January 19, 2008
There is no other way to describe what happened this week as anything other than a major breakdown in all the major market indexes. The worst part (if you are a natural bull) is that the breakdowns now have every single major index with the 50 day moving average below the 200 day moving average. The Nasdaq was the last index to accomplish this “death cross” feat.
To make the declines this week worse, the averages sold off on heavier volume, with volume Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday on the Nasdaq reaching levels we have not seen since the mid-August sell off. The indexes are under major distribution by large institutional investors and there is no way with this amount of slow distribution (instead of a one day crash) is going to be followed, right away, by large amounts of accumulation. This market has cracked and broken wide open.
For those of you who are still bullish out there, it has to be due to ONLY one reason: you are a complete neophyte to the stock market. There can’t possibly be ANYONE who has been involved with the stock market for over a year that wants to load up on stocks here–that is except Doug Kass, my fellow colleague at RealMoney, who wants to load up on stocks here. Is he an idiot or what? This guy has been a hardcore! bear for over two years missing out on a TON of good gains (like MOS and TNH) all the while screaming about the upcoming recession. Now FINALLY he is right and he is now bullish? If there is anyone who you should probably NOT listen to about the stock market it is Doug Kass. The guy is brilliant at finding great short candidates but when it comes to the market he is about as in tune as WillPS (I love you Will, you have to realize this is for your own good but I really do want to see you succeed which is why you are being mentioned so much!!).
Something that I think bears much more hardships for the market is the way it reacted to the news by President George W. Bush. He announces a stimulus plan the size of $150 billion which is 1% of the GDP and the market takes its gains and turns it on its head leading us to close lower on the day? That is definitely a market I want to stay away from. There is no way news like this should have been received the way it was. It is a clear sign that ANY good news, besides bad news, is going to be sold.
Bush’s tax cuts in 2003 helped launch one of the most resilient bull markets we have ever seen. However, now, the market only laughs and instead of rewarding the stimulus package just says “sorry, nothing you do is going to save you from this.” This market has topped and if you need any more proof than this and your dwindling capital in your trading/investing accounts, you have some serious psychological problems and need to probably A) start reading all the books in my book list B) stop trading for now or C) stop trading forever.
Another thing I keep hearing from the foolish newbie crowd or the gambling buy-and-hold crowd is that these winners are going to come back as they are at “bargain” levels. What these dolts refuse to see is that this is the same BS we heard just seven years ago. Where in the heck are their brains or their history books. Have they not learned their lesson or not learned the lesson of history?
I remember clearly in 2000 how every single dip in YHOO EBAY MSFT CSCO QCOM JDSU AMZN was a “bargain” to be bought for the huge gains that would be coming again. Why don’t some of you go check your long-term weekly charts and tell me how those stocks rebounded. Then I want you to do a % return scan on your charting softwares and see how many stocks in each year went up over 100%. As you would see, if you actually did this exercise, there were a TON. By buying the bargains you prevent yourself from buying the next big winner. By the way, how is TASR and TZOO doing. I remember how AFTER the stocks topped how everyone said every pullback was a bargain. Wasn’t there even a TASR ticker on CNBC at the end? I could be wrong but for some odd reason I thought there was. I was playing more poker than watching CNBC that year.
By the summer, we will probably be up-to-date on most of my past big winners with HOT charts in my ‘past big winners’ section. Once it is updated, you will quickly learn that most of my big winners were fresh brand new stocks that almost no one has ever heard of. JUST LIKE CANSLIM TEACHES US. And those gains in those stocks NEVER had severe selloffs from climax runs like many stocks this year have. There are climax runs everywhere and almost 99% of those stocks will NEVER come back to be a huge winner. The bottom line: You are NEVER going to find a RIMM, GOOG, BIDU, or FSLR after they have already had one huge bull market. The exception, you might say, is AAPL. But technically Jobs rebuilt that company and turned it into a NEW COMPANY. The IPO was basically in 2001 and by 2004 we had one of the best stocks of the five year bull market setup and break out of a beautiful base. Sadly I only received 200% of this 1000% gem.
