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What A Day For A Big Time Screw Up And Redemption

Posted by Timothy Sykes on Tue 15th of Jan, 2008 02:10:40 PM

TIM $14,387, Up $536 on the Day, No Positions

What you can learn from Cynical Exaggerating Opportunists (CEOs) (hey, they changed my title, can you guess what the original one was?)

Wall St. Folly doesn’t like me much, but damn I love that pic they took of me!

God, I love this bear market, squeal you over leveraged, greedy financial firms/naively optimistic investors!!! Oink Oink. But, TIM, TIM, TIM, I broke my rules for a seemingly tenth consecutive day, seeing the fluffy pre-market press release (that ladies and gentleman is an example of pure small cap hype, stronger than cocaine) and the lack of buying there afterward inspired me to short 400 shares of COIN at $11.80. Around 9am and at $11.10ish, I tried to take my $300 profit (nice profit, but it’s tough to grab those pre-market, aka you should never be there in the first place), but I missed the execution and it was straight up from there—all the way to $13.50ish, bringing my account down to $13,100! Damn, with those kinds of returns, no way can I ever talk trash about other strategies.

But I just held my position while I went to my meetings, not because it was the right thing to do, but I thought to myself, how boring is this to keep going back and forth between $13k and $15k. Sure, you guy are learning a lot and my DVD is selling like hotcakes, but I miss the big pay days that make trading fun.

So, after meeting #1, I check in and thought about doubling up—it definitely wouldn’t be the responsible thing to do, but COIN is a true POS so doubling up is actually beneficial. Only problem was I had another appointment—an interview with WallStrip.com that will debut in the next few days, awwww yeah—so I forced myself to hold off.

When I got back to see the stock hanging around $12.60, looking like it was about to breakdown, I said screw it, let’s double up, responsible financial speculation is boring, this is close to an afternoon fade, if and when it actually happens, it’ll drop fast as hell. I figured I’d probably wire in $12k to get me over the $25k hump anyway. Instead of playing COIN directly, I shorted 1,000 of COINW at $4.393 and within minutes COIN cracked perfectly. It did drop fast as hell and I posted the call to short at $12.30 and within a few more minutes, it was under $12, hanging around $11.75. I covered my COINW for a $500ish gain, my 2nd largest gain yet and best risk-reward-wise, not wanting to keep 60%+ of TIM’s assets in these COIN plays.

COIN couldn’t break below $11.50 and one of the greatest trader of these kinds of stocks, Lionmaster on TheLion.com said he covered. This didn’t make sense to me; why would he cover; afternoon cracks are near sure signs of an overnight gap down. Keyword being near. When the stock couldn’t crack $11.50 on its 3rd try, I said protect my gains and I covered my 400 shares at $11.57, for a 23 cent/share gain. On its fifth try, it did manage to break lower, but not for long and then the stock squeezed the shorts who didn’t listen to Lionmaster $1.50+.

Other agri plays that weren’t up as much yesterday proved to be much better shorts today, NOEC, FEED and CAGC, each down 10%+.

SCON–who knows, it’s not a perfect pattern and my nerves are tried, I’ll skip it, good luck on that gap up, looks very possible.

Despite my usual incredibly flawed trading, I’m now up $15, (that’s right, fifteen dollars) on the month after being down $1,200 intraday. LOL. The trading gains are there, the losses simply must be controlled. I will not add any money to my account until I can prove I am worthy of day trading. COIN should remain in play, so there are profits to be had, not sure whether they’ll be from the long or short side, I’ll wait for confirmed a breakouts/breakdown… going to the Sundance Film Festival on Thursday for a week so my trading will be limited.

So, what can we learn from all this: TIM Lesson: Wait for the afternoon crack of sideways price action, listen to Lionmaster, never expect patterns to work perfectly every time, short the weakest stocks in a sector, not the strongest and never wear a green hoodie when you’re on Wallstrip (the green screen means you might just see my head, let’s see what they do…).

The guy who’s quote on the cover of my book compares it to the classics by Leferve and Darvas says he doesn’t respect the pump and tries to apply a valuation to a pumped up penny stock. Seriously. LOL.

A slow motion image of the monster that wreaks havoc on NYC in the new movie Cloverfield. Here are some pics too. Looks cool.

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  • larry
    im trying to get readers to my blog too and was wondering if i could purchase a link in your blog roll via paypal? let me know - thanks :)
  • bao_t2008
    VIP is also a falling knife but it's more of a value/earnings play. It tanked $7/share in 4 days though.
  • no CLS is not volatile/liquid, learn what i trade before posting

    hnsn is an earnings play, nicely horrible chart though so i'll research this weekend!
  • Shaker
    Does UCBH seem like a good short down to the low 2's?
  • Funterpwave
    and it did report earnings yesterday, but without immediate reaction after hours or pre-market this morning...
  • Funterpwave
    HNSN > I think you have to look at which way it goes from here. It may hit that 9:50 ceiling again and tank or break it and run to the next ceiling, high 11's. Either way, you may have an easy 10%. But that's just my rookie analysis...
  • cswiger
    Interesting chart: HNSN, up 30% today, touted as the next ISRG. Long term down trend, goes sideways with regular bumps followed by a bigger fall. ???
  • bao_t2008
    Big deal. They had a good earnings report. Good news is always short lived and the stock will follow the market. Once the DOW, S&P, and NASDAQ drop below resistance, the majority of stocks will tank.
  • AaronMariano
    good call on staying liquid, thanks tim.
  • The SEC wont let me be! I hate the trade limit.
  • bassman52
    volume seems pretty good too
  • bassman52
    Hey tim,

    CLS is spiking pretty good around 20%, you think this could be a worthwhile short in the near future, (today) lol i need to make buck
  • prognesubis
    BAO. Why did it jump the other day? VDSI
  • bao_t2008
    Prognesubis,
    That sounds like a very nice profit you'll end up with there!
    I think VDSI is ready to tank out soon. What do you guys think?
    This stock was in one of Tim's watchlist.
  • prognesubis
    RBCAA, Stop loss out $19.48. $3.47 profit per share. Set a MARK 4%. Kramer said pigs #######################.
  • thinketh
    Is APWR still a viable candidate today?
  • bao_t2008
    Check this out: http://www.thestreet.com/video/10444117/3-stock...

    The guy gives you the worse advice ever!!!!
    Buy POT at $63ish. Especailly today, they're a falling knife.
  • bao_t2008
    you're probably late by now. Chceck after-hours trading.
  • bassman52
    **short**
  • bassman52
    i dont hold any positions .... should i try to RBCAA or is it too late??
  • bao_t2008
    Tim,
    I know you probably don't like VIP but it's a falling knife! Do you think it's a potential short in the next few days?
  • Reaper
    The general market panic means that RBCAA should drop like a stone. This think could open up at $18 or maybe even lower. Wow.
  • prognesubis
    I am out in the country and I do not have acess to broadband like you city boys.
  • how about u pay me the difference then with your gains from RBCAA?
  • prognesubis
    Timm, get rid of those popups. I can not type in the chat room.
  • prognesubis
    RBCAA Holding. Where should I put my stop loss incase I am not watching.
  • TonyEllis
    Crazy Shit!
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