Last Chance for Summer Reading

My final summer trip is coming up (the big one to Europe) so I will be bringing along two books (I hope the dog and his house sitter get along; by the way, Continental quoted us $1,800 one way to fly our 100lb lab to Europe):

The first has to do with real estate, something I have been focusing on over the past several months; the Nickerson book is a RE classic from the 1950’s & 60’s (don’t even think “get-rich-quick - can’t stand those). The second is a fiction classic that I have never read and have always wanted to. Or, you could always stick to the stock market books listed below; I have read them all!

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Learning about Stocks (Fundamental and Technical Principles):

System Development and Market Psychology:

Great All-around Reads:

All Others:

Market Snapshot

I’ll let the images do the talking today…

Smelling Trouble

Well, DRYS is now down 16.81% this week and volume is peaking at the largest level we have seen in years – huge distribution!

This is what I had to say a few weeks ago in my post titled DryShips (DRYS) Drying up?

All in all – I am not a buyer of the stock at this level. It may be a solid short term buy for traders that make these types of plays such as Blain and Rajin but it does not fit into my criteria for a trend trading opportunity.

I see a decent consolidation over the past few months but I have a problem with the current pattern that is forming if it does not test former highs near $130. Volume is increasing as it moves higher but the stock is starting to struggle near the last peak of $88.

I stick to my original analysis as I am watching the stock from afar or the weekly chart. I am not day trading DRYS or any stocks for that matter so I can cut through the noise and view the market on a weekly basis to assess the “true overall trend”. Don’t get me wrong, many traders made money on the recent spike in DRYS but I wasn’t touching it with a 10-foot pole. I look for the big runs and couldn’t be bothered with a few points here and there (and I am not about to support my broker with constant buy and sell commissions, even if they are minimal).

The easiest way to characterize this trade and the market in general is to view it all as a risk/ reward potential or an expected value, as I wrote yesterday. DRYS was not a +EV trade in my trading system but, it very well may have been an excellent +EV trade for a shorter term day trader such as Rajin or Blain.

Anyway, here are a few more charts that are starting to look suspicious (some more than others). The bottom line or point of today’s rant is the fact that I still feel that the market is headed for a decline or as I phrased it a couple weeks ago:
The Big Decline (long term perspective of course).

These charts are just examples as many more exist but they were some of the first I viewed Thursday night:

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Portfolio Stocks on the Move

Today I cover four stocks that have been padding my portfolio over the past several weeks (months if we narrow it to EDU and JASO). Both EDU and JASO could be in my portfolio for many more months to come based on their fundamental and technical characteristics. This is in addition to the speculation lead-up to the Olympics in China.

JASO – 24.83, JA Solar Holdings is currently trading in the handle portion of a cup with handle base (one of the prime setups in the CANSLIM philosophy).

EDU – 80.08, New Oriental Education & Technology Group has come a long way since its correction down to the mid-$40 range. It closed above $80 on Friday and is now back within 15% of a new all-time high.

GU – 17.00, Gushan Environmental blasted 22.39% higher last week on above average volume as it closed at a new all time high.

TITN – 23.52, Titan Machinery is starting to flirt with all-time highs as volume is increasing during accumulation weeks

My Pictures

The pictures below are of me, my wife, my dog, my family and my friends. The photos range in age from 5 years ago to a few months ago.

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