So now that I have convinced you–probably not the newbies but you know what I can’t care when their ignorance blinds them from the truth–that you can not buy the next big stock market leader from a group that was once part of the last big bull market, maybe that can convince some of you to stop trying to buy the stupid dips in stocks like DRYS, MOS, IHS, MA, and GOOG and instead to start looking at rallies as places to short.
Even if we put in an oversold rally that last for months (just like the rally in 2000, early 2001, after 9/11, and the small one in the summer of 202), there will be chances to make money on the green charts, like FFH, in select defensive stocks like Medical and Food stocks. And even right now Medical stocks are good areas to go long as 10 of the top 20 industries based on six-month price performance in IBD are Medical groups. Quite an impressive showing for a sector! But with the rally in Medical stocks, the losers that have topped will also rally. Those are the stocks you must not get fooled into buying back, thinking you got a “bargain” or a “value.” Those are the stocks the talking heads on CNBC want YOU to buy so that the smart money can unload on your not-so-smart behind. Why people keep falling for it is beyond me. But when you don’t take the time to learn about either politics or the economy, you deserve what you get. You fall for the BS, you deserve the punishment. Being “ignorantly bliss” is the equivalent to a horrible disease. I know I don’t want to get infected by it.
As long as you newbies can not fall for the crap you hear on CNBC and learn that REMEMBER!!! we buy new 52-week highs, NOT LOWS, then you will save yourself a lot of pain. If you ignore my market battled-and-tested warnings you will pay for it dearly when the market finally has enough of you. It will chew you up and spit you out.
Recently, I must admit, I have hit a major funk of depression, just as I have been asked to work for RM. Thankfully, that gig is working out but for the past three months I have been in a trading funk UNLIKE ANY TIME SINCE MY FIRST MONTHS OF TRADING. I was blessed to learn the CANSLIM strategy first and it IMMEDIATELY made sense to me so I was blessed in that market environment. I could do no wrong and I lost enough money in the 97 and 98 pullback that by the time the 2000 top came I already knew how to protect gains. Not only that but my shorting worked perfectly in 2000. But what I keep forgetting is that from April to August I did have a rough time as I was only going long stocks again and while I got a few winners (go check the past winners section) on about 70% of what I bought I was cut out of rather fast and with decent losses. But the trend turned back down and I went back to shorting which at the time could do you no wrong.
The one difference from then and now is that I keep loading up on the wrong stocks. These exact same perfect setups or really strong setups has worked for me for twelve years but now all of a sudden I can’t get anything I buy in bulk to work. My last large trade was AFSI which I still only put 5% of my account in after a teaser buy of 1% of my account. 6% is not a big position. The last time I went to 10% of one was HRZ in late 2006. That pattern is the one you should burn into your head. That HRZ pattern simply does not get any better than that and the next time I find one like that 20% of my account will go in it. But if that pattern showed up tomorrow, I probably would not buy 20% of it.
For the first time that I can remember, I am having my third straight month of horrible performance. Now, by horrible, I know me and you have two different definitions. You might think horrible is losing 20% while the market lost 10%. Well, this year the market has lost almost 12% by the Nasdaq while I am down 4% on the year. Now I know some of you must not understand how that can be when I have these kind of gains in short positions: (FAF 28% FRT 20% CLP 32% ASF 25% FDX 23% ESI 20% XLNX 24% COH 40% MI 35% FTEK 30% MSM 26% HUBG 21% PVH 27% ATI 34% LVS 34% MSTR 26% CBEY 22% RNT 33% SGMS 46% BEN 28% MHGC 21%-in-four-days). But the matter of the fact is that I did not consider any of these to be fully perfect shorts so I did not load up on any of them. What have I loaded up on? Well I will tell you one perfect short setup that failed (AMX) while keeping the rest secret to this section as I have become paranoid that if I talk about them they will go the wrong way. However, AMX perfect setup on 1/2 failed on 1/10 but immediately freaking rolled over becoming a candidate on 1/15. Of course I passed again and now it is down almost 7% since then.
