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Posted 5 months, 10 days ago. http://www.timothysykes.com/timsykes/2008/03/31/13-stocks-to-short-dont-fire-until-you-see-the-white-of-their-eyes/

13 Stocks To Short: “Don’t Fire Until You See The Whites Of Their Eyes”

Tags: Analogies, Patterns To Short, Short Selling

For you idiots out there–don’t be shy–that was the command given at the Battle of Bunker Hill, meant to get the patriots not to fire their weapons until the enemy was right up close to preserve their minimal ammo.

bunkerhill

It’s incredibly applicable to these 13 stocks because as a short seller, you have tons of choices, but you must only open fire when your enemy–the stocks–are worth being shorted–that being into weakness, to give you the best chance at hitting them square in the chest and taking them down!

So far I’ve only seen the whites of the eyes on REED’s longs and that’s why I’ve been firing my short selling musket as if I were a patriot.

(REED)

reed7

(YTBLA)

ytbla

(COT)

cot7

(HYBR)

hybr7

(BPAX)

bpax7

(WH)

wh7

(USBE)

usbe

(LUNA)

luna7

(VSE)

vse7

(GU)

gu7

(QBIK)

qbik7

(LWLG)

lwlg7

(ERHE)

erhe7

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61 Responses

  1. 1sneale17

    March 31st, 2008 at 8:21 am

    So you’re saying that you should only short when the stock starts to come back off of its runup? Is that what you mean by whites of their eyes? You never actually say what you mean by weakness…

    Thanks.

  2. 2timsykes

    March 31st, 2008 at 8:30 am

    even at the top, a stock can show weakness by turning sideways and failing to breakout. or weakness could be a quick drop, bounce, slow fade. or a quick plunge, lots of different possibilities, thats why i didn’t mention them all

  3. 3timsykes

    March 31st, 2008 at 8:47 am

    REED down to $3.30 now, gotta get greedier and hold

  4. 4Gary

    March 31st, 2008 at 8:50 am

    huge pop on REED.. tim hope you where not short already this am

  5. 5Val

    March 31st, 2008 at 8:53 am

    darn, BPAX down big & Ameritrade had no short shares, they never have any

  6. 6timsykes

    March 31st, 2008 at 8:54 am

    gary not sure what u’re smokin’, but i want some. REED is still down 50 cents on the day, don’t be fooled by the low volume and ridiculous spread…variables weren’t good for an AM short, good avoidance

    BPAX nice morning tankage, had my shot to short 1000 at 4.39, but i held off because i prefer afternoon fades

  7. 7Val

    March 31st, 2008 at 8:58 am

    SMBL starting to look weak here too

  8. 8Gary

    March 31st, 2008 at 8:59 am

    aww…Tim, don’t you know that it is way to early to pull ou the pipe yet. I was just hoping you didn’t buy @ $3.30…due to the fact it took a good 60 cent jump up.

    Now, trading at $3.55…opppss make that 3.82 now!

    Just heckling you “money man”

    Hey thinking about riding COT on the way up.

  9. 9timsykes

    March 31st, 2008 at 9:00 am

    damn just got filled on my ASTI short at $16.99…guess i shoulda had my limit order much higher! oh well, not a bad entry actually, even if its not a trade i really wanted

  10. 10timsykes

    March 31st, 2008 at 9:08 am

    covered my mistaken ASTI trade at $16.69, sure, i’ll take $90, pays for drinks tonight

  11. 11tyler

    March 31st, 2008 at 9:14 am

    I got in BPAX @ 4.46, do you think this thing will continue to fall later in the day?

  12. 12Tony Ellis

    March 31st, 2008 at 9:18 am

    AKNS double top?

  13. 13lmsmith

    March 31st, 2008 at 9:44 am

    Akns, is trying my patient, has to fall lower….looks like it’s heading in that direction

  14. 14timsykes

    March 31st, 2008 at 9:45 am

    akns bouncing around, plenty of support underneath, support up above, guess what its an efficient market, avoid!

    bpax good short, could still yet bounce though not confirmed to be a negative day until the market close

  15. 15Andrew

    March 31st, 2008 at 9:55 am

    looking for cot to break 3.75 what do you think?

