All Out

Last Tuesday I bought (CYD) on a nice breakout that staged an ugly reversal and led to about the fastest 7% I've ever lost.

Not long after I stopped out on (GFA). That one just never acted right.

This took me back to even since August. Not what I was looking for - I didn't lose money but I didn't make any either.

I've gone ahead and put myself in the penalty box for three weeks. It's the holidays, the market has been tough, and it's an ideal time for me to back off and enjoy the time with my family. I have a strong watchlist of some great stocks setting up nice patterns, so I'll be ready to take another look next year.

Without question this has been my worst year trading - but I also think it's been my most educational. We shall see.

If anyone out there reads this, I wish you and yours a Happy New Year!

New Buy:(GFA), Sell Stop:(RINO)

The current market continues to be very difficult to navigate, for me at least. There are opportunities, but a trader has to be quick, decisive, and CORRECT to profit. More experience would certainly pay off here.

Thursday my buy stop order for (GFA) triggered at $35.28. It's possible I interpreted this chart wrong and got in early, IBD had an article on the stock and called it a cup shaped base with a $37.72 buy point (if the stock does not form a handle). If (GFA) clears that point in high volume I'll add to my position.

Then there's (RINO). This stock had qualified as an eight week hold based on it's tremendous performance, then last week the company announced a secondary offering. Friday morning I stopped out at breakeven - had been up as much as 25% in this position.

I believe this was the third or fourth time I've had a high performing stock announce a secondary offering and fall apart. I've never had one succeed after announcing they would issue shares. Based on this I believe I will add this event to my sell rules - but I'll wait a couple of weeks first to make sure it's not a knee-jerk reaction.

My record is now:

1 - 2 - 6

Profitable since August.

Took Profits on (MELI)

I'm very pleased to report that I booked a 17% profit on (MELI) today after selling it for $51.76. This stock took just over three weeks to meet the 20% profit threshold, so rather than hold it for eight weeks the correct move was to take profits.

This has my current win/loss/push record since my 'August reset' at:

1 - 2 - 5

More importantly, I'm profitable since that time. Not only am I up on closed positions, but I still own (RINO) with a 20% profit and that stock has qualified as a potential big winner, so I will attempt to hold it into January.

I missed (CAAS) yesterday as technical issues delayed me logging into my trading platform and it moved very quickly, but the good news is I'm still picking stocks successfully. This means if I stick to my rules, which have been working well for the past few months, I should continue to profit.

Next stock on my radar is (GFA). The future growth of this stock is huge. I'm eyeing an aggressive buy point of $35.28 reading the chart as a short, ugly cup with handle.

The market continues to see it's skeptics which is fine with me. For now the trend is up and I'll follow it.