Santa's Gone...

... and just when I thought this was the worst Christmas ever, I got rewarded with a minor rally today in addition to some great trading insight over the weekend. I spent a lot of time strategising when I really should have been packing. But I've got half a mind to leave lots of stuff behind and I might just donate a tonne of fun to Oxfam or the Red Cross. I noticed Crate & Barrel is having a sale - yay! Although I would have liked to shop at Neiman Marcus instead, I'm going to do some low key living until I ascertain whether those companies I have job interviews with are worth getting excited about. I remember when I first moved to Belgium, I had nothing but a bed for almost a year. Since I've been through that, I can do that all over again until I settle in. And for my purposes, a bed is really all I need. I mean, you can even do it on the floor - trading that is.

So back to trading... I plan on investing in several penny stocks over the next quarter and will aim to bank a 7-40 fold return over the course of the next few months. How can this conceivably happen? Well, in addition to being in high beta, high volume penny stocks, several other factors also need to be present in order to make a penny stock an interesting proposition:

1. actual revenues
2. growth
3. net cash on the balance sheet (as opposed to debt)
4. also make sure you don't shoot yourself right in the foot, which you will do if you get into a penny stock with debt and a penchant for losing money...

Buy a stock that has 1-3 of the aforementioned criteria at the lowest possible price and it's only a matter of time before it goes up if it is well supported by high volume and high beta. I've also been looking at 3 month charts for penny stocks. If I see there's a pretty wide spread on a 3 month chart, then that's basically a stock that I'll be jumping on asap.

So essentially, I'm going to invest just enough that'll make a 7-40 fold return worthwhile over the next three to four months. I'm going to invest at the lowest possible price. And I'm going to target different limits with each penny stock. I have several penny stocks I'm going to target at crazy bid prices.

I'm also going to continue to invest in undervalued and overlooked large cap stocks on a regular basis. Earnings season for the financial sector is coming up soon, isn't it?

+0.09% on the SBA
+0.80% on the Roth IRA

Santa, Where's My Treasure Trunk?

The Santa Rally I was hoping for fell flat, leaving me wondering where's the treasure trunk?

Plus, I got rejected in the biggest six figure way. So, I'm leaving Belgium. I can't say I'm really disappointed, but I'm not exactly pleased either, although I'm really kind of embarrassed. I thought I was worth more than a +50% salary increase. Apparently, not to my employer. Sooner or later, I was planning to move to a bigger city where there's more lights, cameras, and Professors of Finance who can work with fractions. If now's the time, now's the time. But though I may not be worth my ideal salary here, I know I'm worth my ideal salary and I'm going to keep applying for jobs within my ideal salary range. If I only target these jobs, those are the only jobs I'll get. So, there's my lesson on price... plus I've still got that six interviews and counting thing going on.

Whilst my new position, GEN, didn't do much today, I noticed that IDGG had some good news: Indigo Energy Announces Major Progress in Field Operations and Corporate Changes. Apparently, IDGG has moved one step closer to production with a new natural gas well. I'm looking to target some crazy prices here. I'm thinking $1 to $2 could be a realistic range, but I'm going to implement profit taking at strategic intervals. If I can get a nickel, I'll take a nickel. LOL. I got in at $0.0099.

+0.21% on the SBA
-0.58% on the Roth IRA

Merry Christmas, HSFTs...

Extra Credit

Oil continued to defy gravity, but HERO started to show some weakness and I sold at $3.40 on a major retracement. I've had this happen a couple of times. If a really fast +20% move occurs within a week or two, it's much better to be snappy and happy with the profit taking. For now, I put in another buy at my original entry with HERO at just about $2.97 (but if you were Swiss in a previous lifetime too, my original entry was actually $2.9695).

