Market opened higher and then dropped like a rock.

Notice that price is still inside the consolidation range; therefore, it is too early to call it a bearish market.  However, if it takes out the lower range, then the next supports are the 79 & 89 MA lines.  If that is taken out, then the next support is the Feb. low.  If that is taken out, then the bull may be over.  So there you have it, there are three “if” before we can worry about the bear market.

I bought $CERS, $GALE and added to $KGJI today; the first two were a mistake ’cause the market tanked afterward and I didn’t get out sooner.  $KGJI was a good addition since price held strong and even took out the $1.85 resistance briefly.  Volume was high today so it could mean more rally later on.

See how price closed directly at $1.85 with high volume whereas it couldn’t even close near $1.85 in the past.  I believe investors are finally realizing how undervalued $KGJI is.

Yes, I regretted selling $TINY after I bought giving that price had gone up due to an article from SeekingAlpha.

I’m not sure if I want to chase this one here.  I’ll have to wait and see.  All I can say is I miscalculated yesterday by focusing only on the D-Wave quantum computer.  Oh well…

$SEED corrected along with the general market.

But price still closed above the support line.  In fact, it is sitting right at the 15 MA line as well.  Let’s see it bounces tomorrow.

$MZOR continued to impress by fighting off bear attack.

Look at the bounce back!  The longer the consolidation, the more powerful is the breakout.  I expect the breakout is to the upside of course.

$CARA continued to correct.

Notice price is now sitting on the 15 MA support line as well as the 38.2% fib retracement line.  If it bounces tomorrow, I may add more.

$LRAD dropped out of the consolidation range but managed to climb back up to close as even.

Oh well, let’s see if it can bounce tomorrow.

Thanks to $CARA drop, my port dropped another notch down.  While I’m now below the milestone target, it is definitely within sight; so it  is a matter of time before I get back up there and beyond.

Current holdings:

LRAD, SEED, MZOR, KGJI, CARA and 28% cash.

From my other account:

Relatively speaking, I must say I’m impressed with $FITX performance today even though it didn’t go up.

The fact that it stayed even without going further down today despite a down market was very bullish to me.  It looks like it may bounce tomorrow and beyond.

My 2 cents.

Comments »

Market played the diver today by going up the springboard in the morning time and then jumped into the water not long afterward.

Price is still around the upper range of support so I would call this a healthy correction so far.

$SEED opened strong and I bought back the 40% shares I sold yesterday.  Everything was going perfectly until the mood changed in mid-day.

Since price is still above support, I decided to hang onto the shares I added back today.

$CARA also did a reversal after a stellar morning spike-up.

So far, the chart still looks bullish with a healthy dose of correction..

$MZOR performed nicely considered that most every one did a reversal.

Price is still within the top range of the consolidation area.

$KGJI was still having problem breakout out of $1.85 resistance.

I added back some $KGJI I sold yesterday due to the morning surge.

$SVA,, like everyone, enjoyed a strong morning so I bought a medium size position looking for a bounce.

Price did not turn negative and the close was higher than yesterday.  So far so good.

$CERS looked like it was bouncing off from yesterday doji bar so I bought a starter position to test the water.

Price turned negative for the day.  I will see if the $5.77 previous low @ Feb 3rd will hold before deciding what to do with my small position.

$LRAD remained neutral and range-bounded.

As long as it is not trending back down, I’m happy.

Basically, my port was in neutral zone after adding all the pluses and minuses together.

Current holdings:

LRAD, SEED, MZOR, CARA, KGJI, SVA, CERS and 22% cash.

From my other account, I was disappointed that $FITX traded lower while most other cannabis stocks went higher.  Oh well, what can I say but to remind myself to be patient.  Rome isn’t build in a day or a week.

My 2 cents.

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The market started off negative and later recovered some by day close.

Notice that price bounced off the upper range of the consolidation area.

At first, I was going with the market momentum by shorting via $TZA and $FAZ; but both turned out to be non-performing due to lack of market follow-thru with the waterfall action.  I got out with small losses.

Due to negative market action in the morning, I took it upon myself to reduce position size on $SEED and $KGJI by 40%.  Nothing really happened except that $SEED dropped a bit more below my exit point.  I’ll be buying back these shares if momentum is going back to the upside.

