Going into lunch we traded 14 names with success having a positive p&l at lunch. We are holding on to 4,000 YUM, 1,00 YHOO, 200 DELL, and short 100 DOV. Going back to my previous post propering planning once again equals successful trading.
Category Archives: Best Practices
Getting Back Into Shape
I hurt my knee. Actually, I am getting old and the daily jogging that used to be regular exercise is now more wear and tear than my knee can endure for more than a couple of days. And that convenient excuse provided sufficient rationalization to neglect my commitment to a necessarily healthier lifestyle. As I mentioned; I am getting old. But alas, the constraints of my wardrobe have forced me to acknowledge that even my best efforts to control diet are insufficient; there is just no substitute for the regular, consistent practice of healthy habits. So this week I am back to regular, daily exercise with the “knee-friendly” NordicTrack to fulfill the objective to restore a more active metabolism.
Likewise, this week, I have returned to the regular, daily practice of trading the stock market. Over the last couple of months I have been engaged full-time in pursuit of a new opportunity that presented itself unexpectedly. Now that it has run its course, I am free again to focus my time and energy on buying and selling stocks for a living; my third occupation, having evolved from an avocation to, a passion, and finally emerging as a vocation.
But like many things that we aspire to do well, a commitment of conscious deliberation and preparation, along with consistent, regular practice and execution is required. And so I have begun the effort to get my trading “back into shape,” and towards that end, have resumed the regular, consistent practice of engagement with the trading community of Hedge Fund Live. I am still a bit rusty, but already enthused and renewed by my reacquaintance with the previously familiar, and excited by the new and evolving facets and faces of the site, webcasts, and resources.
If You Don’t Know Don’t Do it.
I did something that I don’t normally do yesterday and I am paying for it today. I bought a little CREE before the close because I wanted to take a shot that the company would report a good quarter and that I would make some money on the long side. Well, that didn’t turn out too well as the company missed street estimates and put up guidance that came in light as well. The stock is down around $9 from where I bought it. While I may have thought I knew something, I obviously didn’t. I never take earnings trades when I don’t know or haven’t done some level of analysis prior to the report. The CREE trade was pure gambling on my part and have no business gambling here especially when there are so many opportunities to make real money by doing real work and taking educated positions. I tend to make these kind of mistakes every six months or so as I forget my own lessons and the urge to roll the dice overtakes me. I guess its a small price to pay for six months of disciplined investing/trading.
Why the Late Day Selloff
It’s 5:20pm and I still have no idea why we sold off this afternoon. My p&L hit around 18K at around 2:45pm and then started its march lower to end the day down around $7K. It really sucks when you give up gains, especially big gains, and end on your lows. I look back and wonder to myself why I didn’t just hedge out the book at the highs of my P&L. Well, at the time leaving the book under hedged seemed like the right thing to do. The Spooz were sitting between a tight R3 and R4 and my P&L was making new highs. Why would I hedge the book? I did have about 15 eminis short but that didn’t really do anything. So today ends with me feeling pretty stupid for not knowing what I really couldn’t know, and still don’t.
Hedge Fund Live Comes To Westchester
Jeremy can really take a punch. I haven’t seen anyone take more hits and keep coming back for more since Chuck Wepner the “Bayonne Bleeder” got knocked upside the head by Muhammed Ali.
Time and again he would corner someone… “Hey Tim, when are you going to post a blog”? TIm would respond, “I’m following Steve’s lead”. JEREMY: TIm,what about blocking out a time for a show and putting it on the schedule?” TIM: “I will work my way into it “. JEREMY: Tim, if you want me to f-off just tell me.TIM: Jeremy F-off. JEREMY: Ok TIm, but you know Steve already has a show on the schedule so maybe you want to schedule one.TIM: Ok Jeremy I will get to work on it when I have some time. JEREMY: Great TIm ,I will be back in 10 minutes and we can work on it. or the next one…….
JEREMY:Hi Morris, how about we video a segment with you right now? You can tell us what you think about the Sephardic perspective on trading. MORRIS: Huh???? JEREMY: Yeah you know, give the HFL audience a chance to get to know you. MORRIS: Uh ,I don’t usually do interviews.. its not really my comfort zone. JEREMY: Morris, just make believe your at a bar mitzvah and someone sticks a camera in front of you and you have to congratulate the family. MORRIS: Jeremy, I have to go the bathroom.. I will be right back.JEREMY: Thats ok Morris, the stalls have doors so we can just take the audio for now and do the video afterwards and dub it in back at the home office. Tynik, work with Morris!
