XL-entLady's Account [Archive]

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etftalk

02-10-2009, 01:47 PM

Good luck Lady!

XL-entLady

02-10-2009, 03:09 PM

I asked Tom, our MB administrator if we should keep posting by subject matter or if we might think about a 'home' area for each member to post his/her moves. And the next time I visited the MB, Tom had created this thread for me. Is he a proactive administrator or what! :nuts:

So as I've already stated elsewhere in the MB, my current itty bitty holdings are XLV, SLV, MOO, DBP, QQQQ and XLK in an eTrade account. I'm not going to make many changes until I get my Scottrade IRA up and running. I'll do that just as soon as I get my 2008 tax stuff finalized. And that's just a little complicated! :rolleyes:

I might as well explain how complicated my taxes are by way of introduction. I'm a former government employee who took a disability retirement in 2008 because I have a very rare and painful degenerative medical condition. I also have a very rare and arcane skill set, so my government agency coaxed me back to work as a government contractor, working a few hours here and there as I can and getting paid obscenely well for it! :bigsmile: My work requires travel at times, when I'm able to, as well. Lots of tax complications in that picture. :wacko:

So that's my story. And here's my home. I'll try to keep it comfortable, with big soft couches and plenty of cold drinks in the fridge. So please stop in anytime for a visit. I'd love to have the company!

Lady

etftalk

02-10-2009, 03:18 PM

Notice the $10,000 I added to your top post? Go for it! :)

XL-entLady

02-10-2009, 03:28 PM

Notice the $10,000 I added to your top post? Go for it! :)
Gee, money from thin air! You're LOTS more fun to deal with than the IRS! :nuts:

Lady

etftalk

02-10-2009, 09:39 PM

XL-entLady

02-10-2009, 09:48 PM

Guess what? Like the IRS, I'm taking it back. :)

We are going to wait on the totals and returns for now while we work out the details.

Let's just post the trades, buy / sell with time and prices etc., but posting anything else is just voluntary.

ROFL! After dealing with TurboTax all day that one was a real gut-buster! :nuts:

I was wondering how we were going to do the account reporting.... I'll think about it in my next 3 AM board meeting* and see if I can come up with any suggestions - maybe some kind of XL spreadsheet.

Lady

*3 AM Board Meeting: those middle of the night times when you can't sleep so you lie there having a board meeting with all the voices in your head. :wacko:

justbizness45

02-11-2009, 12:56 AM

Lady, I like your home. :) It feels as comfortable as your other one. Looking forward to your views and insight. JB

XL-entLady

02-11-2009, 03:12 AM

Lady, I like your home. :) It feels as comfortable as your other one. Looking forward to your views and insight. JB
Thanks for the visit! :)

Lady

justbizness45

02-11-2009, 03:21 AM

Thanks for the visit! :)

Lady

I asked Tom to make me my own home. Can't wait to see it.:rolleyes:

XL-entLady

02-12-2009, 02:42 PM

This is my 101st post in Tom's new world. Great place! I'm learning lots and making money - what a lovely combination. :bigsmile: :bigsmile: :bigsmile:

{signs 'from my heart'*} Thanks Tom!

Lady

*For those of you who might be unfamiliar with The American Sign Language gesture meaning thank you, a person places his/her palm over the heart and then makes a sweeping gesture, palm up, away from the body, thus "from my heart." It is a gesture I use in my posts to mean most sincere thanks.

etftalk

02-12-2009, 04:20 PM

I think we are learning more from you Lady. Your research and posted info have been excellent. Thanks!

XL-entLady

02-12-2009, 04:42 PM

You're welcome. :embarrest:

Lady

justbizness45

02-13-2009, 02:06 AM

ROFL! After dealing with TurboTax all day that one was a real gut-buster! :nuts:

I was wondering how we were going to do the account reporting.... I'll think about it in my next 3 AM board meeting* and see if I can come up with any suggestions - maybe some kind of XL spreadsheet.

Lady

*3 AM Board Meeting: those middle of the night times when you can't sleep so you lie there having a board meeting with all the voices in your head. :wacko:

I managed to complete mine and file yesterday. Today we got the accepted e-mail so only 8-14 working days and the government will be paying me back that interest free loan I gave them last year.:eek:

XL-entLady

02-13-2009, 04:04 PM

My core positions are:

GDX, because that is where the bull market is right now; :)
SLV, because if a precious metal has more room to run it's silver; :bigsmile: and
MOO, as much because I love the symbol as because we're selling fertilizer to China. :embarrest:

This morning I sold everything else I had and threw it all into SRS with a tight trailing stop. So far it's working okay. We'll see how I feel about this trade at the end of the day .... :unsure:

Lady

XL-entLady

02-13-2009, 05:25 PM

Well, my trailing stop on SRS just triggered. I bought it at $64.95 with a 3% trailing stop and I sold at $66.08. Probably should have set my stop tighter, but I made a fair sum and I'm happy. :bigsmile:

Also took an intermediate position in XBI, the biotech SPDR, just now.

Lady

etftalk

02-13-2009, 05:46 PM

Nice job!

XL-entLady

02-17-2009, 07:47 PM

I just bought some XLF at $8.08. I know, I know .... :rolleyes: But I'm hoping for a rebound tomorrow. We'll see if I hate this trade!

Lady

XL-entLady

02-17-2009, 09:04 PM

While I was messing around trying to find out more about the GOE ETN today it just kept going up. It closed up 99.4% today. :eek:

Woulda, shoulda, coulda. :rolleyes:

Lady

etftalk

02-17-2009, 09:27 PM

What the? If it can just do that everyday, we can retire next week. :D (Not that I own any)

XL-entLady

02-19-2009, 01:34 PM

I started wondering more about ETNs after what the GOE ETN did this week. And I found this article that explains it. Not sure where else to put it, so I'm hoping that if I post it here people can find it by searching on the word "ETN" if they're looking.

http://news.morningstar.com/articlenet/article.aspx?id=272009

Our New ETN Outlook http://im.morningstar.com/im/dot_clear.gif01-22-09

"Just last week, I titled an article "ETN Risk Rears Its Ugly Head." If only I had known that I would want to reuse that title so soon. Bank stocks are plummeting once again, but this time three particular banks concern our ETF team:
Deutsche Bank (http://quicktake.morningstar.com/StockNet/MorningstarAnalysis.aspx?Country=USA&Symbol=DB) (DBDB (http://quote.morningstar.com/Switch.html?ticker=DB)),
Barclays (http://quicktake.morningstar.com/StockNet/MorningstarAnalysis.aspx?Country=USA&Symbol=BCS) (BCSBCS (http://quote.morningstar.com/Switch.html?ticker=BCS)), and
State Street (http://quicktake.morningstar.com/StockNet/MorningstarAnalysis.aspx?Country=USA&Symbol=stt) (STTSTT (http://quote.morningstar.com/Switch.html?ticker=STT)). My colleague Paul Justice already addressed the concerns of investors in SPDRs and iShares ETFs in his article on Tuesday (http://news.morningstar.com/articlenet/article.aspx?id=271621), but I wish to expand upon the implications of the recent market movements for investors in ETNs such as the iPath series or the PowerShares commodities ETNs, backed by Barclays and Deutsche Bank, respectively.

For those who have not read Paul's article, it says, in short, that ETF shareholders do not need to worry even if the bank managing their funds goes under. Exchange-traded funds, like traditional open-end mutual funds, are legally set up as trusts separate from the bank corporations. The assets within these trusts cannot be touched during bankruptcy proceedings, as they belong wholly to the shareholders of the fund. We also remain unconcerned that bankruptcy might disrupt the ETF management, hurting the funds' index tracking. Not only do companies generally remain operating through bankruptcy proceedings in order to unwind their businesses in an orderly fashion, but the asset-management side of these banks (Barclays Global Investors and State Street Global Advisors) would be among the most sought-after acquisitions in any post-bankruptcy asset sales. In the worst-case scenario, the parent company may change, but the SPDRs and iShares funds are simply too valuable for potential owners to risk capital flight through poor management.

Investors in ETNs are not so fortunate. These exchange-traded products track a variety of otherwise-inaccessible investments and provide handy tax benefits for any higher-turnover strategies. These benefits pushed ETNs into a dominant position among commodities funds, where the ETF alternatives tend to be set up as partnerships and require fairly complicated tax accounting. However, these products do not have a claim on a separate trust of assets but instead are debt instruments issued by the backing bank and redeemable on a daily or weekly basis for the value of a promised index return minus expenses. Those seeking a more in-depth explanation of the ETN structure should read this recent article by John Gabriel (http://news.morningstar.com/articlenet/article.aspx?id=270864). In summary, ETNs eliminate tracking error on the underlying instrument and simplify taxes, but they expose shareholders to the credit risk of the backing bank. If the bank declares bankruptcy, shareholders in an ETN have to queue up along with all the other debtholders to try to claim their share of the company's assets.

Normally this credit risk appears negligible, especially given the liquidity and frequent redemptions allowed with ETN shares. However, when shares in Deutsche Bank and Barclays have fallen around 80% in the past year and the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers remains fresh in every investor's mind, bank credit risk seems very worthy of consideration. Even if we take for granted that shareholders can pull all their assets out of an ETN before the bank collapses entirely, there still remains the disruption of having to liquidate an investment position in an emergency situation, with possible adverse tax consequences or difficulty finding a new position to fill the same place in an asset allocation. This concern does not necessarily justify selling out of any ETN stakes right now, but it certainly should push investors to consider alternatives in case their fund's backing bank should grow wobblier.

Investors in the Deutsche-Bank-backed series of PowerShares ETNs are particularly lucky when looking for ETF alternatives. Those content with a single-long position in a given Deutsche Bank commodity index can find an exact equivalent among the PowerShares ETF lineup. For those who used PowerShares ETNs to get leveraged or short commodity exposure, ProShares just issued a lineup of double-long and double-short commodities ETFs based on the DJ-AIG broad index as well as crude oil, gold, and silver funds. Of course, we must list our normal caveats for leveraged and short ETFs: These funds are extremely tax-inefficient because of the short-term instruments they use (http://news.morningstar.com/articlenet/article.aspx?id=268269), and their compounded returns tend to drastically underperform the benchmark over long periods due to volatility drag and the effects of constant leverage. The former provides reason to stay in the ETN so long as Deutsche Bank appears fairly solvent, while the latter warning applies to all leveraged and short funds.
...

So long as the U.S. and U.K. governments wish to avoid another complete collapse like that caused by the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, ETN shareholders can rest a little easier. Just keep an eye on the news, and always have a potential replacement in mind."