$SEED dropped below the support today.  There is another support at the 15 MA line at $2.50.

$CARA also dropped at the open and took out last Friday low.

However, I wasn’t concern ’cause I know price can spike back up really fast due to the low float status.  Basically I can create a new low if I dump my shares at the market; but I surely will not be able to buy them back at the price I sold for ’cause I will drive the price back up really fast if I try.  Thus, I’m not trading this one. Chart looks good for a bounce from here.  Price needs to take out today high to confirm a bounce.

$MZOR continued to meander nowhere.

But it was good to see price hang around the upper part of the consolidation range.

$KGJI was following $MZOR playbook.

Price was still having a hard time breaking out $1.85 resistance.

Good to see $LRAD bounced ’cause that means it is staying inside the consolidation area instead of breaking out to the downside.

Price is inside the range and bounced off the 15 MA line.

Due to correction from $SEED and $MZOR, my port dropped another notch.  Now, I’m barely above the milestone high.

Current holdings:

LRAD, MZOR, CARA, SEED, KGJI and 38% cash.

From my other account:

$FITX appointed Ms. Anndrea Hermann as President of the newly acquired Hemp Technologies company.  I googled Anndrea and was pleasantly surprised to find that Anndrea practically dedicated her whole adult live working with hemp.  It is an excellent move to have someone with high level of expertise on hemp to take $FITX to the next level in industrial hemp business.  Since the Federal law now allows the production of industrial hemp with its recent agricultural bills, I can see $FITX is laying the necessary ground work to become a key player in the hemp and medical cannabis market.

Price came back down a bit after an initial up move.  This one will require a lot of patience…

My 2 cents.

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The market had a wild swing during the day but closed the day neutral.

While it was a red bar, the overall trend is still up.  Notice that since beginning of February, there was only two significant corrections, 02/19 and 03/03.  This can only mean that we are in a kick-ass bullish trend or we are due for another small correction soon.

And this is the basis of my concern that I no longer feel the conviction to hold on to my $KNDI shares.  A collection of recent events had somehow changed my strong conviction on $KNDI into a cautious “going for a quick buck” speculation.

What recent events?

Remember that time I bought $XONE in December @ low $5x.xx and rode it all the way to high of $70.xx+ in mid-January and then watched a whole chunk of my unrealized gain evaporated into thin air in the name of “bullish conviction”?  This experience taught me that I must temper my conviction with a dose of short-term reality. This lesson was further confirmed by my most recent gave-back of my medium size unrealized gain on $CERS going into earning day.

Reaching my milestone target is another event that put me into cautious mode.  I do not want to fall below this milestone high so early in the game after just reaching it.  Selling out my largest position (30%+ of my port) to lock in gain was the only way to ensure that my milestone high would not be out-of-sight if a correction hit $KNDI b/w now and March 17th reporting day.

Since $KNDI had climbed so fast and is making new high approaching the March 17th reporting day, I’m becoming more leery of holding such a huge amount of unrealized gain gambling on the earning outcome.  In other words, if I’m going into this earning date with my unrealized gain on the table, I’m practically betting this whole $KNDI pot (principle and unrealized gain) on the earnings result.  So  I asked myself if I am ready to push all my $KNDI chip in the center of the table?

No.

The possible “island top” was all I need to find an excuse to sell $KNDI to lock in profit last Tuesday 03/04.

In an nutshell, I lost my “nerve” on $KNDI.

But that is just me.  $KNDI could surprise and continue to move much higher and those who have the gut to bet big will surely be rewarded for their risk-taking.  I believe I was rewarded very well for my gut and conviction of buying at the low $5 and rode it all the way to $18.xx since the latter half of 2013 with a double-down in late December after Geely’s announcement on the EV version of the London’s black taxi.

For now, $KNDI is just another possible speculative bet that warrants a “guerrilla” type of trading- in and out with small to medium size position for a quick swing trade.  With more update fundamental news, I may again become a longer-term holder.  One thing I learn is that today stock market environment requires us to combine nimbleness and a long-term outlook at the same time.  Think of a jaguar following the herd jumping in and out of the herd for the kill but still follow the herd for the next possible kill.

I actually went in with some starter position on $KNDI today but chickened out at breakeven when I realized I didn’t want to hold the position over the weekend.