After thinking about my timing some more, I decided I wanted to hold onto something to see what Santa could bring me tomorrow. So, I got into a new position with Genon Energy (GEN). Genon says that it is a wholesale electricity provider, but after looking through their Web site, I still have no idea what they do. What exactly is wholesale electricity anyway? Are they a de facto shovel seller in the sense that they provide the infrastructure/energy for electricity companies to then sell to consumers? It matters not. I looked at their balance sheet and I like what it does. Here's why:

1. P/S and P/B are both way below 1. Plus, it's actually trading at just about 12% of book value.
2. It experienced a pretty high double digit price decline over the past 52 weeks, which means that anyone who hasn't taken profit on their shorts yet will get their stops run. Bwahahaha...
3. Very strong revenue growth
4. Lots of cash compared to other utility companies. If I recall well, many utility companies are trapped in debt, but Genon is different. It just completed a merger and based on the cash on its balance sheet, it could be worth a lot more.
5. It hit its 52WH back in January 2010 and it's trading just a touch higher than its 52WL. This means that risk:reward wise, it could get pretty smokin'.

I'm looking for more undervalued + overlooked stuff to buy up and am cooking up another top secret trading idea. I won't spill the beans until I'm in the trade yet - don't want any Professors arbitraging me.

-0.67% on the SBA
-0.27% on the Roth IRA

P.S. I got into GEN at $3.8598...

Professor, I Have A Question...

... are you single? LOL.

I'm in a good mood today - relatively speaking.

WTI Crude broke above $90 today, which meant HERO followed suit with a +5.93% jump - bringing my paper profit on the position to +20%. I would have liked to see a stronger close on HERO, but with all major stock markets across the world posting such a solid advance, I'm holding on for a few more days to see if Santa has some more shiny happy stuff in store for us - especially because China is getting involved in "concerted action" to aid the Euro crisis.

I have yet to see any upwards action on IDGG even though HERO is clearly delivering already.

+2.10% on the SBA
+1.02% on the Roth IRA

I might get busy packing over the next few days, so don't take it too personally if you don't hear my JNSB for a while.

New York City Girls, We're Unforgettable...

New money management insight, so scroll... below...

You may be in luck, my Men of New York! It seems I didn't see that glass ceiling and bumped my head right into it. I must have misread my boss' email there because I'm not getting much of a response on my counter offer. I guess my six interviews will come in handy, although I believe one of my co-workers is attempting to sabotage my future financial well-being. I heard her giving me a bad reference today. I'm quite sure she was the one behind the recent audit as well. Whatever! Justice always wins out and no one's got any sway over my financial well-being but me. I'm going to make sure I include someone else as a reference in the future. Moreover, I'm going to get reference letters before I leave.

After a weekend of doing my own homework, I found out I am still sub-par with my trading this year. Even with all my JNSB, I posted an embarrassing loss even though I have some unrealised gains that will greatly offset the losses if I take profit now. I'm going to take the next few weeks to redeem myself.

Forcing myself to review my YTD performance made me realise that I can technically be trading over $1 million on only five figures without using margin. Suppose you only have $10,000. If you aim to turn that capital 100 times in a year, you will have traded over $1 million on a minimum of 9 roundtrip trades per month. I'm going to now aim for ten roundtrip trades every month with my bike. If I manage to get a double digit ROI, that's enough to never face the glass ceiling again. It may seem far-fetched, but I'm going for the gold-digging!

I also want to highlight some areas where I could have done better this year so that I can remember this for next time. Basically, I missed out on high double digit gains this year with BGCP (+100%), CENX (+60%), DFS (+36%), IPG (+43%), and even BNHNA (+58%). I traded all these stocks the same way. I found they were being undervalued due to a low P/S and P/B value. So, when I trade this strategy next time, I'll be more patient with the exits because quite frankly, I'm tired of getting the shorter end of the stick here.

So let's talk about HERO, my latest high beta winner. We closed above the Sell In May & Go Away High and broke above the high touched in November today, which is pretty bullish to me. Will this be where prior resistance becomes support? If we break through this level, that'd be a really nice Santa Rally for me.

It looks like Harry wants to put out my fire though. The past five days have been wrought with tension and we broke below 3-month support today. I'm still keeping an eye on that $9.99 level I've been so enchanted by ever since HWD earnings came out. Let's see if we move below $10 and what it does there.

I lagged the market, but I know I can do this! I can trade. I'm really great with market bottoms, aren't I?