Good stuff for me to remember.

Lady

XL-entLady

02-19-2009, 04:06 PM

I bought UCO at $6.00 and GTU at $42.59 today. I was so busy looking at UCO timeframes on the charts to judge the trade and a buy-in price that I forgot to get GTU at the open. And it cost me about $.40 a share. :embarrest:

Thanks to Show-me and Tom for the heads up on UCO. I hadn't seen that one coming! :bigsmile:

Lady

XL-entLady

02-19-2009, 04:23 PM

I bought the GOE Gold Index ETN yesterday at $31.75 and it promptly fell by about 12%. :sick: I felt so dumb that I didn't even want to post the trade. Now today it's at $35.96 and rising. :eek:

This one is so volatile that I can't decide where to put my stops! :rolleyes:

Lady

etftalk

02-19-2009, 06:20 PM

What a rollercoaster. A physical stop doesn't seem practical. They will probably hit it eventually. I'd use a mental stop and if hit, watch for a good place to exit (next rebound, for example).

XL-entLady

02-19-2009, 06:48 PM

That's good advice. Thanks for taking the time to share it! I think I'm glad my GOE gold index ETN is a relatively small position in my account!

Lady

XL-entLady

02-20-2009, 04:30 PM

My GOE gold ETN is going wacko to the upside again today. It has a 30% trailing stop on it and the stop is above my purchase price. :bigsmile:

My MOO agriculture stock (quit grinning, Tom!) has just about reached my mental stop. Although I think it still has good prospects in the intermediate term, for the short term I'm thinking seriously of selling it and researching an agriculture short. ADZ is a short that's doing well but it's an ETN, and I'm going to try to stick with an ETF.

Right now most of my account is in precious metals one way or the other, and today I'm glad. :)

Lady

etftalk

02-20-2009, 04:41 PM

That GOE is something else. Who needs Vegas? :D

XL-entLady

02-22-2009, 02:23 PM

While I was doing my weekend research yesterday, I found a handy ETF Screener site. It is a sub-page of the http://www.etftrends.com/ site, which is rapidly becoming one of my go-to sites for finding ETF information.

The ETF Screener is at http://www.etftrends.com/etf-tools/etf-analyzer/

I don't know if any of you have used it yet, but I thought the site was my little gem find for the day! :)

Lady

XL-entLady

02-24-2009, 12:34 PM

When I was looking over the charts last weekend and saw how hard the indexes were riding the bottom Bollinger Bands, I decided to do a Bollinger Band crash trade yesterday. So I bought TNA at the open yesterday morning and got stopped out immediately. I was so sure of the trade that I bought it again and then got stopped out again! :sick:

Now one of my paid subscriptions says he's buying TNA and FAS this morning on a Bollinger Band crash trade because there is a 95% probability of it being a good one. And Quantifiable Edges has a whole column about why that should be a good bet:

Another Study Suggesting A Short-term Bounce (http://quantifiableedges.blogspot.com/2009/02/another-study-suggesting-short-term.html)

"Monday marked the 5th day in a row that the S&P 500 closed below its lower Bollinger Band (20 period, 2 std dev). Looking back to 1960 I found only 23 other occurrences. Of those, 22 managed to close higher than the trigger-day close at some point in the next 3 days.

Unfortunately, as you can see from the table below, the edge has been very short-term:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_931wANibTqw/SaPrHTpDeiI/AAAAAAAABCY/7QfJJEIAnZw/s800/2009-2-24+png+1.PNG (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_931wANibTqw/SaPrHTpDeiI/AAAAAAAABCY/7QfJJEIAnZw/s1600-h/2009-2-24+png+1.PNG)

As this selloff has worsened more and more evidence is suggesting a bounce is well overdue. To this point, though, the bounce has evaded us. I expect it shouldn’t be too much longer until we see it."

http://quantifiableedges.blogspot.com/ (http://quantifiableedges.blogspot.com/)

So the technicals say that it really SHOULD be a good trade. And my subscriber email and a very good blogspot are confirming it. But I keep thinking about the old saying about "the markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent." :rolleyes: At this point I don't know whether to try a third time or not. {sigh} I'm thinking about going in again but with a small position and NO stops. (I'm developing a love/hate relationship with stops, mostly "hate.") :toung:

Lady

etftalk

02-24-2009, 01:45 PM

So take the money and run, huh? That's my plan with most long positions right now.

XL-entLady

02-24-2009, 01:47 PM

I'm in TNA again @ $17.13. :rolleyes: No stops yet. I'm watching ....

Lady

XL-entLady

02-24-2009, 02:49 PM

I'm in TNA again @ $17.13. :rolleyes: No stops yet. I'm watching ....

Lady
I put a 4% trailing stop on my TNA. Will probably get stopped out for a third time. Then I'm done with bull index funds. It will be all bear from here anyway. Bought SDS (the S&P 3x bear) at $94.87 and it's down right now but I'm holding it without a stop. It will be up before the end of the week ... maybe ....

I bought more GTU (gold trust) and SLV (silver trust) today. Should have bought more of that nutty GOE (gold ETN) today too because it has taken off to the upside again. That thing is like a roller coaster!

Lady

etftalk

02-24-2009, 02:53 PM

You bought both TNA (3 x long small caps) and SDS (2 x short S&P) this morning?

Go GOE! It has been amazing. I have no position but I've been rooting for you. :)

XL-entLady

02-24-2009, 03:18 PM

You bought both TNA (3 x long small caps) and SDS (2 x short S&P) this morning?

Go GOE! It has been amazing. I have no position but I've been rooting for you. :)
Yeah, both TNA and SDS. Call it hedging, I guess. I figured that the SDS will be a longer time hold than the TNA. First time I've done this. Probably won't work! :nuts:

Lady

etftalk

02-24-2009, 03:44 PM

I see. It makes sense. I "try" to do that with futures, saying I will short one or two ES contracts for the intermiediate-term looking for lower prices months down the road, while at the same time trade other contracts, long and short, in the short-term. I can't always seem to stick to that plan (like I wrote about in the TSP Comments today). I get too tempted to cover shorts when I see a short-term bullish set up. I need to work on that because believe the big money is made in the intermediate to longer term positions. I watch a lot of Oscar's videos and he's such a scalper that he talks me out of holding anything.

XL-entLady

02-24-2009, 04:29 PM

Okay, stopped out on TNA. Third time's done. I'm a slow learner. Bought TZA at $77.54. Will try going with the long term trend instead of against it this time! :rolleyes:

Still thinking about the problem of holding leveraged ETFs for more than a day. Haven't come up with a brilliant solution yet. :toung:

Lady

XL-entLady

02-24-2009, 06:15 PM

Today I'm really feeling like a slow learner. I paper traded ETFs until I was pretty confident in my abilities before I started to trade with more than monopoly money. But today I found out that I need to go back to all my investment books and review "Entry and Exit Points 101." :embarrest:

I'm happy with every stock that I have right now, but some of my entry points are really the pits! :sick:

Lady

etftalk

02-24-2009, 06:44 PM

Okay, stopped out on TNA. Third time's done...
"Entry and Exit Points 101."

Tight stops are obviously very vulnerable in this volatile market. When trying to pick a bottom (or short-term reversal), using 5% below the prior days' low is actually a good plan.

XL-entLady

02-24-2009, 06:56 PM

Tight stops are obviously very vulnerable in this volatile market. When trying to pick a bottom (or short-term reversal), using 5% below the prior days' low is actually a good plan.
Thanks for the advice. It's written in my trading journal now! :)

Lady

XL-entLady

02-25-2009, 04:58 PM

Gumby

02-25-2009, 05:19 PM

Sold GOE today at $40.00 even. May buy again in one of it's lower priced incarnations.

Lady

I am envious of that trade. Great job!

That's amazing how some trades look like a person made a mistake....Then wham...an amazing return.

Option trading has those big swings, but the potential return is phenomenol. It is always an adrenalin rush when the option go into the money$$$. If we get a run up in the S&P, I am going to buy some call options on SDS for the next market drop.

XL-entLady

02-25-2009, 05:34 PM

Option trading has those big swings, but the potential return is phenomenol. It is always an adrenalin rush when the option go into the money$$$. If we get a run up in the S&P, I am going to buy some call options on SDS for the next market drop.
Gumby, I've never done a call option, although I have the ability to do so in my account. If you do the SDS option, will you walk us through it so I can get a picture in my mind about how it works?

Lady

Gumby

02-25-2009, 05:59 PM

Gumby, I've never done a call option, although I have the ability to do so in my account. If you do the SDS option, will you walk us through it so I can get a picture in my mind about how it works?

Lady

Sure, it's really pretty easy.
When I think the S&P stands a good chance to drop within a month, I start looking at the calls on SDS pretty hard. Since SDS is 2 times the inverse of the S&P index, a call option on SDS actually acts like a PUT option for a regular stock. When the S&P drops, the call options on SDS increase in value.
To see how these are priced, you can click the C fund chart on the Tsptalk site (bottom of page) and it will take you to a Yahoo chart for the S&P. Enter SDS for the stock name and it will make a chart of SDS. Then click on the options tab over to the left. The current month option will be displayed. I generally look at the options that are "out of the money" or above the strike price that SDS is currently selling for.

For instance, a call for March strike price 95 SBJCQ.X is trading for $6.90.
So each one of these cost $6.90 * 100 + commission. So for about $700 you can control 100 shares of SDS until March 20th. This gives you 100 to 1 leverage. The upside is potentially unlimited, the most you can lose is your entire investment of $700. 100 to 1000 percent return is not unheard of. Of course, a 100% loss may be a reality if the market does not drop and the value of SDS stays below the strike price. The options are risky and are not for the faint of heart.

Of course, you will need an options account set up with your brokerage.. I use Scottrade and the commission is $7.00 plus $1.25 per contract.

Hope that helps.

XL-entLady

02-25-2009, 07:35 PM

Hope that helps.
It really does. Thanks! :)

Lady

XL-entLady

02-25-2009, 08:10 PM

justbizness45

02-28-2009, 04:16 AM

XL-entLady

02-28-2009, 01:28 PM

Lady, you were talking about fast/slow stochastics the other day. If I understand what you wrote and what I read elsewhere, when a ETF breaks above 20 (out of oversold area) it is a buy indicator and when it breaks below 80 sell. Look at IBB, when it breaks back up above 20 and comes off it's lower bollinger band it may be a buy opportunity? Do I have it correct?
From a purely technical aspect that's exactly correct. I looked at IBB and it's far enough down out of the BB that it should snap back. It has either got to do that or stay down long enough that the situation corrects itself over time. :suspicious:

I use StochRSI which shows IBB down below 20 since 2/17 with only one minor attempt to rise up so far. The OBV (on balance volume) has fallen off a cliff and TRIX and the MACD histogram are not showing any signs of life yet. ADX has just turned up but is still down at 15.