Both $CARA and $LRAD were taking hit today so my port suffered another small setback.

Since $CARA position was only 1/3 of my original $KNDI size, My conviction of its disruptive pain-killer technology can handle the drawdown.

So far, all I’m seeing is some normal price correction.  Still holding my shares long and strong despite taking heat.

$SEED was practically neutral which was good enough for me.

Notice that price is still above the support area. Still holding long and strong.

$KGJI bounced slightly today.

Perhaps, next week price will take out the $1.85 resistance once and for all?

$MZOR performed well today coming back from a bearish attack to close only slightly down.

Price is still trading in the upper-range of the consolidation.

$LRAD was still stuck in its own consolidation range.

Today was another set back but I like to see price bounce tomorrow to stay inside the recent consolidation area.

Due to $LRAD and $CARA correction today, my port was down another notch but overall is still above milestone high.

Current holdings:

LRAD, SEED, MZOR, CARA, KGJI and 28% cash.

From my other account:

$FITX broke thru the resistance today.

Although it fell back from the high of the day, it still closed above the previous resistance which has now become support.

$FITX announced that it acquired Hemp Technologies Ltd.  I believe that $FITX is laying on the correct brick to build the company up. To me, it makes perfect sense.  After harvesting the 1.3 million pounds of medical cannabis, those non-bud (leaves and stems) can be used for industrial hemp.  Nothing go to waste.  What perfect synergy!

Still holding long and strong.

My 2 cents.

Comments »

The SPY took a tumble after reaching new high but then bounced back to close higher for the week.

From the chart, it all looks good.  Today was a pause day with a bias to the upside.

$KNDI took out the $17 resistance and made new high.

Although price closed below $17, it opened the door for further $17.xx.  In other words, The resistance was one layer weakened.

Regardless, $KNDI closed strong for the week.

See how high the volume was for the week?  While some may focus on how many cars $KNDI might have sold so far, I don’t think this is what drive the price up, I think it is the “potential” of multiple cities adoption of $KNDI car-sharing (vending machine style) programs that will drive the price.  Come March earnings, I believe people will look for the clue on number of cities signing on in the program.   Just take a look at some of the biotech such as $CLDX and $ISIS, look at their market cap compared to the revenues.

$LRAD looked good so far.

Despite a rough day fighting off sellers, it ended the day neutral.  Now, $LRAD just needs to take out the resistance @ $2.24 to move higher.

$MZOR closed higher a bit but did took out the upper range of the consolidation during the day.

I believe $MZOR will continue to climb from here since the recent earnings result was all good on the revenues increase.  I see more and more surgeons and hospitals adopting this robotic device to provide better efficiency and accuracy in spinal and brain surgery.

$SEED bounced higher but gave back all gain before closing.

The good news is that price still stays above support for now.  I believe traders and investors alike will buy the support for the next leg up.

$SVA was a bit disappointing ’cause price closed negative after breaking out of the consolidating range.

Nevertheless, price is now settling right on the convergence of the 5 and 15 MA lines.  Sometimes, this is a good support here.  Let’s see if price will bounce next week.

$KGJI continued to head south below resistance.

Although I’m taking heat, it was small heat.  But still, it was money tied up unproductively.  It hasn’t really gone anywhere even when $NUGT went higher.  I guess I just have to wait for the next $KGJI earnings report to see any big move here- up or down.  I’m voting for up, of course.

Due to a mixed batch of ups and downs on my six stocks in my port, I ended up with a neutral day.  But my port had a strong week that ended in a new high.

Current holdings:

KNDI, LRAD, MZOR, SEED, KGJI, SVA and 5% cash.

From my other account:

$FITX collapse after breaking down below $0.08 that caused panic selling.

My only thought at that instant was “why didn’t I wait a few more days before adding?”.

See how the daily bar closed with a hammer candlestick?  This can mean a “possible” bottom.  But price needs to close above today high next week to confirm the bottom.

Oh well, by sticking to my discipline of not averaging down, I stayed put.  When I said I was done buying yesterday it meant that I was done scaling in.  Anything purchase after that against a downdraft is considered averaging down.  Thus, I did not buy more today.  Still long and strong and I believe the facility will be completed and the permit will be granted by Health Canada.  Yeap, that is my conviction, right or wrong.

My 2 cents.

