Why would you want to be wrong? Play it to the downside.

2/2/2009 9:19:39 AM

FAS opening down 10%, may get back in there in a day or two

2/2/2009 9:24:56 AM

Because not all of us have money free to play to the downside thanks to the market sucking and forcing us to have to wait things out. If the S&P wants to make another run to around 940 and then tank that would be fine so I could get out of a good chunk of my current holdings. I realize that shorting is necessary and all that but I still believe it has had a good deal to do with putting the market in the current state it is in. Not from people like you and I but when all these wall street folks with their massive accounts start all getting together and doing it they can basically drive a company into the ground. Im ok with waiting Ive tried to buy companies I can see surviving all this mess and coming out the other side ready to make good strides. Although I wouldnt mind one more run before we reach 7k so maybe I can rebuy a little lower in these companies heh.

2/2/2009 9:26:51 AM

all shorting did was make it come sooner than later

2/2/2009 9:29:58 AM

True but at least with a gradual decline individual investors who were used to the old buy and hold for years and years wouldnt have been left out to dry. People our age pretty much have come to the understanding that not being in front of the computer for a day can cost you thousands in this market. For those old timey folks who just put in money and let it sit they sure did get fucked when you see the bank stocks and GM and Ford and long standing companies such as that go from valuable stocks to worthless in a very short period of time. I believe that was what the uptick rule was supposed to prevent, correct me if I am wrong, but once that was removed there was nothing to stop the ball from rolling and picking up steam until it smashed into the bottom and crushed some poor soon to be retiree's life savings.

2/2/2009 9:41:44 AM

Quote :

"True but at least with a gradual decline individual investors who were used to the old buy and hold for years and years wouldnt have been left out to dry."

I understand where you are coming from, and I am not a huge fan of certain aspects of the current capital market system (after hours trading, only the big money getting in early on IPOs, etc) but your statements are coming from a day trading perspective. As a non daytrader, your investments should be in such a way that you aren't in companies that can get the shit kicked out of them at a moments notice. Sure, you don't always know which ones those will be, but if you don't have a stomach for it, you shouldn't be in individual companies in the first place.

If you can't risk being in a position and have to walk away from the computer, you either need to set stops, or just don't trade in the first place. You can't herald the profit potential of being able to move in and out of a stock and a the same time complain about shorts.

You could do like me, I haven't enjoyed having to risk (positionally) large outlays on some of these stocks, so I'm going to start playing options. Just seems like a better way to control larger positions without having to risk as much. Personally, I'm quite giddy at being able to limit my risk, I'm not trying to hit homeruns here, just a lot of singles.

Quote :

"For those old timey folks who just put in money and let it sit they sure did get fucked when you see the bank stocks and GM and Ford and long standing companies such as that go from valuable stocks to worthless in a very short period of time."

Ford was trading at 8.40 over 2 years ago. That is a pretty nasty hair cut, but we've known for a decade that the American automakers sucked.

[Edited on February 2, 2009 at 10:22 AM. Reason : .]

2/2/2009 10:19:45 AM

back into FAS at 8.60 - gonna wait this one out. still got about 40% of funds available to trade with.

2/3/2009 1:30:07 PM

I think some of you are trading out of IRAs and retirement accounts? Is that possible through discount brokers?

2/3/2009 3:13:52 PM

i'm trading all out of my Roth IRA that is with TD AMERITRADE.

same $9.99/trade fees.

2/3/2009 3:18:57 PM

Whew, was thinking it might be time to have a look at RMBS. Dodged that bullet.

2/3/2009 11:00:43 PM

to this:

Quote :

"You guys ever do any option spread trading? "

my response is also this:

Quote :

"I've been looking to add it to my repertoire but I am not really ready to do any trading yet"

2/4/2009 1:41:59 PM

The CPI number killing the market after lunch?

Grabbed 200 shares of FAS at 8.49...probably a dumb idea though it looks like a lot of volume came in and set support right at about 8.50 for now. So we'll see how this goes. Looking to close the position before the end of the day.

[Edited on February 4, 2009 at 1:59 PM. Reason : .]

2/4/2009 1:53:29 PM

i reloaded at 8.50 myself - i have 1450 shares

2/4/2009 3:19:29 PM

Quote :

"i'm trading all out of my Roth IRA that is with TD AMERITRADE. same $9.99/trade fees."

Is there anything you have to do special to set that up or do you just identify the account as an IRA and then you can trade out of it like any other account?

2/4/2009 6:37:07 PM

i just signed up for a new account and called it a roth ira

2/4/2009 9:09:44 PM

financials are scaring me

2/5/2009 9:36:34 AM

Yes indeed

2/5/2009 9:43:41 AM

OBAMA will save us!

just picked up some more FAS at $7.65, running out of bullets...

2/5/2009 10:19:56 AM

I am thinking that today is going to be the day I sell GE. I'm down a lot recently and I want to make sure I at least have SOME of this money left over in the future...