If Stochastics can rise above 20 and ADX continues to rise and gets over 20 to show the start of a new trend, then it might be worth it. But I know nothing about the fundamentals of this market right now, so there might be a reason that OBV shows that everyone fled this market so fast that nobody even stayed to shut the door. :unsure:

Whatever you decide, best of luck with it!

Lady

justbizness45

02-28-2009, 10:48 PM

From a purely technical aspect that's exactly correct. I looked at IBB and it's far enough down out of the BB that it should snap back. It has either got to do that or stay down long enough that the situation corrects itself over time. :suspicious:

I use StochRSI which shows IBB down below 20 since 2/17 with only one minor attempt to rise up so far. The OBV (on balance volume) has fallen off a cliff and TRIX and the MACD histogram are not showing any signs of life yet. ADX has just turned up but is still down at 15.

If Stochastics can rise above 20 and ADX continues to rise and gets over 20 to show the start of a new trend, then it might be worth it. But I know nothing about the fundamentals of this market right now, so there might be a reason that OBV shows that everyone fled this market so fast that nobody even stayed to shut the door. :unsure:

Whatever you decide, best of luck with it!

Lady

Thanks Lady, now I will go look into all those other abbreviations you just listed.:eek: :bigsmile:

alevin

03-01-2009, 02:41 AM

In addition to my core positions, I have two open positions, SDS and TZA.

Someone told me once that you're not really a parent until you have two children. Because when you only have one child you can keep an eye on him all the time, but when you get two then you tend to lose track and that's when they choose to run amok on you. :nuts:

Well it applies to ETFs too, I think. I took my eye off SDS for just an hour and I missed a good profitable exit. I think that one thing I've learned with my ETF tuition money this week is that I have my core positions and ONE other one. :wacko:

Lady

I think I already agree with you! I tried on 3 paper positions on Wed, and it was just about too hot to handle, especially with 2 of them "hedging: each other (problem there was SCO being a 2x short which I didn't realize til I'd put position on-thought it was a straight short til it was too late to do anything but panic. :eek: That being lesson #2 for me-make sure I know what I'm signing up for.

#3-2x short is not a good hedge for a 1x long.

#4-What Tom said-about 5 1day in-out trades per month. I already used up 2 in my paper trading. something I'll need to be really careful about with real account.:rolleyes: Paper trading is fun and hectic, I don't want to be a day trader, I really truly want to be a swing trader, but its so easy to hit that button-impulse control! Now if I can just get the hang of it well enough fast enough not to fritter away all the real money in account management and trading fees.

XL-entLady

03-02-2009, 04:33 PM

...#4-What Tom said-about 5 1day in-out trades per month. I already used up 2 in my paper trading. something I'll need to be really careful about with real account..... I don't want to be a day trader, I really truly want to be a swing trader, but its so easy to hit that button-impulse control! Now if I can just get the hang of it well enough fast enough not to fritter away all the real money in account management and trading fees.
Some very good lessons, Allie!

One clarification, though. If my notes are right, Tom's message about day-trading was "...The new rules apply to traders categorized as Pattern Day Traders (PDTs) who are defined as traders who make 4 or more day trades within a 5 day period..."

I totally agree with you about not wanting to be a day trader! I'm still learning how to deal with stops, entry and exit points as a swing trader. And I'd better learn how to walk before I try to run the day-trade marathon! :toung:

I've been a little quiet on the MB because I've been trying to put into practice one of my major new EFT rules. I've decided that I'm going to learn the technical aspects of just a couple of ETF's and I'm going to learn them inside and out, candlestick charts, P&F charts, Fib retracement levels, where they are in their day cycles, etc. etc. It's taken a LOT of time but I recovered 3% of my 8% account loss this morning, so it's paying off.

I chose TZA and FAZ. I want to learn the in's and out's of TZA because I think it will help me to know when to move in and out of funds for my TSP accounts. And I chose FAZ because of it's fundamentals.

After hours of study over the weekend, I cancelled a stop I had on them and let them run at the open, which they both did. Then I put a 2% trailing stop on half my position. My trailing stop on FAZ triggered at $70.95. I then put a buy order in for FAZ at 63.50, because that was an important support level. But with the run-up this morning, I have stair stepped my buy order in according to support levels that I wrote out over the weekend. My current buy-in limit order will trigger at $70.23.

My 2% trailing stop on TZA hasn't triggered yet. When it does, I will place a buy limit order based on where it's current price is in my stair-steps of important support/resistance levels.

My core positions are GTU, GDX and SLV. They are all in negative figures today and if I had done my intense study a few days earlier, I'd have probably lightened my positions on Feb. 23. But I didn't, and I have decided to let them run without stops for at least today, because I totally believe in these ETF's for the intermediate term.

So that's my report for the morning. :)

Lady

etftalk

03-02-2009, 04:54 PM

One clarification, though. If my notes are right, Tom's message about day-trading was "...The new rules apply to traders categorized as Pattern Day Traders (PDTs) who are defined as traders who make 4 or more day trades within a 5 day period..."

Yes, I had to update it after confirming I was wrong about the 5 in a month deal.

XL-entLady

03-02-2009, 05:05 PM

Yes, I had to update it after confirming I was wrong about the 5 in a month deal.
And we really appreciate the update! I hadn't even known there was a day-trade rule in the first place! :eek: I'd have been in trouble if it was 5 in a month, so I was glad to know you can do 3 in 5 days without a problem. I've added a column to my trading spreadsheet to keep count, which will hopefully keep me out of trouble.

Thanks again!

Lady

etftalk

03-02-2009, 05:14 PM

Good idea!

XL-entLady

03-02-2009, 07:21 PM

I just repurchased FAZ at $70.23. That's one day-trade ..... :bigsmile:

Lady

Gumby

03-02-2009, 07:27 PM

I just repurchased FAZ at $70.23. That's one day-trade ..... :bigsmile:

Lady

Great price! Hope you do well.:)

XL-entLady

03-02-2009, 07:30 PM

....I then put a buy order in for FAZ at 63.50, because that was an important support level. But with the run-up this morning, I have stair stepped my buy order in according to support levels that I wrote out over the weekend. My current buy-in limit order will trigger at $70.23.

Great price! Hope you do well.:)
Guess I should have noted my limit order when I posted the buy. Oops, I forgot.

Thanks for the good wishes, Gumby!

Lady

XL-entLady

03-02-2009, 07:56 PM

Bought TNA at $12.98. Bollinger Band crash trade for tomorrow.

Lady

etftalk

03-02-2009, 07:56 PM

Are you still in FAZ (3X financial bear) as well?

XL-entLady

03-02-2009, 08:08 PM

Bought TNA at $12.98. Bollinger Band crash trade for tomorrow.

Lady

Are you still in FAZ (3X financial bear) as well?
Nope. Sold out today @ $91.08. But I forgot to post it when the sell order triggered. Sorry. I'll try to remember in the future. I got so busy planning my next step that I forgot to take care of business on the MB. :embarrest:

Lady

etftalk

03-02-2009, 08:20 PM

Nope. Sold out today @ $91.08. But I forgot to post it when the sell order triggered.
Is that supposed to be 71.08? 91.08 sounds a little too good of a fill. :) Either way, nice trade!

Here$14U

03-03-2009, 03:51 AM

Lady;
Be careful with TNA as I believe the Slow Stochastic has become "embedded". As Ira Epstien says, "an Embedded slow stochsatic (below 20) for more than 3 days, signifies stronger momentum (downward in this case). Hopefully it will pop tomorrow and you can sell out. :)

XL-entLady

03-03-2009, 01:30 PM

XL-entLady

03-03-2009, 02:14 PM

I'm going to be watching my TNA (purchased $12.98) on a 1-minute timeframe this morning for exit points.

Have a limit order for TZA at $85.44. Also have an order in for FAS for possible intermediate term hold. It's getting so cheap .... But who is to say that it couldn't go to zero in this market climate. :wacko: It's a very small position, so we'll see how it does.

Lady
Sold my TNA at 13.30. Barely cleared commission and now I have to wait for funds to settle. That could have been the shortest dead cat bounce I've seen. :huh:

Bought the FAS at $4.29 and paid way too much for it. Should have bought it at COB last night. Maybe shouldn't have bought it at all. :wacko: But as I said, it's a small position on an intermediate term plan, so we'll see if I'm reading it right or not.

Lady

XL-entLady

03-03-2009, 02:37 PM

Because the opening bounce was so weak, I purchased some TZA at market this morning and got it at $94.38. I still have my limit order in also but will probably be moving the price as soon as I can study the price cycles today.

Lady

XL-entLady

03-03-2009, 03:50 PM

XL-entLady

03-03-2009, 04:45 PM

TZA limit order is for $98.11 until COB today, and probably won't get filled.

Lady
Just filled at 98.06.

Lady

etftalk

03-03-2009, 04:47 PM

probably won't get filled
Your patience paid off. No chasing here. :)

XL-entLady

03-04-2009, 01:02 PM

My chuckle for the morning. :bigsmile:

http://www.etfdigest.com/members/davesdaily/davesdaily030309_files/image046.jpg

http://www.dailymarkets.com/stocks/2009/03/03/etf-wrap-up-the-most-interesting-market-remains-gold/

Lady

etftalk

03-04-2009, 02:05 PM

Like TSP traders, ETF'ers will be the scapegoat of all of the market problems. It's just a matter of time. :)

XL-entLady

03-04-2009, 04:39 PM

Just put in a good until cancelled limit order for CAF at $24.50. I've been looking at China for a while now. I think it's time to jump in on the next pullback. For whatever it's worth,

Lady

etftalk

03-04-2009, 04:58 PM

Interesting. Is that for a long-term play?

XL-entLady

03-04-2009, 05:27 PM

Just put in a good until cancelled limit order for CAF at $24.50. I've been looking at China for a while now. I think it's time to jump in on the next pullback. For whatever it's worth,

Lady

Interesting. Is that for a long-term play?
Yes, at least intermediate term, maybe longer. I think China is going to be the next strong piece of the global market. Do you think I'm jumping the gun?

Lady

etftalk

03-04-2009, 06:11 PM

Do you think I'm jumping the gun?

