Hello Jeff,

Thanks for the last minute post. I was trying to figure out what happened and CNN has been dancing around other things. Got stopped out of SNDA and GRMN but not AAPL and FCX. But bleeding continues. Seems like we will recover based on news reaction. Is that what you mean by don't blink?

Thanks again for all you do.
Eric

Whats really going on here....
had a beautiful gain on AKAM and RIMM earlier in the day but pretty much wiped out right now....
Is BIDU buyable on this pullback for you Chinese traders.... It was all my fault, i finally entered a chinese play and i finally broke the camels back..... sorry yall...
Lets see if this market will slingshot back to the close.

Good Day to all

Sigh.... looks like someone pulled a gun and shot my options.

WOW,

That was big gravitational pull...
It I get stopped on my Stocks, I will at least have made some decent profits.

It's making my sickly puts that I had a little healthier...

I voted, was #54, the blog above OA was 55. So a few more votes and Jeff is on Page 1.

On a good note, if you were waiting for a retest of BCSI, there it is.

jeesh Toni, my lil gift looks like government cheese next to yours, esp since i didn't have clear packing tape on hand and used grey duct tape instead!!! it was real classy !!

Jeff...if your still out there, what are you doing in this situation??? adding with the pull backs or selling???

OK it's time to forget that I WAS up big time again today. I've taken profits on all of my big winners and am now flush with cash. MON has come back to a good spot so I'm taking some of that. LVS has come back to an acceptable level, too.

There's a ton of stuff out there ripe for the picking. Thank god for PNR and that MW thing.

WOW, all those wonderful profits gone. Remember that FTI trade that I celebrated at over 100% this morning how about 50% now...unbelievable.

Chris, is this what you were worried about? Seems like everytime!

Tonya,
government cheese? The government makes cheese? No wonder all those politicians look so mousey.

Too funny.

OH my gooooooshhhh.
so i was up 15% on my whole portfolio in the morning and practically skipped the whole way to my class. I came back to see that i had lost everything i had gained and was now 5% down on the day for my portfolio. i looked for news for a while and couldnt find anything. every position i had in my portfolio looked like it was faling off the face of the earth.
i told my self it would prob bounce back up but i went ahead and sold EVERYTHING except for the one put i had. Now, seeing how it has taken another huge downturn, im glad i trusted my trading rules.
the biggest hurt i have felt are in
DSX, VMW, AMZNand oh man oh man, BIDU

almost all the losses were in my profits but it still ticks me off. =(

Bob,
Yup. This is it. I came soooo close to selling off about 2/3 of my positions this morning. But I really didn't want to lose any gains that were still out there.

HA!

As Laney so eloquently put it... "pfffffft!"

I guess the old saying "Don't count your chickens till they hatch" might have some truth to it today.

JB

From Yahoo Finance:

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/071011/wall_street.html

James H.

What can I say, Chris, I have a way with words.

It looks like we are rallying a bit. I hear that JP Morgan is to blame. The jerk.

JK, for the first 3/4 of your post I figured you were having an April fools post or smoking some of the POT that go taken awy!

i was thinking of taking profits in some of my gains this afternoon, apparently a ton of people decided to do it before me.

Ouch

greg

Greg,
I'm with you there... Had the same plan. So much for exiting at the end of the day....

well it sucks to see most of todays profits get flushed!! but lets focus on tomorrow being a triple digit gainer, now i will be at work all day so i am leaving it up to you guys to pull us through, no pressure

KBH looking like a pretty good entry point... I dumped MDC so I need to replace it with another put. KBH looking like a good entry point? Feedback anybody?

I feel like such a fool. I just realized MW is Mens Wearhouse... not Men's Warehouse. That's different. Sure sucks as a stock though, huh?

I am undecided what to do about tomorrow. I am doing the red-eye to Toronto tonight so I'll be home tomorrow. Don't know if I should find some stuff to buy now, or wait and see what the markets do tomorrow. Took out MON (which has already made me some money) and more NM which has not.

Bagged me some CRK on the dip, too. Tomorrow should be an interesting ride.

I started closing positions out at 12:30. I had too much unrealized profit, options with deltas close to 100, to give much of it back. There are a lot of buying opportunities, but I will wait until tomorrow to see if this move has any follow through tomorrow. Too bad, like most of you I had monster gains in the first 3 hours today and gave all of it back.

