it Kong hedging.  iBC is becoming a formidable beast.

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My office was rife with distractions today as the typically quiet folks of finance dipped into a barrel of beer and invaded my workspace all-too-frequently for its VIP view of the streets below.  Damn these fools, seriously, they’re demented humans who don’t get out nearly enough.

Pair that with Multicharts having an impromptu mandatory software update, and I was rendered useless in the futures market after the clock struck ten.

I’m brooding so hard right now.  But what the hell, everyone’s having fun, yes yes yes!?  Ben told the bulls, “we ridin’ round we gettin’ it.  It’s mine, I spend it.”

Ben put his flex on like an old tiger in his last fight—he’s not losing.

The S&P pit session was quiet today, but really fluid and without nasty trap action.  It went directional downward early on, and anyone with a brain would be trigger happy on their shorts, taking profits given the context.  So when a new low was never set, the market never even enticed chasing the shorts.  Then it marked time all session, then put in two nice little rotations higher to close out the day.

I missed the afternoon rotations, hence the brooding.

Perhaps that is why I bought BPZ at HOD today but let me explain a bit more.  They say if you feel like you’re missing out on the action, it’s already too late.  When I pulled up BPZ this afternoon, I didn’t feel a sense that I had missed anything.  I see this type of setup all the time, yet I never take it.  A stock launches over 10 percent higher in a single session on strong volume and closes near the HOD.  The next day it makes an even BIGGER move.  Pair that with the following bullet points:

1.) http://ibankcoin.com/flyblog/2013/07/10/a-titanic-shift-in-the-oil-markets-are-underway/

“On the other hand, surging oil prices is good for a number of sectors, such as solar, alternative energy and good old fashioned exploration plays who bank coin off the price of oil going higher.”

2.) It showed up on three of my favorite PPT screens too, including receiving an upgrade to BUY.

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

I took my first scale in O.  You have to get paid when the market pays you.  Now the move can either continue progressing or digest for a bit and I’m chill.

I took my first scale on TPX.  It’s still my largest position and top pick.  Next target is $50.

I bought PRLB, INVN, and BPZ like a cheetah chasing a gazelle.

I took cash down to 12 percent, and my positions, listed largest to smallest are as follows (top picks bolded):

TPX, FB, AIXG, INVN, DDD, F, Z, IMMR, CREE, PRLB, SD, BPZ, O, ENPH, YGE

I want some EXK too, call it position overload.  I did this last time we peaked out…FYI but I won’t be fooled twice.

EARNING’S SEASON STARTS TOMMOROW MORNING-PREPARE FOR WAR

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