TIM $13,990 (down $60 on the day)
Today got pretty interesting towards the market close—there’s a bit of panic in the air and it’s action like this that makes real panic, aka real fun, possible. With that in mind, I took home a short position overnight—it didn’t act as perfectly as I would’ve liked, but I’m willing to add to my position if
necessary because in times of real panic, even strong stocks tank. What is it? Well, you’re gonna have to read through all of today’s plays to find out!
JRJC —damn! Perfect action for short selling. What a POS (it’s fun to reverse your opinion based on price action!).
QSC —just keeps marching steadily higher, either the next SCON (which went exponential) or PRVT (which simply held onto its gains offering no play whatsoever)
FFHL —today’s big winner, up 74% on news of new directors. This stock has gotten murdered over the past month (down from $10) so while I’d like to short into this kind of up move, I think (and hope) it has further to go ($5 pleaseeee) before the risk-reward is more suitable to TIM’s taste.
BIDZ —another short selling mea culpa. I missed the nice gap and trap in the morning (from $22 to $20) which I don’t feel that guilty about (since shorting at the open is so dangerous), but when the stock was hanging around near unchanged for the day and a really devastating StockLemon report came out, that coulda woulda shoulda been an ideal short entry (considering the stock finished down $3.38!). StockLemon does great research and really seems to have a following so you gotta respect their influence and short (if you can find shares). And you gotta laugh how easily a tiny newsletter like StockLemon can cut through all the BS of puffy articles like this and this from “respected media outlets” .
ASHW —aha, the one stock I have an overnight short position in. Right near the market close, I shorted 700 shares at $3.76 (cost me $2640 with commissions aka plenty of room for me to add), thinking it’d crack along with the market and other retailers—oops, I’m down 7 cents/share, don’t cry for me just yet). As I previously noted, I think when this reverses, it will reverse hard (even if the bottom is $2.50, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it test $3 again).
CC —another short selling mea culpa (get used to it). Opened strongly at $7—and even though it’s dangerous to short at the open, the danger isn’t as great when it’s a blue chip with massive liquidity like this one—and tanked $1/share within 90 minutes. Too bad I was up ‘til 4am last night working on my new website design (which will launch in January—get excited!) and slept in this morning. Normally I’d feel bad about missing this kind of trade, but I do want to set a good example (obviously not all the time) for you guys to focus on shorting only in the afternoon (much, much less risk).
Another good short entry coulda woulda shoulda been on the bounce to the $6.25 range and while I contemplated it (since I was actually awake); I concluded the risk-reward wasn’t worth it. Obviously I was wrong (considering the close at $6 and probable weakness tomorrow), but you gotta evaluate each situation, draw your conclusions and stick to them—don’t cry about them afterwards (unless you fail to do any analysis and barge in because you’re hungry for profits!).
HOKU —up 40% to the $8.25-$8.75 range on news of their latest big-time deal to start in 2009. They’ve lined up so many of these deals and the stock never seems to be able to hold onto its gains (cough, CSIQ, cough)—making it an obvious choice to short. I don’t like shorting on the first day of a run-up like this, too many other shorts looking for quick money. Yes, if I timed it right, I could’ve made 30-50 cents/share, but as you’ll discover, I never time it right so I need a much wider trading range than that to give me the best possible chance at profits. Def. on my watchlist for tomorrow.
GLYT —up a lot on acquisition news—hey, idiots, stop asking me about this one—merger/acquisition news makes a stock dead to me (because it’ll only trade in a tight range)
CIT —ahhhh, that kind of intraday chart brings a tear to this short sellers eye. Too bad this short seller didn’t touch it because he likes to short into strength! (as detailed in my DVD , morning strength, followed by afternoon weakness, to be exact)
SEC fun label: TIM has a short position in ASHW
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