Pick it up tomorrow with puts or calls, whichever way the market decides to go.

Lisa,
I'm not convinced KBH isn't doing exactly what MDC has done. Before the Chicken Little dance this afternoon, KBH was up for the third day in a row and 4 of the last 5 days... all on pretty decent volume. The top has already broken the channel I had drawn for this stock, and to me, it looks like the downward trend is broken. This afternoon's kick in the head has brought it back down a bit (still outside my channel) but I'm not convinced.

someone brought up taking profits early in the morning when it hits your target. Too bad I didn't do that w/ SOHU today.

anyone have a take on this? I'm gonna modify my rules and just gonna take profits as soon as it hits the target... no matter what time of the day it is.

we'll see what happens tomorrow. supposedly there's a couple of FED speeches.

what a day. glad its over.

-kevin

C2...good move on CRK (my opinion) and you got it at a good price, it is holding up well.

hey your gov't grows pot and ours makes cheese, hmmmm

the mayhem is over
straight to the beer distributor
i'll regroup later tonight and figure out the next move

greg

I spent the afternoon buying the dips on stuff I've been wanting to get into. Hope it pays off...


Time for a drink. Who's joining me?

I hear you Greg. I had a few positions that touched their targets today that I was going to ring the register on near the close... another day is pay day...

Now I just feel like kicking someone's A$$! Just kidding. That would mean I'm being emotional. Just chuckling at today's action, up 8% in the AM, down 3% by the PM.

I placed my vote, it was accepted, but when I looked at my profile, no votes were shown. Not sure how to proceed now.

Lakerzfan - I will take my profits anytime they hit my target. In fact, by the grace of God, I took almost all of mine this morning.

Kim - I think there will be lots of us joining you!

wow what a crazy day!!!
i am missing most of my virtual profits on NILE, CMI, and LFC i have a handfull that are just plain negative and some that weren't effected too badly....over all alot of things pulled back up some, closing down a little is better than closing down alot.
i am glad my price taget was hit early this morning on SNP (thanks again Raimo) and yes, i sold it when it was +13.00.
tomorrow shall be interesting to say the least

Ok here is the pep talk... In the 4th quarter the Dow is up 24 of the past 27 years. The S&P is up 13 of the last 15 years with an average gain of 6.3%.

We tested the breakout of 1551 on the S&P. Do you know how many portfolio managers were hoping (praying) for a pullback to get long.

The S&P is at an all-time high. There is no over-head resistance. That is why the BIDU, DRYS, EXM,PCU, etc are so explosive because there is no resistance.

We're going higher on the S&P.

Remember the SDS as an alternative when the market breaks fast and you can't buy puts quick enough. I traded it an it helped.

Just my opinion or the rantings of a lunatic. Remember to trade your plan.

Jamie

C2,
Keeping a tight hold on it. I have it sitting right around a resistance level--but going back to the 5 year as well. I will be watching it closely....

Remember in Talledega Nights when Ricky Bobby is being burned by the imaginary fire. That is what I felt when my imaginary profits burst into flames today.

Jamie

If it makes anyone feel better, someone always has it worse; I'm down 42k today. Thank goodness I had puts to cushion the blow!
Stan

VA Beach Girl,
I'm drinking with you. Think it is time to open a bottle of wine... A little too chilly here in PA for a Corona today...

And I did the same--got into YGE when it hit the low this afternoon. Has worked out well so far. Up 40% by the end of the day.
Thanks again Doji Girl!

"Help me, Jesus! Help me, Tom Cruise! Tom Cruise, use your witchcraft to get the fire off me!"

JB

I'm anxious to hear what the MarketCast has to say about today...

I'm imaging more sound effects than normal today
Terry

Stan...that does not make me feel better !!! i am sure no one on the blog feels better b/c of your loss. tomorrow is a new day, hopefully a better day for everyone, hang in there...

Jamie,

ROFLMAO, thanks I needed that. I've never had a headache come on so fast. Went to a meeting at 2:00 pm happy as a clam, popped open the account screen at 3:00 and instant pain.

Pam left to the store and we were up, she comes home and we are down. But she bought more wine. So yes I am in too. Is that a silver lining? At least we can still afford wine.