  16. 16NeilTheRealDeal

    March 31st, 2008 at 9:57 am

    good sideways price action on WH? or probably should wait for a down day right? this thing has been up 7 days in a row.

  17. 17Andrew

    March 31st, 2008 at 10:00 am

    it broke! cot is gonna tumble!!! i hope….

  18. 18timsykes

    March 31st, 2008 at 10:00 am

    3.75 on cot is MEANINGLESS

    WH sideways action is MEANINGLESS

    read the title of this post outloud over and over until it sinks in

    u need fear, symbolized by a negative close

  19. 19timsykes

    March 31st, 2008 at 10:02 am

    cot didn’t “break”, its just an intraday dip. yes it could lead to a big drop, but now u’re just guessing, like the rest of the suckers out there.

    i really gotta push my DVD harder, maybe it’ll get u guys to understand this stuff better

  20. 20Andrew

    March 31st, 2008 at 10:06 am

    why is that guessing? is that not a tell tale intraday technical break?

  21. 21timsykes

    March 31st, 2008 at 10:09 am

    cuz its a little dip off the high, boo f$%$en hoo. don’t be an early short begging to get squeezed, wait for some real fear

  22. 22Gary

    March 31st, 2008 at 10:15 am

    Andrew…look at the past days! COT has many intrday dips ! All at what you would call strong points. Todays volume is still very high…Still strong.

    I would say once volume breaks and it drops about the 3.40 mark, that would be a good break. and as I type there it starts to fall.

    Hope it gets to your 3.40 mark for ya.

  23. 23NeilTheRealDeal

    March 31st, 2008 at 10:20 am

    Hilarious Andrew. Going nuts over that?? COT? did you enter the wrong symbol down? How is that a tell tale technical break? It didn’t bust through some support anywhere. It just came down a little bit from its high.

    and Tim, I wasn’t saying that WH was at a good point to go long or short. I was just saying there was sideways price action. And isn’t that what we look for?

    But I guess you answered the question by saying we need a negative close

  24. 24Val

    March 31st, 2008 at 10:23 am

    but COT is so overought it’s ridiculous, I’m definitely watching. It’s got a long way to fall once it starts

  25. 25Val

    March 31st, 2008 at 10:24 am

    and besides that is IS the third day ya know

  26. 26timsykes

    March 31st, 2008 at 10:26 am

    COT’s not overbought til $5 and no resistance until $5…looks like it fading now, but wheres it gonna go $3.50, $3?support at both levels. wish the run would continue more, oh well

  27. 27timsykes

    March 31st, 2008 at 10:27 am

    and its not the the 3rd day, its the 6th day–when u have this kind of pattern, it can last MUCH longer than u expect, look at WH and all the solars

  28. 28Andrew

    March 31st, 2008 at 10:32 am

    what would show you the fear in order to be short cot?

  29. 29Andrew

    March 31st, 2008 at 10:33 am

    oh whoops shoulda refreshed before i wrote that thanks

  30. 30Val

    March 31st, 2008 at 10:34 am

    hmmm now you scared me, taking my gain o this little CRASH, better than nothing!

  31. 31NeilTheRealDeal

    March 31st, 2008 at 10:35 am

    well now cot is down more than 30 cents He was going nuts at a 10 cent decline. If he posted when it breaks through 3.40 or so then I think his excitement might be worth it. Then again I’m new to this. I think I have half a brain in my head though.

  32. 32timsykes

    March 31st, 2008 at 10:38 am

    dont get me wrong, this is a great stock to short, u just gotta play it safe. cracking 3.75 turned out to be a good entry, but it was just a break of the past few minutes, nothing major. 3.66 at least woulda been a nice intraday head and shoulders and now its trying to go negative, another key point.

  33. 33Val

    March 31st, 2008 at 10:38 am

    I’d say fear has kicked in, CRAP I covered too soon!

  34. 34NeilTheRealDeal

    March 31st, 2008 at 10:43 am

    and its easy to borrow on TOS which is always a plus!

  35. 35Gary

    March 31st, 2008 at 10:49 am

    and easy on etrade.

