Charts - Energy/Energy Services

Gas finally broke below the $2 mark in my area! I've got a 30-gallon guzzler so it's nice to see sub-$60 fill-ups. That said, the charts in the energy and energy services sectors are starting to show some strength. I hope oil keeps falling apart but I'll be keeping an eye on the following stocks if they continue to rebound:

11/28 Day/Swingtrades

Another low volume run-up for the bulls. I should have slept in but decided to wake up just to babysit my positions. My swing positions closed the day pretty well. With these low-volume gains, I won't be surprised to see a gap open on Monday if the institutions try to suck in the longs. I'll use that opportunity to close out these positions if it starts to fade. Many stocks are closing at the 20-SMA on the daily so we may need a rest to consolidate the gains this past week. Time to go hunting for holiday bargains!

C - I'm glad I went with C instead of UYG the other day. C tacked on some more nice gains. I sold some of the Nov 7.5 Calls for a double on the options.

FNM - This baby just keeps chugging along. I normally don't think in percentage gains but with penny stocks like FNM, I'm taking large, concentrated bets based on a % of my portfolio so I have to view my return based on the initial capital traded. FNM has gained over 300% (from $0.31) since last Friday and when it hit 100% for me this AM, I took some off the table @ 0.95. Just as a reminder, I also have a smaller longer-term position that I started a month ago (yeah, too soon) with an average cost of $1.20. I stopped adding to that position when FNM broke below $1.00. Fortunately, with the size I purchased on Monday, I'm well in the black overall. The key for me was not to let the past position hold me back from trading the set-up I saw on Tuesday.

11/26 Day/swingtrades

Another nice day for the bulls. Despite the low volume and volatility, I tend to like these days. If you're on the right side of the trade, you can catch some pretty decent moves. The key is not to make any predictions and just go with the trend. Otherwise, the whipsaw action can be frustrating. Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

C - After the pounding the past couple weeks, C showed some decent strength during the early morning weakness. I picked up shares around 6.80 and rolled the position to Dec 7.50 calls when it reached 7.20.

POT - I got a late start on POT but picked up some shares as energy/basic materials started showing strength. I closed the position as it formed a potential double-top on the 5-min chart.

RIMM - After yesterday's weakness, RIMM showed some strength this morning. I wish I had held yesterday's position but didn't want to sit on the sidelines and reminisce. I opened up a position as it broke the 42.50 area and sold half after some decent gains and closed the position as the markets started to fade around 10AM. Luckily, this turned out to be the top of the day.

FNM - this got a nice little boost in the AM. I bought yesterday @ $0.50 and pyramid more shares @ $0.70.

11/25 Day/Swingtrades

That was a very choppy session. However, it was not surprising given the run-up the past few days. As I mentioned yesterday, I was looking to exit positions on any opening strength and the 1st hour played out perfectly. After that, I couldn't find many decent set-ups throughout the day.

UYG - I closed out the position once the early morning strength began to fade. It is still trading above the 5, 15 and 30-min moving averages so I'll keep it on the radar in case we continue to rally.

RIMM - The chart is an intraday close-up with 5-min bars. RIMM was weak from the open but found some solid support as it based around 40.50-41.00. I took a low-risk entry at 41.11 once it traded back above the moving averages and sold at 41.60 late in the day...pocket change.

CME - I didn't like the way the market was holding the gap open so I closed out yesterday's CME position when it couldn't break through $212+ on the second try. $22.00 profit.

FNM - I also picked up some FNM. The daily shows a potential double-bottom.

11/24 Day/Swingtrades

What goes down must come up...I guess. That was another monster rally today. You could sense the shorts were panicking. Too bad it is the start of a new month. All the option premiums are sky-high. I knew SRS/SKF were going down hard but stayed away from them because I didn't want to tie up too much capital shorting them. Puts were just out of the question given the premiums. We've now bounced over 1000 points on the Dow from Friday's lows. I'll play a momentum push at the open and will probably go back to cash to let things settle down. This is a low-volume week and anything can happen...especially Friday.

In addition to the trades below, I got stopped out of OIH a couple times for $0.40 loss each time. The chart and my entry/exits are boring so I'm not posting it.

ICE - This definitely got away from me. ICE tends to rebound hard on market rallies. I thought I got a decent/early entry @ 61.19. ICE rallied to 63.00 (the opening range high, that's why I tend to use this level on early morning rallies) and fell back. I moved my $1.00 stop up too soon and was taken out for $0.19 loss. I was too busy to re-enter later on.

CME - Again, similar to ICE, CME tends to move big on the rebounds. This was a much riskier trade so my position-size was 25% of the norm. The best entry would have been around 174 but I was late and just banking on momenutum, ready to bail if the 5-min bar low could not hold. I picked up shares @ 188 and held them all day and finally got the push into the close.

UYG - With the strength in financials, I had to get in on UYG. The tight, narrow range at the open was easy to determine a stop level. I picked up shares @ $4.55 and sold half at the close when I noticed GS and other financials start to fade.

MS - I picked up some shares as the opening range high was taken out around $11.50. There was a nice narrow range (less than $0.50) so I was able to position-size accordingly. I took partial profits to lock in $1.00 and sold the rest as a double-top formed around $13.50 prior to the close.

11/19 - 11/21 Day/swingtrades

Wow, the last 2 hours of today were amazing! Options expiration, market rallying, inverse ETFs overbought...what more can you ask for. I felt like I missed some great opportunities the past couple weeks due to work. I'd pull up the charts in between meetings and late at night to see the amazing intraday volatility. I resigned to just sitting on the sidelines and not chasing anything the past few days. Well, after sitting on the sidelines since Tuesday morning, I finally got a reprieve as a late scheduled meeting concluded early. That left me with 1.5 hours before the market closed and plenty of time to get to the airport...and place a few trades along the way.


