This is a Lovely Room of Death

Guys, there must be down days.  And when we’re in the stratosphere, atop the treacherous K2, guided by our Sherpa—gentleman Ben—and a group of extorting Sherpa come and kick your pack mule down the mountain and demand monies…there’s going to be some casualties.  You may need to hunker down low and take some hits.  You need to be ready to sweep the leg.

As traders, we’re paid to take daily beatings from the market.  It hardens you.  HDGE was my worse loss of the year, trimming a cool three percent off my high water mark.  Guess what?  I crested my portfolio over that mark since then, and now I’m off my new peak by two percent.  It happens fast.   You have to keep your wits about you.

This may be the start of a peak-to-trough environment.  This can last weeks.  WEEKS!  Oh the humanity.  But before we can say that with any kind of confidence we need to see price acceptance below TWO, you heard me right TWO major areas of balance which are way above where this market could pull back and still be considered VERY constructive.

I’ll look at the primary and most actionable balance distribution in the morning.

These Stocks:

I booked some winners that were lingering, some losers that were fingering, and some scratches that were carrying curious implications.

YELP was cut early.  It was crowded, that’s how crowded flag breakdowns play out.

RGR was an early sale too.  I caught the swing low, it’s been dead fish forever, when that first crazy sell frenzy happened in the spooz this morning I booked it.

I sold JRCC as it butted up against resistance.  The Plan says I must sell logical price levels, even if it’s my last piece.  I can always buy it back at a better price, at least that’s my mentality.

I booked GS because the devil’s been shorting it, I had 6 percent plus gains, and the daily candle looked nasty.  Financials have been a big driver of this move, we could rotate out of them and still see the tape flat/higher.

I sold SCTY late afternoon, after adding to my position early.  Net-net I make over 10 percent playing this crack rock.  Awesome, except it was good for over 20 percent at one point.  A win is a win, I suppose.

I added to my CREE investment.  They’re a great company.  Remember, this is a multi-quarter hold after booking massive gains in the name trading style Q1.  I’m wearing my investor hat on this one.  That being said, it also printed a nasty daily candle.

I caught the breakout in IMMR early.  It’s this type of aggression that allows me to not experience much emotion when the breakout sputters out like this one did.  It has Fly power behind it, so I’m giving it room.

Bottom line: you’re surrounded by algorithms wielding meat cleavers, protect your neck with profit scales and stop losses.  My cash pushed way up into the bell, damn near 50 percent.  I don’t like lazy cash so I’ll be hunting tonight.

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