A day like today . . .

Sucky days like today are the bane of emotional traders (I still count myself among this group). Nothing seems to be working. Stocks that were making huge gains are taking huge losses. I'm down way more than the market and there's really no explanation why out there.

It's easy for days like these to shake your confidence and make you question yourself. Don't let it happen. It's how you handle the crummy days that separate you out from the traders who lose money.

My first instinct is to panic, take my losses and run. Even though I've been doing this for four years, I still get caught in unrealistic thinking--that I should never have a down day. However, experience tells me that this is all part of trading.

It best on days like these to let your trading plan do the work. Turn off all news and all the tickers and do something else. The market will take care of itself and your portfolio will recover.

Since the majority of StockPunk readers said the news feeds were worthless, I removed them. Power to the people.

I haven't been as diligent with my posts lately. Life has been busy with work, school, and family.

Yesterday was a good day. Up 2.86%. The last three months of the year are usually the best for my screens. Last year, over half my gain came in during October, November, and December. I've got high hopes for this year as well and everything looks pretty good right now.

Week In Review 10-26-2007

What a wacky week! I can't believe I actually made money--and good money at that. I had a hard time avoiding the news and I benefited from all the power and internet outages.

For the week the portfolio was up 7.52% which brings the portfolio to its highest point this year at a little under 48%.

I assumed that my mechanical screens would struggle this week, but they ended up doing pretty well.

I took my first foray into options today, and it wasn't as confusing as I assumed that it would be. I'll keep everyone updated on how things progress, but I see some opportunities in the options market and I need to quit being scared (and ignorant) of them.

I've got a bad feeling about this . . .

Every day this week has been crazy with the ups and downs of the market. So far I haven't been dinged too badly, but there have been some mornings when I was down 3%. We're starting to hear the doom and gloomers trumpet the end of all things again. I wish I was an emotionless being and could just focus on the 10 stocks that I own and quit worrying about everybody else. But, alas, I just can't do it.

First the power was out and then my internet connection went out and has been out since Tuesday That has helped me from looking too much and being influenced by the large swings this week.

I stopped out of three stocks today and I feel pretty good about where I got out. I lost nearly 16% on one this week which is my largest loss this year. Ouch. Fortunately other stocks have picked up the slack.

I don't feel like it is time to run to the sidelines, yet. Some of the market indicators that I follow still look strong. It's just kind of weird out there right now, so choose your poison wisely.

I'm liking it . . .

Another crazy day that ended up pretty nicely--up another 2.06%. The day started off cool and then things took a tumble and then, once again, the power went out. I wasn't able to get online until 9:30 tonight and once again, the blackout benefited me.

People are getting jumpy in after hours trading, so we'll see how tomorrow flows, but so far, I'm pretty happy with how this week has progressed.

That's more like it

I gained nearly all of Friday's losses back and ended up 2.45% today. I made a couple of buys this morning, they tanked, and then the power went out for the rest of the day. I wasn't able to look at anything until an hour after the close. So my new strategy is to buy in the morning and then cut the power to the house.

Zack's Research Wizard 6 months later

It's been nearly 6 months that I've been using Zack's Research Wizard and I'm starting to regret my decision. The screener is still a very powerful tool, but I'm relying on it less and less as I learn more screening and analysis techniques.

I think the thing that I've struggled with most is the support that I've received from Zack's. The salesmen assured me before I purchased RW that they would design screens around my ideas. I've given them qualifiers a couple of times and I have not heard back from them for four months. Not a peep.

There is a real lack of support for such an expensive product. I think it would really help to have a user forum available. Any sort of communication on a weekly basis would be great.

I truly think that RW is a great product. It has a lot of cool features--the backtesting ability (as flawed as it may be) is unique among stock screeners.

But I'm finding other screeners that are just as neat for far less money. I think I'm going to let my subscription run out in another 6 months.

My first house

Not all successful traders have huge houses. This is mine. It's my first house ever.

OK, it's not quite built yet. But it will be by next March. I've tried to figure out the best way to buy it. Do I pay cash for it? Do I put as little down as possible and use the money to make more money (I'm leaning in this direction)? Do I put 20% down (most people think I'm crazy if I don't)?

