Stockcoach's Corner

There seems to be alot of this going around. I have been far too active managing my account since the begining of the year. Today I am working on a better exit strategy (or at least better defined) for positions. Like so many other people, I think the market is range bound and I'm afraid NOT to protect my profits. For the most part I use a combination of technical indicators, resistance levels, and target prices. BUT lately, I have been protecting my profits at this level of the DOW/NASDAQ.

How do you decide when it's time to sell? I am a long-term investor and I enjoy your blog, it's like talking to other investors at the proverbial water cooler!

Regards,
Lisa
 

Hmmm.. I think I am the complete opposite of Lisa and Stockcoach. I do not really do well with any stocks I have owned long-term. Long-term meaning 5 months because that's about the time I have actively started investing. All the stocks I have bought and held onto since that time have fallen 10-15%.

Interestingly enough, I was re-reading Fortune magazine (Jan 2005 issue) and they were saying how oil and energy were going to be hot. As well as commodities such as gold. Hmm... If I simply followed that, I would be much better off.

As it is, I decided to simply buy companies that I knew.. or thought I knew. Oh well.. sucks.

I know what you mean about being obsessed with the market at all times of the day. I look at my portfolio many times every hour during the day. Which is ridiculous... and stressful too. Yet it is the way which I seem to be better at. Most of what I do is mainly based on guts because I still dont know much. I am learning as much as I can absorb everyday and learning mistakes along the way.

Friday, I sold my FRO and made a huge mistake by selling too early. I really hate waking up early so I tend to use limit orders on everything. Anyways, lost a few hundred possible gain because of that. I would definitely buy it again if it dropped.

Played SINA both ways through the day and got out of it entirely by the end. Now waiting to see what happens next.

I still think oil is going to be heading down sooner or later. If it continues to go up this week, I'll probably short it again.

Made a HUGE mistake on NVT when I shorted it a week or 2 ago at 48-49 range and covered when it was going up. Got scared and went out with a loss. If I waited 2 more days, I would have made a nice profit since it dropped quite a bit since.

Got out of ASIA entirely last week. Not much going on at the moment. I'll watch it and see what happens.

Sold my FRX for a $600 loss. It was losing money after money after months of holding it and finally I had enough. Plus the news about Lexapro really freaked me out. In fact, I am thinking about shorting it for Monday.

I think day-trading is probably fun for a limited amount of time. You get a high from doing it. But I think after a while, I will get burned out. Probably be like all the other smart people and just find some good stocks and let things sit.

Scott
 

Check out Mark Cuban's blog. He talks a bit about stocks there once a while.

http://www.blogmaverick.com/

Scott
 

3/14/05

i dont understand this market, after reading some of your comments i dont how you can daytrade. I have tried with some success over the years but in the last 6-12 months its almost impossible for me to trade these markets. Check out BOOM, ABLE and GEOI, who are the people who buy these stocks and actually make money. I would be the one to buy BOOM at 25 and see it drop to 15. BOOM has had quite a run, i see it going back down to the low 20's VERY SOON.....

take a look at TZOO, i posted a comment in here about a month ago that the value is just to high, down again today, OSTK down today.....i missed out on BBH at 132 and SMH at 30 6 weeks ago.....im looking to get into HHH under 53....thats it for now