Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Loss yesterday

1) Loss yesterday is 17%.
2) I had a good run on the day when market gone up by 400 points. All of the profit I had made during last three weeks is completely wiped off. I am back to square one. Whats even better? I have more options now and less stocks - so losses might go exponentially.
3) - The Good - ntri, asfi are holding up nicely. UNG is not terribly bad
- The Bad - Pretty much everything else.
- The Ugly - Nyx, Sol, Exm
4) Why I covered amzn just day before it dropped by 6-7$ is still a mystery to me.

I am hanging in there as I don't have any option right now.

DO NOT - I repeat do not watch a movie like "Oldboy" after a day like this on stock market! Mark this down as a golden rule.

Monday, September 29, 2008

Attack of the wall street!























I could not work on stock market today as i had another crazy busy monday. And, boy, I not pay the price for that! The market is down 777 points. Makes those 300 point moves some distant memory. Reminds me of this quote from movie deception - "That was foreplay. Now you're fucked."

Friday, September 26, 2008

Heroes is back!


My favorite TV show heroes is back! You can watch the latest episodes at
http://www.nbc.com/Heroes/video/categories/season-3/679102/

WitchTerminator : The Sarah Palin Chronicles

Is Sarah Palin protected against witchcraft? Apparently, yes!





Now its not her fault that pastor give this protection - but, I just think its funny!

IMMR, EXM

Sold immr 100 shares for $6 each. - Loss $500. I have been holding this bag of stocks for a long time and its not going anywhere. I can instead invest the money in other stocks and hopefully recover the loss.

Bought EXM call. EXM MAR 2009 17.5000 for 4.1

I am looking to buy calls for tso, stld, vlo and ung if they drop even further.

Bought calls for ung, vlo

Bought calls for vlo, ung for a quick trade. They have been giving me really good profit lately, so I have decided to put more money in them.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Surreal WAMU

What happens to WaMu depositors, stockholders
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2008204423_webwamufacts25.html

Check the above article if you are a depositor, borrower, stockholder or employee of WAMU

__________________________________________________________________

Mockery of investors:

In AH, WM was tanking. I think people who sold wamu were stupid. They probably didn't read the investor relations from WAMU. I really don't know whether to laugh or cry on this -

From http://investors.wamu.com/irweblinkx/corporateprofile.aspx?iid=102028

“WaMu’s strong brand and irreplaceable retail banking franchise have enormous potential, especially in today’s environment, and I am thrilled to have this opportunity to create value for shareholders.”

-- Alan H. Fishman, upon his appointment as WaMu’s CEO on September 8, 2008

NOTE - Right next to this quote, some intelligent person decided to put a market summary module of WM only to show the change in WM stock price of -25.22%.


But, hold on:

From, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/26/business/26wamu.html?bl&ex=1222574400&en=cd491cbff8aac3b9&ei=5087%0A

But the seizure and the deal with JPMorgan came as a shock to Washington Mutual’s board, which was kept completely in the dark: the company’s new chief executive, Alan H. Fishman, was in midair, flying from New York to Seattle at the time the deal was finally brokered, according to people briefed on the situation. Mr. Fishman, who has been on the job for less than three weeks, is eligible for $11.6 million in cash severance and will get to keep his $7.5 million signing bonus, according to an analysis by James F. Reda and Associates. WaMu was not immediately available for comment.

__________________________________________________________________

Talk about making money in someone's demise. How fast the government is putting together a big bailout, I am not so sure about their plan.
Bailout - Where is your money going?

Refineries

VLO - It might be breaking out! Or not. This stock is trading between 31-35 forever. I might have closed my position too early if it breaks out tomorrow. I have been buying VLOCC for 3.8 to 4.2 and selling VLOCC for 5 to 5.5. I like the company and I will certainly buy some calls tomorrow if vlo drops.

TSO - I closed my position today only to see it take off even further.

Among others, fto and wnr are attractive. Look at the revenue and market cap of those companies.

TSO

Sold call for tso for $70 profit. (Bought for 2.3 sold for 3). I like tso and vlo but I will wait for them to drop again or break the resistance.