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Market bent down a bit at the open and then jumped up into the air.  Up and away it went.

See how price went down to touch the upper range of the consolidation area (support) and then bounced higher afterward.

With SPY closed at all time high, my port is following the trend by making an all time high as well.

Thanks to the three big upside momentum on $KNDI, $LRAD, and $SEED which contributed to my port making an all time high today despite $CERS putting me one back step yesterday.

$KNDI chart looked much better today compared to the last two neutral days.

Although price did not make a new high from the this week, it was still a good green bar with an upward momentum.  We may see a breakout to new high tomorrow if the wind blows higher.

$LRAD made a strong upside reversal after opening on the downside.

Volume was also higher than average.  Potentially, there may be more steam behind this rally.  Look forward for this one to move higher.

$SEED finally took out the resistance and closed above it.

Although price fell back from the high of the day, I’m just thrilled that price remained above the resistance which will now be called support.

Both $MZOR and $SVA also moved higher but their dollar value in gain were relatively smaller compared to the three stocks above.

Again, $KGJI did not rally.  I’m beginning to feel that this one is dead money.  But I like to believe when the time comes, it will rise very fast; therefore, patience is required for this one.

Good thing I sold $HALO yesterday since price went down after-hour today due to earning miss.

Current holdings:

KNDI, LRAD, MZOR, SEED, KGJI, SVA and 5% cash.

From my other account:

$FITX sell-off seemed to be slowing down.

Notice that today was a short range doji bar which could mean a temporary bottom is setting in.  But this bottom needs to be confirmed by a higher bar tomorrow.  Let’s see if it will bounce.

My 2 cents.

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Market was basically neutral today.   It did not go anywhere except to pause.  Pause is good.  Like any moving bio-mind, it needs to take a pause to rest.  Yes, the market is a bio-mind since it is made up of millions of mind.

My port(s), on the other hand, were having a Great Day!

First thing first, I sold all of $APRI (for non-performance) and bought $MZOR.  I like to see $MZOR as the next $ISRG.  I may hold this one for long-term and make it part of the $LRAD, $KNDI, $KGJI team.

The weekly chart above pretty much showed a strong upward trend.  I don’t think it will retrace that much from here; thus my buying $MZOR today just to get on board. .

$KNDI had a strong and healthy gain today.

Notice that price is now bouncing off the 5 MA line which was a good sign.

$CERS continued onward without giving back gain for the last two weeks.

Notice how price marched upward since early February without giving back gain.  This is a strong stock ready to pop on good news.

$LRAD also moved higher today.

I’m not crazy about the doji bar today but it may not mean a top yet.  Confirmation is needed before today doji bar is considered a temporary top.

Today, my top three positions, $KNDI, $LRAD, $CERS all carried my port another notch higher despite some minor corrections on others.  I’m especially disappointed with $TINY performance today.  I’ll need to re-evaluate this position tomorrow.

Current holdings:

KNDI, LRAD, CERS, SEED, KGJI, HALO, TINY, MZOR (full speculated).

Now, to my other account…

What’s a Fantastic day for me!

I bought $XTRM after researching this stock over the long weekend.

As luck would have it, news from AccessWire brought awareness to this stock and the momentum could not be stopped.  The main reason I like this stock is because of the industrial hemp (more so than the medical cannabis) which is being legalized in the Federal level by Obama signing off the $1 trillion Farm Bill.   The other main attraction of $XTRM is its low float status ($55.92 million) for a pennystock and its being a super micro-cap ($8.15 million) as of today close. Correction: $XTRM actually has about 717 million shares outstanding.

Granted that this company is a newby coming out of nowhere and thus carries the stigma of being a possible pie-in-the-sky stock.  However, the alluring part is $XTRM purchase of 40,000 acres of land in California that will allow it to grow the industrial hemp as well as medical cannabis (I believe $XTRM will have to wait until the Federal law legalizes cannabis first; otherwise, it will be too risky to operate when cannabis is still included in Federal Schedule 1 dangerous drug list.)

For a micro-cap stock like $XTRM, I believe the industrial hemp business alone will pop this one up big time.

Look at the daily chart above.  Even though I bought it at a higher open, I still ended with a 50%+ increase on my position. Wow!

