Showing posts with label AMWD. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AMWD. Show all posts

Sunday, June 09, 2013

Big Wave Trading Portfolio Update And Top Current Holdings

The Big Wave Trading Portfolio remains under a NEUTRAL condition but did see the model switch to a cosmetic-SELL mode on Wednesday only to be flipped right back to NEUTRAL on Friday. This quick flip-flip was not shocking on a discretionary basis as the signal triggered with only the NYSE under the 50 day moving average. On top of that, as we have constantly warned, since 2011, SELL signals are going to have to be confirmed in all indexes, ETFs, inverse-ETFs, inverse-leveraged-ETFs, and with leading stocks breaking down, before any SELL signal is actionable on a position taking basis. QE, ZIRP, and POMO makes taking SELL signals nearly impossible and it is not anything we will be interested in seeing until we see a real parabolic/climax conclusion to all of this economy propping. Despite the fake signal, it was an overall decent week. The bad news is that our early hedges that were doing nicely hedging our longs by Wednesday left us with mostly losses by Friday. However, what turned out to be great news for us, on the flip side, we did not produce one single full sell signal on Wednesday, when our model did a false switch. The fact that the market cracked and we had zero sell signals in our long holdings was a hint that the market was stronger than the tape was letting on. On top of that, what turned out to be the worst missed trade on our end since 2011, we saw an extremely high quality long signal producing in what is currently a non-CANSLIM stock (it will be shortly in the upcoming quarters). That stock was TTS. The signal it produced that day would be considered an 8.5 out of 10 using our internal criteria and that is an extremely high rating on a new long signal (obviously 9s and especially 10s are very very rare). Unfortunately for me and my portfolios, we have never received such a beautiful signal on a day where we switched to a SELL mode. This has never happened. I began trading my trading career in 1996, went full-time in 1998, and from these moments have never seen such a signal on a day of a SELL signal. So what to do? Well, since I didn’t consider it “perfect” (a 9.5 or 10 out of 10) I decided to pass and let the model take control. That was a big big mistake as TTS has rocketed higher 13% in the two days following this lovely signal. On top of that, the SELL is now NEUTRAL. Lesson learned. What was the lessen? Well from now on I know that when the market is trending above the 50 day moving average on all of the most important major market indexes, we have many long positions holding up well in our current portfolios, we have many stocks still setting up in strong bases, we have very few stocks breaking down hard in my short scans, and we get a near-perfect high-quality long signal on a day when we do switch to a SELL we take the trade. Now, I have to watch TTS do what it is going to do and “hope” that it produces some sort of follow-up signal to try to get me long this wonderful pattern. We shall see if I get a second chance. I will not be holding my breath, however. Still, it was a very important lesson learned and goes to show that even with almost 20 years of full-time stock market experience you can still teach an old dog new tricks. Well played Mr. Stock Market. Well played. Big Wave Trading never needs to learn a lesson the hard way twice. Have a great upcoming rest of the week everyone. It’s been a nice weekend, despite the TTS missed trade on our end. Truth be told, I am more upset that the season finale of Game of Thrones is tonight than I am I missed that trade. As far as I am concerned, Game of Thrones, should never end and never go on break. Just keep the camera rolling and George R.R. Martin writing. Aloha!! Top Current Holdings – Percent Return Since Signal Date – Signal Date EAC long – 228% – 12/17/12 HIMX long – 185% – 12/19/12 CAMP long – 132% – 4/26/12 POWR long – 125% – 12/11/12 RVLT long – 114% – 3/26/13 CSU long – 107% – 9/4/12 FLT long – 95% – 9/6/12 HEES long – 82% – 9/4/12 ASTM short – 72% – 7/17/12 INSM long – 72% – 4/19/13 GNMK long – 71% – 11/16/12 WAGE long – 64% – 1/8/13 WDC long – 46% – 1/9/13 BBSI long – 45% – 2/13/13 ADUS long – 41% – 4/22/13 V long – 40% – 8/31/12 CHUY long – 40% – 1/10/13 SBGI long – 39% – 3/22/13 GMCR long – 35% – 4/23/13 TECUA long – 31% – 2/5/13 GLL long – 31% – 2/14/13 AMWD long – 30% – 2/1/13