I don't really know enough about China's situation, but the chart of CAF looks pretty bullish. It's making a 3rd move above the 200- day moving average. I'd use a stop below 22.50 (yesterday's low was about 23).

XL-entLady

03-04-2009, 06:51 PM

The trailing stop on my TZA just triggered at $92.50. :(

Lady

XL-entLady

03-10-2009, 05:14 PM

This morning I put in a limit order that expires COB for more FAZ at $66.60. I know, sick and twisted of me. So I was interested to learn that others are watching it today to buy too. My ordedr came within a hair of filling but FAZ is going back up now. Maybe the markets have saved me from myself.

Lady

Gumby

03-10-2009, 05:19 PM

XL-entLady

03-10-2009, 06:11 PM

This morning I put in a limit order that expires COB for more FAZ at $66.60. I know, sick and twisted of me. ...

If the S&P ticks up to 718- you will get a fill.
Good luck.
Bought FAZ @ $66.565

Lady

XL-entLady

03-13-2009, 03:48 PM

Found a very new but intriguing ETF this morning and put in a nibble limit order at $22.80 that may never be filled. If it does fill, I'm looking at this for a longterm position, but will keep a sharp eye on it.

RWV:

"The RevenueShares Navellier Overall A-100 Fund (RWV (http://seekingalpha.com/symbol/rwv)) was created in order to identify an index, rank its constituents by company revenue and rebalance once a year, with the goal of providing a higher return over time than the index would normally do by itself. The fund is constructed using an eight-factor model to give stocks a letter grade. From there, the top 100 A-rated stocks are included and ranked by revenue annually on Sept. 1, and rebalanced on the first day of each calendar quarter.

RMV has an expense ratio of 0.65% with holdings in 100 securities. Its top holdings include: Wal-Mart, 7.72%; Home Depot, 6.83%; Lowe’s Co., 5.33%; Astrazeneca PLC ADR, 4.42%; Accenture LTD, 4.14%; McDonald’s Corp., 4.02%; World Fuel Services Corp, 3.05%; General Mills Inc, 2.75%; AMGEN Incorp, 2.62%; BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc, 1.92%."

http://seekingalpha.com/article/125827-revenueshares-navellier-etf-takes-innovative-stance

Lady

XL-entLady

03-13-2009, 07:44 PM

Found a very new but intriguing ETF this morning and put in a nibble limit order at $22.80 that may never be filled.
Filled @ $22.80, currently @ $24.61. Still very thinly traded though.

Lady

XL-entLady

03-13-2009, 11:07 PM

So at week's end my ETF portfolio is GTU, SLV and RWV without stops, GDX with a loose trailing stop, TNA and FAS with tight trailing stops, and FAZ that I paid too much for. :bigsmile: And a limit order for TZA at $65.

FWIW,

Lady

XL-entLady

03-13-2009, 11:41 PM

For anyone who noticed, I fumble fingered the limit order $ on my RWV when I first reported it. The order was for $22.80 (not $29.80) and that's what it filled at. Don't ask me how I did that typo. Today my fingers have been operating on a separate brain. :rolleyes:

And my stop on FAZ is at $33 and if it triggers I'll have lost half the worth of that position. :sick: I keep being sure it's going to rebound and it keeps doing what it wants to without listening to me. I should pay attention to my own tagline, huh! :toung:

Lady

etftalk

03-13-2009, 11:44 PM

For anyone who noticed, I fumble fingered the limit order $ on my RWV when I first reported it. The order was for $22.80 (not $29.80) and that's what it filled at.
I updated it for you.

XL-entLady

03-13-2009, 11:46 PM

I updated it for you.
Thanks! You're my hero! :toung:

Lady

350Z

03-13-2009, 11:57 PM

And my stop on FAZ is at $33 and if it triggers I'll have lost half the worth of that position. :sick: I keep being sure it's going to rebound and it keeps doing what it wants to without listening to me. I should pay attention to my own tagline, huh! :toung:

Lady

33 would be too much of a hit, IMO. It closed at $40.20 today. I bought some today near the close at $39.88 or so. If the rally continues on Monday, SPX 800+ could be the next target. I will get out of it as soon as I can.

XL-entLady

03-16-2009, 04:51 PM

Just purchased DBB for $12.40. Planning on this being an intermediate term position. Rethought and cancelled order for XSD based on something Brian Shannon said in his weekend webinar.

Lady

XL-entLady

03-16-2009, 05:40 PM

Finally bought an ETF I've had my eye on for months. The dollar pullback with an additional pullback in the ETF price this morning made it too good to pass up. Bought CAF at $28.28. :) Now I've got my eye on RSX....

Removed my stop on FAZ because I can't stand to sell at this price. Thought about doubling down but I'm too much of a chicklett. (For folks new to the MB, I'm not talking about the gum. I'm being a baby chick who wants to run and hid at the first raindrop. :toung: ) But just because FAZ is at a bargain basement price doesn't mean it can't go lower. :sick:

Lady

XL-entLady

03-16-2009, 07:07 PM

I had a hedge position in FAS - not big enough :rolleyes: - with a 5% trailing stop and the stop just triggered. Maybe that's a good sign for our FAZ. Also had a looser stop on some TNA that just triggered. Here we go ...... :nuts:

Lady

JTH

03-16-2009, 07:16 PM

XL-entLady

03-16-2009, 08:01 PM

Just bought TZA at $74.64.

Lady

etftalk

03-16-2009, 08:33 PM

Nice outside reversal day on TZA.

XL-entLady

03-17-2009, 04:40 PM

Not fighting the flow this time. Sold TZA and bought TNA.

Lady

XL-entLady

03-17-2009, 09:03 PM

So I have a reasonable sized Roth where I've been holding GTU and GDX, and trading FAZ and TZA, and getting stomped. And I have a baby Roth that I almost forget about where I have been holding DBB and SMH and EWZ and RSX, etc, etc. and it's been making just a few dollars almost every day.

Do you think I would learn from that? :wacko:

Lady

XL-entLady

03-18-2009, 02:12 PM

At this point I have equal $ in TNA and FAZ (because my FAZ has gone down to match the TNA $, not because I've changed my positions) and I figure one or the other has got to go up. Maybe. :toung:

Lady

XL-entLady

03-18-2009, 05:08 PM

The last of my FAZ just triggered it's (20%!) trailing stop and sold. Purchased at $66.60 and sold at $33.96. :sick:

Lady

JTH

03-18-2009, 05:20 PM

The last of my FAZ just triggered it's (20%!) trailing stop and sold. Purchased at $66.60 and sold at $33.96. :sick:

Lady

I'm sorry to hear that Lady :cry:

I'm not in a much better positon. Time is my only consideration. I may have to wait longer than I wanted before selling it.

XL-entLady

03-19-2009, 03:51 PM

I repurchased a small position in FAZ this morning. Masochistic, that's me. :nuts:

The first pot of my FAZ money settled, the tatters remnants that remained anyway. And because of what the Fed did to the dollar yesterday, I spent last evening and this morning looking at ETFs outside the US to purchase. I already have CAF and RSX. Today I added EWC, EWZ (that has a 5% yield), and EEM. I also purchased PCU, which is outside the US and copper, so it met two goals, because I'm trying to concentrate on commodities too. And I bought some DBB, DXO and UGA.

Also bought a small amount of SDY and CVY for the divvies.

I'm thinking these (even the FAZ :toung:) are intermediate term purchases. I've got loose trailing stops set on everything but the FAZ. No stops on it but it is a teensy position. Still holding GTU, GDX and SLV without stops.

FWIW,
Lady

XL-entLady

03-23-2009, 07:45 PM

I have two Roth accounts. One of them has a small FAZ position. Guess which one I didn't make 5% on today. :rolleyes:

I thought seriously about dumping the FAZ but it had already lost so much by the time I could get to it that I decided to just hold through the pain until the euphoria dies and banking stocks fall back a bit.

And to think that last week I sold the last of my FAS at an 8% profit and thought I'd done well. :nuts:

Lady

Rod

03-23-2009, 08:57 PM

And to think that last week I sold the last of my FAS at an 8% profit and thought I'd done well. :nuts:

Lady

Man, just think if you would have held out until today!:bigsmile:

XL-entLady

03-25-2009, 05:37 PM

I bought FAS at $4 and sold it at an 8% profit and then bought FAZ. :cry:

The only thing that is keeping me from jumping from a tall building is that I also bought QLD. My QLD is keeping my account even. But I have a $1K+ loss on my FAZ. I need to tattoo my signature on my brain: The market does not care what I think FAZ will do. Only price pays .... :sad:

Sometimes the ETF University tuition payments are steep, but I'll bet I don't have to repeat many courses. :toung:

Lady

JTH

03-25-2009, 05:45 PM

I bought FAS at $4 and sold it at an 8% profit and then bought FAZ. :cry:

Lady

Lol I sold my FAS for a 10% profit and thought I was getting away with something. I should have stayed hedged :rolleyes:

In retrospect I might go to paper trading for a while, to kick the tires.

justbizness45

03-27-2009, 12:41 AM

Lady, by the way, congrats on the promotion!:)

XL-entLady

03-27-2009, 01:58 PM

My RSX fell off a cliff this morning. Not sure why yet, but it triggered its trailing stop almost at market's open.

Lady

JTH

03-27-2009, 02:30 PM

My RSX fell off a cliff this morning. Not sure why yet, but it triggered its trailing stop almost at market's open.

Lady

Dollar rallied? GLD, SLV and ERW all gapped down this morning. :huh:

XL-entLady

03-27-2009, 03:21 PM

Dollar rallied? GLD, SLV and ERW all gapped down this morning. :huh:
Yeah, J, you're right. It looks like that gap up in the dollar is hitting all my overseas holdings hard.

Okay, memo to self: when holding overseas ETFs, pay attention to the daily cycle of the dollar!

BTW, J, your signature tagline cracks me up! :bigsmile:

Lady

XL-entLady

03-29-2009, 02:52 PM

I won't put this in the 'news' section because I can't substantiate it yet. But there is some rumoring that we're going to be seeing monthly (not daily) leveraged ETFs soon.

FWIW,

Lady

XL-entLady

03-31-2009, 03:25 PM

etftalk

03-31-2009, 04:30 PM

The 3 timers are certainly dangerous, but quite entertaining. Perhaps using an option as a hedge? But the FAZ options are quite expensive given the volitility.

Hmmm... A quick check shows they don't appear to have puts for FAZ, only calls.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/op?s=FAZ

XL-entLady

03-31-2009, 05:48 PM

Now that my FAZ nightmare is finally behind me :sick:, my current positions are GTU, GDX, SLV (large position), SLW (which I'm very happy with today :)), PTM (are we sensing a theme? :toung:), SDY, DBB, DBC, and EEM.