$FITX news today is nothing new to me since I already figured this one out when they announced the production facility that can produce 1.3 million lbs annually.  That was the reason I kept buying when it was correcting last week.

I like to see price takes out the resistance at $0.1149 established last week.  $FITX offered an open house next Saturday which I thought was a good idea.  This should put any doubting Thomas to bed as to rather this production facility is a real deal or not.  I already know (or believe) that this is a real deal just by looking at the Canadian news regarding Lakeshore with picture of the Mayor with the Cen Biotech team.

Since I bought a boat load of $XTRM in the morning, my port was up 18% by day-end.  Although this port is about 1/10 the size of the main account (see above); I’ve a feeling that if these two cannabis stocks can really take off, this port may even eclipse the main account in a year or two in term of dollar amount.  The race is on!

My 2 cents.

Comments »

The market continued to rally and is now coming near the previous high established in early January.  This could be a resistance to watch out for.

If price takes out this resistance, the bull trend is still on (the blue line near the $185.00.  Where price will go after seeing $185.00 will determine which direction market will go b/w now and March (up, down, or consolidation).

$LRAD took home the bacon today by bouncing nicely.

Notice how price had gone ahead and away from the consolidation range.  It looks like some motivated sellers had completed their task after earning announcement and buyers are coming back   Let’s see if price can take out the previous high of $2.24.

$CERS also continued to move up without giving back gain.

Price could become resilient against downdraft as the timetable comes near the FDA decision in early 2014. I am holding this one thru the FDA decision ’cause I’ve strong conviction on this stock.  Please remember I had the same conviction on $AMRN and that didn’t do me any good.  On the other hand, conviction has nothing to do with being right or wrong; it has everything to do with your ability to “take the risk” for a potential reward.

Most of the other positions were either neutral or going thru minor corrections; but because of the gain from $LRAD and $CERS, my port continued to advance further to recover most of my early 2014 gain.

Current holdings:

KNDI, LRAD, CERS, SEED, KGJI, HALO, TINY, APRI (fully speculated).

From my other account:

$FITX, unfortunately, did not advance together with its peer on the positive news that the Fed is allowing some leeway for the banking system to work with legalized marijuana businesses.  I noticed there were quite a few bashers trying to create doubt regarding the prospect of $FITX getting approval for the Canadian production facility.  Mark my words, $FITX is a HIGHLY speculative stock that can either bring you a lot of money or take away your speculative investment.  At this point, with limited information such as SEC filings and period of uncertainty from having to wait for the build-out of the production facility as well as the final approval from the Canadian Gov’t to give Cen Biotech the go-ahead to start production, the next few months will be a volatile time to hold this stock.  I’m still not done buying with the gain I made from $PHOT.  I may continue to buy if price continue to dip with gain from $PHOT.  Thus, if $FITX does not fulfill its plan to complete the construction and getting necessary permit, I will only give back my gain from $PHOT.

In summary, at this point, my ability to hold $FITX is based on “faith” that $FITX is a real deal and that the marijuana market has only just begun their ascent to the legitimate businesses with huge opportunity to make money from the ground floor.

Back to the daily chart:

Price is now hovering around the congruence of several technical supports: support from the last three trading days (blue line), Fib 23.6% retracement from historically low to recent high, and 38.2% retracement from recent low to recent high.  Does that mean this congruence will hold?  Nope.  It only means there is a possibility buyers will be there to buy the stock when price reach that level.  But that doesn’t tell you how many sellers are waiting to sell.  The battle b/w the bull and the bear continues.

My 2 cents.

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Market had a mixed signals on Friday with the DOW up 42 points while the SP500 was down slightly.

Meanwhile, I was busy planting $SEED in my portfolio looking for strong growth in 2014.

I first came upon $SEED from a post from the The Fly,  I was intrigued by $SEED immediately when I saw the post.  It was as though $SEED was embedded with an alert signal for my eyes only.   At the time, my portfolio was already fully speculated and was also gaining ground in upward momentum.  Thus, I placed $SEED in my mental watchlist and moved on.

Recently, after taking profit from $GALE and $AMRN, I decided to look at $SEED again and was pleasantly surprised to see $SEED was in the beginning stage of bouncing off the 79 & 89 MA lines.  In other words, I saw the first green bar near the 79 & 89 support lines after five consecutive red bars.  The time couldn’t be more perfect.  I began to build my position on $SEED.

