Friday, September 4, 2009

Sell Stop:(STEC)

Monday (STEC) advanced to $41.74 intraday, meeting the 10% threshold from my purchase price. Therefore I moved my stop loss up to breakeven. Before the day was over I had stopped out as the stock staged a huge volume reversal from a new high to close down around 8% (if I remember correctly).

I don't know what the stock will do from here, but I'm very happy with this new rule. If a stock returns to a proper buy point after being up as much as 10%, I'm just not willing to let that trade turn into a loss. Sure, I'll miss some winners this way - but if I've learned anything this past year it's more important to focus on not losing than it is to focus on winning - this is contrary to almost everything else I've learned in life.

My other position, (EJ) came within 3 cents of my stop loss order, found support around the 50 dma twice this weekend, and is now knocking on the door around $20. Chart looks good to me, fundamentals look good to me, we'll see what happens.

As for the overall market, once again we're in a strange position. Distribution days have built up to the danger zone, leaders have seen some pressure, but the market has not given up and succumbed to a correction, yet.

It's a time for caution, not a time to be aggressive.

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