FWIW,
Lady

JTH

03-31-2009, 05:52 PM

Lady, you and me both :wacko:

I still love the 3x action because it relaxes me. But your right, placing stops is tricky. Unless you're glued to the action, these 3xers are better off being held for the day only or not at all.

FAZ is the teacher and I am the student...

XL-entLady

03-31-2009, 05:52 PM

momac

03-31-2009, 10:42 PM

My FAZ just sold for 22.42, purchased @ $66.60. :eek: That is enough to make you superstitious! :nuts:

FAZ was a huge hit on my account. I learned several lessons from FAZ/FAS in March: never trade with unsettled funds, trade with the trend, don't double down on a losing position.

I'm really having a love/hate relationship with stops. It seems that the levered funds swing so wildly that you can't set a stop that is loose enough so it doesn't knock you out just before it changes direction and still tight enough that it gives you any protection.

I'm starting to decide that I don't have the stomach, the expertise, or the nerves to trade 3x ETFs yet. Until and unless I can feel more comfortable with my entry/exit/stop skills, I'm sticking with unlevered funds. What can I say .... you guys already know I'm a chicklett! :bigsmile:

Lady

Hi Lady, I agree, stops on the 3x etf's are impossible. The swings will get you everytime. I bought Faz at $19 and decided since I was going to be out of the house that I'd better put a stop on just in case. Of course it hit and sold out and by the time I got back, Faz was up over $23, so I bought in at that price. This time I'm not putting a stop unless it's way off from the share price. Probably would need to be 25 or 30 %.

justbizness45

04-01-2009, 02:53 AM

My FAZ just sold for 22.42, purchased @ $66.60. :eek: That is enough to make you superstitious! :nuts:

FAZ was a huge hit on my account. I learned several lessons from FAZ/FAS in March: never trade with unsettled funds, trade with the trend, don't double down on a losing position.

I'm really having a love/hate relationship with stops. It seems that the levered funds swing so wildly that you can't set a stop that is loose enough so it doesn't knock you out just before it changes direction and still tight enough that it gives you any protection.

I'm starting to decide that I don't have the stomach, the expertise, or the nerves to trade 3x ETFs yet. Until and unless I can feel more comfortable with my entry/exit/stop skills, I'm sticking with unlevered funds. What can I say .... you guys already know I'm a chicklett! :bigsmile:

Lady

I'm with you Lady. I did OK with FAZ but it is being cancelled out by UCO. I am holding UCO hoping oil will recover eventually??:eek:

XL-entLady

04-01-2009, 02:53 PM

My DBB is doing some REALLY strange things this morning. Are Da Boyz playing with it to try to hit as many stops as possible? And if so, why .... ? :confused:

Lady

XL-entLady

04-02-2009, 03:15 PM

Bought VEU @ $30.12. 5% trailing stop for now.

Lady

XL-entLady

04-03-2009, 03:20 PM

I was reading a "trader's mentality" book last night and it said something that really resonated with me. Look at each chart of your positions objectively without paying attention to what chart it is. If you wouldn't buy that [ETF] then you should probably sell it.

So I did that this morning, and I was surprised at how terrible my GTU and SLV charts looked in comparison to the other positions. I bit the bullet and sold my GTU (for a $1+ loss) and I placed a 3% stop on half my very large SLV position.

I've decided to quit writing my own stories for my ETFs and listen to the story the charts are telling me. If a position is hurting the bottom line of my portfolio then it's got to go.

Does that strike a chord with anyone, or do you think I'm going to be sorry? :unsure:

Lady

JTH

04-03-2009, 04:37 PM

I agree with the writer in a "general" sort of way. For me, removing all emotional attachment works much better for a technical trader. It's almost the polar opposite of a value investor who looks for a stock they have a personal stake in like a Wal-Mart customer. The majority of my bad trades involved emotion, attachment, or fond memories, so I try to look at things objectively.

As for Silver, well I see that differently. I find it difficult for me to time SLV. In order to track silver, I've got to know the condition of stocks, bonds, the dollar, supply & demand, ect. I already keep track of so much that between the reading, watching, and analyzing, I just don't have the time to give it the attention I feel it deserves. These bear markets really suck up your time. :wacko:

XL-entLady

04-03-2009, 08:18 PM

You know, I'm getting really tired of having my entire portfolio do well EXCEPT for my precious metals stuff, and still ending up in the red for the day. It's like dying the death of a thousand cuts! :(

My base metals DBB is just plugging along to the up-side. I mentioned a couple of days ago that there were some wild swings in DBB and I wondered if it meant that Da Boyz were trying to knock out stops. Well I removed my stop and hung on and DBB has done well ever since. I think it's the stimulus and people are thinking about all that bridge building money.

If my precious metals stuff was doing half as well as my base metals position, I'd be way happy. I placed a reasonable stop on half my large SLV position, which had been running without a stop because of the swings. (Forgive me, Show-me, silver is killing me.:sick:) And if after-market and pre-market on Monday don't pick up, my GDX and SLW are getting tight stops too.

Apparently the rest of the world doesn't think that things are as dire as I did, because the precious metals stuff has arterial bleeding. :rolleyes:

Lady

XL-entLady

04-04-2009, 01:50 PM

etftalk

04-04-2009, 02:42 PM

No worries Lady. You can post the price... You have us curious now. :)

XL-entLady

04-04-2009, 02:51 PM

I just did a post on TSPTalk that reminded me I forgot to post a purchase. I bought XLF on April 2.

I won't post the price I bought it at, because it's too far after the fact. I tried to snip my Scottrade confirmation and paste it here, but my computer still won't let me paste to the message board. I can paste to emails and MS Office files, but not to the MB.

Anyway, for what it's worth, and sorry that I forgot to post it sooner, as soon as I was sure that they had eased mark-to-market, I bought XLF. Not FAS ... I'm in a 12-step recovery program for leveraged funds. :rolleyes:

Lady

No worries Lady. You can post the price... You have us curious now. :)
Okay, I bought XLF on 4/2/09 @ $9.38. Almost the high of the day. :embarrest: But it's done well since then. I'm keeping an eagle eye on it. I'm not going to let it damage my entire account like FAZ did.

Lady

XL-entLady

04-06-2009, 06:00 PM

Precious metals are not gaining ground in this pull-back. I lightened up my precious metals holdings again by selling half my position in SLV. Still holding GDX and PTM in addition to my now smaller SLV, but I could lose patience with my GDX sometime in the next few days.

And I'm keeping a VERY close eye on my XLF.

If this just ends up being a correcting pullback, I'm going to look closely at the Q's and VNQ toward the end of this week. I decided against a small cap value fund - - I'm going to increase my TSP S fund instead, if this is just a correction. I'm going to look at candlesticks for a couple of days before I decide.

FWIW,
Lady

JTH

04-06-2009, 06:46 PM

Perhaps metals are waiting on a confirmation of stock market direction. From what I've noticed, It seems we are stuck at price levels that match volume by price. For me, it's all a wait and see thing.

XL-entLady

04-06-2009, 07:53 PM

Been looking at the QQQQ chart all day and .... just bought the Q's at $32.10. Couldn't wait until Thursday. :embarrest:

Lady

XL-entLady

04-08-2009, 03:39 PM

XL-entLady

04-08-2009, 07:22 PM

alevin

04-09-2009, 03:26 AM

On the other MB I had asked about dividend stocks because I was having trouble finding any that really wowed me. I hold PFF (an ETF that holds S&P preferred stock with an expense ratio of 0.48) and the dividend yield is almost 12%. But I was having trouble finding others that could match that. The following article might explain why. So I thought I'd post it in case others were interested. Not sure which other thread it belonged in, so I stuck it here.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/129982-tough-times-for-dividend-investors

Lady

I'm also on the hunt for divvy stocks, but what I've been reading makes me very wary of any stock with straight yield over-say 6-7%, because that yield is likely to be coming down hard in the very near future. I don't really understand preferreds, so making no judgement on them.

I'm wading around in the pool of divvy stocks with yields of 1-5% right now, trying to pick 2 or 3 on value basis. I still think P/Es need to come down much further before this dance is over-so price is going to have to come down if earnings are down big already. :eek:

JTH's comment about value investors' emotional attachment to particular stocks doesn't resonate with me at all, not sure where that came from. I'm just looking for good buys on the fundamentals at this point and also trying to stratify using sector rotation theory to prioritize the buys-closing in but not there yet. :confused::suspicious:

XL-entLady

04-09-2009, 02:12 PM

I'm also on the hunt for divvy stocks, but what I've been reading makes me very wary of any stock with straight yield over-say 6-7%, because that yield is likely to be coming down hard in the very near future. I don't really understand preferreds, so making no judgement on them.
Because Wells Fargo stock is going CRAZY this morning and my PFF is about 8% WFC, my PFF is doing well this morning. :)

Alevin, the big reason (other than the divvies) that I bought PFF is that it is preferred rather than common stock. And preferred stockholders get paid their divvies before the common stockholders get theirs. That is one big difference between preferred and common stock. :)

FWIW,
Lady

XL-entLady

04-09-2009, 02:23 PM

I mentioned that my PFF is doing well today. My IGW is also doing well and when I was trying to find out why I stumbled on a news article that says Intel (a holding in IGW) has invented a new computer chip that is supposed to be about twice as fast as current chips. So I bought INTC this morning. (I know that's not an ETF but I thought the news might be of interest.)

http://seekingalpha.com/article/130141-will-intel-s-new-processor-be-a-game-changer

Lady

XL-entLady

04-09-2009, 09:57 PM

Before I forget, I thought I'd just mention that my folks are coming tomorrow. They'll be here for a week. They are both in their upper 70's so the trip won't be easy for them but it's been so long since I've been able to travel to see them that they're coming to me instead. I think they love me.:)

Anyway, after they get here tomorrow night my computer time will probably just be sporadic early morning stuff for the next week.

Lady

XL-entLady

04-15-2009, 05:40 PM

My parents just left. It was a great visit. They get more frail every time I see them. If your parents are still living, do me and you a favor and phone them just to say hi because you can, today.

For the last few days, my account didn't get the scrutiny I usually give it. I would like to think that I would have caught the move down and sold my IGW before the stop triggered this morning, but I probably wouldn't have. :toung:

I still have positions in GDX and SLV that have very tight stops on them, and positions in PTM, PFF and DBB with loose stops. (Although I'm going to tighten the stop on PTM as soon as I have time to study the chart more.)