Well my account would have been up by $42.50 if I had not gone "bargin" hunting as one bargin was still in the process of becoming a better bargin when I got in at what I thought was a low. I was and am really tempted to buy more as this really seems like an over reaction but with the FED talking tomorrow and the no new discount talk today I am just not sure.

Oh and Chris, Pam is holding me up it just looks like a hug.

Well I made and lost more unrealized gains today than i made in 6 months at my old job. Then I spent the last 30 minutes selling everything that wasn't nailed down. Still a 'great' week overall, but man I was flying high until I finished my lunch. Such is the life of a trader, huh?

My primary concern is preserving capital and I did my best to hold on to the trades that haven't broken down yet. However, trades near their target, or trades that hit their targets and bounced lower had to go. I hope you all did the same.

I don't know Jeff's opinion on this one, but here's mine:

1) If you hear the following on TV tonight, it's foolish optimism:

a) The Dow managed to hold 14,000
b) The market rallied into the close

2) In my opinion, there was a selloff, followed by a bear flag, followed by another selloff, followed by another bear flag. Sure we're at support, but I have a very bad feeling that we're going lower tomorrow. Perhaps much lower.

3) This was a HUGE reversal day. The bears will be all over this one, seeing that bulls are perhaps running out of steam. I keep hearing about all this money on the sidelines, yet all i see are parabolic rallies followed by corrections, followed by parabolic rallies. They say they don't ring a bell at the top, but for some reason, my head feels like it was slammed into a big bell.

Anyway, today feels weird because it probably is. And tomorrow's probably going to suck big time.

Just like everyone else here. I was up 10% inmy account this morning and now I am down 10% a swing of 20% WOW!

But as I look at my positions no support lines were viloated most trades are still valid. Lets see what happens tomorrow and then figure out what we need to do. I needed to have this happen to me to continue my education and to not start banking on unreliazed gains.

I did not close any position today because I did not see the reason for it.

Now if tomorrow market continues to tank it will be a different story.

I was trying to exit calls on EWBC and the spreads were outrageous. Examples, about 2pm eastern .10 - 1.85 by close .15 - 1.00. Different srikes are 2.25-5.00 and 5.80-9.30. How do I get out? What did I miss to get myself into this?
Thanks for your help.
Anne

Just like everyone else, up big time in the morning and then negative at closing! Not too bad thought! Took some profits from DRYS, will let the other ride it out!
Jeff, thanks for putting FAST on the watchlist a few weeks ago! I noticed a head and shoulders had developed and was waiting for it to drop. This morning, in the pre-market it was down 3%. Bought some puts at the open, it was one of my few gainers at the end of the day along with MDG.
Tomorrow's another day to trade!
Raimo; thanks for the great advice you posted the other day on taking profits and having a target price!
scott

I have been kicking myself for sitting on the sidelines the past few days, since I locked in profits in RIMM & POT earlier. I feel your pain as it happens to me all of the time, but.....

...I went on a shopping spree today! Back in RIMM and up 25% already, loving POT again, trying out SNDA for the first time, and finally into BIIB. I was still looking to add 3-4 more positions but had people knocking at my door all afternoon - tried to tell them to go away but didn't work too much. Oh well, maybe they saved me money - we'll see what tomorrow brings. Still wanted to get back into HANS.....

Last time I had RIMM I locked in 71% profits in 1 day, here's hoping for a repeat!

Let's hope that tomorrow is a much better day, but I'll make hay while the sun shines, or after today - I'll make hay while it is cloudy and pouring!

Jim

LisaG - It sure did get chilly here all of a sudden! I am going to be drinking tonight also, but only because I am going to see Elvis!!! Yes, Elvis Costello is playing with Bob Dylan tonight and my buddy just called with free tickets - Sweet! So, even though my BCSI, POT and DVA profits were significantly reduced - I can always say I saw Elvis;)

Brian,
Nothing like going from 90 degrees to 50 degrees in a matter of 2 days huh? Only in PA...

And I'm holding POT and BCSI as well. Was actually planning to take profits on both of them today. Guess we wait and see what tomorrow brings.

Lisa, glad you were able to get into YGE. I hope we're still happy about it tomorrow!

I called my husband up at 1:00 to tell him how great we were doing today, a new record high for us. But by the time he called me back, there was nothing left to gloat about. BEN and YGE were the only things that kept me from really having a bad day.