0% on the SBA
+0.11% on the Roth IRA

I vow never to be the market bottom of everyone's jokes from now on, but didn't I vow that before? This time, I'm making it happen!

I Put Myself Out There...

I've only got a few more days left at my current job and after the emotional speeches at my colleague's retirement party yesterday (or was it the champagne?), I started doubting my resignation, especially after I sent a goodbye email to my boss and received an email back saying that it was not his wish to let me go. I never realised that, but I felt it to be true even though so much has gone on this year. So I put myself out there today and asked for a counter offer to be considered. I did not decrease what I wanted as my salary, but I did defer it until after a key project would be completed - effectively making it a bonus of sorts. I have to say it wasn't easy as I am a small person with a big ego, but if my boss could tell me that it wasn't his wish to let me go, then the least I could do was propose what I thought to be a fair solution. Fair, though, is a subjective term and what is fair to one person may not seem fair to another.

I don't know if it'll work out, but if it does, then my Men of New York will have to wait. I added another interview to my schedule if I do get back to New York though - for a total of 5 - make that 6 - so far. There's now one that I really think would be quite exciting and they sound like they really want me too. Wish me luck, Professors of Finance! I know good things happen to good people and though I'm evil on the trading floor, I'm a good girl otherwise. Well, most of the time anyway. Especially when I'm in the Confessional Booth. LOL.

I also had a little bit of QU luck with my portfolio today, thanks to HERO and C.

+0.44% on the SBA
+0.63% on the Roth IRA

A little more, please...

Happy Weekend, HSFTs! And a happy shiny reminder to do your own homework!

Imagine Being the Only Volume On A Penny Stock...

... that wouldn't be funny at all if you're trying to sell. I didn't get much action with IDGG yet, but after a few days of retracements, HERO finally broke above $3 today with a +8.04% move up caused by some optimistic US Gulf contracts coming in for offshore drilling companies. The bears can't say I didn't warn them. LOL.

The tiny move up on my portfolio today did not offset the losses from the past few sessions, but I'm happy I decided to add to my portfolio to minimise Harry and Prince Charming's impact on my portfolio. Oh, I was so wrong with Harry. Who knew he could cut like a double-edged sword?

Since I'm still feeling battered, no real trading insight and just a report card that's slightly better than expected:

+1.05% on the SBA
+0.29% on the Roth IRA

Professor, I Don't Think This Is the Class I Signed Up For...

It felt like some Professors of Finance decided to sell all the stocks in my portfolio, but I was able to get into a new position with Indigo Energy (IDGG) - a new high beta high volume penny pincher I found whilst doing my own homework last night. I decided to put my pennies where my pout was and bought a few mini lots worth of this stock - as in 1 mini lot = ten thousand shares (times a few). I'm a few hundred dollaraire and I'm proud of my achievements. LOL. I got in at less than a penny a share, so what's wrong with having a bike when you can turn the risk:reward in your favour like this?

I'm going to try out something new here. I'm going to research a few more penny stocks, get in at a penny a share and position myself with 1 mini lot in every stock. If even a few of these hit 10 cents a share, that would be some change you can believe in. The fact that I'm getting into high beta and high volume penny stocks is key here. You don't want to get into any low beta ones, nor do you want to get stuck with penny stocks that are rarely traded. I'd look for a penny stock with a volume of at least 300,000.

Here's the math:

Risk
10,000 shares x $0.01 = $100

Reward
10,000 shares x $0.10 = $1000

Beautiful!

Obviously, much more beautiful than my report card:

-3.26% on the SBA
-2.21% on the Roth IRA

Shut up! I can hear your Bwahaha all the way from here...

To Shovel Sellers...

... OMG, my strategies are actually starting to make sense.

Global Spending On Resources Booms...

Let's see if they start making cents too - which is all that really matters.

I Vowed to Beat the Dow...