What is so special about $SEED?

Genetically modified (GM) seed is why I like it.

What tickled me the most was the below excerpt from $SEED website (underlined is my own emphasis):

“Latest Updates on Corn Seed Biotechnology

GMO Corn Seed – Origin’s genetically modified phytase corn was the first GM corn seed which passed five phases of the GM approval process and received notification of Bio-Safety Certificate. Origin has further incorporated phytase traits into two of its best-selling commercial corn hybrids. Commercialization of these two corn hybrids is pending approval from the Chinese government.”

Based on my limited research, it seemed to me that China has only begun opening the door (cautiously) to genetically modified seeds giving that $SEED is still a microcap company with only $77.30 million in revenues for fiscal year 2013.  Upon further readings, I also found out that China has issues with GM seeds that came from outside China.  This tells me that protectionism is necessary for safety reason when it comes to GM seeds.  This also open my eyes to the possibility of $SEED since GM seeds from Monsanto Company ($MON) does not necessary have an advantage in China.

Recent news such as “What Does Ukraine Stand to Gain from Farming Deal with China?” also added to the seriousness that China has on their food supply.

Will $SEED becomes China’s own Monsanto?

This is a speculation that I’m willing to risk some money on.

The way I see it, $SEED needs to show proof that their GM seeds are safe in China’s own safety standard.

We will soon find out when China makes the decision on granting approval to $SEED’s two corn hybrids for commercialization.

In a manner of speaking, the risk in $SEED is no difference from the risk of a biotech company waiting FDA approval on their new drug.

Chartwise, Friday huge volume reflected favorable sentiment and appetite for risk.

Price “may” continue to rally to take out the Jan 7th high of $2.94 in anticipation of possible approval.  On Friday, I added more $SEED by relocating funds from my $TINY position to $SEED.  Currently, $SEED is my third largest position in my portfolio.  I may adjust my position size on $SEED accordingly to my risk assessment in the next few weeks.

Asides from a nice run-up on $SEED on Friday, $LRAD also had a breakout day with higher volume.

As you can see on the daily chart above, price finally broke out of the two months long consolidation and closed above this consolidation.  I’m not surprised since I’ve been patiently waiting for this to happen.  I’m seeing a lot of potential in $LRAD’s mass-notification market with their new technology.

While $KNDI is currently the largest position in my portfolio, it won’t take that much for $LRAD to reclaim its top position since the number of shares I’ve in $LRAD eclipses my $KNDI share count.  Any serious rally on $LRAD will easily propel my portfolio to higher ground percentagewise.

Thanks to $SEED and $LRAD, my portfolio continued to head higher despite another correction on $KNDI.

Current holdings:

KNDI, LRAD, SEED, CERS, KGJI, GOGO, AMRN and 5% cash.

My 2 cents.

Comments »

Let me start off this post with a quote from Calvin Coolidge:

Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.

In hindsight, we know the market has marched on ahead in an upward, albeit in a wavy manner, direction in the year of 2013; nevertheless, my personal path to achieving stock market gain was an uphill battle fraught with potholes and slippery slopes.

Potholes I fell into in 2013:

• $ECTY- large losses (company filing bankruptcy)
• $ETRM- medium losses (failed Phase III study)

Slippery slopes I encountered:

• $AMRN- large losses (you know the story)
• $USU- large losses (I bailed before the reverse split and the ensuing gigantic rally afterward)
• $SZYM- medium losses (whipsawed from over-trading in downtrend market)
• $APRI- medium losses (holding against a downtrend and gave up before the recovering year-end rally)
• $NCTY- medium losses (mistake in betting big on a thinly traded and small float stock)

Despite the multiple losses I endured from the above trades, they were all managed losses.  In other words, I didn’t let these losses get out of control by averaging down.  While some of the losses were large, it was because I made the initial large bet to begin with and not as a result of averaging down   While I had suffered mental frustration with these controlled losses (who wouldn’t?), I did not wallow in self-pity, I got back up and moved on.  I am persistence because I know I can get my money back as long as I’ve my capital intact.  It is a matter of being perseverance in searching for the stocks that will give me back the money and more.