And on to the next one……….JEREMY:Jerry, Tim ,here’s some notepads. Every time Cliff speaks write it down. If he makes any faces videotape it. Start noticing his mannerism’s and sayings and post it in his glossary. Don’t worry about the market… Cliff is good enough to trade without you and this is how you can really provide value to him.JERRY AND TIM: Jeremy, if we do that ,he’s definitely going to fire us!! JEREMY: No way!! he told me that this is what he wants you guys working on.
And to the next………JEREMY:Jared, good blogs.. you need to do some more and coordinate everyone elses blogs and glossaries in your room……… Jared would never say no to anyone and obliges dutifully. Jeremy moves on to Perry’s room and Jared turns to Steve his boss and asks,” Who was that?????
And the next…………JEREMY:Hey Darren, you want to work on a blog?DARREN: No! JEREMY: When do you think you can start?? DARREN: Soon as I start making some money! JEREMY:Darren ,we recently did a study of all trader bloggers and we found that trading p&l improved by 300 percent for each blog a trader wrote.DARREN: Ok ,I will try and work on one when I can focus on it. JEREMY: Darren ,if you want to tell me to f-off just say it.DARREN: F-off Jeremy. JEREMY:No, not to my face Darren just write it as part of your blog!!
And next…………JEREMY:Nice blog Jody. Now thats some good content. Great stuff. How about you Jonathon ? JONATHON:I don’t blog! JEREMY: It doesn’t have to be about stocks. Whats your favorite movie? JONATHON:I don’t go to movies! JEREMY:How about TV shows.. do you watch Entourage? JONATHON:I don’t have cable.. JEREMY: Well, maybe network shows then. JONATHON: No TV! JEREMY: Jonathon, you seem kind of quiet.. do you consider yourself introverted? JONATHON: Huh??? JEREMY: You know are you a loner…. JONATHON: Well, im not going to come to the office and go postal or anything if thats what you mean!! JEREMY: Thats great stuff Jonathon, let’s get that on camera.
Next……….JEREMY: Cliff, would this be a good time to do an interview? CLIFF: Not really Jeremy ,it’s 3:45 and I have 12 million in inventory and i need to get out by the close. JEREMY: Ok, I understand.. how about if we just do yes or no questions?? CLIFF: No Jeremy! JEREMY: Come on Cliff, you can just blink your right eye for a yes and your left eye for a no. CLIFF:No Jeremy! JEREMY: Ok, I will pick you up at your house tomorrow and I can interview you in the car. CLIFF: For a blog? JEREMY: No, I want to record it. CLIFF: You mean an audio? JEREMY: No, I want to video you. CLIFF: I don’t like to do video Jeremy. JEREMY:Perfect, then I will meet you at the office and we can do it there instead!
JEREMY:Sam, I am so pumped about this business… your guys are the best we are going to make hundreds of millions on this project!!! How can you argue with that logic?
A Useful Piece of Software for Keeping Track of Companies… and Other Things
I am a big proponent of efficiency as most who know me will attest. With that in mind, I have been looking for a way to keep track of the companies that I am interested in: basically a program that will allow me to jot down notes on companies, keep track of their attributes from a risk / reward standpoint, keep links to relevant websites, and anything else I can think of all in a searchable database style program. Well, I have been testing Azz Cardfile as a way to accomplish this and so far I have found it very useful. It allows me to set up a file that I use exclusively for stocks and other investments. The structure of the program allows me to create a “card” for each stock. In that card I can keep anything relevant to that stock including links to other sites, the text from articles, pictures, maps, and my own input. All this information becomes searchable so if I need to know what the key near-term risks are for Boeing all I have to do is type “Boeing” into the box atop the card list and voila the Boeing card comes up. If I need to know which company is associated with “currency risk” I type that in the “Search For” box in the task panel under Advanced Search and Azz Cardfile will pull up all companies that have the string “currency risk” in their cards. So if there is a day when the Euro is tanking, I can search for all companies that I follow with currency risk and I will know which ones may be impacted that day.
Obviously, the program isn’t limited to being used for stocks. You can use it in much the same way to keep track of anything like personal information, favorite restaurants, recipes, etc…
From the Azz Cardfile website: “AZZ Cardfile is Windows program that helps manage any personal information like addresses, phone numbers, references, notes, recipes. It can serve as personal organizer, contact manager, address book, rolodex, personal information manager (PIM) or small database software. You can download a fully-functional free trial at www.azzcardfile.com.”
I recommend this program to all of our members as a great and inexpensive way to keep track of your investments as well as a host of other things that tend to clutter up your life.
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