... but ended up with a very bad report card after the FOMC Statement, which just reinforces my raving-lunatic type hatred for Bernanke:

-3.01% on the SBA
-1.5% on the Roth IRA

Nothing much happening in Extended Hours Trading in the financial sector yet, but as 10-Year Treasury Yields rose sharply today, I'm thinking if I just stick with the strategy I embarked on earlier in the year (i.e. sticking my head in the sand), I'll end up like the GOLs - quite OK.

My newest addition, HERO, didn't do much today, but Harry continued to move south along with Prince Charming.

I've been pondering the topic of asset allocation as well and since it's technically impossible for me to follow the 3-5% money management rule, I'm making up my own rule. I will pay attention to top-line growth with my positions from now on. Once a position gets to more than 38.2% (Fib level) of my account, I'm going to have to start mentally putting up red flags and taking action.

My New Position...

After my failed attempt to add insult to injury last week by trying to buy HWD at $9.99 and selling BAC way before its time, I felt dumb and dumber. So I spent part of my weekend looking at some balance sheets - not many, but just enough to ascertain that there are still good buying opportunities in the market. My biggest criterion: to look for a stock that still has a very big 52 week decline. Due to Santa's imminent arrival, I've got a bullish bias for the rest of the year as I did the whole year. What went down must go up!

So I started off the week with some more market confidence. In addition to receiving an invitation to an interview with a second company, I decided to hop into a new position today. I bought HERO at $2.9695. I initially wanted to get in at $2.50, but then decided: if I don't do it now, I'm never going to do it. I'll be waiting and waiting for the right moment and sooner or later, Santa's going to pass me by. So, I ignored my trading discipline and got in at market, but only invested the original amount I allocated for this position. I have a plethora of reasons for getting into the trade, including but not limited to:

1. the 52 week change on HERO is -39.19%, which means that if the stock market continues to go up this year, the reversal that has already started taking place on HERO will rapidly intensify - with me being one of the main beneficiaries
2. relatively high beta on HERO of 3.04
3. P/B and P/S are both way below 1. In a bull market, sales will start to count. In a bear market, people are more concerned about debt.
4. only has 114 million shares outstanding, which means that this could move as fast as Harry when the bulls take control
5. Insiders have purchased from $2.60 to $2.86 earlier this year
6. last but not least, a good risk:reward scenario... if it hits the 52WH at $5.85, that's about a +97% gross profit. Longer term, HERO was near $40 before Lehman hit. Oil prices continue to defy gravity. If I know miners like I think I know miners, then they're going to start striking whilst the iron's hot - meaning they'll produce more when prices are high. This, in turn, will benefit my shovel seller, HERO.

Shanghai was the most alpha today with a +2.88% move, nearing the 3000 level I have been waiting for. S&P looks slightly droopy on the 5-day and 10-day charts though. Could it be an Andrews Pitchfork in the making? I hope I didn't just buy a top since my portfolio is lagging the market!

-0.29% on the SBA (SBA percentages are slightly messed up as I added some cash to it - probably would have been a bigger decline had I left it alone)

+0.29% on the Roth IRA

Honestly, I'm not crazy about my two interviews. They just sort of make me feel better about having something. So, I promise myself that I'm not going to apply to every job I can find now. I'm only going to go for the ones that I really want.

There, There, Harry...

Harry basically stood in position for the rest of the session, not moving any further south - closing the day at -12.87%. Oh, my love! We're going to get through this - and together, we'll achieve market bliss once again when retail sales come in better than expected after the Santa Clause Rally. Don't you want to fill my order at $9.99?

This year, the US economy created 668,000 net NFP jobs, which means people with jobs will want to buy Made In China stuff. China managed to make it through relatively unscathed, so I'm looking for further growth in China now that job creation is back. Recall I mentioned that I thought China's economy has now reached the point of no return a few months back. Now that the US economy is stabilising, this will add to the global momentum.

This also means that I'm going to have to get myself a new job before the new MBA class graduates in May. I did some fun analysis and if job creation continues at this pace, I may find myself a new job just before the MBAs hit the ground running. If we take the top 10% of all MBA graduates from the top 15 universities in the world, I'm competing against about 4800 people. Not all of them will be looking for marketing jobs. 8-10 six figure marketing jobs are being added on a daily basis. If all these 4800 people look for marketing jobs, I'll have to spend about 11 to 20 months looking for a new job. However, it would be a stretch to say that even 45% of these people have majored in marketing. So let's say they did. If so, then I'd be competing with 2160 people, which means that I could be looking at 5 to 9 months of Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect Six Figures, Go Straight To Yale.

