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Tag Archives: Trading

Zen chases $APRI for thrill

After taking my quick profit yesterday, I assumed $APRI fun was over for good with short-sellers taking over.  But this morning action told me otherwise.  After open, price action started to kick off to the upside.  Not to miss this speculation play, I bought back some shares to join the thrill ride.

If momentum continues the way it is now, $APRI may be breaking out to the upside after taking out the Feb 11 high of $3.42.  If, a big IF, there is a buy out in the card, this one can go a lot more…

Below is the daily chart:

APRI_daily

Below is the weekly chart:

APRI_weekly

Notice that this week bar has already broken out of the two 79sma and 89xma lines.  Notice also how the two ma lines are merged together this week.

My 2 cents.

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Zen hunts $DNN to get radioactive high

With $CCJ recovering, it is time for $DNN to play catch up.  We are getting close to the point when the uranium supply from the Russia will come to a slow drip due to expiration of the on going US-Russia HEU (highly-enriched uranium) agreement in 2013.

The chart below looks like it is ready for a bounce.

DNN_daily

I bought a starter position in the morning and later added more to double-down on the bet.

My 2 cents.

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Zen hunts $CERS for clean blood

$CERS is one my “chase” stock from Monday and I’m still riding the rally on this one.  Price action is now near the previous high of  $5.43.  A breakout of this resistance from here without any consolidation will form a left-hand cup & handle breakout pattern.  Yes, you’ve heard it right.  I don’t know if there is such a thing as left-hand cup & handle pattern in the stock chart book; if not, then I’ve just invented one.

Take a look at the chart below:

CERS_daily

Momentum is still strong with momentum indicators still point up and not yet at the over-bought level yet.

Fundamental speaking, $CERS is already selling their blood “cleaning” system outside U.S.  It is currently working with US FDA to gain approval for sales here.  As the sales start to grow outside US with the possibility of gaining US market in a year or two, the potential for $CERS will show in the price action sooner if not later.

Depending on price action in the near future, I’m still debating if I want to keep this one as a position trade.

My 2 cents.

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Zen hunts $DUST for gold scrap

I like $DUST for its power surge yesterday and I think the run isn’t over yet.  I missed the chase yesterday and today retracement in the 3m chart gave me an opportunity for a bounce play with small risk.

DUST_3m

I bought a starter position @ $103.xx and placed a stop below the recent pivot low.  See line on chart.

My 2 cents.

 

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Terminal Velocity –> DOWN

$AAPL has taken out the Fib 50% retracement @ $425.00 instead of bouncing off here.  A failure of a Fib support is as significant as a bounce off it.  It may be too early to say that the 50% retracement fails at $425.00 when there are still time for $AAPL to bounce back up above that line.  However, any further drowndraft away from the $425.00 line will signify a Fib 50% support failure.

AAPL_daily

I’ve initiated a small starter position (using stock and put option) based on this thesis and will see how it fairs by the end of day.  If price comes back up above $425.00, I will cover and take my small losses.

My 2 cents.

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ZEN hunts $NVAX for medicine

$NVAX chart also shows a bounce after touching the uptrend line.

Take a look at the daily chart below:

NVAX_daily

Both momentum indicators are now point up along with the 5 ma line.

A bounce is possible at this point; hence,  I bought a starter position.  This is also my prefer play in light of the bird flu situation.

My 2 cents.

 

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Zen hunts $FB for lunch

$FB chart looks like it is making higher low if we can get a bounce from here.

Take a look at the daily chart below:

FB_daily

The over all trend is still up and a bounce may be in the card.

I bought $FB looking for a resumption of the uptrend to take out the high @ $32.51  established in Jan 28th.

My 2 cents.

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Zen hunts $GLUU for breakfast

$GLUU looks like it is repeating price action movement of early April.  A dip below base line of $2.75 and a bounce back to the upside. Meanwhile, the 79 moving average line is trending up slowly.

Take a look at the chart below:

GLUU_daily

Both momentum indicators are also pointing up.

I bought a starter position and added more afterward.

I like to see price heads back up to the last pivot high of $3.25.   Not expecting a big move, hence breakfast only.