I also have a position in QQQQ that I should have sold yesterday but didn't. And now I've got to study the chart to see if I should still sell or hang on to it for a bit to see if it recovers.

So I'm back on the MB, and that's my account report.

Lady

XL-entLady

04-16-2009, 02:42 PM

Just sold my GDX and SLV, both at a loss. Tightened my stop on PTM and it may trigger soon but I won't sell it yet to see if it turns around. It may be that the PTM uptrend while other precious metals have been falling is due to a new platinum ETN coming on market soon. Keeping a close eye on it. My DBB is down this morning but I think it's a bollinger band thing, I think there is more upside there.

Lady

JTH

04-16-2009, 10:44 PM

Sorry to hear about the silver, for what it's worth I think you made the right choice. There isn't enough panic fleeing into metal stocks, and industrial use is still low.

OBTW, I noticed a certian blogger posting a youtube video? :toung:

alevin

04-17-2009, 04:24 AM

Sorry about your GDX and SLV both, I think I'm going to have to let some GLD go in the am, probably all of it-trading cost nickel and diming makes a difference in small accounts. I need to raise some cash to buy something with mor oomph for the taxable account, now that I moved most of my free cash over into the Roth account. Trying to hang onto the DBC yet, but sitting right on the RSI (14) 50-yard line, looking like going to start running down the field wrong direction, sooo, will see how things look in the am.

XL-entLady

04-17-2009, 10:03 AM

Thanks guys, I appreciate the commiserations. I'm still studying what to do with the $ that were freed up by the sale. I have 3 market days to decide before the funds settle, and we may be into a market correction by then so I'm going to take my time deciding.

Everyone was saying this upswing won't last, we're going down. And we kept going up. Now I'm starting to read that everyone is saying that this upswing might just have traction after all, which makes me think we could be going down soon for the retest. I'm starting to become a real contrarian in my market outlook I guess. :toung:

Lady

XL-entLady

04-17-2009, 06:07 PM

Quote of the day: "... the same damn fools who missed the oncoming freight train in the first place are now busy declaring its all clear." --Barry Ritholtz

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/04/green-shoots-are-for-suckers/

Lady

XL-entLady

04-20-2009, 01:21 PM

What little bit of reading I've had time to do this morning leads me to believe that the market correction we've all been waiting for is finally here. Y'all be careful out there!

Wish I wasn't going to be away from a computer until Friday; this looks like it might be a good time to be short the market!

Lady

XL-entLady

04-26-2009, 02:12 AM

I'm back from my trip, finally. I was gone longer than originally planned; those toddler grandkids were just too cute to leave. I didn't have to spend 6 hours in an MRI tube after all. The technician had actually done a CSF test before so it only took 4 hours. :)

When I got back to a computer I found out that almost every one of my stops had been hit. I only have one position left, and it's in a 'set it and forget it' stock (MVSN).

My stops were hit several days ago so my funds have already settled but I don't know what my next positions are yet because I'm going to have to do some serious catching up before I decide.

Glad to be back!

Lady

alevin

04-26-2009, 08:25 PM

I noticed you looking around a little yesterday-quietly. It's great to have you back-you've been missed, in case you hadn't noticed. Really glad you had an experienced MRI tech and that you spent far less claustrophic time in the echochamber than anticipated. That is wonderful. Last time I went in-I demanded open MRI since it was available, I get the (close to) screaming heebie jeebies when I'm trapped in one-even the open one took some solid mind over matter.

XL-entLady

04-26-2009, 11:19 PM

It's great to have you back-you've been missed, in case you hadn't noticed.
Thank you, my friend! That is so nice of you to say!:)

I've been buried in market studies today, and I think I'm buying CEF and GSK tomorrow. CEF because I'm pretty sure they have the gold and silver they are supposed to have. And GSK because they make one of the two antivirals on the market.

Still recovering from my trip, hope I'll have more energy to post tomorrow.

Lady

XL-entLady

04-27-2009, 02:01 PM

Today premarket I bought CEF ($11.50) GSK ($30.86) RHHBY ($31.80) and MMM ($56.70). I've set tight stops on all but the CEF (loose stop there) and the RHHBY (because Scottrade won't let me set a trailing stop on this one so I'm still figuring out what my stop should be). I could be really glad or really sorry about deploying my account this way. As you can tell, it is all based on the swine flu story. If the flu is a big smoke screen then my account takes a huge hit.

I figure this one is a win-win, because a flu pandemic is a scary enough :sick:thought that I would be really glad to be wrong in my stock picks! :unsure:

Lady

XL-entLady

04-28-2009, 02:57 PM

Sold CEF for a loss this morning ($11.19). I don't know how many times I need to get burned on precious metals before I remember it hurts. Anyway, I sold it and bought something with unsettled funds, but I'm not going to sell soon so it will be okay.

Bought DNDN this morning at $21.91 because it owns a new prostate cancer treatment that has passed first several stages of tests and today is being presented at national urological medical meeting. (My dad has prostate cancer so I keep up on oncology news for the disease.) Anyway, the bump from the meeting presentation already has the stock at $24.24.

This might be a good one for longterm hold, so I wanted to let you guys know about it, FWIW.

Lady

XL-entLady

04-28-2009, 06:04 PM

DNDN is tanking .... Gah! Don't listen to my stock tips! :rolleyes:

Lady

XL-entLady

04-28-2009, 08:28 PM

Bought DNDN this morning at $21.91 because it owns a new prostate cancer treatment that has passed first several stages of tests and today is being presented at national urological medical meeting. (My dad has prostate cancer so I keep up on oncology news for the disease.) Anyway, the bump from the meeting presentation already has the stock at $24.24.

DNDN is tanking .... Gah! Don't listen to my stock tips!
I have very few trading rules and I broke two of them today and it cost me about 20% of my account. "Rule #2: Never buy with unsettled funds." "Rule #7: Set a stop immediately after purchasing an EFT."

Well, I was so sure of DNDN that I bought it with unsettled funds and then, because of the unsettled funds thing, I couldn't sell so I didn't set a stop.

DNDN gained about 10% after I purchased it and then fell about 45% before trading on the stock was halted. I have the dubious distinction of picking the worst performing stock of the 250 that Barcharts tracked today. :suspicious:

Another tuition payment to ETF (actually stock) University. :( Which brings up another point. If a person invests in EFTs then the risk is spread out because there are multiple companies involved. You would think that with as many balance sheets as I've studied over the last couple of decades, I would remember that conglomerates (and ETFs) mean less risk and therefore greater reward for the long haul. No more single stocks for me from now on. I'm sticking with ETFs! That just became Rule #9! :nuts:

Well, that's my sad story for the day. You guys learn from my lesson, okay? :rolleyes:

Lady

XL-entLady

04-28-2009, 09:26 PM

And, yes, in the post below and elsewhere I really meant to say "ETF" rather than "EFT".:rolleyes: I worked a lot with electronic fund transfers in my previous work life, and my fingers just automatically keyboard ETF when I type those three letters. :embarrest:

It's another thing like "VW-girl" that I'm going to have to watch closer but will never remember to catch all of them. :nuts:

Lady

XL-entLady

04-29-2009, 12:33 AM

My 75 year old neighbor who loves to play Texas Hold'em tells me, "If you've been playing poker for at least an hour and you don't know who the fish is yet ... you're the fish." Today, I was the fish. :suspicious:

I'm learning. I'm learning. :bigsmile:

Lady

wv-girl

04-29-2009, 12:46 AM

DNDN is tanking .... Gah! Don't listen to my stock tips! :rolleyes:

Lady
Not according to marketwatch/afterhours
http://www.marketwatch.com/quotes/dndn

says it went up 118%

alevin

04-29-2009, 02:19 AM

Not according to marketwatch/afterhours
http://www.marketwatch.com/quotes/dndn

says it went up 118%

that's the thing about after-hours trading WV-girl. Extreme action on light volume. Look at the difference between day volume and after-hours volume-something like 1/6th the volume during after-hours. The werewolves come out to play at night, you know. :suspicious:

XL-entLady

04-29-2009, 03:20 AM

Well all I can say is that I'm going to be very interested to see what DNDN does at the opening bell tomorrow!:huh:

Lady

XL-entLady

04-29-2009, 01:49 PM

DNDN (purchased yesterday at $21.91, rose to about $24, fell to about $12, then trading halted) is currently trading at $25.47. :wacko: I've done my homework and really believe in their prostate drug, but the market manipulation of this stock is totally UNREAL! :sick:

Those of you who have a longer market history than I do, is this type of thing typical? It feels like a 3x thing!

Lady

alevin

04-29-2009, 02:52 PM

No clue here, just the little I've picked up in general about after-hours vs. regular market hours, says there's a difference, a dangerous difference for the unwary.

XL-entLady

04-30-2009, 03:12 PM

My DNDN, which had recovered all it's losses and then some, is wacking out to the downside again today. After the information release that it had passed the tests for the new prostate cancer treatment and FDA approval looks assured for next year. Whats up with that? Did people think that the approval was going to be done next week?

This stock is FAZ-ing around like crazy ... and I thought I had sworn off 3x stuff! :huh: :nuts:

Lady

XL-entLady

05-01-2009, 01:59 PM

Interesting thought:

"...Rule One of the professional trader is: When a stock doesn’t do what you expect it to do, sell it. No hesitating, no questions or doubts raised no conjectures of the way it should have turned out, or might still turn out, no dreams of how it will do what it was supposed to do‚ tomorrow. The pro never says, “I’ll watch it one more day”. He doesn’t phone an analyst who’s been following the company and ask, “What’s happening? Is there any news?” All too often, the delay in searching for the‚ “why?” is costly. The desire to be perfect is one of the prime bugaboos of the stock market, but it’s a compulsion that belongs on the psychiatrist’s couch, not on the exchange floor."

http://www.tradersnarrative.com/

Lady

XL-entLady

05-04-2009, 02:06 PM

DNDN is back down this morning. I believe in the drug but the stock makes me seasick. Sold it and will by VWO.

Lady

XL-entLady

05-05-2009, 03:04 PM

Sold my GSK at a loss. Still trying to decide what to buy with the $ freed up by my GSK and RHHBY sales. Those losses covered and more by VWO yesterday. It went up 6.5% yesterday and I caught 5% of that rally. :) We're getting a correction in VWO today; we'll see how deep the correction is.

I only have three positions now, 3M, VWO and MVSN. (I've held MVSN for several months now and my only regret there is that my position isn't larger!)

