The Market:
Today was a scary day for anybody who is holding onto long positions, and it was tempting for me to jump out of my position in BLUD. However, we have to keep in mind that, over the past few months, every big sell off has been a buy the dip opportunity. As I type, no major support levels have broken, so we must treat the market accordingly. Tomorrow will be telling. If support levels do break, I will look to get out of longs and start shorting.
Sectors on my radar for possible shorts include paper, semis, airlines, biotech, healthcare and utilities. Of these, paper looks the most promising, as it already has broken below it's 50 and 200 day moving averages. Biotech is sitting right at it's 50 day MA. The airlines have come back to earth, and CAL looks to be setting up as a nice short play.
Resolutions Revisited
Here is an update of my six New year's resolutions.
1. Read a book every week:
So far, so good. After three full weeks, I have completed three books.
Tao of Bruce Lee, was an autobiographical account of a scrawny, loser kid who used Bruce Lee's teachings to become a success in life. It also has some little known tidbits on Bruce Lee's life.
Week two was a book that will be of interest to anybody reading this blog, Enhancing Trader Performance by Brett Steenbarger. This was a great book that I will review shortly. It motivated me to work harder to be a better trader.
I just completed Pat Riley's Winner Within. It's an enlightening self help book that uses his experiences coaching the Lakers to bring home his philosophy on management. An added benefit is the amount of inside info dished out the 80s Lakers.
2. Define my risk, stop and target before every trade and let those preset parameters work for me.
This has become such a habit now that I probably don't even need to keep this on the resolutions list.
3. Review my trading journal on a monthly basis (I already do this), integrate my findings into my trading style, and report my finding on this blog.
While it has not been a month yet, I am taking my trading journal reviews much more seriously. These reviews have lead me to research specific setups much more closely. My findings have me trading a few setups more than I normally would, such as the cup and handle and head and shoulders patterns. I also have been reviewing not only my trades, but my watchlist as well, as shown in this review of the SINA non-trade.
4. Become an early riser.
I have not even attempted this one yet. Having kids is makig this one tough. I would really love to wake up at 4 or 5 every morning though. As I found out last year, it makes a huge difference in my productivity.
5. Workout goals:
A) Run three miles 4 x/week (currently don't run at all)
B) Bench press 250 x 5 (currently at 205 x 5)
C) Barbell curl 135 x 8 (currently at 95 x 5)
D) Squat 250 x 5 (don't know current ability)
I've been keeping up with my workouts, and have increased in A-D. I'm up to running 2 miles/day. My bench press is 215 x 5, curl is 105 x 5 and squat is 185 x 5.
6. Try something new every month.
I was supposed to snow board this month, but it doesn't look like that will happen. However, I did watch my first hockey game. I am a huge sports fan, but I've never watched a hockey game and usually change the dial when ESPN shows hockey highlights. A buddy at work got me to watch the NHL All Star Game, but honestly, I'm not hooked. BTW, why is it that when hockey players fight, it's considered a beautiful thing, but when NBA players throw down, it's portrayed as a tragedy? It smacks of racism, if you asked me . . .
I also tried a new Chinese restaurant, called Big Bowl. It was terrible. I'm not a fan of westernized chinese food, a la PF Chang.
4 comments:
from my thoughtful friend ron (for some reason he couldnt get thru the page verification):
usually youd get the racism charge if it was the reverse. beautiful when the savages are fighting but when the civilized white man does it its a tragedy. but your charge is utterly bogus either way.
#1. fighting is part of the game in hockey, always has been, always should be hence the approval. the opposite is true in basketball and other sports hence the disapproval. its that simple. in hockey though if you start using your stick as a weapon its condemned with vehemence because that isnt a part of the game.
#2. looking at it aesthetically, hockey fights are good because the guys know how to fight and its 1 on 1 - no one runs away and its mostly a controlled situation. its 2 guys ready to fight, going toe to toe. basketball and baseball its usually a pathetic slapfight with guys taking cheap shots and running away - see yellow mello.
to sum up, hockey its part of the game and a controlled fight so is usually approved. baseball/basketball its out of control mob violence/a brawl and disapproved.
all star games are the worst, the nhl all star game is the worst of the worst.
What about baseball? Fighting is tolerated there as well. It's only in basketball that fights turn into conversations about society, with words like "thug" thrown out for good measure. Or as you would say "mob violence".
I can see why fighting is allowed in hockey . . .who would watch without the fights? BTW, two guys holding each other with one hand and throwing haymakers with the other is not "knowing how to fight". Nor is there anything aesthetically pleasing about bloodied hockey players.
hockey has cracked down on fighting to the point theyve almost eliminated the "goons" (which is older terminology equal to "thugs") in hopes of attracting a broader audience because fighting isnt seen as acceptable in todays society. if you knew the slightest bit about hockey youd know that when marty mcsorely attacked donald brashear a few years ago he was called a thug, a criminal and worse. and that was a white guy attacking a black guy. same goes for when todd bertuzzi attacked steve moore. both those attacks were way outside the rules and both were fretted over the same exact way as a basketbrawl. you probably didnt hear it because you dont follow hockey. in canada they were a huge deal. almost no one says anything in US cause no one cares about hockey.
the aesthetics referred to the fight style itself. i guess you prefer a bunch of guys running around throwing wild girly punches, slapping each other, getting sucker punched, pushed, tackled and then all ending up on the ground in a big pile wrestling each other or a coach grabbing onto a players leg and getting dragged around the court.
of course the sport of fighting is called "boxing" which isnt what we're talking about although hockey comes closest. if it wasnt, that tired old joke about going to a boxing match and a hockey game breaking out wouldnt work. its rare that a player bleeds from a fight.
the most exciting sporting event in american history was a hockey game.
Anonymous,
They've cracked down on hockey fighting to the point where the refs still stand back and watch two guys bloody themselves while the crowd goes wild. They only cracked down on incidents like the Marty Mcsorely atack because they had to. If you recall, the authorities were getting involved and politicians started voicing concerns. It's akin to baseball cracking down on 'roids.
What game are you referring to? The Miracle on Ice? If so, yeah, I agree, that was exciting. However, you'll never have a moment that exciting in an NHL game. Maybe if the league opened their eyes and used international rules, then it would get a little better.
Post a Comment