Nice Triangle
HP (HPQ) is forming a nice triangle. This is one company that does not have to do anything spectacular. They just need to keep the lights on and undo the mistakes of the pharmacist from Germany.
Market Makers = Scum
The so called market-makers are well known for scamming the system and screwing individual investors like there is no tomorrow. Off late, they have been at their worst behavior.
Case in point: For 2 of the past 3 weeks, they were manipulating the closing price of AAPL & AMZN weeklies. This week, it was HPQ. For the entire day had a magical attraction to the price point of 28. Which in reality was the market making rats holding the price down. Why do the sewer-dwelling rats do this? While we don't know for sure, we can only think of those that benefit from this:
The icing on the crap was the closing price at the end of the day for HPQ...
As you can see from the Time & Sale info provided by Schwab, the last trade at 3:59 & 4:00pm were above 28. But out of nowhere the closing price of HPQ for the day is 27.99. Looks like the Exchanges are 'in-the=game' as well and are ready to use a random number as the day's close, when the market makers have failed at the game.
Case in point: For 2 of the past 3 weeks, they were manipulating the closing price of AAPL & AMZN weeklies. This week, it was HPQ. For the entire day had a magical attraction to the price point of 28. Which in reality was the market making rats holding the price down. Why do the sewer-dwelling rats do this? While we don't know for sure, we can only think of those that benefit from this:
1. The market makers are so short-sighted for the few extra dollars they make, they're hurting the overall market.
2. The brokerages make a ton of money in commissions by assigning calls/puts. It's relevant to note here that only a few short years ago, the assignment threshold for In the Money options was $0.25. Meaning if a Put or call was in the money by $0.24, it would not be assigned. And a couple of years ago this assignment threshold was reduced to $0.05 and more recently to just a penny.
With a bunch of inept cronies running the SEC & CFTC, I'm not holding my breath waiting for the situation to be remedied.
The icing on the crap was the closing price at the end of the day for HPQ...
As you can see from the Time & Sale info provided by Schwab, the last trade at 3:59 & 4:00pm were above 28. But out of nowhere the closing price of HPQ for the day is 27.99. Looks like the Exchanges are 'in-the=game' as well and are ready to use a random number as the day's close, when the market makers have failed at the game.
Rollover!
Quick Updates... I've been making some money on quick trades. There is not much of an investing angle here. It's not even something along the lines of Day-trading. It's more akin to a Sniper positioning himself.... setting down the rifle, calibrating the scope, adjusting for wind direction/speed and waaaaaaaaaiting for the target to walk into a pre-determined spot... to squeeze the trigger. Let's call this the Lazy-Sniper or laissez-faire sniper.
I've been shadow trading this strategy for a few weeks. Couple of times, I even made some small trades. However, if I'm late in noticing the target being in the aforementioned pre-determined spot, I am less inclined to pull the trigger; this is less than optimal and I'm getting less emotional & more methodical at this.
1. Got a buy signal on AAPL last Tuesday (9/13) at 382, with an expected target of 420. Did not trade this signal as I was late in noticing the signal by 20 minutes. Huge opportunity cost.
2. Got a sell signal on NFLX on 9/15. Since the huge gap-down (from 208 to 176) triggered the signal, I was less inclined to open a position. Netflix has lost another another 30% or so since the Sell signal.
3. Got a sell signal on SINA on 9/15, when the stock was at 110. Decided to move forward with this. But the instrument I selected to execute this trade (105 Strike Puts expiring on 9/16) was wrong. Closed the position with a partial loss on the Put premium.
In the days & weeks to come, I will be honing this like a primitive hunter-gatherer who found a sharp implement for the first time.
Fast forward to Today...
Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) put in a nice shooting star on a rally that has lasted for more than 34 months. Cramer gave it the kiss of death in today's Mad Money as well. It's a shame the stock does not have weeklies. I'm looking to get into medium-term Puts with some intrinsic value.
Close-up of the Shooting Star:
Amazon (AMZN) has had repeated issues breaking above a Fibonacci Fan line, which it kissed once again today. I also got a Sell signal on my Lazy Sniper indicator today. Buying Puts on this baby.
I've been shadow trading this strategy for a few weeks. Couple of times, I even made some small trades. However, if I'm late in noticing the target being in the aforementioned pre-determined spot, I am less inclined to pull the trigger; this is less than optimal and I'm getting less emotional & more methodical at this.
1. Got a buy signal on AAPL last Tuesday (9/13) at 382, with an expected target of 420. Did not trade this signal as I was late in noticing the signal by 20 minutes. Huge opportunity cost.
2. Got a sell signal on NFLX on 9/15. Since the huge gap-down (from 208 to 176) triggered the signal, I was less inclined to open a position. Netflix has lost another another 30% or so since the Sell signal.
3. Got a sell signal on SINA on 9/15, when the stock was at 110. Decided to move forward with this. But the instrument I selected to execute this trade (105 Strike Puts expiring on 9/16) was wrong. Closed the position with a partial loss on the Put premium.
In the days & weeks to come, I will be honing this like a primitive hunter-gatherer who found a sharp implement for the first time.
Fast forward to Today...
Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) put in a nice shooting star on a rally that has lasted for more than 34 months. Cramer gave it the kiss of death in today's Mad Money as well. It's a shame the stock does not have weeklies. I'm looking to get into medium-term Puts with some intrinsic value.
Close-up of the Shooting Star:
Amazon (AMZN) has had repeated issues breaking above a Fibonacci Fan line, which it kissed once again today. I also got a Sell signal on my Lazy Sniper indicator today. Buying Puts on this baby.
Insider Trading
When I heard the news in the evening, I had to double check my phone logs to make sure Apple's (AAPL) board had not called me earlier in the day. For, I had bought some 370 strike Apple Puts expiring in two days, earlier today.
What exactly motivated me to plan this trade?
I had noticed a nice gap in Apple, and knew it was going to be filled sooner or later. I also felt there was better than even odds the stock would go down after that. Once I got the alert on Gap fill, I placed the pre-planned order. When I check the stock quote at the end of the day, it was disappointing to note that Apple had closed higher (and my Puts had eroded in value). That Apple did not match the market's move in percentage terms was, but, a small consolation.
There is a fair amount of support at 353.01. If we break that, it should be fun!
While those stuck with a huge long position in Apple would argue Steve Jobs' exit should not make a difference, we're going to find out tomorrow what exactly is the Steve Jobs' premium. For to turnaround a company in its deathbed, and in 18 years to make it the biggest marketcap company in the world is not something to be repeated in our lifetime.
Wakey Wakey!
The sleepy markets have woken up again. It's the visceral blob you feel between your tummy & throat when in a free fall. I'm looking up all kinds of Lists of charts created over the past 2-3 years. And mostly forgotten with the listless action.
At this time I'm seeing 3 types of charts:
1. Those that look hopelessly broken from a medium-term trend (more than half)
2. Those that can catch a second wind (close to half)
3. Those with pristine trend-lines from March 2009 (very rare).
Planning to focus on #1 for shorts & #2 & #3 for opportunistic longs. Have a lot of powder dry!
Mild Dose
Amylin Pharma (AMLN) is a stock I had bought earlier in the $14 range and before getting out in the low 20s.
After successive failures (how's that for some word play), the stock has been punished handsomely. The current price provides a good entry point, and I bought 50% of my allocation for AMLN (1000 shares). I'm keeping a tight stop ($10.24).
It warms the cockles of my heart to know I paid 2/3rd the price paid by Icahn.
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