Lady

JTH

05-05-2009, 03:25 PM

3m is getting wobbely on the 200 SMA on the daily. I sure wish I had owned it back in March. :rolleyes:

XL-entLady

05-08-2009, 07:18 PM

I've been watching CUT move up and up without me. I just couldn't stand it any longer. Bought today at $14.00.

Lady

XL-entLady

05-14-2009, 01:40 PM

Do you know how much I hate stops? My CUT hit its stop and sold for a loss this morning, right before it turned higher. :mad:

Lady

alevin

05-14-2009, 02:37 PM

Hah! Sorry. :embarrest: I tried to set a stop on my first buy, but somehow it ended up buying AT the stop, which was higher than the price it was going for when I put the order in. so obviously I haven't figured out how to put a stop order in yet. Then I ready about overnight stop-hunting programs, and quit even thinking about hard stops. Mental stops only so far been working for me-until it doesn't of course.

I am still chasing DDG-sort of-still day orders. But I checked DUG (3x inverse) this am too, and looks like it's hit resistance on the way up on the Ichimoku charts, so I think its ok to hang onto my oil stocks for now and its even ok if I can't get into the 1x inverse, I'm guessing. We learn by doing, right? :nuts:

XL-entLady

05-14-2009, 02:51 PM

Hah! Sorry. :embarrest: ..... We learn by doing, right? :nuts:
You are so funny, Allie. thanks for the grin! Yeah, we learn by doing - - and I'm remembering the tuition lessons longer than the victories! :wacko:

Lady

XL-entLady

05-20-2009, 01:28 PM

XL-entLady

06-01-2009, 03:59 PM

I only have two positions right now. My VWO, which has been doing well for some time now, and I bought CUT yesterday again at $14.20. It's kind of volatile but has been doing well overall, so I'm going to loosen my stops and see what happens. Hope it doesn't do a FAZ on me. :rolleyes:

Lady
An account update. My CUT turned out to be too volatile and it knocked out the stop just before it turned and went higher. Story of my life. :rolleyes: Anyway, I took the money freed up by my CUT debacle and bought GDX, which has turned out to be a good thing.

So now I have VWO and GDX, two holdings only, both large positions. They are doing well. The only thing that would make me feel better is if I had split my $ into three positions and bought SLV too.

Of course, if I had done that then SLV would have tanked. :toung:

Lady

XL-entLady

06-05-2009, 05:52 PM

I just bought DBB at $15.23. Figured I needed some base metals to go with my gold miners.

Lady

alevin

06-14-2009, 11:31 PM

I just bought DBB at $15.23. Figured I needed some base metals to go with my gold miners.

Lady

Hi Lady, missed you around here while you were out having fun. So. I'm curious. I tried to buy DBB and DBA each awhile back in my OptEXpress account. They put up a roadblock, apparently I have to jump through extra hoops to buy either of those, can't just enter the buy electronically-said cI had to contact broker, even tho they are ETFs and not actual commods. I AM able to buy DBC however and have owned that awhile. Wondered if it had anything to do with fact I haven't requested a margin account even tho I could. Any ideas? Are you buying the DBA or DBB on margin? :confused:

XL-entLady

06-15-2009, 02:02 PM

Hi Lady, missed you around here while you were out having fun. So. I'm curious. I tried to buy DBB and DBA each awhile back in my OptEXpress account. They put up a roadblock, apparently I have to jump through extra hoops to buy either of those, can't just enter the buy electronically-said cI had to contact broker, even tho they are ETFs and not actual commods. I AM able to buy DBC however and have owned that awhile. Wondered if it had anything to do with fact I haven't requested a margin account even tho I could. Any ideas? Are you buying the DBA or DBB on margin? :confused:
No, I'm not buying on margin. I ran into the same problem a while back when I tried to buy DBP. I called my broker (Scottrade) and they said that any time a stock or ETF is showing a big price change or volume change, they put a stop to electronic trading and make you talk to a broker to be able to enter the trade. Maybe that is what you were up against too?

Lady

XL-entLady

07-06-2009, 02:30 PM

XL-entLady

07-16-2009, 04:55 PM

Still holding DBB, gold miners, and MVSN. MVSN is my "buy and hold" stock and the only purchase that I'm really pleased with at the moment. Wouldn't Birch be chuckling to hear me say that! :bigsmile:

Lady
Just an update note. MVSN has changed its name to Rovi Corp and it's ticker symbol is now ROVI. Still holding it and still glad I am. :)

Not wild about my DBB but hoping that copper is going to make a comeback with the stimulus infrastructure spending. Sold my gold miners - - broke even on that one but I was ahead big at one point. I hate metals. :rolleyes:

Lady

XL-entLady

08-03-2009, 09:24 PM

....it's ticker symbol is now ROVI. Still holding it and still glad I am. :)

Not wild about my DBB but hoping that copper is going to make a comeback with the stimulus infrastructure spending.
Happier about my DBB now. Go, copper!

And a big thank you to .... whoever gave the tip about CGA ... Bullitt? It's the Alzheimers. I put CGA on my watch list and then over the weekend I sold my ROVI and bought it. And it went up big today. Cool! Now if it just won't crash until I can set a trailing stop, which won't be for 3 trading days ... because I bought it with unsettled funds. :embarrest:

Lady

XL-entLady

12-03-2009, 05:38 PM

I can't believe it's been so long since I updated my account! :embarrest:

I'm glad I sold the ROVI when I did because it tanked and is just starting to come back. I sold CGA and DBB both at a profit and I sold DBB way too soon!

Most of my Roth account is now in CEF, a closed end fund that holds physical gold and silver, and it's doing very well. :bigsmile: I also have a small position in the Q's and that position is slightly positive.

And I'm trying to leave my Roth alone as much as possible because I racked up way too much in trading fees this year! :suspicious:

Lady

etftalk

12-03-2009, 05:51 PM

Hi Lady -

How active have you been to rack up those fees? I've been wondering about that myself.

Is there a point (percentage of account in fees) where it is OK to trade? For instance, if someone has a $2000 account, a few dozen trades over the year at $7 a trade would be painful, but it may not even be a factor for a $200,000 account.

Now if we jump to like 200 trades/year, that would be 70% of a $2000 account, but < 1% of a $200K account, if my math is correct.

XL-entLady

12-03-2009, 06:07 PM

I look at it as being $14 in my Scottrade account ($7 to buy and $7 to sell). And when I first started trading I was using too many positions that were way too small - - sometimes only $1k each. I was having to pay the first 1.5% of any positive move to broker fees.

I had so many positions that it was hard to keep track of them, especially while I was travelling so much the last few months. And if a stock was doing better than my stock was, then I wanted to switch stocks to the one that was moving better. :rolleyes:

Rookie mistakes! :embarrest:

Now I'm trying to keep my account to 2 or 3 positions (keeps my broker fees down to about 0.25% of the position cost), and only change those positions if there is a significant reason to do so.

Painful lessons but I hope I am learning them well. :bigsmile:

Lady

etftalk

12-03-2009, 06:15 PM

Thanks. Good plan. I agree, only 1 to maybe 4 positions at a time, unless I want to keep something long-term like a small postion in gold or bonds, then I may go to 5 or 6 in the account.

Bullitt

12-04-2009, 02:41 PM

Lady, have you ever tried buying and selling RYDEX funds? No load, no transaction fee on Scottrade and most of their funds have no redemption fee. Only thing, you only get an end of the day NAV since they are mutual funds.

I wish I would have bought CGA and I'm sure you wish you would have held on. At least you got to make some money off it though.

XL-entLady

12-05-2009, 12:08 PM

Bullitt, you're the one who posted something that made me look at CGA in the first place so thanks!

I haven't ever played with RYDEX funds but it sounds like I'd better start doing my homework there, so thanks again! :)

Lady

XL-entLady

12-23-2009, 04:28 AM

Sold my CEF right after my last post when gold started to tank. Came out slightly ahead in the trade but not by much. Since then about half my account has been sitting in cash.

Today I bought one share - one share - of a stock. Never done that before. Major whimsy :wacko: when it should be serious business.

I'm a big huge fan of "cloudware" and I think Google is going to be a major player because of it. I've been watching for months as GOOG doubled in price and telling myself not to chase the stock. Finally decided to give myself a present of one share of GOOG for Christmas. Silly.

And I hadn't even had any eggnog. :embarrest:

Lady

etftalk

12-23-2009, 11:03 PM

LOL - 1 share. When the heck are they going to do a split so us small timers can buy a few shares?

Good luck!

XL-entLady

01-04-2011, 03:49 AM

Okay, I have been irresponsibly lax in my posting. And one of my New Year's resolutions is to be around here much more often.

My entire Roth IRA is currently invested in FDO (Family Dollar Stores) and my old standby favorite ROVI.

I am thinking of buying some T (AT&T) to take advantage of a juicy dividend but I've got to make up my mind quickly because the cut-off date to pay the divvy is January 6! And I'm going to have to sell some FDO if I do it. Decisions, decisions.

See y'all around more,
Lady

XL-entLady

01-04-2011, 02:49 PM

So after looking at things over and over from every angle, I sold all my FDO (at quite a profit, but since I didn't post the buy it doesn't count) and bought T (AT&T) at $29.75.

Here goes nuthin!
Lady

XL-entLady

01-06-2011, 02:22 AM

So if anyone is looking for somewhere to stash cash for the long run, may I suggest they look at the performance of my old standby ROVI. It has gone up about 10% in the last few days, but it has started its pullback.

Of course, do your own due diligence, but I've been very pleased with this purchase for a long time now.

Lady

etftalk

01-07-2011, 09:45 PM

What a move it's made since late 2008!

XL-entLady

01-07-2011, 10:43 PM

Wow. Look at the VZ chart and then tell me whether or not you think there has been any insider trading of Verizon prior to the invitations going out for the iphone roll-out event. :suspicious:

etftalk

01-08-2011, 03:13 PM

I am always struck at how the options traders have been able to get away with their obvious clairvoyance.

You'll see call or put buying up 1000% or more on a stock that makes a huge move within the next week.

XL-entLady

01-11-2011, 02:49 PM

Didn't pay attention to my own information! I knew before I bought the AT&T stock that Verizon was going to roll out the iphone this week. And I still bought T stock at $29.75. All I could see was the fact that they always pay juicy dividends. Well, T hit it's stop this morning and it sold at $27.84.

Like my momma says, I need to use my head for more than a hat rack! :toung:

Lady

etftalk

01-11-2011, 03:08 PM

We can't get better without a few mistakes to remind that we don't know it all. :)

Better luck on the next one.