Sidebar: It is extremely important that you manage your losses according to sound money management principle.  If I had not managed my losses, I would not be able to recover no matter how persistence I could be.  The rule of trading world is that you MUST protect your capital to fight another day.  My trading style is focused on finding the hi-beta stocks that will give me the jackpot I’m looking for; thus, I know I’ve to take some hits from time-to-time.   While this has been my endeavor, I’m still developing and evolving as a trader; therefore, trading mistakes were made (as in $SZYM, $APRI, and $NCTY) and I’m learning from them.

Having covered my losses, let’s go over my wins!

• $KNDI- very large gain
• $INO- very large gain
• $LRAD- large gain
• $GALE- medium gain
• $GOGO- medium gain
• $NUGT- medium gain
• $CERS- medium gain
• $CLIR- medium gain

My biggest win in 2013 was $INO. Upon hearing about $INO, I did my research but was initially skeptical since stock price had been trading below below $1.00 for first half of the year. But when price started to climb to near dollar, I began to take notice of a possible breakout.  Then the proliferation of positive preclinical news came into the foreground.  With price advancing over $1, I began to average UP.  Not only that, I kept averaging up on each bounce up after a brief consolidation; by the time price reached $3, I was sitting on such huge gain it would be foolish not to lock in profit especially when I knew the preclinical trials result was still a long way to human trials.  In other words, the price went up too far too fast.  I exited about 80% of my position at an average price of $2.75 and the rest in mid-to-low $2.xx.  It was a very profitable trade.

$KNDI was a trade I found after I got burned by $ECTY.   Despite the punch on the stomach (figure-of-speech), I refused to give up my beliefs in the potential of EV.  $TSLA has pretty much convinced me that EV does have a place in our society after my few failed attempts to short $TSLA with put option.  My shorting $TSLA was based on simple assumption that the market cap had gone too far ahead of the fundamental; however, when I saw the actual Tesla Model S in the showroom and the elegant and simple design of the electric motor compared to the complicated ICE (internal combustion engine); I was sold on the concept of EV.

Tesla high-end car succeeds because Elon Musk knows that the top 10% of the wealth will buy the car if it looks nice and function perfectly.  And when Consumer Reports magazine gave the Tesla Model S the highest score in its Ratings: 99 out of 100 back in July, I knew then that EV is here to stay.

However, the only problem is that if $TSLA, the only EV with a much longer driving range on a single charge than its cheaper competition, already captured the top 10% wealth; who will buy the cheaper EV models with shorter range?  Hence my belief that $ECTY was the key solution to expanding the EV market for cheaper EV models.  Little did I know that $ECTY was so badly managed, despite its being the company chosen by US Department of Energy to spearhead the charging station project, that I promptly lost 80+% of my investment in a single day after $ECTY made an announcement of its major issues.

Still very much believing in the EV potential and that $ECTY mismanagement did not equal to EV failure, I kept on researching for the next EV stock to speculate.

Then I found $KNDI.

What tickle me the most about $KNDI is that it is not selling directly to the consumer which I know will not work because of the range anxiety.  Without the proliferation of charging station everywhere, it will be difficult for an accelerated growth in consumer buying.  But $KNDI is offering a solution that automatically solves the range anxiety issue; not only that it also solves the charging station issue as well.  By embracing the concepts of car-to-go and zipcar except that the EV must be returned to the garages strategically located at multiple fixed locations for recharging purposes, $KNDI found an optimal solution to the range anxiety and battery dilemma in the EV market.  What is more important is that consumers do not need to buy the car but simply rent them for a very low price that is cheaper than hiring a taxi.

At the time when I found $KNDI, price was trading around $5 after it came back down from a quick run to $8.  Because of the secondary offering after the spike to $8, the stock was mercilessly attacked by the short.  On top of that, the uncertainty from having to  wait for the new China EV subsidies that had yet to be announced only added fuel to the short.

Hmmm….

Instead of going away like most everyone because of the history of bad blood from some stock scams from China, I began to see this as an opportunity to buy when it was still cheap.  After reading all the due diligence performed by other $KNDI believers and compared them to those who short, my own analysis prompted me to start building a position in $KNDI.  While I was building my position, $KNDI was trading in a tight range b/w $4.50 and $5.50.  Plenty of patience was required on my part.