Saturday, June 01, 2013

Big Wave Trading Portfolio Update And Top Current Holdings

The Big Wave Trading Directional Model has switched from a BUY signal to a NEUTRAL signal, following the final hour of action during Friday’s stock market session. The vicious sell off on Friday, combined with the churning and distribution days adding up this month, is more than enough evidence that it is time to be fluid and ready for a move in any direction in the overall market. Longer-term there is a lot of support in the overall market that could easily lead us to further upside price. However, on the short-term we are indeed extended on all major market averages in relation to the 200 day moving average. The Nasdaq and Russell 2000 also remain a bit extended from their respective 50 day moving averages. Therefore, a pull back here is not a surprise and is in fact welcomed if we want to continue with higher prices in a more measured and somewhat safe manner. What will be more important to watch from here on out is how the major indexes will act around these key averages. Support at these key areas, along with high quality stocks showing Relative Strength to the overall market, would be indicative of a market that wants to continue higher over the intermediate term. If, instead, the market decides to find some support, begin to bounce, and then rolls over below the 50 day moving averages on the indexes, then we can start to prepare for some form of correction. Right now, most of our long positions (you can see 75% of our current holdings below as 3/4 of our portfolio holdings are up 25%+ per trade), are riding their key moving average lines higher and if they start to break below we will continue to take profits, cut our losses, and add to our hedges. Right now, since we are heavily long, we have been building a hedge in case the market does decide to correct harshly over the next couple of weeks. If the market decides to move lower, we will continue to pair back our long positions and add to our hedges. If the market decides to roll over and enter a prolonged downtrend, we will be ready via our market direction model and we will go short stocks that produce short signals accordingly. For now, it is best to be ready for anything. Emotions are very strong for those in the bull and bear camp. That can cause some extreme short-term price movements, as we saw in the final hour on Friday. Therefore, the best plan is to have a plan for every outcome. We do this on a daily basis at Big Wave Trading and that is why you will find very little to zero emotions involved in our methodologies. It is all about price signals. It is never about opinions or emotions. The only good opinion is no opinion, in the stock market. Have a great weekend everyone. It looks like our summer shores are in store for another large swell. Good news for me. Once again, have a great weekend. Aloha!!! Top Current Holdings – Percent Return – Signal Date EAC long – 204% – 12/17/12 HIMX long – 201% – 12/19/12 CAMP long – 134% – 4/26/12 RVLT long – 128% – 3/26/13 CSU long – 112% – 9/4/12 POWR long – 108% – 12/11/12 FLT long – 95% – 9/6/12 HEES long – 86% – 9/4/12 INSM long – 79% – 4/19/13 ASTM short – 71% – 7/17/12 GNMK long – 71% – 11/16/12 WAGE long – 60% – 1/8/13 SBGI long – 48% – 3/22/13 ADUS long – 45% – 4/22/13 WDC long – 44% – 1/9/13 CHUY long – 39% – 1/10/13 V long – 38% – 8/31/12 BBSI long – 38% – 3/22/13 PFBI long – 31% – 11/19/12 GMCR long – 30% – 4/23/13 GLL long – 30% – 2/14/13 AMWD long – 28% – 2/1/13 DDD long – 26% – 4/30/13

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Big Wave Trading Portfolio Update And Top Current Holdings

The Big Wave Trading Portfolio remains under a BUY condition, despite the harsh sell off this past Wednesday. During such a strong uptrend with the averages constantly riding the 5, 10, 20, and 50 day moving averages higher, it will take more than a one day sell off event to switch our model. The only time a one day sell off would switch the model from BUY to NEUTRAL, in such a strong uptrend, would be if that sell off resulted in a loss of the 10, 20, and/or 50 day moving average on extremely strong volume. Since that was not the case on Wednesday, we remain under a BUY condition. The price action that has followed this session has been very constructive in all major market indexes and leading stocks appear to have weathered the sell off very well so far. For now, this is strong confirmation that the uptrend is still solid. We do understand that this could easily change very shortly if further selling does appear. However, skilled market operators understand that you can not make money on “what-if” scenarios. So for now, the trend remains up and we will continue to hunt for new long positions as signals arise. The intraday price action of Thursday and Friday was very constructive following the sell off, with the market opening lower and closing higher near the highs of the day on both sessions. This action, along with the lack of stocks breaking down in my short scans, is indicative of a market that wants to still move higher here. Another positive sign, for those long in the uptrend, is that very few holdings gave partial sell or full sell signals the past three market sessions. In fact, on Wednesday there was only one full sell, following that big sell off. So overall there remains very few real factual based reasons to turn fully bearish here. Have we started to hedge our positions? Yes. But only in a very minor manner. That being said, if we do reverse lower here, we are ready to increase our hedges and will take action on all sell signals that will generate on a pullback in the overall market. While we are indeed ready to increase our hedges, get short, and pair down our winners, we will wait for the market to tell us to do this. Right now, we want to be like water in a river. Smoothly flowing with the market in whatever direction it decides to go. Have a continued wonderful long weekend everyone. I wish you the best in the upcoming week. Aloha!