2/5/2009 10:35:44 AM

i would have bought FAS at the 7.65 level too but already had it all in. i'm in at 8.59 as of yesterday.


out at 8.80, need a break

[Edited on February 5, 2009 at 11:09 AM. Reason : ]

2/5/2009 10:49:40 AM

I set mine at 9.50 to sell yesterday, I just changed it to 8.90. I'll take the teeny gain if it triggers today.

Annnnddd it triggered. This means we are headed to at least 9.15.

Rofl, I started to set it at a .10c trailing stop at 9.

[Edited on February 5, 2009 at 12:01 PM. Reason : .]

2/5/2009 11:57:47 AM

i think it will come back down next week. any rally right now is complete bullshit

2/5/2009 12:04:46 PM

god damn figures it would touch my 9.50 trigger today. Wish I would have just ran some errands and shit like I originally had planned to do today.

2/5/2009 2:32:41 PM

nice i was just glad not to be down for the day, don't mind not catching this b.s. rally.

2/5/2009 2:41:43 PM

Good to have some stocks back in the green, will likely start setting some stops tomorrow depending on how things look at the open. Would love to get one more nice green day or at least the first half of the day tomorrow.

2/5/2009 3:53:22 PM

Damn you bad job report! Had to go and ruin a friday didnt you

2/6/2009 8:51:23 AM

guess i got out of FAS too early gonna wait again i guess.

2/6/2009 10:05:59 AM

^ Tell me about it

2/6/2009 10:26:01 AM

After a solidly up week, i'm tempted to sell SSO and wait for another dip...but I'm afraid of missing out on a potentially huge jump if this stimulus package goes through.

2/6/2009 10:46:28 AM

got to take some profits - don't sell all at once if you think there might be more upside.

i unloaded some BIDU for a gain (as usual...BIDU for me has been the gift that keeps on giving), and sold some HK & SWKS for less of a loss than would've occured before

2/6/2009 10:52:04 AM

out of SSO at $23.95

2/6/2009 12:19:08 PM

Im holding my ATVI through earnings but I have been tempted to let go of my AUY and EP today but I think both have more upside so Im struggling this last 30 minutes to pull the trigger may just put some stops in place and let em ride.

2/6/2009 3:37:39 PM

I've got that sick to the stomach feeling.

yesterday, i had an order to buy about $30k worth of BAC.

I had my fucking mouse on the submit button, and i pussed out.

2/6/2009 4:01:39 PM

3.89 low yesterday?



[Edited on February 6, 2009 at 4:17 PM. Reason : and 6.13 now. shiiit]

[Edited on February 6, 2009 at 4:17 PM. Reason : d'oh]

2/6/2009 4:17:15 PM

Well, perhaps it will keep going up. I'd be willing to throw a little money at it. I only have about $900 cash but still...better than nothing.

2/6/2009 4:30:58 PM

Bought some NVDA 4 days ago, pretty happy about that.

2/6/2009 4:31:39 PM

these rallies are just annoying. been waiting for some industrial metals/mining stocks to trickle down to better buying points and every time they get close we get a day like this that completely defies logic

2/6/2009 6:38:30 PM

FAS is this year's TIE

2/6/2009 9:23:42 PM

Very interested to see what happens on monday to see if we keep some upward momentum going or if we fall back hard

2/6/2009 10:23:01 PM

I've got a bad, bad feeling about next week

2/7/2009 1:53:13 AM

Now that I have a real job, and have been working there for a little while, I want to get in on this action a little bit. I just started reading Investing 101 Updated adn Expanded by Kathy Kristof. For the most part I am clueless about investing other than my 401(k).

My first step though is to get an organized budget. Do any of you with experience recommend a specific home finance software package or should I just use excel? Do they make anything that links with loan accounts/bank accounts/etc.?

2/7/2009 7:11:34 PM

mint.com?

2/8/2009 8:46:50 AM

mint.com works very well, esp for being free. and you get emailed alerts and reports, etc if you want them showing how much you've been spending out of your budget

2/8/2009 11:31:21 AM

for managing your finances, http://www.apieceofpaperandapencil.com works really well

[Edited on February 8, 2009 at 5:38 PM. Reason : .]

2/8/2009 5:38:19 PM

Quote :

"Sorry, we couldn't find http://www.apieceofpaperandapencil.com"

2/8/2009 6:43:22 PM

^try http://www.hityourselfintheheadwithahammer.com

2/8/2009 8:11:42 PM

Quote :

" Sorry, we couldn't find http://www.hityourselfintheheadwithahammer.com"

2/9/2009 12:59:54 AM

Glad I didn't sell my GE...

edit: Bought 100 shares of BAC at $6.80. We'll see what happens.

[Edited on February 9, 2009 at 12:31 PM. Reason : ]

2/9/2009 12:04:05 PM

http://www.cnbc.com/id/29104178

"The Obama administration’s wide-ranging plan to stabilize the financial system no longer includes creating a "bad bank" but
will still contain measures to encourage private firms to buy up toxic assets from financial institutions, according to a source
familiar with the plan."

FAS guys, better watch out below.

2/9/2009 5:24:06 PM

The news has been out awhile and FAS seems to be weathering it just fine.

2/9/2009 6:20:21 PM