  36. 36Val

    March 31st, 2008 at 10:52 am

    Amiertrade has both SMBL & COT, I’m reserving some of both for later. I love this blog TIM, it ROCKS!

  37. 37ViciousChicken

    March 31st, 2008 at 11:11 am

    Val- how do you check availability on Ameritrade? Can you do it online or do you have to contact CS?

  38. 38Val

    March 31st, 2008 at 11:17 am

    I just put in an order at a high limit to see if they’ll accept the order, that’s all. Like I have an order in to sell short COT @ $5.00, and SMBL @ $9.00. They are both open now, but intraday if I see an entry I like I’ll just change the order, most likely to a market order to get filled quickly.

  39. 39neswick

    March 31st, 2008 at 11:19 am

    Would LUNA be a good short today with the weak volume?

  40. 40Jonathan

    March 31st, 2008 at 11:20 am

    Tim,

    Did you catch YTBLA at the top today? Would of been a good short.

  41. 41NeilTheRealDeal

    March 31st, 2008 at 11:21 am

    I don’t even know what LUNA is but I’m guessing its a solar. Looks just like WH

  42. 42ViciousChicken

    March 31st, 2008 at 11:23 am

    Val, that’s a cool idea- thanks!

  43. 43Val

    March 31st, 2008 at 11:25 am

    you’re welcome!

  44. 44sneale17

    March 31st, 2008 at 11:27 am

    Tim-

    You should look into getting a chat room or something. Refreshing this page is getting annoying…haha.

  45. 45NeilTheRealDeal

    March 31st, 2008 at 12:09 pm

    There is SEC rules or something against getting a chatroom. Someone already asked in his forums.

  46. 46Mike

    March 31st, 2008 at 12:22 pm

    Are the Sykes pattern / super nova plays usually dead cat bounces?

  47. 47Moe

    March 31st, 2008 at 12:24 pm

    Just to add to the whole COT shorting topic. One of the reasons why Cot shot up on Friday and this morning was because of rumours of a buyout by Cabury\Schwepes. For those who shorted at today’s high I think your in for a good run dowards. (unless the buyout occurs, but there’s nothing in the news)

    Just my thoughts

  48. 48Brian D

    March 31st, 2008 at 2:07 pm

    I’m going to put my little bit of love on this one, shorted 300 of ASTI at $16.30. 300 PQ at $17.50 not ideal plays for you but they’re working a small bit of magic for some okay profits.

  49. 49Gabe

    March 31st, 2008 at 2:11 pm

    I got a nice short in the morning on GU today. Wondering if sell or hold for tomorrow. Looks technically broken, next break level seems to be 12.60. Chance of a drop tomorrow?

  50. 50morm13

    March 31st, 2008 at 2:16 pm

    I went short LUNA this afternoon at $7.80. Anyone else short here?

  51. 51morm13

    March 31st, 2008 at 2:25 pm

    Just covered @ $7.89 for a loss. Still some strength left.

  52. 52timsykes

    March 31st, 2008 at 2:31 pm

    morm, u didnt waiti to see the whites of their eyes

    even BPAX is rebounding, amazing

  53. 53Brendan Long

    March 31st, 2008 at 5:29 pm

    To all reading this great example of how not to write an article, please join me in going LONG on COT.
    I’m working on building a 100k share position in this company AKA if you short this company you will get burned in the next few days. If you don’t believe thats fine - we’ll chat on Friday…

  54. 54timsykes

    March 31st, 2008 at 5:34 pm

    uh oh brandon long is building a 100k position in COT, run for the hills, LOLOLOL

  55. 55Vaibhav

    April 16th, 2008 at 11:45 am

    Tim,
    Luna is at around 7.4 right now?
    What do you think about short selling if it crosses 7.6? I have been closely watching it for a while and it fluctuates a lot between 6.5 an 7.5.
    Please give me your opinion?

  56. 56timsykes

    April 16th, 2008 at 1:24 pm

    i wouldnt touch luna, its already retraced

  57. 57PETEKUSH

    May 6th, 2008 at 6:58 pm

    whites of their eyes…what if there bloos shot, then they would be red……that makes it more dificult

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