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42 posts from January 18, 2009 - January 24, 2009

01/22/2009

Pig Sty

Below are two chunks of recent trading (within the past few weeks) of the S&P e-mini.

This is lovely.

This is a freaking, stinking, mess (and it's the current environment,of course).

If you're getting torn to ribbons, don't feel all bad. This market has gone totally spasmodic.

Straight Talk


Flippety Doo Da, Flippety Day.........

I reversed my /ES position from short to long at 819.50; call it a feeling. Or a mistake. Time will tell.

Attempted Redemption

Since I have shamed myself before the almighty trading gods, I have re-entered /ES shorts (20 points too late..........grumble, grumble) with a stop above 820.50. We shall see.

Otherwise I continue to tighten shorts or, if the position isn't superb, close it out.

Le Petit Bounce

I still haven't read comments, so I'm not sure what the chatter is this morning.........anyway, I took on mid-sized positions in MVV, SSO, and ESH9 (long) when we were trundling around the retracement level. One of the destructive things about a market like this is that it creates MISTRUST, and that's precisely what it's doing to me. I felt sensational about my positions at the close yesterday. Now I despise (partly) the market, since I feel jilted. Let's see if I can set things straight by the end of the day.

Deer in Headlights

Sorry I've been so quiet. I never felt so on my game as yesterday. I never felt so off my game as today.

So I've been holding back taking any big positions or commitments. I feel I really missed a beautiful trade, with the /ES plunging from 844 to 808 in a matter of hours...........but tomorrow is another day!

It's unwise to plunge ahead when one isn't feeling right with the market. I'm taking it easy for the moment, and my only action plan at this time is to catch up on reading your comments.

One Bright Spot

I've got puts on TLT and am long TBT. I've pointed out how bonds were in a bubble, and I'm glad to see at least this trading idea continues to pan out!

Bad Day

Today has stunk for me so far. First, the big push into energy has been a fiasco. The bulls can't hold any rally together more than a few hours. Second, I completely missed out on what was a slam-dunk short on the ES:

This is a really disappointing day so far.

The Unwinding Begins

The cleaning up of my portfolio - - moving from a gazillion positions to a consistent handful - - has begun. It's nice now and then to get a "zinger" like Aflac this morning....

But, in the midst of dozens of other positions, the extra profit doesn't make a heck of a lot of difference (the above is one I closed this morning, incidentally).

I continue to move through charts and keep only the ones that deserve to stay alive for now...........smaller, bigger positions is going to be my goal once this cleanup is done, and that could take a few weeks before it's really complete.

Down/Up/Down

Dealing with a market like this is a daily challenge. Monday: Closed. Tuesday: Down over 300. Wednesday: Up nearly 300. Thursday (first few minutes): Down 150.

The bulls can't seem to hold it together for more than one day. Still. It's a bit frustrating. I am holding on to my energy longs, although obviously they're having a rough time of it this morning. One thing I'll say - - - being "hedged" doesn't sting quite so much now as it did last night!