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Monthly Archives: January 2010
Trying Out Python
With the encouragement of @W0nk0, I've decided to start fooling around with the scripting language Python. It appears to be an easy script language to learn and I hope to build various routines that will help me with my Automated Trading System. There's also an open source ANN library for Python (and others) that I plan on fooling around with too. That, coupled with ibPY, will let me finally build my ATS over the course of the year(s) and hook it up to Interactive Brokers.
Current Positions in FDM and GWX
I went long these ETF's back on 11/19 (as well as others I will post about). These holdings are part of the AAII ETF portfolio and I was experimenting with them. These do not fit my new trend strategy but they've been performing well and I'm making profit. Profit is profit, right?
Note: I accidently annotated the entry date on the charts wrong, it should be 11/19 and not 11/13.
My Morning Trading Routine – About 30 Minutes A Day
My life is extremely busy these days and I've gotten my "trading" down to about 30 minutes every morning, before the market opens. Unless I initiate a new position, my daily trading routine is as follows:
- Download End of Day (EOD) closing data into my trading worksheet. (5 minutes)
- Run my strategy through the data (my worksheet does this automatically via Excel Macros) (<1 minute)
- See which positions I need to move my stops up in. (<1 minute)
- Log into my trading account and move my stops (10 minute)
- Post on Twitter which symbols I'm moving my stops up on (2 minutes)
- Scan of all-time highs (<1 minute)
- Look through the charts of the new all-time highs (10 minutes)
- Place candidates on my stock watch list (5 minutes)
Time spent is about 30 minutes every morning. If I initiate a new position, I'll either place a market order for the open or wait till after 10AM to make a buy and place a stop. That adds another 5 minutes to my routine.
Have a good weekend all!
Back to Basics – PMCS
PMCS made a hammer on its daily chart, right at the 200 DMA. Hammers at the bottom of a trend channel are usually an indicator of a trend change. This assumes some heavy volume, which with PMCS is questionable. Volume is greater than the day before where we see a gap down, but not as big as when the dam broke back on 10/25.
So we'll look to the weekly chart for additional clues.
It looks like the wick of the hammer is wick on the red filled candle for PMCS this week. Its testing the 50 WMA on about average volume. I suspect that PMCS will test this lower boundary of $7.97 again, and possibly go through it because the hammer formation IS NOT convincing to me.
Links for January 12th through January 13th
These are my links for January 12th through January 13th:
- http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/186786/google_attack_part_of_widespread_spying_effort.html – Google's decision Tuesday to risk walking away from the world's largest Internet market may have come as a shock, but security experts see it as the most public admission of a top IT problem for U.S. companies: ongoing corporate espionage originating from China. – MUST PROTECT INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL FROM CHINA. THEY JUST STEAL AND COPY.
- Google, Citing Attack, Threatens to Exit China – NYTimes.com – “Unless they turn themselves into a Chinese company, Google could not win,” she said. “The company has clearly put its foot down and said enough is enough.”
- http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/186786/google_attack_part_of_widespread_spying_effort.html – Google's decision Tuesday to risk walking away from the world's largest Internet market may have come as a shock, but security experts see it as the most public admission of a top IT problem for U.S. companies: ongoing corporate espionage originating from China. – MUST PROTECT INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL FROM CHINA. THEY JUST STEAL AND COPY.
- Google, Citing Attack, Threatens to Exit China – NYTimes.com – “Unless they turn themselves into a Chinese company, Google could not win,” she said. “The company has clearly put its foot down and said enough is enough.”
- Haitians Confront Devastation of Quake – NYTimes.com – The quake, with a magnitude estimated at 7.0, caused the collapse of the National Palace, leveled countless shantytown dwellings and brought more suffering to a nation that was already the hemisphere’s poorest and most disaster-prone. – WOW. I FEEL BAD FOR THE HAITIANS
- Official Google Blog: A new approach to China – We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China. – WOW GOOGLE TAKING ON CHINA
Links for January 11th
These are my links for January 11th:
- LaHood: Auto bailouts were a good investment – MarketWatch – U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood kicked off the Detroit auto show on Monday by telling reporters that the government's commitment to the car industry was "a good investment of taxpayer dollars." – UM, YEAH, RIGHT.
