Thursday, September 13, 2007

Trades: BCSI, UA, GS, GRMN, FWLT, LEH, UA, SWHC

As I posted yesterday, I exited the following positions:

I sold 500 shares of BCSI at $80.90 (entry at $76.27) for a $2315 gain (+6.0%).

I sold 500 shares of UA at $64.10 (entry at $62.50) for an $800 gain (+2.5%).

I covered 150 shares of GS at $183.40 (short at $186.04) for a $396 gain (+1.43%).

Today I made the following trades:

I sold 500 GRMN at $107.80 (entry at $106.02) for a $890 gain (+1.65).

I sold 300 FWLT at $124.58 (entry at $120.10) for a $1344 gain (+3.7%).

I covered my LEH short, 500 shares at $57.75 (entry at 55) for a $1375 loss (-4.7%).

I bought 400 shares of UA at $63. Playing the support/resistance range.

I bought 300 shares of SWHC at $19.45. This ones a trend pullback to the 50 day moving average. I'm a little concerned at the size of today's bar, but the stock has held up well at this moving average.

11 comments:

rg said...

I've been reading your blog for a few weeks. I really enjoy it! It seems that you do better going long instead of short. Just an observation.

Do you follow IPO's like VMW, EJ, MF, LDK and AEM?

The Market Speculator said...

Russell,
I've noticed that too. My longs have done much better than my shorts.

LDK has made my screens, but I haven't looked at the other three.

Anonymous said...

I am curious about how you decided to get into SWHC on the long side, especially at 19.45, which is when the weakness of this stock really became apparent.

This stock popped up on my screen Wed night as a potential short.

If you draw a trendline underneath the three recent Jul-Aug lows, you can see that yesterday's action cleanly violates this trendline, which to me suggests there is more downside here.

I would say your UA purchase is risky too, but this one could go either way today.

Good job getting out of GRMN.

TC - The Critic

Mark said...

So you sold GS at the absolute low of the day yesterday? Trading range 183 to 196, and you are out at 183? Well thats a good timing call - what triggered you to sell at 9:31 AM? Its impossible to tell the trend of the day that early, it went up all day.

The Market Speculator said...

tradermark: I didn't time the trade. I wasn't even at the screen. I had an automatic cover set at $183.

The reason for using $183 is a lot of short term support in the $180-182 range. The trade played out exactly as I thought it would. Unfortunately LEH did not, which really surprised me.

Critic: Price and moving average support is in the $19-19.30 range. Very low risk from my point of view.

UA: Another low risk entry. With these low risk entries, if I'm wrong, big deal. I lose a small amount. Reward to risk is good on these momentum stocks.

GRMN is still acting strong. I do think it will eventually test it's breakout level, and I'll be a buyer when it does. One of these days you'll get me ;)

Anonymous said...

Oh, I am not trying to get you or anyone else. As I am sure you know, there is an infinite number of ways to make money in the markets, one just needs to find a strategy that works for them and stick to it.

So I can totally disagree with some or even most of your trades and you and I can still end up making money.

I figure my occasional commentary and a different point of view can be helpful. If it's not, I am definitely happy to just go back to being a silent participant.

Good luck to all.

TC

Anonymous said...

hi, i've been watching EXM and DRYS, both shipping, both seems to have reached a support. However the volume in the past few days on pullback was relatively big. And the rise on today was on small volume. Is this how you analyse them?

The Market Speculator said...

Anonymous,
Interesting you brought these shipping stocks up, as I just went over these stocks this morning. I decided to go with TBSI (which I bought at the open).

I was waiting for a pullback in DRYS, EXM and TBSI, but the volume on DRYS and EXM concerned me. The volume pattern on TBSI was much better, so I went with that one.

The Market Speculator said...

Critic,
The "get me" comment was in jest. I enjoy your commentary.

Anonymous said...

UA consolidating nicely, would look for a bounce on volume. Chart is getting real tight.

Anonymous said...

hi themarketspeculator, for DRYS and EXM, how do u determine whether to enter today? i mean do you need the vol to be half of normal by 10am to enter? I can see them to be in good area but can't seems to grasp whether to enter on that specific day or not. for example, i can't see TBSI's volume is better than DRYS or EXM if you buy at opening. sorry for the question.