I think (and pray) that I'll find a job much sooner. My backup plan is to line up my ducks and look for an internship within the financial services industry once I get back to my home sweet home. I've also got about a year of expenses saved up, so bet your market bottom I've got a trading ego the size of Belgium. LOL.

All my analysis amounts to null today. My dear Harry ran the other direction, leaving me with a pitiful:

-6.22% on the SBA (yes, unfortunately that is a 6)
+0.83% on the Roth IRA

Happy, Happy Weekend my fellow HSFTs / Professors of Finance!

My Prices... They're Self-Righteous...

The love of my portfolio, Harry Alpha Winston, is being sold like there's no tomorrow. Am I going to stand by and do nothing? Or am I going to stand up for my man and try to touch his market bottom with some more crazy prices? I put in a buy at $9.99 even though we're at $12.55 as we speak.

What am I thinking? HWD missed analyst expectations by 2 cents, but Frederic De Narp was clearly a good hire, driving revenue growth by +88%.

If S&P continues to go up the rest of the year, then this is one ride I don't want to miss.

I also view today's news from China's bank reserve requirements as a buying opportunity for commodities in general - especially after speaking with my friend, Tim.

That Grand Ole Bull Flag I was looking at on the 3-year S&P a while back is not over and done with yet. If the bulls get their way, 2011 is going to be one of the most poetic years yet.

Previously On ForexDiva...

... bridges were burned... tables were turned... lessons were learned.

Why, oh why did I sell BAC? It closed at $12.65 today, which would have put me so close to the $12.87 resistance I was watching. If I had only taken profit two days later, I would have been +13.15% in two weeks. Instead, I was content with only a little more than +3%. It was mediocre. It was fraidy. I condemn myself for giving into the bears and yielding to my fears, but now I know better for next time! Resistance doesn't always foreshadow a sell-off. We need to see what's happening with support as well. In this case, it was clearly the bulls saying: "Hit the brakes and fake out the flakes." And I was a flake.

Up today: Harry set a new high and made me sigh. I'm waiting on Harry's earnings announcement and will be monitoring extracurricular price action during Extended Hours Trading.

+1.07% on the SBA
+1.25% on the Roth IRA

I outperformed all major market indices around the globe once again - not that I'm bragging (well, maybe just a little)! Now, I'm waiting for Shanghai to break above 3000 again. Will it happen? Will the GOLs be alpha enough to test the 6000 pre-crisis level on FTSE? They're already so close to levels we haven't seen since Bear Stearns and S&P 500 seems to be holding onto the Lehman level as well. I don't feel smug yet, so I'm not going to sell until my trading ego reaches epic proportions.

Word To Your Mutters...

In the Confessional Booth here and... I got it all wrong with BAC! I own up to it, but it doesn't stop me from being upset. What I'm most upset about is not the fact that I let fear override logic, but the fact that I didn't believe in myself enough. I took the emotional approach. I did the analysis, but I went with my feelings. Based on today's price action, I made the wrong choice yesterday with BAC.

My portfolio has been comprised of mainly financial sector stocks since Lehman hit and I wasn't scared before, so why am I scared now?

But most of all, here's what I think went wrong analytically.

1. Price Action. There was resistance at $11.87, but price wasn't breaking at $11.50. In hindsight, this could have just signified a buyer stepping in who won't pay above a certain price. If we saw any further price declines below $11.50, then I would have been spared instead of seared. As of now, I missed out on at least another +4% gain. Now that's lame...
2. Three fundamental shifts in the market: 10-Year Treasury Yields moved up sharply yesterday to close above a 3% yield; optimism due to tax breaks from our FWFOCH; plus Nikkei continued to hold its own above 10,000.