Then we have FFH long. I was long that stock but at the start of the year it took me out. Now look at it!! Another perfect move over the 50 day moving average (not a perfect setup–don’t get that confused). So, once again, I have been whipped. The bottom line is that things are not going well in my trading and it seems that if the pattern is extremely nice (and I am sure no one else has their charts like mine that have millions and millions) and near-perfect to perfect it fails. And if the pattern is good to really good then it acts like the stock was perfect. I think that if this was a bull market now and HRZ setup in its 2006 pattern, it would fail. So my psychology is off. I know how to fix it and it is to step away but I can’t do that so instead am going to keep everything small until I can load up my shorts in GOOG RIMM AAPL BIDU FSLR MOS TNH etc when they setup in their perfect short setups. If you don’t know what they are….BUY THE BOOK HOW TO MAKE MONEY SELLING STOCKS SHORT by WILLIAM J ONEIL. The two books he has written on the markets, if you read them slowly or read them a LOT, will completely change your life and make you a stud when it comes to trading stocks.
When it comes to trading futures, don’t ask me. Ask David, in our chat room. I do not have a lot of interest and I believe that he is beyond qualified to teach you this professional technique. If you are a newbie and can not even make money going long stocks, don’t you dare think about trying futures. It is much harder than trading stocks. It moves a lot faster and has much higher risk as you can borrow a lot of money for a little money.
Is there anything that makes me think we are going to put in a real bottom any time soon? LOLOLOL. Are you crazy?
Is there anything that makes me think we could put in an oversold rally on the short-term. Absolutely and the first thing that excites me is that the VIX is finally moving. The fact that it has just started moving higher is probably not good for finding a low just yet. But a little more of a rise in the VIX to the August highs could lead us to an oversold rally. But hopefully it will not last long because we need to really wash this market out of weak hands and set up and start the process of stocks building nice long max green BOP filled bases. These beautiful long term bases are what leads to market like 2003.
This market is way too far down right now to have a 1999 type rally but that market had shallower bases but the stocks that were momentum favorites and in top industries pulled back on no volume with BOP staying max green or just green. Do you see any max green BOP filled stocks that trade over 100k a day and are over $10 a share? Nope. Do you see any that are pulling back into nice tight bases, besides Medical stocks and FFH? nope.
Chances are that this is going to be a very long drawn out bear market that is sprinkled with a recession on top. You better take those bull goggles off amateurs. You are hearing this from someone WHO WAS A BULL FROM THE OCTOBER 2002 RALLY TO THE NOVEMBER 2007 TOP. DURING THE PULLBACKS IN 2005 AND 2006 WHEN EVERYONE WAS CALLING A TOP I CONTINUED TO NOT CALL A TOP BECAUSE HOT GREEN TO MAX GREEN FILLED CHARTS EXISTED. In 2007, I was premature a couple of times, but as soon as the lows and a follow-through day were printed I immediately turned and helped you make money on stocks like TESO AFSI DRYS FSLR, and APPY to name just a small amount. When November’s selling came, I saw something very different. And I still see this now. No green and all red. This is going to take a long time to fix.
Aloha and I will see you in the chat room where hopefully I can get over my small losses and realize that I am still beating the market by a significant amount. Even though all of you are crushing me. I still feel like a loser and I am still upset over it but don’t think for ONE SECOND that I am not completely stoked and happy for you all. I am so proud of all of you that are making money in this market. I remember the 2000 market and the whole situation like it was yesterday. I remember watching $500k turn into $11k in some peoples accounts as they bought every dip and refused to short the rallies. I am so proud of you all (not you WIllPS…yet) and continue to wish you all the best in trading. I hope I can make you all filthy rich and as a byproduct I pray my trading turns around and the next HRZ, TASR, or even FMDAY (2006,2003,and 2004) will blast off to the sky just like they did last time and that my confidence will be up to the point that I can put 25% in each of these bad boys. I am in a major funk but am only down 1% from the November highs while the market is down 18%.
It is very disappointing to have this run but preserving chash ALWAYS KEEPS YOU IN THE GAME TO FIND THE NEXT TASR OR LMLP (1999). Once again, aloha!
No comments:
Post a Comment