I know that the stock market is unpredictable, but If I can average over 20% a year, wouldn't it be better to let my money grow than to put it all in the house? There sure are a lot of opinions out there dagnabbit.

That Certainly Sucked

Today sure took the air out of my sails. I was getting all geared up to blow past my YTD return of 43% and the market took some back from me. I guess I can't complain since my portfolio barely moved from last Friday's close, so despite the weakness of the broader market, I'm doing pretty OK.

It would have been better for me to take a few more days of vacation because two of my big drains today were purchases I made the last two days. It's hard to say what this all means, but I still think things look good for a strong finish to the year. Hopefully this is just a good time to take advantage of some consolidation and panic over a few wimpy earnings announcements.

I plan to update my screens on Sunday. I need to figure out this week's gains and losses and I'll post those before Saturday evening.

It's good to be back

Although I had a terrific time with my wife in Jamaica, it's good to be back home. My wife took this photo of me sunning on the beach. I added the stupid thing of me dreaming about stocks because you really can't take a picture of a person's thoughts (or so I've been told). My wife won't let me include a photo of her even though she was the best looking woman on the beach (or in Jamaica for that matter).

We scuba dived a couple of days and the reef wasn't as bad as my environmentalist brother suggested it would be. There were , however, many cages underwater full of crabs, lobsters, rays and fish that were soon to be harvested by local fisherman. That made me feel kind of bad, but I ate a lot of fish anyway.

My portfolio survived my absence (or maybe because of it). I read a few books during my trip that focused on two of my interests--WWII and um . . . the stock market.

I can't believe that it has taken me an entire day just to get caught up on things. Apparently the market decided that it could move on with out my constant monitoring. That's what I love about the whole market show. Every day is different, there is always something new to learn, and you can go on a vacation and the market is still doing its thing when you get back.

Is it NASDAQ's Time?

If you take a look at the major composites, you'll notice that all but the NASD have recently broken through their 2000 highs. The NASDAQ is still nearly half of what it was in 2000.

Maybe the last few days are indicators of where the next phase of the market is headed.

Tech has been hot lately. People are starting to upgrade to take advantage of the new features in Windows Vista. Apple just released a robust new operating system. Folks are wanting new computers for Christmas.

Will tech catch up with the rest of the market? We'll have to wait and see, but things sure look like they are moving in that direction.

Up and Down

I haven't been able to gain much traction this week and that seems to be the overall feel of the market so far. I've read that this is often how the first couple of weeks in October trade.

I'm off to Jamaica tonight so I will be away from an internet connection for 5 whole days. I was silly enough to check on things during our last two cruises (at like $3 a minute on a dial-up connection) so this will be a real challenge for me. I'm sure it will be a good experience and teach me some good lessons about my constant battle with my emotions.

Have a great week!

Ho Hum

Not much going on today. The portfolio was up .19%.

A few more folks have added to the margin debate. Check it out and add your 2 cents if you haven't already. I went against what I said just a few days ago and added margin to my account. I don't plan to use it yet, but I'm getting tired of waiting for trades to settle before I can safely make another trade. We'll see if I blow up my account.

Four more days to Jamaica. Tick tock, tick tock.

This Week with StockPunk

Last week was pretty strong and we're heading in to another bout of earnings. So far things look good.

I've got 20% of my account in cash right now, so I'll be looking for some opportunities this week. Most of my screens have remained extremely stable during the last few weeks so I don't really have any exciting picks.

The "To the Moon" screen has some new candidates, but I'm not too keen on jumping on them just yet.

Have a terrific week and trade well.

Taking Profits

One of the things I struggle with most in my trading is knowing when to sell. It doesn't matter if the stock is rising or if it is falling, pulling that trigger is just plain hard. That's probably why there are so many different ideas, theories, and discussions about the subject.

Chris Perruna has an excellent article on how to take profits at his blog. I've experimented with several ways of taking profits and preventing losses. Right now I am focusing on a volatility system which seems to have a lot of promise.

The best thing any trader can do is to tap in to the wealth of information out there. There has been no time in history where more information has been available--and most of it is free. Take advantage of what is out there to make yourself a better trader and a better person.

Tools I Use

My hard drive gets loaded with tons of stuff each week (photos, video files, programs) and I sometimes forget where everything went. I use WinDirStat to get a visual representation of my hard drive so I can find where those huge files are lurking and either archive them or get rid of them.

