Weekly Update for week 33 ended 10/12/2007 An OK week (up 13.7K), although with lots of activity. The principal plays came from China as well. On Monday made 14K buying the puts on LDK after that very negative barron's article. I was however burnt by the fake rally in CTDC on Monday. Came back the following day on LDK after the frantic rebuttal from the company and the raised guidance, loading up on the stock just before market opened at $43. Unfortunately got played by the market (do I say some big guy out there?), dropping the stock down to $40, barely up 7% after seeing 20% upmove, forced me out with a loss of 12K, got me in the revenge mode causing me to buy puts (when the stock price was about 40.30), thereafter took the price steadily up the rest of the day, until I was forced to sell my puts for a loss of 15K. In all lost 27K on LDK on Tuesday, more than wiping out my gain in the same stock on Monday. I introduced a new automated strategy this week (AUTOTRADE4), though it started off rough. Made two trades (Wednesday, Thursday). On Wednesday was stopped out of my stock with a loss of 3K only to see the stock close much higher. I would have made 15K if I did not stop out. So I said, I do not trust this stop loss thing, and turned it off. Got into another stock on Thursday, and everything looked OK, and then came the last two hours, and everything in the market including my trade turned sour, and without a stop (which could have limited the loss to 3K), I incurred a loss of 11K. Call it hard luck, but the question in my order management now is whether to stop or not to stop. I have always felt the stops cost me more than they save me. Finally had some smiles later Thursday with the sell off in BIDU, after the negative comments. Actually bought it on the dip not knowing what was happening, but after hearing the downgrade and the comments, closed my position for a loss of 6K and bought the put, closing later in the day for a gain of 34K. Kind of made up for my losing trades, and more. As we head into the barrage of earnings next week, the keyword will be caution and limiting number of trades to high probability set-ups. Code: Balance B/F: 149,944 Gain for the week 13,717 ------------------------------------------------ Balance C/F: 163,661 Number of Trades 28 Number of Profitable Trades 15 Since Inception of Thread 2/25/2007 - 10/12/2007 Balance B/F: 76,636 Net Gain (Less Margin Interest) 148,025 Cash Withdrawal -61,000 ------------------------------------------------ Balance C/F: 163,661 (Adjusted balance before withdrawals is 224661, up 193% ) Number of Trades 871 Number of Profitable Trades 499 Expected Balance at this time to be on track for Year-End Target : 312,855 Status: Behind Target (Based on adjusted balance before withdrawals) Top/Bottom Discretionary Trades for the week TICKER ENTRY DATE/TIME EXIT DATE/TIME QTY PURCHASE AMT SOLD AMT GAINS/LOSS TYPE BDUVC 2007-10-11-15-07-54 2007-10-11-15-58-55 6000 106200 141000 34678 BIDU OCT PUT LDKVI 2007-10-08-12-03-58 2007-10-08-14-43-54 10000 71000 85500 14319 LDK OCT PUT ------------------------------------------------------------------------- LDK 2007-10-09-09-03-39 2007-10-09-11-09-49 6000 253938 241986 -11986 LONG CTDC 2007-10-08-12-02-02 2007-10-08-15-43-47 18000 206540 192661 -13922 LONG LDKVI 2007-10-09-11-16-08 2007-10-09-12-20-24 10000 72000 57000 -15181 LDK OCT 45 PUT (Before Interest and Other charges) TRANSACTIONS ANALYSIS FROM 2007-02-25 TO 2007-10-13 Current Week | Since Inception of Thread | Method Gains/Loss No Of Profitable | Gains/Loss No Of Profitable Trades Trades | Trades Trades Automated AutoTrade1 0 0 0 | 5548 207 115 AutoTrade2 0 0 0 | 3372 12 8 AutoTrade3 0 0 0 | -4523 3 0 AutoTrade4 -14537 2 0 | -14537 2 0 ----------- -------- ------------ | ----------- ------ ------------ Total Automated -14537 2 0 | -10140 224 123 ----------- -------- ------------ | ----------- ------ ------------ Discretionary Long -17708 8 5 | -52319 237 139 Short 17380 8 5 | -32611 226 131 Options(long) 28581 10 5 | 243964 194 106 ----------- -------- ------------ | ----------- ------ ------------ Total Discretionary 28253 26 15 | 159034 657 376 =========== ======== ============ | =========== ====== ============ Net Totals 13717 28 15 | 148894 881 499 =========== ======== ============ | =========== ====== ============
I did not know Amertitrade offers API option for creating auto-traders? Is it one those out of the box customizatable trade things?
Quotetracker provides APIs that interface with Ameritrade. I learnt now that Ameritrade provides its own that bypasses Quotetracker (albeit Quotetracker is now a subsidiary of Ameritrade).
"albeit Quotetracker is now a subsidiary of Ameritrade" I wonder how TD Ameritrade makes money off of QT?
Neke, Those LDK shares were offered in the 35 area 8:00 am premarket.. a trade I wish I took.. Chinese stocks can make you a millionaire overnight.. IF you are on their right side... gotta love em.. Stuck in DRYS short again.. took home $114 Long yesterday and decided to switch at $120 Short today... $123 AH today... praying for bad news.. I promise not to short you again until you have turned down.. Your disease is catching me! Shorting strong stocks!
I guess you caught the wrong disease. I wouldn't short DRYS and not in this run-away bull phase. DRYS has a forward PE of 12, and the earnings is expected to be 40% higher next year. That is hardly a short candidate. I am just wondering where the buyers were when it was $13 (52-week low). And by the way I do not deliberately short STRONG stocks. The intention must be to short EXUBERANCE.
Thanks Neke.. as usual I'll switch if it holds over a hew high.. To think I first went long at 42! Well there are lots out there that prefer to short highs, buy lows... http://www.shortsqueeze.com/index.php?symbol=drys&submit=+GO+ Though not huge, sdds fuel to the fire...
By the way.. Dow 13,950 probably the most important value going forward.. a break of that and me thinks 2 to 3 weeks of shorting.. imho
Hi Neke, First of all, great thread. Thanks for sharing your experiences with us. Though I must say I agree with the poster who said YOU"VE GOT BALLS. Seriously, it takes guts to go to meetings with 90k on the line especially with net worth under $1mil. Just one comment, I must say that I'm very disappointed that after 7 years of trading, you still average down. I've only been trading for 2 years, but in my first year I learnt pretty quickly that averaging down kills you. I haven't done it in ages, but rather, I average up into my winners. All the best with your trading, Nizar.