Monday, December 21, 2009

Dipping the toe in uncharted waters - $MJN

Looking to buy into MJN if it hits 43.11. Day order only.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

$XOP and $SBNY

Buy SBNY 12/10/09 @ 30.9882 -- Trying to catch this just below the SMA
20 + short ratio >8 + 31% short. Target 32 (will lock in with a
trailing stop @ 32), stop 30. Sold at 32.0547 on 12/21/09.
Buy XOP 12/10/09 @ 38.19 -- Trying to catch this just below the SMA 20
+ trying to catch a benefit from a possible upswing in oil and decline
of the dollar. Target 41.50, stop 37.00. Sold at 39.92 on 12/17/09 on trailing stop on LOD.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

ISLE, NSANY, PFCB

NSANY @ 14.75 -- Exited @ 16.05 on 12/3
ISLE @ 9.145 -- Exited @ 8.725 on 11/18.
PFCB @ 31.7682 -- Exited @ 35.624 on 12/3

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

A short covering stock screener $FSLR $SYNA

My starting point screener for stocks to buy
  • Looking for stocks *just below* their 20-day SMA.
  • High (>20%) float short
  • Average volume over 100K
  • Change from open: up [eliminates a few of the stocks that are just breaking below the 20-day]
I noticed that BWLD [which didn't necessarily fit this criteria until a few days after purchase] broke hard to the upside with volume when the 20-day SMA was crossed. I also noticed that the short interest would take more than 10 days to cover.

My first purchase using the screener as a selection tool was FSLR @ 151.90. I'm also watching SYNA as a possible buy.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Back in $FTK @ 2.3978

Looks like a nice little dip.  Might add to position if there's more.

Monday, June 15, 2009

More housecleaning... $VLO and $CNO

Selling off more shares that I had no basis for buying in the first place.

Sold off $CNO for 2.242 (0.47/share loss)
Sold off $VLO for 17.15 (1.11/share loss)

Actually, in the case of $VLO, I noticed that the stocks from the S&P 500 performed very poorly with my trading strategy--so I will be sticking with Russell 2000 stocks only.

In $EXAC at 14.55

Also looking at $WNR, but no position.

Friday, June 12, 2009

In $SNTA, out of $GRO

I decided to start weeding out positions that I don't have any conviction in, especially if they're down.

Sold $GRO for a loss @ 3.03 (average purchase price 3.45).
Bought $SNTA @ 2.608

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Stock watch list for 6/11/2009

I'm currently in $MNI, so I won't be considering any additional buys.

The following stocks have hit the "Buy" condition on my strategy, so ran the backtesting results on each independently.

$EXAC - YTD 15% gain with strategy, 12% of time in market, 1 round-trip
$MNI - YTD 30% gain with strategy, 17% of time in market, 1 round-trip
$SNTA - YTD 50% gain with strategy, 44% of time in market, 1 round-trip
$SYUT - YTD loss (5%) with strategy, 64% of time in market, 1 round-trip
$TSYS - YTD flat with strategy [only position is one initiated at close], 0% of time in market, no round-trips

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Sold $FTK for 2.6265

I put alerts on the hourly chart for $FTK after watching it approach a peak, and the alert just tripped. I'm all out of $FTK for now.

In @ 2.40
Out @ 2.6265

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

In $MNI and $SBCF

$MNI @ 0.7884
$SBCF @ 2.7387

Monday, June 8, 2009

Cashed out of $SPNG at an average of 0.135 or so

Bought in at 0.079-ish. At least it more than offset my $BZ blunder.

May need to spend some time looking around to consolidate and raise cash. Feeling a little too fully invested--maybe it's just the down market.

Sold $BZ for 1.95


That's -.40, looks like the shares have peaked and have a solid trend
downward now. Cutting my losses.

Orders in for $DYAX, $NL, and $SBCF

Ok, I spent some time backtesting the strategy used to pick the above stocks for different accounts, starting funds, and commissions. With a limited amount of money, the strategy was 15% down over the last 52 weeks. My best scenario was using $20,000 with $2,000 buy-ins per stock. Worst case scenario was screening the S&P 500 for this strategy. Best case scenarios involved the Russell 2000. A lot more screening to do, but probably a little less risk of buying into a fully matured company that has resorted to shananigans to continue earnings growth.

