Trader-X update

Tom C. is M.I.A. after his vacation week. Actually, rumor has it he is in LA for Michael Jackson's funeral.

A lot has happened over the past week - several celebrity deaths, Sarah Palin quits her job, fireworks. Madness.

I hope to return next week. Maybe Tom C. will post a chart or two this week. In the meantime, I ran across this article and thought I would share it:

HALL OF SHAME: 12 OF THE WORST FINANCIAL GURUS

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More from Cuban

Last month I pointed you to some posts on Success and Motivation by Mark Cuban. He made another great post which I am reprinting below; this is not necessarily trading related - it can be, but you can apply it to any aspect of life.

From Mark Cuban at Blog Maverick:

Success & Motivation – 2009
Jun 9th 2009 3:44PM

This is the year of WTF. Yep, What the F&&&.

It doesn’t matter what got you to the point of saying it. Maybe you got fired/layed off. Maybe your company went out of business. Maybe you quit because you couldn’t take it any longer. Maybe you are just graduating from school and the prospects of living at home are far worse than cramming in with 12 roommates in a beater house or apartment you call “The Hotel”. Whatever the reason, the question is how do you turn this time into the start of something good ?

I’m here to give you your WTF To Do List.

1. Recognize that its ok to live like a student.

It doesn’t matter where you live. It doesn’t matter how you live. It doesn’t matter what kind of car you drive. It doesn’t matter what kind of clothes you wear. It doesn’t matter. Your biggest enemies are your bills. The more you owe, the more you stress. The more you stress over bills, the more difficult it is to focus on your goals. More importantly, if you set your monthly income requirements too high, you eliminate a significant number of opportunities. The cheaper you can live, the greater your options. Remember that.

2. Take Lots of Chances

If you are living cheap, and ready to find out where your future lies, now is the time to try anything. WTF time means fighting through your fears to take a job in a new industry. It means trying different things to find out what it is you love to do. There will be no such thing as too many jobs. In this type of economy getting a job is tough if not often impossible. So you are going to have bust ass to create opportunities for yourself.

Creating opportunities means looking where others are not. Look outside where all your friends are looking. Make a list of jobs and businesses that are outside the norm. I know you want to follow your passions and get a job in sports, movies, tv, shooting video for Girls Gone Wild, and other things your friends would love. Why fight the crowds ? Go where people are not. Just like you never thought you would ever fall in love with someone else, you will find another industry or job that you will love as much as your first love. Move down your list to other things. Then get ready to work

In this kind of economy, it really is a numbers game. You are going to have to keep on applying for everything and anything that opens a door you want to walk through. You can never slow down. Its hard work finding a job. If you have bills you have to pay, and it means taking a night job in order to keep looking for the day job or to keep a job you want, do it. Be a waiter, a night janitor, wash clothes, sell vacuum cleaners door to door, whatever you need to do, all the while reminding yourself that it opens the door for your future.

Then when you do find a job, remind yourself again that you are winging it. Everyone always sees the bright side of the job they just took. You have to. The new job you just took that you thought would be amazing, will be amazing. Most probably it will be amazing for about 3 months. Then you will realize its not so amazing and you will need to find something else that is amazing. Thats ok. You don’t have to be right everytime. You just have to be right one time. Finding the right job is a lot like dating. Its hard until you start, then when you start, its great till its not. Then its frustrating as hell until you get it right. But when you do, it all comes together.

3. Figuring out if you are in the right job

Its really easy to know if you are in the right job. If it matters how much you get paid, you are not in a job you really really love. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t want to make more money. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t bust your ass to make as much money as possible. Thats not the issue. The issue is whether or not you truly love your job. If you love what you do so much that you are willing to continue to live like a student in order to be able to stay in the job, you have found your calling.

4. Figure out how to be the best

Once you have found out what you love to do, there is only one goal. How can you be the best in the world at it. It doesn’t matter if you are a filing clerk, an athlete, an accountant or a bartender. All that matters is that you do whatever you can to be the best. Of course “the best” is all relative. The one person who you should never believe when it comes to evaluating your abilities is you. The very worst judge of your abilities is you. Self Evaluation is never successful. When you are the best at something, the demand for your services will grow. People want to hire the best. They want to be associated with the best. In 2009, in this economy so many people switch jobs and industries and its so much easier to stay connected via social networks and other digital means, people who need you can and will find you. So rather than trying to convince people you are the best, let the quality of your work do your talking.

5. Start the day motivated with a positive attitude.

You are going to screw up. We all do. I cant tell you how many times I did and do. It happens too often. No matter what happens, every morning, the minute after you wipe away the crust from your eyes, remind yourself that you are going to enjoy every minute of the day. You are going to enjoy the 20 interviews you have. You are going to enjoy waiting in the heat for your roommate to pick you up afterwards. You are going to enjoy realizing how frayed your collar is becoming and how sick you are of your one tie. You are going to enjoy all the bullshit you have to deal with as you chase your goals and dreams because you want to remember them all. Each and every experience will serve as motivation and provide great memories when you finally make it all happen.