I am still trading RIMM (in and out) and I was surprised to see it move up after the announcement. I figured the iPhone announcement would hurt them, but that sucker seems to want to move higher.

BruceinGa

01-12-2011, 01:10 AM

Having been employed in the communication industry for 42 years I've been burnt plenty in the past by them, Lucent was the biggest. I'm not a fan of management in ATT, Avaya (now privately owned) and Lucent Alcatel.
I'm staying away from them. Good luck to you however!

XL-entLady

01-25-2011, 01:51 PM

My old pal ROVI is having a struggle. The company is buying out Sonic Solutions (think 'Roxio') and may be having buying pains. But I'm going to hang on for a while, the stock has been so good to me.

Lady

etftalk

01-25-2011, 02:23 PM

Uh, oh! Sounds like an emotional position. As Oscar says: Stops are in. Emotions are out! :D

XL-entLady

01-25-2011, 10:16 PM

Yeah, you're probably right, emotional position. The last time I sold my position in ROVI was last September. It was going down so I sold at about $42.50, after I bought at $33. So I was more than happy with my gain. Two weeks later it was selling for $52.00 and I was kicking myself for not being more patient!

I bought back in and it eventually went to about $70. It's down to about $63 now, so I'm down about 10% on my top gain, but still up about 20% from my purchase price.

And for anyone else who wants to buy ROVI, keep in mind that it's a hard one to set automatic stops on. Every month or so it goes up or down big then reverses.

Unless it really keeps painting red candlesticks I think I'll hang on until the Roxio purchase to see what happens. Will I be sorry? Probably. :toung:

Lady

XL-entLady

01-31-2011, 03:20 AM

Uh, oh! Sounds like an emotional position. As Oscar says: Stops are in. Emotions are out! :D

...
Unless it really keeps painting red candlesticks I think I'll hang on until the Roxio purchase to see what happens. Will I be sorry? Probably.

Lady
So ROVI lost 6% on Friday. When will I learn that if Tom speaks I should listen. :laugh:

XL-entLady

03-06-2011, 03:14 PM

I've been deploying a rather large sum of money into a new traditional IRA in the last week.

I purchased several stocks, mostly because of good long-term dividend histories. And I also purchased several ETF's:

DBA @ $35.30
DBC @ $30.28
XLE @ $78.84
XOP @ $61.25
IWM @ $80.55 and then when there was buying into the close on Friday I purchased
TNA @ $81.84

And no, I no longer hold a position in ROVI. <grin>

alevin

03-07-2011, 03:22 AM

good for you, i've been staring at dba for some time, still holding dbc. i'm liking the chart on DBO, it hasnt run away yet. liking the chart on usl also.

XL-entLady

03-30-2011, 04:38 PM

I've been remiss at keeping up my account talk the last couple of weeks as I worked to get my account set the way I like it. I no longer have any of the ETFs below except TNA.

I made a new purchase today, PKB at $14.32.

My other stocks and ETFs and their purchase prices are:

AGNC @ 30.12 (got to get rid of that one)
BGS @ 18.11
CAT @ 105.08
CVX @ 103.09
FAN @ 11.43
FSC @ 13.48
HAIN @ 32.54
KOL @ 48.68
NFLX @ 227.20
PFF @ 39.43
PSEC @ 12.30
SLV @ 35.24
T @ 29.57
TNA @ 84.35
VZ @ 38.00

Twelve of my current sixteen positions pay dividends. My broker for my big account is TradeKing, $5 trades, so I can easily prune the positions I'm not happy with. So far I'm doing okay overall. I will try to be better about posting my moves.

Please feel free to comment, good or bad.

XL-entLady

03-30-2011, 05:08 PM

AGNC @ 30.12 (got to get rid of that one)

Sold AGNC @ 28.75

XL-entLady

03-30-2011, 05:56 PM

BGS @ 18.11

Sold BGS @ 18.66 for 55 cent profit.

Bought PWT @ $18.36

etftalk

04-01-2011, 04:48 PM

TNA was sure a nice one to hold.

I like NFLX because of the action. I have no idea why it keeps going up, but as a trader, who cares why? :)

Another I like similar to NFLX - action-wise, is Chipolte (CMG). Very positive action and it now has a base that's about to breakout. Why it's going up so much, not sure, don't care. Their food must be good.

SLV - why not? Great trend. Another one I don't get but I didn't fully get gold either and I missed that boat.

XL-entLady

04-04-2011, 05:21 PM

Bought SABA @ $9.85

XL-entLady

04-04-2011, 05:28 PM

Another I like similar to NFLX - action-wise, is Chipolte (CMG).

Thanks for the tip!

BGS @ 18.11

FSC @ 13.48

HAIN @ 32.54

Sold BGS @ 18.63
Sold FSC 13.29
Sold HAIN 32.80

XL-entLady

04-14-2011, 04:37 PM

Keeping my account updated by hand was taking too long. I think I have figured out another way to do it. Here is an analytical chart I'm using, built from TC2000 computer software. Please note that I have added entry price as the far right column.

163

Please let me know if you have questions.

Lady

XL-entLady

04-19-2011, 01:59 PM

As a result of studies over the weekend I had programmed some buys for the opening bell yesterday. One of them, AMRN, actually ended up being the biggest gainer of the day. I wanted it because it is on track to produce a new cholesterol med that isn't a statin.

Here's what my portfolio looks like now:

164

As you can see, AMRN is undergoing a sell-off now but it's still well above my buy-in point.

I don't know how things will go today. I'll just tighten up my stops and see.

etftalk

04-19-2011, 02:35 PM

Nice. Buying yesterday's open was a great move - at least for a short-term move. I'm getting concerned about this market, however. Come on 50-day EMA!

XL-entLady

04-20-2011, 03:52 PM

Every single one of my 14 positions is in the black today. My account is worth more than it's ever been, by an additional 4 figures. I'll probably never be this lucky again so I'm going to enjoy the feeling today!!

peterson82

04-20-2011, 05:39 PM

Congrats!

peterson82

04-21-2011, 12:47 PM

You should be looking good pre-markey today, too.

XL-entLady

04-21-2011, 02:45 PM

You should be looking good pre-markey today, too.
Yes, today is a good one too. I sold one position, my CMG, but my other positions are holding up well. <big smile>

Thanks for your visit!

Lady

XL-entLady

04-21-2011, 04:18 PM

Here's what my portfolio looks like today. I harvested my gains on SINA and CMG. I'm thinking of adding some EEM but will hold off until after this long weekend to buy it.

XL-entLady

04-22-2011, 03:00 PM

A couple of weeks ago I bought TZOO in the mid-60's, then sold when it hit $70, not because anything in the technical chart or the fundamentals said to, but because I thought it had come too far too fast. It closed yesterday at $94.22.

I HATE it when that happens! <disgusted face>

etftalk

04-22-2011, 04:02 PM

I know how you feel. Even when I set trailing stops, I seem to get stopped out and then the big move comes. I really believe we are being played by the folks who know how small traders will react to a shake up (paranoid?). So I rarely catch the big moves in stocks, even if I've held them for some time.

XL-entLady

05-01-2011, 01:41 PM

Silver's price moves are starting to concern me. I've made a lot of money from SLV but I think it's time to set a trailing stop and bail. But I still want to hold precious metals because the dollar's free fall makes that seem to be a good idea. I'll be looking to purchase more IAU or get some CEF(which holds the physical metal).

FWIW

XL-entLady

05-03-2011, 06:32 PM

My positions have been hitting their stops right and left the last two days. I'm almost totally into cash right now.

etftalk

05-03-2011, 07:48 PM

Cash is good. :) Now we just need a 5% pullback.

XL-entLady

05-26-2011, 11:30 PM

First of all, I REALLY like the new look! Very chic. ;oP

And I'm dipping a toe back in. Bought a big chunk of KKD today at $8.51. I love the doughnuts, I hope I like the stock as well.

etftalk

05-27-2011, 01:40 AM

First of all, I REALLY like the new look! Very chic. ;oP .
Thanks. The ETF Talk guinea pig site. I tried to keep the old ETF Talk look, but it's amazing how many changes have to be made to turn the blue things into a matching color. IT will be an ongoing adventure.

And I'm dipping a toe back in. Bought a big chunk of KKD today at $8.51. I love the doughnuts, I hope I like the stock as well.
I heard Krispy had a nice quarter but this was the first time I looked at the chart. Big gap that may eventually get filled, but maybe not. It looks like there is momentum here. Good luck!

XL-entLady

10-29-2011, 06:02 PM

It's way past time I updated my account page.

Taking the summer off and having time to rethink things, I've totally revamped my account. I had started by using a few large positions, thinking that it would be easier to track what was going on that way. I learned that, for me, a few bad decisions can have too much ramifications that way. So I'm using a much smaller position size now and it's working much better for me. I currently have 33 positions and most of them are doing very well. And I must admit that all but a very few of my positions are in stocks rather than EFTs at the moment.

My most profitable positions currently are GOV, NUS, TPX and F.

My only large position is CEF, which is physical gold and silver.

My most recent purchase was OPNT at $45.40 (down to 44.65 currently) PAA at 61.80 (currently at 65.84) and STEV, which is a penny stock I purchased at 0.88, currently at 0.89. I bought it because I believe in the product, stevia, my favorite sweetener.

And FWIW I'm trying to find reasonable places to put my $ that also pay a dividend. Because I think that is going to be important as the EU implodes.

etftalk

10-29-2011, 06:31 PM

Good to see you lady! I hope you enjoyed your summer.

It's been quiet here. I have been playing mainly with long / short ultra ETF's and while it has been a wild ride, it's pretty boring to talk about.

For dividends, you might want to check out what ocean has been talking about over on TSP Talk...

http://www.tsptalk.com/mb/showthread.php?9028-Dividend-paying-stocks....&p=332523#post332523

XL-entLady

10-29-2011, 09:47 PM

Thanks for the tip, Tom. I'll head right over there. Which leveraged funds are you playing with, anything special or does it depend on the day? And are you holding your positions overnight?

etftalk

10-29-2011, 11:00 PM

Mostly TNA / TNZ and FAS / FAZ. I made a ton of money from late Aug - early Oct, but gave about 1/2 the gains back in the latter half of Oct. I think I will move to SSO / SDS as the 3X ETF's are getting to be a little too much for me. I'm starting to develop a twitch. :D

I usually hold at least 3 days because of the 3 day settlement rule in my IRA. Sometime I will own both TNA and TZA at the same time because of that rule not allowing me to sell one, so I own both basically to bring me back to a flat position. Fun stuff. :)