My 2 cents.

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To chase or not to chase?

Despite a negative DOW, there are a lot of short squeeze happening all around. The Fly and his team are raking in gain left and right.

However you need to be fast and nimble to take advantage of these momentum plays.  If you are, chasing can be rewarding if you are early in the game; otherwise, quick gain can become quick loss when you are not looking.

If you want to chase but is not so nimble, I suggest you use a stop based on intra-day low for protection.

For myself, I bought $CERS, $KERX, $MNKD, and $CUR at higher price which definitely fell into the category of “chasing”.  I picked these because the charts looked good for further breakout.  But I’m also aware of the need to be quick on cutting losses here.

For my $SZYM trade, truth be told.  I was shaken out of my $SZYM early in the morning for wanting to lock in my gain.  Based on the turn of event later in the morning (hindsight), it is safe to say that the short was getting nervous and embarked on a short campaign to drive the price lower which stopped me out.  But the downdraft was short-lived.  Buyers began to come back and drove the price back up which caused the shorts to cover en masse.  I bought back some at the low $10.xx but not enough to partake on the great momentum later in the morning.  I was away from my desk!  Later, I chased the price by buying on breakout of the intra-day high @ $10.7x.  Priced proceeded to head higher to $11.00 and I added a bit more.  Unfortunately, all good things don’t last for too long.  Price began to fall and I moved my stop quickly to lock in gain for 50% of the buy-back shares.  I was stopped out later.  As price continued to decline, I sold another layer for breakeven to bring me back to starter position.

So far, the chase on $SZYM had brought me a small gain which I considered a waste effort.  Yes, if I had held on to my original position from the morning, I would have made a lot more; but I learned not to think like that anymore.  Once I was out from my early shake-out, $SZYM became a new play with its own risk profile for my re-entry.   You can’t let the “coulda, shoulda” affect you as a trader; otherwise, you can paralyze yourself with remorse and self-criticism that you may end up not trusting yourself in the future.

As a trader, you MUST learn to trust yourself regardless of past decisions you made.  The market is hugely volatile and will take no prisoner.   So, accept your decision and move on.

So far, my chase on the above named stocks have been neutral at best.

There you have it.  If you are thinking that you are missing the boat by not chasing, you can rest easily that it is not the case here.

Be careful out there!

My 2 cents.

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Where ego dares #5: Intensity

Last time, I talked about bringing intensity to the thought process in order to amplify the mind power.  While this is simple to understand in theory, it is going to take a lot more to pull intensity out of thin air to power your thought process.  In my Grand Canyon trip, it was a matter of survival; therefore, my will to survive bring forth the intensity I needed to push myself onward.  Without the will, I would just lie down and give up.

As a trader, how do we bring forth our will to raise intensity to our thought process so we can follow through with the proper trading process to succeed in trading?

Before I go on, I like to remind everyone that intensity in thought process is a double-edge sword.  If the intensity lies on good intention with a positive thought process, you can create wonderful things; on the other hands, it can bring darkness to your life that are filled with sadness, sickness, and destruction (of self and other) if the intensity lies on bad intention with a negative outlook of life.

We already know how to bring forth intensity automatically by getting emotional about things or events.  If we are happy, our day lightens up more than normal; that is intensity.  If you encounter a bad news that affects you deeply, your day is filled with sorrow, sadness, and anger; that is intensity.

Ok I get it.  So how do we summon intensity to help our trading mind without getting emotional about things.  As you’ve already told us zillion of times, emotion is bad for trading!

Knowing that you can summon intensity with the emotion gives you clue that intensity is yours to take if only you know how to tap into it.

Ok, how?

By using the power of focus on your thought process.  You summon your will to “focus”.  When you get emotional about something, your thought process is being “focused” on one thing.  The only one thing that you are emotional about.  Because of the mind & body relationship, the intense focus of your thought process spills over to your body and cause you to have a body reaction such as butterflies in your stomach, an ecstatic episode, etc.

Your will is your 100% commitment to a single thought process that overrides other thought processes in your head.  Even your natural mind (aka ego) do not have enough power to overcome it.