- Geithner Has Support of Obama, Democratic Lawmakers, Aides Say – Bloomberg.com – Asked yesterday for comment, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said he stood by his earlier statements that the president had full confidence in Geithner. Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, said “Secretary Geithner enjoys the strong support of the Senate Democratic caucus.” – ATROCIOUS!
- Stocks, Commodities Advance as China Imports Soar; Dollar Falls – Bloomberg.com – “The market doesn’t actually care if more or less Americans have jobs, it’s watching for rate hike signals,” Bill Blain, the joint head of fixed income at Matrix Corporate Capital in London, wrote in a research note. “Other aspects, such as U.S. retail sales or this morning’s dramatic growth in China’s exports, are equally valid indicators of just how strongly the global economy is recovering.” – YES, THE MARKETS DON'T CARE ABOUT THE USA, IT JUST CARES ABOUT $$$$, LIKE IT SHOULD!
- Chavez Devalues Bolivar 50%, First Time Since 2005 (Update1) – Bloomberg.com – Chavez said the bolivar will be devalued to 4.3 per dollar from 2.15 per dollar for most imports. A second, subsidized peg of 2.60 bolivars per dollar will be used for importing food, medicine and machinery intended to boost the economy’s competitiveness. – HA! SOCIALISM = SUCKS.
- New York Seeks National Effort to Curb Salt in Food – NYTimes.com – The plan, for which the city claims support from health agencies in other cities and states, sets a goal of reducing the amount of salt in packaged and restaurant food by 25 percent over the next five years. – FOR A PALEO TYPE PERSON, TOO MUCH SALT IS DEADLY. I'M SURPRISED BY HOW MUCH SALT IS IN PROCESSED FOODS>
- Pimco move to sell gilts raises spectre of a UK sovereign debt crisis – Telegraph – The American investment group said it will be a net seller of UK Government bonds this year, at the very point when the Bank of England brings its £200bn programme of purchases to and end and the Treasury attempts to raise unprecedented sums through the capital markets. – I THINK WE'LL SEE EITHER A DEFAULT IN THE POUND STERLING OR THE USD.
Would You Buy CY?
Well would you? It made an all time high on Friday but the volume isn't overly impressive, relatively speaking. Well would you buy it?
Current Portfolio
Here's a snapshot of my current portfolio. This includes entry points, returns, and stop levels.
Back To Basics – Reviewing MYL & NEP Recap
ITs back to basics for me. I'm spending more time looking at candlestick formations again for potential clues. Today's review is MYL.
MYL looks in trouble. Its had a nice trend run but on Friday it gapped lower on heavy volume and created a nice hammer. Hammers on up trends spell danger, as the trend could be changing. Let's keep an eye on this one to see what happens.
While we're at it, lets take a look at NEP and see how its turning out from this past Thursday when I wrote about it looking screwed.
Well the short of it is, it still looks screwed. It had a nasty gap down and then the Bull tried to hold on. My guess is that they'll be a further push lower as the Bears want to fill that gap at the $8.00 level.
Links for January 8th
These are my links for January 8th:
- http://science.slashdot.org/story/10/01/07/1425242/8-of-Your-DNA-Comes-From-a-Virus?from=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot+Slashdot&utm_content=Google+Reader – A recent study on the 8 percent of human DNA that is derived from viruses may show a cause of cell mutation and psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and mood disorders, according to an article by The University of Texas at Arlington biology professor Cédric Feschotte published in the Jan. 7, 2010, issue of Nature magazine.
- Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz Gives Herself B-Minus Grade in First Year – Bloomberg.com – Bartz, who marks her one-year anniversary as CEO next week, is striving to keep Yahoo’s 15-year-old site relevant in an era of Twitter and Facebook. Yahoo’s sales have fallen for four straight quarters, and its stock trailed the Nasdaq Composite Index in the past year. Bartz expects Yahoo’s sales and profit to grow in 2010 as it makes acquisitions and improves products. – DO THEY EVER GIVE THEMSELVES A "D" OR AN "F"?
The Crash And Burn In AIRT
I dabbled in the AAII.com screens for a bit this year and bought AIRT on 11/17/09 after it showed up on the Grahman Enterprising screen. I figured it was worth a shot. I sold that POS on 12/28/09 for a stinking 6.73% loss. It wasn't a trend play but more of a position play that didn't pan out. Lesson learned, this screen is for suckers and not for me.