Bought calls for exm

EXMCD - Bought for 3.9
EXMCD - Bought another for 3.7 -----Update

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Trade updates - Monday to Wednesday

I was barely able to do any trading. Here is the update
Bought -
Calls for
ACH
STLD(thanks to bluedog for this cool pick)
UNG

Sold -
Two calls of vlo ( I wanted to hold one call but in the end decided not to - hoping that vlo will retrace.) - Profit $170
100 shares of asfi to get some capital to invest in other options. - Profit $40
One call of BP(Wish I had bought it again yesterday). - Profit $170

Covered 25 amazon shares - Loss about $150

Most of the trades i had placed over weekend and they were automatically executed. Currently I am trying to buy
more of exm calls
calls of vlo if it goes down.
call for bp if it goes down.

I did not take profits on ndaq and exm. Now, I am again into red for those stocks. I was probably more greedy to hold on to them. We will see.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Today's quick update.

In the morning fidelity wasn't accepting orders properly - probably because of overload. So, I was only able to trade for some time and then I had to work. I placed some trades now - too bad, I can't trade a lot today. Anyways, I sold
Mig - 75 shares
VLO - One call - VLOCC
ASFI - 130 shares
I got profit in all of the above.
NDAQ - I sold my call that was expiring today for $60 loss.
I tried to sell my calls for exm, dsx and ndaq but I missed my chances. I have placed the trades and I hope they execute or I will wait for another day to catch the peak.

Update --- That's all the trades for that day. None of my other orders got through.

Carnage




Many died and many will soon - shorts are getting slaughtered in pre-market. GS up 30%. MS up 50%. I mean - we probably are talking about a lot of margin calls. Yesterday and today - I am sure pigs are laughing(smirk-ing) instead of getting slaughtered.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

The one that got away

In all the frenzy, I missed my short candidate. I almost bought oct put for PNRA but my order didn't go through and then, the market closed. Oh well - it was certainly some short covering out there, so I was hoping for a gap down on next trading day. It is nicely tanking in AH.

IMMR, SMSI - Loss

IMMR - Sold 50 shares - Loss = $224
SMSI - Sold 50 shares - Loss = $370.
Both of these babies are product of me not taking my losses early and holding stocks forever hoping to get the profit one-day. But, enough is enough. I am taking a loss and calling it a day!
I still have 100 shares on which I have sold a call. So, I will sell them on another day!

SEC tightens rules on short sales

http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/080917/shortselling_sec.html

Amzn short - loss

Total loss I have got in shorting amazon is $950. I shorted amazon at 62 and 67 more than an year ago - only to see it climbing higher. I got an opportunity to cover my losses and even gain a small profit a couple of times but I was holding on amazon assuming(hoping) that it will easily hit 50. But, everytime I was wrong - and I was adamant in not accepting that I was wrong. This time, I am not going to be stubborn. I took my losses when amazon hit 72 by covering most of my position. I still have 25 stocks shorted on amazon and I will take them off as amazon slides further. This loss pretty much wipes out any profit I have made lately but I guess it was the tuition fee for learning investing.

Bought calls for


Bought calls for NYX, BP, UNG, ACN. Tried to get into pbr or btu but missed the drop. I will wait for them. I might sound like trigger-happy here....I just couldn't resist.

Short squeeze

Just when I was about to buy call for BCS, it shot up by 3$. Looks like a short squeeze. I will have to wait now.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Palin PWNED!

http://michellemalkin.com/2008/09/17/the-story-behind-the-palin-e-mail-hacking/

Gone shoppin...

Its another fire-sale.
Bought calls for vlo, dsx. Re-entered EXM.
Trying to buy ung,fto again when it dips a bit.
Sold calls on my ntri position.
Covered some amzn short.
Looking to find more buying opportunities.

Sold calls ung, exm

that I had bought in fire sale on Black Monday. Profit $1 each on those calls. So total profit $200 on $1110 investment.
Yes, this is nothing compared to what other traders are making during one transaction but hey, its gain :).

Watchlist

Added a gadget for the stocks in my watchlist on the right hand bottom the website!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

How to convert lead into gold

For the people like me who haven't studied economics...here is a hilarious video that explains the current financial mess ;).


Link to youtube video.
Ivan Canas: Lehman Brothers, has said it will file for bankruptcy. The US cannot lead the world without money. This video explains what happened in a funny and easy way! The end of the US Empire is just starting. Please read the 'more info' section

Monday, September 15, 2008

Fire sale

Or clearance items for expiring-soon products...whatever you are gonna call! With dow down 500 point, I just couldn't resistI bought
Symbol Description Quantity Cost
-TSOBD CALL (TSO) TESORO CORP COM FEB 20 (100 SHS) 1 $2.20
-UNEDG CALL (UNE) UNITED STS NAT GAS APR 33 (100 SHS) 1 $5.00
-SOLDD CALL (SOL) RENESOLA LTD APR 20 (100 SHS) 1 $1.90
-EXMCD CALL (EXM) EXCEL MARITIME MAR 20 (100 SHS) 1 $6.10

I almost bought calls for vlo but too bad, the market closed. Vlo dropped nicely by $5.

ung, tso

Bough one call for ung for Apr 2009. Strike price $35. Bought for $5 each(i.e. $500 total).