In my Grand Canyon example, I was 100% committed to survival.  I wanted to survive so much that I found a solution to fight off the weakness of my starving body by focusing only on my foot and the one step movement.  There were no other thought than my foot and the one step.  I was free of my ego and I didn’t even know it.  By the time I was at the top, I didn’t care how I look or how I appeared to others (caring about what other people think is the ego domain). I grabbed anyone who walked by me, which was something I wouldn’t normally, and asked for information.

However, in our normal trading day, we are far from fighting for physical survival.  We are only fighting for a number that resides in our banking system- money.  Most of us aren’t foolish enough to put 100% of the money into the stock market.  Most will put aside money for general living expenses and invest some into the market.  While losing the money allocated to the stock market may put a dent to your life-style, it is not going to kill you or put you on the street.  Hence, most lack the will to draw on the intensity to the thought process to improve trading success.

“Oh well, I don’t need the money right away, I can wait out the drawdown for all the stocks in the portfolio,” was the usual thought process for a lot of people.  Basically, a lot of us don’t mind being a bagholder.

Of course I mind!

Ok, let me clarify.  A lot of us prefer to take the risk of being a bagholder than to take the effort to do the right thing by cutting losses quickly.

Hey you!  What about your $AMRN and $LRAD trades?  Ain’t you a bagholder on them as well?

Oop! You got me there!

But there is one difference between my being a bagholder on $AMRN and $LRAD and most bagholders in general.  I’ve “assigned” $AMRN and $LRAD as  position trades with the express purpose of waiting out their fundamental success from the very beginning.

Yes, my position trades on $AMRN and $LRAD are underwater from my re-entry point but I’ve done my research and am willing to allocate a percentage of my portfolio for “speculation” purpose.

Meanwhile, s lot of bagholders hold ALL their stocks in their portfolio and ride the whole portfolio down along with the general market correction.  In my humble opinion, this is poor portfolio management,

Do you see the difference?

Like I said, most people only have their investment portion of their money in their portfolio; therefore, while they don’t like the pain of the drawdown of all their stocks in the portfolio, the drawdown won’t kill them.

“I can wait it out.” is the usual response.

It is your money and it is your freedom to  manage it the way your ego wants it.

But do you catch my drift here?

There is absolutely no incentive for most people to summon their will to become a better trader/investor.  Nada!

Simply because the effort is very hard.

It is very hard to focus intensely on the proper trading thought to overcome the ego desires to be right.

It is very hard to maintain the focus on the proper trading thought to overcome the ego desires to be right.

It is very hard because it will require a lot of your energy and commitment to stay focus.  Most people will prefer to engage in other forms of entertainment than to waste it on trading discipline.

For all I know, you work very hard during your day and you just don’t have the energy and time to maintain the focus for the trading effort.

The point I’m making here is that to have a shot at becoming a successful trader/investor, you have to take the extra miles to get there.  And most successful people know that.  Those who make millions or billions in the business world know that; that is why they hire the best money manager they can find to manage their money.  They know they don’t have the time to become a successful trader on their own.

But if you want to manage your own money, you have to step up.  You have to summon the will to focus on the proper trading process and do the right thing.

The intensity is there for you to take it to your trading mind.  You just need to take the effort to focus on it.

At the end of the day, the question you have to ask yourself is, “do you want to take the effort to overcome the inertia and your natural mind to become a successful trader?”

It is all up to you.

You are what you think.

Your reality is a sum total of how you think.

You can enhance your reality by bringing positive intensity to your thought process or you can let your reality stay the same by remaining in the same thought process you have now.

But even then, spending the time and hard work can only increase your probability of success.  It doesn’t guarantee success.  Your ego is a very powerful entity.  You may think you have it under control using the intensity I’ve discussed. But your ego has patience.  It can wait for your moment of weakness.  Jesse Livermore, one of the past great trader in our financial world, succumbed to his ego at the end.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.  Keep it simple.  Just bring enough intensity/focus so you can bypass your natural mind to cut losses quickly.  Cutting losses quickly is by far the most important and yet a simple action to perform on your way to become a successful trader.  As we all know, simple is not the same as easy.

My 2 cents.

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