The following test is for $700 in capital in a BuyAndHold IRA account ($2.99 commissions), with $200 buy-ins per stock that hits the buy signal. At the end of the test, the positions are liquidated:
Symbol Date Action Quantity Price Profit-Loss Profit-Loss % Cumulative P&L
ARTC 1/2/2009 Buy 41 4.86 0 0 0
ACAD 1/2/2009 Buy 219 0.91 0 0 0
APP 1/2/2009 Buy 91 2.18 0 0 0
APP 2/11/2009 Sell 91 2.28 3.12 1.57 3.12
VPHM 2/11/2009 Buy 32 6.19 0 0 0
VPHM 4/7/2009 Sell 32 4.88 -47.9 -24.18 -47.9
CYTK 4/8/2009 Buy 121 1.65 0 0 0
ARTC 4/20/2009 Sell 41 10.7 233.46 117.16 233.46
RGLD 4/20/2009 Buy 5 35.77 0 0 0
MPG 4/21/2009 Buy 206 0.97 0 0 0
MPG 6/5/2009 Sell 206 1.12 24.92 12.47 24.92
ACAD 6/5/2009 Sell 219 2.49 340.04 170.63 340.04
CYTK 6/5/2009 Sell 121 2.95 151.32 75.79 151.32
RGLD 6/5/2009 Sell 5 44.91 39.72 22.21 39.72

Friday, June 5, 2009

Bought in $VLO @ 18.26

It was only stock that popped up on my screener out of the S&P 500.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Bought into $FTK @ 2.40 and $SPNG

Yeah, I have no idea what possessed me to dabble in a BB (SPNG)...
Costco, yeah... I know. It could be their big break, yada, yada,
yada.

As for $FTK--my Ult Oscillator 60-min technical indicator that I was
playing with screened it out among some of the stock mentions today
from the experienced traders. Don't have any major convinction behind
it and may dump the position in a heartbeat if it does or doesn't pay
off.

Sold $TXT for no gain

In @ 11.95, Out @ 11.96... held for a month with little to no movement.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Bought in $CNO, $BZ, and $GRO

Decided to dabble in some more sub-$5 stocks:

$CNO @ 2.69
$BZ @ 2.38
$GRO @ 3.45

Monday, June 1, 2009

To heck with the creep towards the 200 MA on the S&P - sold $UYG and $LUV

...I'm getting out of this party before the neighbors call the cops.

$UYG in @ $4, out at $4.24.
$LUV in @ $6.68 out at $6.92.


Friday, May 29, 2009

Out of $CROX at 2.88

Bought in at 2.53 on 5/11/2009

Reasoning? Hmmm... I'll take a short term 15% at any point, especially when its in a stock like Crocs, which has so many pundits trashing the stock on a periodic basis. I suspect there might be some funny business with the articles.

Technical analysis? Oh yeah... I'm playing with the 60-min Ultimate Oscillator and StocK (5-min) on Ameritrade's StrategyDesk, because I'm too cheap to invest any more money in something that isn't my day job.

$CROX floated to the top of my watch list, so I sold.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

First post via new account

I moved this activity to a new account to not cluster my stream.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Got bitten by the bug to buy into $LUV

Bought in at 6.68.  Just couldn't help myself.

Sold $RFMD @ 2.58

Bought lots at 2.54 (5/08/2009) and 2.10 (5/13/2009)

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Removed the $FEED bag

Selling FEED for 6.16

Entered @ about 5.07 on 5/22/2009. I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth here--getting out.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Monthly $UYG and $DRYS calls written

Serious small potatoes here:

$UYG MAY 4 Call (UUFED) expired.  Rewriting the $UYG JUN 4 Call (UUFFD) @ 0.35.
$DRYS MAY 7.5 Call (OOCEU) expired.  Rewriting the $DRYS JUN 7.5 Call (OOCFU) @ 0.85.