I failed to see what I'd been wanting to see all year - that exodus from the bond markets that would signal the potential beginning of another bull run, but hopefully it'll be a lesson learned. Given the one step forward and three steps back we've been seeing all year, I may just be setting myself up for more disappointment, but we're Generation Y... we're not just pie in the sky!

So I'm still going to try to buy BAC at $10.50, though I might do better looking into some other stocks that are still trading close to their 52WLs. Let's see!

+0.28% on the SBA
+0.82% on the Roth IRA

Oh, so close! Nikkei beat my Roth IRA by 0.08%...

Up tomorrow... earnings announcement from my honey bee, Harry!

Does Harry Have A Plan To Be My Man?

Seems like it... and I've not only got a plan to take the Series 7 exam so no one ever rejects me for not having financial services experience again, but I've also got a plan to $10.50 people on BAC. Let's see if I can get a sponsor for doing the Series 7, but it sure would beat doing an internship, wouldn't it? Someone invited me in for an interview, but the job will be mainly commission-based. Even though it's a small step in the right direction, it's a big deal for me since it makes me feel like I'm not an abject failure and my top 10(?) business school background counts for something on Wall Street!

As for BAC, I'm out of that position for the time being. I'm not sure if it was the right approach, but I sold BAC today at $11.60 after getting in at $11.18 on 23 November. This is the one I tried to do the Crazy Price Strategy with yesterday. It looks like $11.87 is proving to be strong resistance. BAC has tried that level a few times and it's been proving to be a hurdle it can't surmount. Recall I got $10.99'ed on some unsubstantiated WikiLeaks rumours last week.

I wasn't really paying that much attention to the Pandora's Box that WikiLeaks might open up, but after speaking with my colleague The PermaBear yesterday, I started getting scared. And the more I thought about it, the fraidier I got. So, I did my options analysis and all looks clear on BAC. In fact, calls look promising, but the $11 level looks a bit like a See Ya Wouldn't Want To Be Ya Level on BAC. My question is: will the $9.99 infomercial level I was looking at earlier in the year be in play for BAC - or was that $10.99 telling enough in and of itself? In hindsight, it was clearly a fake-out.

I looked at Insider Activity and noticed Donald E. Powell, a Director, recently purchased 5,000 shares of BAC. $11 has been holding and an Insider purchased BAC at $11.30, so based on these two elements alone, BAC would seem like a straight buy especially since it's been in a downtrend almost the entire year. Yet I'm heavily into the financial sector already and I'd rather keep my moola out of harm's way with support feeling so weak. Yes, I'm going with my feelings here. If I get in at $10.50 again and it tests $11.87 as resistance, then that's a 13% gain - if I manage to get in. If it takes off now like CENX just did after I let it go, I'm going straight in the Confessional Booth.

For now, my 17-day sprint with BAC happened to be only a +3.75% gross profit on a very small position. It doesn't feel like the high beta that I need to succeed, but I'm trying to develop some trading discipline and this may seem like the insane way to go about it. I am gaining some valuable practice here, right, Professors?

+1.73% on the SBA
+2.04% on the Roth IRA

Notice how my Roth IRA is starting to slightly outperform my SBA whereas most of the year, it's been the other way around. Could this signify a pivot point in the market as well? Time will tell.

Red alert on C! I saw some 10 million ask sizes on C today, which at today's prices was about $46.3 million being sold. That certainly added to how jittery I was feeling even though my portfolio put in a good fight.

I'll Be In A Whole New Tax Bracket...

... the 10% tax bracket that is. But if you're stellar at trading, that's not necessarily a bad thing - keeping about 90% of what you make, that is. Today's market action proved that I'm not in that category just yet and the Professors of Finance out there may just get to have their way with me. I did far worse than the global market today.

-0.74% on the SBA
-0.64% on the Roth IRA

I have been researching some $5 and under plays and I found several shovel sellers that hit their 52WHs in January. If seasonality repeats itself, then I'm in for some quick cash if I manage to get in. I'm flip-flopping though. Do I buy now or do I buy after the Santa Clause Rally? Is there going to be a SCR? One month is getting to be too long to tie your cash up in the market. I'm trying to time my trades for quicker gains rather than staying in one sector for an entire year (or three).