SKF - I did a quick scan of a few charts and noticed a potential double-top on SKF and SRS. I picked up some SKF Nov 280 Puts for $2.00 with the stock at $295. I placed an order to sell at the market at the close and headed for the airport. 30 minutes later I stopped off for lunch and checked the quotes to see SKF @ $270. Unfortunately, I checked my sell order and it was cancelled by the broker (something about a market sell at the close on options on expiration day, I'll check Monday). So, I placed a limit sell @ $12.00 and it was triggered 5 minutes later for $10.00 profit. Well, I took my laptop to lunch and decided the Nov 260 were looking waaaaay too cheap @ $0.70 and with the market rallying/short covering. So, on the SKF bounce back above $270, I plowed some profits back into the Nov 260 Puts @ $0.70. I dumped those 10 minutes later for another $10.00 profit. It would have been nice to hold everything right into the close but I haven't been able to keep up with the intraday market action so my trading emotions have been out-of-sync for a couple weeks.

RIMM - I dumped the rest of my options for $3.00 profit on Tuesday morning. The market was down close to 100 points as RIMM rallied to $48+ so I moved up my stop and luckily, it triggered near the highs of the day before the market fell apart.

11/8 - 11/18 Day/swingtrades

I've had a very hard time trading part-time last week and this week. It was pretty much impossible to trade on any time frame other than 1 and 5-min charts. I did catch a little bit of the bounce on Thursday afternoon and went back to cash on Friday morning. The only set-up that works for my current schedule is catching the lows/highs of a channel. I need to be in a position to let a daytrade turn to a swingtrade if I have to leave the monitor. The only position I'm currently carrying is RIMM. It showed a lot of strength during yesterday's weakness. There was support at 40 which was the previous low on the daily on 10/26. I picked up Nov 45 Calls with the stock @ 42.00. I sold half today @ 45.20 and will probably get stopped out of the other half given these 1-day trends lately.

BTW, just a follow-up on my views of the auto industry, here's a pretty good article by Professor David Yermack that came out on WJS this weekend.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122669746125629365.html

11/4 - 11/7 Day/swingtrades

This week, there were more headlines on the ailing automobile industry. The GMs and Fords have been important to the US for the past century. However, over time, management changes, unions (IMO, primary problem) and government bailouts have changed the landscape. Our automobile industry can no longer compete in the world economy. The GMs and Fords have become benefit administrators and they're horrible at it. Any additional government assistance will just prolong the inevitable failure of this industry. I would rather see the government provide financial assistance to relocate and/or retrain our autoworkers in industries that are more competitive. Think outside the box like those geniuses over at Porsche:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081107/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_germany_earns_porsche

Another interesting story is Yahoo. This is why company founders should not be running their own companies. Similar to many of my bad trades, Jerry Yang got too emotional with his position (YHOO holdings). Microsoft offered $33 and Jerry held out for $37 with no stop in place....now trading @ $12.20:

http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/122751/Jerry-Yang

As for my trading, I had too many meetings to attend and deliverables to crank out at work this week so I kept the trading extremely light. I also let a $3+ profit on the LDK position fade on me so that was a good sign that my head was not in the game.



LDK - I picked up Nov 15 Calls late Monday for a "Stewie" ONH hold/setup. I got the gap open on Tuesday that I was looking for and actually pulled the quote up while at work and saw LDK print 26.50. I should have raised the stop at that point but left it at break-even which was taken out the next day.



BUCY - I had picked up the Nov 30 Calls a few weeks ago. The stock tanked down to below $20 so I was very happy to see it climb back up to $28+. I used this opportunity to exit the position for $0.50 loss. Last week, these calls were printing $0.30 which was a $2.00 paper loss at the time.



UYG - I had higher hopes for this one as it actually traded up to 11.00 on Tuesday. I closed the position @ 10.00 for $0.50 profit on calls and shares.

I'm hoping for a lighter week so I can get in some decent trades in the mornings.

11/3 Day/swingtrade

It looks to be choppy until the election is over. I don't see how the financials will rally with GS acting so weak. As for oil/energy, the Baltic Dry Index is below 1000. The fundamentals just don't look good. I'm not complaining, though. The rest of the world has been milking us with those high oil prices this past year. It's nice to get some relief at the pumps.

LVS - I used the gap open to unload the Nov 12.5 Calls from last week. There was still about $1.50 time premium on the calls so I figured I'd wait for a pullback and pick up the shares to get the 1:1 movement. I sold around 16.00 and netted $3.50 on the calls.




LDK - I picked up some Nov 15 Calls late in the day as volume and price picked up. Solar was strong today and overall, the sector has been beaten up so maybe we LDK can put in a couple more decent days.

10/29 - 10/31 Day/swingtrades

I haven't made too many daytrades over the past few days. Friday, I took minor (0.25-0.50) losses on AAPL and MS before they broke out. I've been trying to outsmart the market and playing the stops too tight. I did have some swings that worked out pretty well:

LVS - Casinos have rallied pretty well the past few days. I picked up some Nov 12.5 Call w/ stock at $9.50 on Wednesday. Friday, I daytraded shares as the opening range high (12.00) was taken out. I sold the shares @ 14.50 but am still holding the Calls.

UYG - The financials aren't rebounding as quickly as the rest of the sectors, especially with GS stuck in a rut. However, if we've seen a temporary bottom, the think there will be $2-3 upside from here. I picked up some Nov 8 Calls and shares w/ stock around $9.40 - 9.60.