I have a buy order for tso as well.
Symbol -TSOBD
Description CALL (TSO) TESORO CORP COM FEB 20 (100 SHS)
Order Type Limit at $2.20
I was thinking of buying it at market price but I have decided not to chase stock prices and wait for the dip. I have lost a lot of money chasing stocks.(thanks to the tip I found on BlueDog's website).

SOL , NDAQ

Looks like my $20 sol and $35 ndaq calls for september are going to render worthless. I was up by more than 20% on both of them once, I just got greedy I guess.

Lehman got margin call

and you would think that investment companies would know better ;)

Friday, September 12, 2008

Duh!

Friday update -I wouldn't have been able to work on any stocks on Friday, so I had placed the orders before I left. Too bad! Could have got a lot of profit but instead, I had to settle on small profit.
Closed short position on pnra on $100 profit only to see stock going down by $6
Closed one call I had bought(vlo) for $100 profit only to see it rising by $3.

Monday update -
I guess it doesn't matter much as both of the stocks are back to square one.

Energy stocks up - premarket

vlo, xto, fto, tso all up in premarket whereas the market is headed to open lower.
I feel idiot for selling out fto and xto

Thursday, September 11, 2008

I need to be careful

I screwed up my vlo play. VLO was nicely up by more than 2$ when I was trying to close the call I had bought(a couple of days back) for some profit. I thought I had placed the order but apparently I hadn't gone past the preview order. Now, VLO has retraced and I am back at break-even. This sucks. I really really to double check my orders.

LEH

I almost got into LEH at $4.8 but then refrained. I don't have a setup or exit-strategy and I was just trying a gamble! I might miss on some profit here but I am just trying to be more disciplined.

PNRA













Talk about a recession-proof stock ;).

I have a hunch that

stock market will close green today. Its just a hunch though!

Sold call - Fto

Sold the call I have had bought for fto from Sept 9. I just wanted to lock my profit even if fto seems to be climbing.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Sold call - xto

Sold the call I have had bought for xto from Sept 9. I just wanted to lock my profit even if xto seems to be climbing.
Self note - I really need to learn chart patterns and understand where is the momentum.

Lehman Brothers LEH

Analysts--
Fox-Pitt Kelton's David Trone -
  • Not ruling out a buyout by the management, in a note dated Sept 9, that Lehman could sell its investment-management unit and fund the entire tender.
  • that Lehman needs $5 billion in net capital.
  • deal scenarios would have current shareholders getting $10 a share to $15 a share.

Banc of America's Michael Hecht
  • "best case" scenario for common equity holders is that Lehman "limps along" and gets by with a partial reduction of its troubled asset exposure by raising dilutive capital and selling a portion of its investment-management unit.
  • a Bear Stearns-like bailout will likely leave little value for common stockholders of about $2 per share
Current Deal Talks--
  • Korea Development Bank confirmed talks had ended for now with Lehman Brothers
  • Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc is in talks with BlackRock Inc to sell a package of British real estate assets.
Lehman Response to Volatility of Stock-
Lehman has brought its third-quarter earnings up to Wednesday(today) morning, and will announce strategics.

I am guessing that Leh won't prepone the earnings date without being in a stronger position than market thinks it is. I don't know who is trading so early but Leh is trading much higher(10.35) than yesterday's close(7.79) in today's premarket. Thats a rally of 30%. Talk about volatile market! I am hoping for a bull ride today to recover some losses.

Stocks - Insightful Posts

I guess I am over trading and loosing more money. Also, I am betting against trends loosing more. Its time to analyze my strategies and understand the experiences of other traders. Here are some resources that I am reading currently -

From http://www.theimpatienttrader.blogspot.com/
1) Read the rules at the top of the page.
2) Always Ask Yourself
3) Position Sizing: Finding Your MAX Pain
4) Anatomy Of A Bear Market
5) Strong conviction but never stubborn - I think this is a really important thought. I need to learn this and I need to get over my ego.
6) If You Have Been Struggling Lately. Try These Tips: By Alan Farley
7) Stages Of a Trader: By Bo Yoder
8) Three Positions A Trader Must Take - I think I know about first position, I need to get used to the second position and I am so not used to the third - which is what I really need to learn to survive.
9) To Make HUGE Profits, You Have To Think SMALL
10) Last but not the least :)
Thanks much Stewie!