Its your choice. What are you going to do ?


Visit Blog Maverick

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RS - 060909

Posted by Tom C.

I jumped the gun a little on RS. I usually wait for a break of the ORH, but the hammer that formed the signal bar was too compelling. Since the entry was premature, the trade carried more risk than usual - but it worked out perfectly.

RS gapped up and made one attempt to break the OR high and failed (7th bar). It pulled back and formed a textbook hammer at support from a rising 8EMA. I entered on a break of that bar's high, and closed the position at the FE.



MOS was another good trade today.

On another note, I was reading StockBee's blog and he had a great post; it is a story I have heard before, but it is worth reading again. Check it out here.

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Monday links

Posted by Tom C.

Well, not really. Just a few things I found interesting.

First, a photo outside Bank of England in London:




Second, a great article from Time via Jon's Stuff...well worth reading:

The End of Excess: Is This Crisis Good for America?


Finally, is this really true? If so, I smell lawsuits...lots of lawsuits.

Worst April Fools Ever: Online Brokerage Zecco Pretends To Give Away Millions, Panics When People Start Spending


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Tuesday fun

As Tom C. mentioned yesterday, I will be taking some vacation in April. I will be gone most of the month, but hope to pop back in occasionally. But Tom C. will [hopefully] fill the enormous void left by my absence.

Here are a few things that I thought you might enjoy:

For motivation - do you know who Randy Pausch is? If not, take a moment to check out this post on The T.A.D. Principle blog.


For irritation - these people expect us to feel sorry for them? Give me a break...what a bunch of jackasses.




And finally, some recession/unemployment humor:



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A few links for Monday

I am still trying to migrate from del.icio.us to Tumblr for my links ("THINGS I FOUND INTERESTING AROUND THE INTERNETS"). But frankly, it is low on my priority list!

Here are a few links I wanted to share:

Via Stockbee, "Everytime the S&P has made 10 days high (indicated by red spikes) in last one year it has had a correction or reversal." See the chart here.

Many of you have urged me to get on Twitter, but I don't think I have the bandwidth to do it. Via Jon's Stuff, here is a piece from Time - Desperately Trying To Quit Twitter.

Trader Mike linked to another good article from Time - What Sells in a Recession: Canned Goods and Condoms.

For you iPhone users - Kevin Rose (founder of Digg.com) has the latest rumors on the forthcoming update (copy and paste!?)...and he is usually right.

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Mid-week links

I have said it before, but I'll say it again - StockBee has some great stuff on his blog. If you are a swing trader using Tom C.'s strategies, look at his sector breakdowns and stocks up/down 50% plus in a month.

I just started reading Complacent Panda, and I am enjoying his blog. Check out this post for important candlestick reversal patterns.

edit - see Complacent Panda's comment (in comments) regarding a stock contest on his site.

It looks like Trader Mike is back from vacation.

And finally, here are some photos from Inauguration Day - A Momentous Day in Photos

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Interesting stuff for a Monday

1.) Here is a chart that shows the financial losses of five of the wealthiest earners in the U.S. (via AP):



2.) Trader Mike has a graph that shows the current market is the most volatile the U.S. market has been over the last 80 years.

3.) Obama has a solid lead going into Election Day.

4.) It's time for the politics of division to end.

5.) And finally, from The Huffington Post:

NEW YORK - Wall Street's steep gains in the final days of October are leaving some investors optimistic that the market has put its scariest days behind it, but they're still wary about the landmines that could send stocks reeling again.

Tuesday's presidential election could help erase some unknowns over how the power structure in Washington will affect investors, but pressing economic questions could ultimately shape the week. Reports due on manufacturing, the service sector and, most important, employment, could determine whether the market stays above its mid-October lows and holds on to some stability or plumbs new depths.

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Real rally, or just a pullback?

Who knows? Not much is supposed to be done on the bailout until ThursdayWednesday night - or so the talking heads say. All I can say is if you read my previous post you were well positioned to take advantage of the upside. Thank you Tony and Jack.

Many of you have asked if I will post charts again - I will try and post a few later this week, so check back.

Trader Mike has some great coverage and analysis of the markets - check out his site to get some insight.

And here are some links for you to check out:

> Sarah Palin's Facebook page (if you get an "error page" hit reload)
> What do you do if you are racing motorcycles and you have to pee?
> Some dolphins doing really cool stuff

And check out the chart of GOOG - the big red bar at the end of the day was caused by a glitch.



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