I'm also trying out a few crazy prices on Extended Hours Trading. See if you can catch me there.

Are You Positive It's A Negative?

As every major business Web site reported on the poor NFP numbers, I caught a glimpse of the fact that the private sector created 93,000 jobs in November and that was the overlooked number that mattered to me. When I did my NFP analysis a few weeks ago, I noticed that the economy is at a critical level. Net job growth since Bear Stearns has reached 668,000 - equivalent to a little over 10% of all jobs shed since February 2008 - and this is the first December since Bear Stearns where we've seen any job growth. The 39,000 additional growth in NFPs adds to that support level. So, are the bears out there sure this is a negative? If we see another month like June 2010, we'll be back to the psychologically important 1 million level. So your choice: buy now, or pay up later?

On a personal note, I've been actively applying for jobs in the US as well as London and every day, I'm seeing some new six figure marketing jobs being posted to various job sites. On a good day, about 8-10 marketing director level jobs are being posted. On an uneventful day, you'll see a repost of some old jobs that haven't yet been filled.

Talent is a scarcity, and I'll admit I've got talent, but I got rejected with this job I really, really wanted in the financial sector. Apparently, my 12 years of experience means nothing on Wall Street since I haven't had any financial services experience. So my business school education means nothing either. If there's any Professor of Finance out there looking for an intern, let me know. I'm serious here. Don't expect me to get you coffee though. I will test your support and resistance if you'd like.

My short term goal involves getting a job in either NYC or London and then simultaneously doing an internship within the financial services sector so that I can gain some credibility there. Wall Street is going to be back in the biggest way... I can feel it.

After being back in a very big way yesterday, my SBA once again outperformed all major market indices around the world. Woohoo! However, I would have liked it even more if the Roth IRA had followed. I am now faced with a very interesting decision: should I rebalance now or should I rebalance later? The Roth IRA has been an underperformer for a while and it's typically when you get fed up with the market that a rebound is imminent.

+0.67% on the SBA
+0.06% on the Roth IRA


Happy Weekend, Professors of Finance! I hope I'll get an even better report card next week... otherwise, you can tutor me!

A Sight for Four Eyes

LOL. That's not my joke, but I wish I'd thought of it. My portfolio got so steamy it would fog up the Professor's glasses!

Dean Harry Winston led us to victory today, moving up +7.10%. My E*Trade platform says 9 December is earnings announcement time for Harry. I can't wait! What other surprises would Harry have for us? Hopefully, it'll be the carat rather than the stick.

Today's report card was stellar! I once again outperformed all major market indices across the world - but only with one portfolio. FTSE beat my Roth IRA... And brent crude broke above $90.

+5.04% on the SBA (that's really a 5 there in case you wear glasses...)
+1.96% on the Roth IRA


Since ABK filed for Chapter 11, I've been thinking... why not buy the dip on the strongest competitor in the sector that's affected for a short term play? Obviously, it would only be a good strategy if the strongest competitor is actually strong to begin with. If the weak are going down, the strongest will always benefit most and that's where the money is. Let's see if this strategy actually works in real trading...

Who's 10.99'ing Us Now?

The Bwahaha's loud and clear! Even though I had a remarkable day, what I don't get is how an 83 billion EUR bailout spurred a multi-session sell-off whilst an 8 billion EUR rescue programme could cause an across-the-board cover your assets type uptown girl move like this? That's been the theme of the year - fake everyone out both ways.

Thank God I didn't fall for that $10.99 move on BAC, although I was watching that a while back. Recall I even wanted to $9.99 people for some infomercial level success. So far, it seems my $11.18 is still in play and I'm still watching that $12.70 something resistance, hoping for $15 and eventually aiming for a slight break above the ultimate 52WH level of $19.86.

No real trading insight today, just a really good report card, Professors:

+2.93% on the SBA
+2.41% on the Roth IRA

Looks like my portfolio outperformed every major stock market index around the world - for a day! Now, let's see if I can do this a few more times...