The good thing about having a large position on a stock is that you tend to watch its trading pattern very closely on a daily basis.  And when price crossed back over the 79 & 89 MA lines to the upside, I could sense a coming rally.  Thus, I decided to buy a boatload of Dec $7.50 call to supplement my stock position.  As luck would have it, right after I had bought the options, the stock became a runner the very next day.  When price reached $9 and started to reverse direction, I had the good sense to lock in profit on 70% of my option trades.  The rest I gave back to the market when it expired worthless.  Having exited most of my option trades, I decided to reduce my stock position as well to lock in profit.  My swing trade mentality was in full-swing.

From then on, I bought and sold $KNDI to supplement my core position without success for two months.  In fact, my realized gain was slowly leaking thru the multiple whip-saws from my trading in-and-out of the trading position. And then the news of Geely announcing to the public that it would have the EV version of the London black taxi available in five years.  That was all I needed to hear to double-down on $KNDI.  After the Geely announcement, I knew it was time to stop swing trading $KNDI.  Why did I feel that way?  It was the subtle message from Geely that it is committing to the EV market; otherwise, why made such a bold statement?  With $KNDI being in a 50/50 joint venture with Geely for the sole purpose of building EV cars, $KNDI has a LOT to gain from this announcement.

Again, I was correct in my assessment; thanks to my double-down on $KNDI, my gain was quite phenomenon in the last week in 2013.

Sidebar: Performing daily homework in researching for potential runner is the discipline that keeps me going forward.  And I’m not just talking about picking up stock ’cause so and so says he/she is buying.  I need to analyze the fundamental and decide if the stock has the “story” as well as a chart pattern to support it before I venture in.  If you are willing to do YOUR own analysis and homework on a stock regardless where you hear it from, the stock will become YOUR own pick; not someone pick.  And you will trade this stock according to YOUR trading strategy; not someone’s.  The benefit of doing YOUR own analysis is that you will LEARN from your mistake and grow as a trader. Otherwise, you will never grow as a trader if all you do is to follow someone pick.

My purpose of writing about my thought process in my $KNDI and $INO trades is to emphasize the importance of doing your own research.  By doing your own research, you will get a much better sense of the stock and how it is trading.  If you are the more risk-taking type, you may even augment your position size like I’ve done with $INO and $KNDI.

$GOGO came to mind as another perfect example.  After The Fly made the call on $GOGO, I began to research the stock and like what I saw.  Then I started to build up my position based on my analysis of the chart-pattern.  In other words, I began to trade $GOGO irrespective of what The Fly was doing with his $GOGO position.  If you do your own homework, you make the stock your own and you only have yourself to blame if the stock doesn’t perform.  This is the ONLY way you can learn and grow as a trader.

To conclude my post, despite having my portfolio down in the middle of the 2013 due to my losses mentioned above, I was able to climb back out of the hole and ended the year in a very positive note.

Due to my evolving as a trader, I am now focused on shepherding my current portfolio of nine hi-beta stocks for the potential run-up in 2014.  Holding on to a winning position for as long as I can is the only way to make the big bucks.  I like to see all nine of my stocks, if possible, to run the way $LNG and $CLDX ran in 2013 (both of these stocks I used to own but got out way too early!)

Current holdings:

$KNDI – I believe $KNDI will dominate in China with its business model of selling to the car-sharing garages.

$LRAD – I believe its newly minted mass-notification technology will dominate the replacement of the obsolete bullhorn speaker notification system worldwide.

$KGJI- I believe that the new wealth in China will increase consumers’ crave for 24K gold products that $KGJI will have blow-out quarter-to-quarter revenues that price has no choice but to keep going up.

$CERS- I believe that FDA will approve $CERS blood purification system.  Why?  ’cause they are selling them to Europe already without any issues.

$INO- I am “betting” that $INO has finally tweaked its synthetic DNA enough to work in human.

$GALE- I believe its Astral drug will sell well quarter after quarter.  I’m also “betting” that its NeuVax breast cancer treatment will succeed.

$XONE- I believe its 3D manufacturing machines will become dominant in the manufacturing sector.

$AMRN- I believe FDA will meet $AMRN half-way on its Vascepa label expansion.

$TINY- I believe that its portfolio of private investment in multiple nanotechnology companies will take fruition in 2014.

I wish everyone a happy and prosperous New Year!

My 2 cents.

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