INTC revenues came in a bit weak and the stock printed a wild electromagnetic pulse after hours but is mostly unchanged.  IBM is up afterhours and SNDK reported great numbers ripping bears to shreds and storing the gif for future enjoyment.

Clearly technology stocks are a store of value.  Be sure to ignore EBAY, the home of porn stars and packrats, they’re getting crushed after hours after guiding lower.

It’s been a rather mild first inning of earnings, has it not?  Where’s all the fire and brimstone I heard so much about?  There’s a lot of baseball left I suppose…

We’re trading along rather quietly amongst the all-time highs this week in many names.  My favorite 52 week high is Zillow, printing a very sexual 69 high water mark.  Leave it to the real estate folks…

The SPY printed a pronounced head and shoulders pattern intraday, but it never followed thru.  It tried once, but was pinched higher after a lack of follow through was presented in the form of selling.  We did have a very aggressive seller reaction at the highs this morning.  It resulted in me staying long in the futures market all session long, missing lunch, and eventually closing the position for small, stupid gain.

I have so many longs set up well, I had to sell a few shares as sacrifice to the rally gods.  I scaled off some FB and some IMMR.

This also gave me some much needed cash, which I promptly placed into GRPN.  I know I like today’s action and I’m one to put money where my mouth is.  Beyond that I abhor Groupon mainly because I’ve only actually used 2 of the 10 coupons I bought.  My assistant buys most of his lunches via their ‘Now’ service, but he has much more time on his hands.

For the day, I’m up on all accounts, albeit modestly.  I still want my space launch.

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Are you man enough to take it?

There’s a cloud of electricity around Sir Raul this morning as I trade with near impunity.  It may just be these storms rolling through the D, turning the entire landscape to a shade of green that can only best be described as ELECTRIC.

Big, big day thus far.  Let’s run down the moves:

10 trades in the ES, 10 winners.  Flawless victory.

Sold 1/3 NBG at the open + 20 percent.  My ancestors are treating me right.  I’m a decedent of ZEUS.

Sold my NFLX lotto ticket at AM swing high, made a G.

Bought more SNDK lotto tickets, let it ride.

I closed out my RVLT.  I never love this name and wanted my 5 percent gain.  It could still go.

I bought ACHN from fly’s homeless post last night.

I bought SNE.

Let me elaborate on SNE.  It has a bearish-slanted head and shoulders pattern.  Very bearish.  The NIEKKEI had a tough week.  I think they’re going to drop the hammer on shorts.  How dare they question their economic experiment!  Japan doesn’t play pimp.  This is my rebound play to get involved with the action.

I like my China names going into a weekend of Chinese PMI data.  They’ll look to get global attention this week, I feel.  I’m long DANG and HMIN.

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Yes, there was a selloff this afternoon.  Indeed, the NIKKEI is doing scary things.  Sure, there’s lots of uncertainty in the bond markets.  And certainly, we’re knee deep in month end foolishness.  But why not have fun with it?

I know everyone’s different in their approach and I respect that.  The buy and hold investor who got involved any time in the last 5 years is probably crushing, if he picked good companies.  The swinger who is patiently waiting for cleaner conditions is probably preserving a nice chunk of earned capital, waiting for her next opportunity.

I’m trying a little bit of everyone’s soup.

So far, my first two attempts at this option game have appeared well timed, SNDK and NFLX.  I’ve taken scales in both.  Aside from the paper gains I’m sitting on, which are very real money, I have a free ride on my lottery tickets, silly contracts set to expire tommorow.  There’s something to be said about this approach.  If either one of these continue higher tomorrow, we’re talking about 30-40 percent gains.  I never considered such speculation until “The Fly” brought OptionAddict into the mix.

I traded the spooz so poorly this morning, I can’t wait to review the trades while slamming my thumb in a door jam.  I need my pointer finger for clicking.

I HAVE MY CHINA FIX: Long shares of HMIN and DANG

Let me talk about DANG a bit.  My good friend @stockcats suggested the name via fortune cookie.  One thing stood out to me, the near geometric perfection of the triangle up here.  The Chinese, they love structure, symmetry.  Their leaders will point to this chart whilst we sleep and demand it resolve higher, as a show of power and formation.

I nibbled on the little bank that could, NBG.  I can’t pass up a good joke, even if it’s on me.

See my Dee’s?  DDD looks fantastic up here.  So do AAPL SNDK CREE and NFLX.  FB doesn’t look too shabby down there, either.

I’m feeling lucky, so I’m pressing my bets all over the place.  I can assure you some of them are wrong.  Until we decidedly trade lower, I’ll keep dwelling in the speculative components of the market.  But hell I’m young, I can afford to lose it ALL.  Fuck it.

Should I fall square on my face tomorrow, this post will serve as a jagged reminder of my insolence to the cautionary winds.

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The market did the ole’ bad data, positive reaction thing, which according to my matrix is the most bullish market activity out there.

This led to a short squeeze across the board.  Which is nice.  Our first attempt out of the major balance area from ~ 1651 – 1641 is to the upside.  So far the profile is establishing a P-shape which tells me aggressive buying activity, likely shorts covering, drove price higher and now we’re balancing out.  The question on everyone’s mind now should be, will new buyers step in and initiate new longs?  Or was the action only temporary before we resume a path lower?

I can’t call it.  The market will.  Watch $ES 1659.50 as your barometer to the former, and 1652.50 for the latter.

I took some profits in my SNDK weekly options because, well, they expire tomorrow!  Awesome.  It’s kind of fun to put a timer on your trades, when you’re right.  That being said, I’m holding one runner into this attempted breakout.