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Big Wave Trading Portfolio Update And Top Current Holdings

The Big Wave Trading Portfolios remain under a full BUY condition as we head into the upcoming week. There are currently zero items weighing on the model currently and it is not our job to try to guess when and if there will be any in the future. The trend continues to be higher highs and higher lows and until this changes there is no reason to try to top-call this market. What are our concerns? We are concerned about the non-stop uptrend off the November lows without a 5% pull back. We are concerned about the non-stop uptrend from the 2011 lows without a 20% pull back. We are concerned about the lack of volume in the overall major market indexes as we continue to hit new all-time highs. We are concerned that none of our new longs are exploding out of the gate immediately producing the past gains they used to produce under these exact same previous conditions. However, these are just concerns and are not actionable problems. When the index finally starts to change character, our new longs fail in succession repeatedly, we start to see churning and distribution in the overall market indexes, our current holdings start triggering profit taking signals across the board, we start to see leading stocks fail late-stage breakouts, and we start to see actionable short signals then we can start taking all of our concerns seriously. Until then, the trend is up, the market is hitting new highs, and our new long positions continue to make money immediately following a signal. As long as all of that is occurring there is nothing to do but ride the trend higher. I mean, the mere fact every intelligent market analyst and every intelligent macro trader in wall street thinks stocks should have topped by now or should top sooner, makes me believe the contrary approach is the right approach on the short-term. As long as we continue to see top callers, the uptrend has the sentiment it needs to continue to move higher. When these talking heads flip and finally capitulate to the long side then we can start to seriously consider the contrarian position of looking for a top when the smart folks are speaking of bullish matters. Great luck this upcoming week. We shall see if more highs or in store for us. Aloha from a very windy west side of Maui. TOP CURRENT HOLDINGS – PERCENT RETURN – DATE OF SIGNAL EAC long – 191% – 12/17/12 HIMX long – 164% – 12/19/12 POWR long – 118% – 12/11/12 CAMP long – 118% – 4/26/12 CSU long – 112% – 9/4/12 FLT long – 82% – 9/6/12 RVLT long – 82% – 3/26/13 HEES long – 79% – 9/4/12 GNMK long – 70% – 11/16/12 ASTM short – 69% – 7/17/12 WAGE long – 65% – 1/8/13 SBGI long – 55% – 3/22/13 BBSI long – 40% – 2/13/13 V long – 38% – 9/6/12 GMCR long – 37% – 4/23/13 WDC long – 33% – 1/9/12 PFBI long – 32% – 11/19/12 MNTX long – 30% – 1/17/13 HTA long – 29% – 1/2/13 AMWD long – 26% – 2/1/13

Sunday, May 05, 2013

Big Wave Trading Portfolio Update And Top Current Holdings

The Big Wave Trading Portfolio is back under a full BUY signal across the board as all major market indexes are hitting new 52-week highs with the SP-500 hitting new all-time highs. The model was in a NEUTRAL pattern coming into the week but on 4/29 the Nasdaq and SP500 switched to a BUY mode with new highs in their respective indexes hit. Following the switch in those two markets, the Russell 2000 and DJIA switched to BUY on 5/3. Overall, it is clear skies in the general market and the distribution day count has been dropped on our end with the market in new 52-week high ground. The good news is that volume was average to above average on the Nasdaq and Russell 2000 which gives us a decent confirmation on the price overall price action. While it would be lovely to see volume well above average on this rally to new highs, we are quite pleased to actually see average volume on the recent move higher. Unfortunately, this surge in volume would have been much preferred in November when the rally started but getting average to above average volume is quite nice considering all the previous low volume rallies we have had to be a part of the past four years. The lower volume rallies would not be a terrible problem if it was not being preceded by heavier volume selloffs. This makes for quite an odd Accumulation/Distribution ratio/rating in regards to the overall indexes. This is why we continue to stress paying attention to leading stocks and their volume only, ignoring the volume in the overall market, during this QE/ZIRP twilight zone market cycle. As long as stocks continue to breakout on volume out of sound consolidation patterns, we will continue to go long our signals as they are produced. Have a wonderful and profitable upcoming week. Aloha from an overcast yet still very warm and cozy Maui. Top Current Holdings – Percent Return – Date of Signal HIMX long – 173% – 12/19/12 EAC long – 141% – 12/17/12 RVLT long – 120% – 3/26/13 CAMP long – 111% – 4/26/12 POWR long – 110% – 12/11/12 CSU long – 108% – 9/4/12 FLT long – 80% – 9/6/12 GNMK long – 72% – 11/16/12 ASTM short – 71% – 7/17/12 HEES long – 69% – 9/4/12 SBGI long – 49% – 3/22/13 WAGE long – 46% – 1/8/13 V long – 40% – 8/31/12 PFBI long – 32% – 11/19/12 CHUY long – 31% – 1/10/13 WDC long – 31% – 1/9/13 BBSI long – 30% – 2/13/13 MNTX long – 29% – 1/17/13 HTA long – 27% – 1/2/13 AMWD long – 25% – 2/1/13 VIPS long – 25% – 3/14/13