The program is free and a great tool for somebody that uses their computer for many different things (hopefully you're not so addicted to trading that you don't have other interests and hobbies)


Right now, my favorite stock screener is AAII's Stock Investor Pro. It's inexpensive (about $200 per year) and the build-in screens are invaluable for creating powerful watch lists. I've used it over the last three years and I've been very happy with it.







I use Scottrader Elite to monitor the market when I want up to date information. I usually only look at it during the open and close of the market because I can get too wrapped up in market swings during the day. It's a pretty powerful tool and free with a Scottrade account with over $25,000 of capital.




I use a Yahoo Widget to monitor my watch list during the day. The quotes are delayed 20 minutes and this helps me avoid the emotionalism I am so accustomed to. The widget hangs out on my desktop and updates itself regularly throughout the day. It gives me a nice visual on how things are going and it looks cool.

These are just a few of the tools I use on a daily basis. I plan to continue this "series" once a month to let you know what kind of tools I find especially helpful with the kind of trading I do.

Week In Review 10-05-2007

Not a bad week even though the indexes did as well as I did. I made 2.21%. My screens struggled this week and it seemed like the large caps ruled the week. Tech stock seem to be gaining quite a bit of momentum lately as well.

I lost out on a decent move by NOV. I sold it on a gut feeling and got burned. I ALWAYS get burned when I trust my gut. Watch me, I'll probably make the same mistake next week.

Boy, that's ugly. GRMN appeared on my To The Moon screen on Monday and promptly dropped like a brick. I don't own it.

I've noticed a pull-back in a lot of recent big gainers this week. That may be a healthy sign of rationality.

China stocks are lighting up one of my momentum screens like a Christmas tree. I'm not taking the bait, but you could probably make some quick profitable trades if you don't hang around too long.

I'm letting a couple of trades settle until the end of the week. I've got some pretty tight triggers set on the rest of my portfolio--nothing above 5%--so we'll see how the rest of this week pans out.

My dumb emotions

Today I lost 1.41% and I got all worked up about it. What's wrong with me? I know better.

I'm experimenting with using volatility stops with my trades and so far I'm liking it. It really helps with the decision making and helps me keep a majority of my profits. If I continue to use it, I'll give everybody the details.

You can find several short interviews with popular stock bloggers here. Pradeep at Stockbee is the latest. Interesting stuff.

I exited two positions today--NOV and FTI. Both were good trades that took over a month to be really successful.

Here's another guy that shares his returns with his readers. I love to compare different strategies and different traders to see how they do in different markets. I wish more bloggers would post their results on a weekly basis. Maybe I'm too competitive.

I'm beating the pants off of Stock Superstars and The Prudent Speculator. Yep, I guess I am too competitive.

Thanks for those of you who gave their two cents about using margin. I'm leaning toward avoiding it. It doesn't seem to be as widely used as I thought.

My friend Sean continues to hold on to IESV.OB. This is a good example of a stock that "can't get any lower". He bought it at 5.5 cents. It touched 3 cents today. That doesn't seem like much of a drop, but that's about a 50% decline.

The last time I bought an OTC (over the counter or penny) stock it went up over 10% after I bought it. I soon realized that it was my purchase that had moved the stock up. It didn't trade another share for 4 hours! Then somebody sold a bunch and I lost like 25%. What an idiot, I was.

Margin anyone?

I've never used margin (unless you count the extra money from school loans that I choose to trade). I'm considering it now, but I'd like to get some opinions out there from people if you have. If you'd care to post your experience here, please do!

Wow -- Dow 14,000

Well, we managed to claw our way back in about a month from the despair of August's plunge. I was kind of hoping the market would struggle for a while longer. I'm not real comfortable with these short-lived corrections.

My portfolio is near where it was when the correction began. That's good, but I feel like I'm just being swept along by the market. I like it better when the market struggles while I brag.

I didn't get my screens updated over the weekend. I hope there aren't any goofballs out there that actually trade my dumb screens. I use them to show the realities of mechanical trading. They're a good tool, but they are no substitute for knowing what you're doing.

I'm learning a lot over at Stockbee's members only area. If you like the mechanics of finding good trades, there is a goldmine of information at that site.