I bought NBG.  This is probably dumb, but MANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN, I gave serious consideration to buying that last dip.  Danger: revenge trade.

What else, what else…ah yes, I sold a bit or RGLD exactly as planned.  You must love seeing a good plan play out for old Raul.

I sold OMEX, it looks like it might roll.

I booked ¼ of my $DDD long.  I’ll always take 5 percent home.

I lost money in the futures today, taking stupid trades.

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We just wrapped up another neutral day in the spooz.  It’s funny, these neutral days, sometimes referred to as normal days, are very rare.  Yet here I am, for the third time this month bringing one to your attention.

The trade is so telegraphed, it’s treated me well.  I didn’t take it today because I was pulled into a meeting, but damn listen up: when you get a wide range during the first hour of RTH, then there’s range extension in one direction (today lower) then dynamic price action takes us ALL THE WAY to the other side of the profile and we get range extension in the other direction, there’s a HIGH probability price will return to the mean before doing anything else.  Awesome and amazing, yes yes yes?

Anyhow this type of session often precludes turning points in the market.  Hopefully, the turn is to the higher because I tossed on a bunch of risk into the bell.

I sold my AWK investment today.  It felt odd, I’ve held it for a very long time.  I feel without it, if you know what I mean.  But I’ve made so much in the name, it has come so far, and Yields Are Under Attack.  I booked it.  Remember, I swear no allegiance.

This put a ton of cash on the books and all the sudden I was almost 50 percent cash.  Down here!?  It was too much to bear <sic>.

I went shopping.

I bought DDD this morning, and then I bought more in the afternoon.  I don’t like this stock very much yet.  It has all the makings of a bull trap, if you ask me.  Why am I long then?  If it opens higher it will rip heads off.

I added to my RGLD long.  Sometimes, when you feel like taking profits, that’s the best time to buy more.

I bought RVLT.  It spiked hard.  RaginCajun highlighted it very quickly, I just clicked the button.  The stock is on my “always stalking” list.  I trimmed a bit of bread off to place on my table into the closing bell.

I added to my SNDK weekly options, $57.50 strike.  This stock, like DDD, is tricky in that it didn’t quite signal.  I would have liked to see yesterday’s high taken out.  Hand grenades and horseshoes I suppose.

I’ll either feel very smart, or very busy tomorrow morning—trading my way out of the paper bag I built.  Something about making money in these markets makes me want more. Patience.

I cut cash down to 25 percent.

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There was a nasty selloff in TLT but you can read “The Fly” to get a better interpretation.

RGLD and miners as a whole continue to be a beaten down sector.  Optimism in the space fades to indecision and back again on an hourly basis.  Such is the case when you’re tra la la-ing across the bottom.  It’s scary, especially if you’re a political investor.

We had a huge range today in the S&P.  That meant only one thing, opportunities.  I continued trading the mini contract all session, mostly to the short side and then long again approaching the final half hour.  It was by far my best performance in the index yet.  All hail the memorial weekend!

After taking some paper trades in the AAPL weeklies over the weekend and seeing what type of beast it really is, I’ve dabbled in a very small way by purchasing some SNDK May week 5’s on the $57.50 strike.  They’re really cheap, and it makes sense to risk the entire amount, essentially.  Feel free to throw rotten tomatoes at my virgin attempt using options, I normally trade common.  I’m a trial-by-fire learner so after I understood the risk, why not?

Other stock action included selling NXST.  Fly popped into 12631 and sold a few low conviction names.  If you read my reasoning behind NXST you could easily conclude my conviction level was low low low.  Sold for a small scratch loss.

I also bought some NANO today.  Nano technology is one of those things that promises so very much, like a politician.  I did a PPT dig on all company profiles featuring “nano” and simply put I settled on NANO and UTEK.

I’ll be back around, same time same place, to gather some insight into the markets with these profiles in the morning.

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Whoever made the decision to schedule Memorial Day here was on to something. The placement of this much needed rest is divine. I spent the weekend decorating the graves of my losing trades. Most trades receive a solemn salute for their service. For others, I stopped and observed for what seemed like hours, with deep introspective of the events that led to the loss.

I reviewed every trade taken in the S&P this month. If only ironically but perhaps like a little galactic wink, there have been 99 trades. A blanket of inpatients was strewn over the field. And from the review a glaring bit of clarity emerged. I must stick to my plan. I have two data sets, one with trades taken according to my plan and the rest.

Check check it out:

Pretty good numbers on the planned trades. Something to build on, no doubt. But the thing is, I really like my unplanned trades, even though the numbers suggest I should NEVER trade anything outside my plan. So I hardcoded a nuance into The Plan which lets me have my cake and eat it too. The rule is inspired by the feedback I received from you guys and I appreciate your thoughts. Kudos gentleman, behold! Literary logic to protect my ass:

I will only trade other pictures (like profile support/resistance) if I’ve earned risk capital and with a ‘one round elimination’ format meaning trades can only continue to be taken if the prior trade was correct.

To break it down, I have to only trade my plan until I’ve earned profits. If at that point I really need to take an unplanned look, I have one shot to do so. Not two, or three like Friday. I always build risk into my trades and must be willing to forfeit 1/2 my daily gains if the unplanned trade is wrong. If it’s a winner, and I want to take another, the same rule applies.

Planned trades can be taken any time. Even after a failed unplanned trade. Make sense? If you hate it let me know.

I’ve gone over 100s of charts and screens and bloggers’ picks and have a few hot looks going into the week should the market bounce or even flatline. I’m a stalker long on MSPD, LSI, SNDK, NANO, and UTEK.

Get excited.

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