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

In other news

FRE up almost 30%
FNM up almost 60%

whereas leh, wm, aig are down bigtime. This indeed is a crazy market and somebody is making a lot of money.

Bought calls

Bought calls for fto, xto, vlo, ung.

PNRA

I am not sure why Panera Bread Company(PNRA) is trading with a P\E of 28+. It might be because there are no more stocks available to short. I don't know. But, there are so many other better companies with strong growth that are trading with a P\E less than 15. I just bought -UPAVJ Oct 50 put for $1.6. I really love the food at Panera and I have sustained some loss when I went long on this stock at $40 and bailed out. If you want to buy puts, you might want to wait until PNRA hits 55 and then take the profit as soon as you can unless you can figure out the high P\E for this stock.

Friday, September 5, 2008

New Jerry Seinfeld & Bill Gates Ad



Yes, this ad is completely random...kind of like that show about "nothing" :). There is plenty of criticism out there but, personally, I liked it!

Here is some explanation for geeks I found on a blog -

by Stariun September 4, 2008 10:27 PM PDT
This ad wasn't about nothing. First of all, looking into the shoe shop, Gates had the chance of selecting a shoe which fits him. Windows 'ecosystem' is like that. Different computers of various shapes and forms which fits your needs. Also the flexibility of the shoe compares to that of Windows. (Linux also)

About Seinfield having shower with his clothes on, that refers to the Mac. You are not legally permitted by Apple to build from scratch like some personal system builders can do on Windows or Linux platform. Macs come pre-built from Apple (Psystar and co are seen as illegal in Apple's eyes). You are not legally allowed to build from bare bones or naked PCs.

At least at the end when Seinfeld asked "Are they ever gonna come out with something that will make our computers moist and chewy like cake so we can just eat them while we're working? If it's yes, give me a signal. Adjust your shorts." and Gates gave a sign. Microsoft is placing some Windows gurus at some Best Buy stores to convince people to buy Windows PCs. Some people wether in small numbers after seeing this ad would be curious as to what the new product from Microsoft is and some of these people will end up talking to these guys who will convince them to buy Microsoft products.

This particular ad was made for people to figure out what is going on and therefore make them follow the subsequent ones which will need no brainer to uncover the reason behind it. (Just like how the Playstation 3's 'This is Living' ad started)

I know bashing MS of late is a fashion but come on guys, just think about it and you'll get it.

Stock to watch today - Sandisk ( SNDK )

Samsung is working to acquire Sandisk. SNDK is already up almost 30% in pre-market trading. Stock is really beaten up lately because SNDK produced unexpected loss last quarter.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Buy or Sell

With dow down more than 300 points, did you buy or sell? I am betting it will recover some losses tomorrow - so, I took positions in UNG, VLO, SOL. Though, I am calling it a day for today!

MIG

I had got 375 shares for my pros shares a while back. I sold my 200 shares at 7.09 a piece as the stock(mig) wasn't moving anywhere much. Today, DOW is down by 330 points(2.87%) and MIG is up by 2.21% without any news. As always, in retrospect I should have held on mig - I guess I can never comprehend market.

Seen on Washingtonpost

I love when people who have nothing to do take jabs at each other or politicians.(I know I read 'em like I have nothing else to do!). Here are some barbs from "Palin Speaks: How Did She Do?"
Note - this is not to offend anyone and these aren't my comments. I just thought they were funny.
  • This is like Dick Cheney in a skirt - how is this going to win independents???
  • I counted one policy. Rest was just blather. Bush-lite.
  • She is a relatively inexperience governor. She is an ideologue. She has confidence. Remind you of Bush? Here we go again...
  • "She doesnt even deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence with Hillary. I wouldnt let my dog play with her. "
  • "She came off Jerry Springer like."
  • I was playing warcraft today and this one dude was named Obamination
  • Palin is Dick Cheney with longer hair....
  • Interesting they polled 25 Hillary voters and 0 said they would vote McBush!
  • I knew the Liberals would run over to their computers and try to flood message boards.
  • She, um, she...really firebombed the abortion clinic out of that speech!
  • Palin is unintentionally hilarious.