Took profits (albeit much smaller ones than I thought) in DSX and BCSI. TRAK had its first down day in 15 but not enough to even stop me out. I might sell it tomorrow anyway.

MDC - I was so involved in watching my bullish positions I forgot to close this one. The fact that it didn't go down with the huge sellof does not bode well.

Tried to get into CYNO but the spreads were crazy and with only minutes to the close didn't feel like arguing with the market makers.

Anne,
I have struggled with your problem with EWBC many times and it has made me very reluctant to trade stocks that don't have at least 1,000 open interest. The spreads get way out of control... and even if you can get in, getting out... especially on a day like this, can be impossible. I wish I could think of something bright to say. Put in a sell order at the price you want and pray to the options gods.

DG, that was two oportunities to get into YGE today and I missed them both. Curses!!

I'm going to wait a bit and see what happens tomorrow but I've got my list of calls and puts that should be in good positions tomorrow AM. They aren't new... but the ones that I see as being right at REE are
LDSH
JASO
MT
WNR
ATW
KSS
PCZ
SNDA
PNR

I got into PNR earlier today and am already up $500 on it. and it's still right around REE if you missed it. To me... this is as textbook an entry as you'll get in a downward channel. Earnings are coming up... but so is Christmas. Buy now and surprise your relatives.

ATI lowered 3rd quarter guidance, dropped 10% after hours.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/071011/allegheny_technologies_outlook.html?.v=1

Doji Girl-

MDC - I hear you on this one...by the time I got home (and the market was closed) it was $0.08 away from where I would have bailed out.

And with the talk of KSS I just thought I would comment as a consumer...

KSS - I had never shopped at Kohls until Vera Wang put a lower priced line in their stores. There is a nice ad campaign out in the fashion magazines and Oprah had a segment on the clothes a few weeks ago. I don't know if I'll trade KSS, but I am going back to the store for more cheap Vera Wang.

Also, I did try to vote for Jeff's blog last night but it looked as though there were only 2 votes cast: mine and Benton's. Hopefully it worked.

Man! An extra dose of TylenolPM is in order for tonight. I cannot get this afternoon off my mind. It sucks to be exhausted and have your mind racing at the same time!

Kim,
I feel the same way. I feel like I was robbed, literally, while I was in the shower.
ARII, CAH, COLM held me up pretty well. I am only down a couple hundred dollars, it's watching the virtual profits go down the toilet that bugs me.

Stan,
My heart goes out to you.

Yea, what was awesome was when I was about to start selling out of my positions at 2:50, OH WHAT's THAT? My internet connection goes down, so I am now sitting here holding the bag into tomorrow.

Up 3k to down 1500, such is life. Luckily I did take profit on BIDU early in the day.

Stan, 42k loss sucks,because it is a lot of money in any case, but if it was not a huge percentage of your account I am more happy for you.

Scoot, no offense but I don't think it was anymore than luck that you sold out, if it is the "grace of God" then for some reason he loves you and hates the majority of the rest of the OA's...

the two positions that F'd me with no concern for my well being were GS and AAPL.

I do have to thank position sizing though, because I would be down even more if I broke those rules.


Guess we'll see what happens tomorrow, if PPI comes out bad for rate cuts then look out, may need to get some puts on the S&P.

I'll be joining you in a drinking tonight as well.

Things could be worse though, my friend just called me this morning and told me his car was stolen.

Ben

This comment has been removed by the author.

Ben, you reminded me that everytime a strong correction (or whatever we call it) like this occurs my computer would crash too. Great news! My new computer held in there. Liz, how about you?

I have not even looked at my big account to see what it lost but $42k is probably close. I do not manage that one yet as we are working up to it. I don't want to look. But, hey it is only stocks how bad can it be right.

Scoot, I will go with grace of God with you but only if you send some my way too. Grace of God seems to work for me in life or death issues not money, but that is another story.

Ben,
That is weird about the internet connection because I had a similar problem today and also the last time the market got the hiccups in the middle of the day. Both times I was trying to place orders and the screen froze for about 30 seconds or so. I don't think it was just TOS because I experienced the same thing on my Ameritrade streamer which I keep running as well. Bottom line, I was delayed in placing orders which cost me.

There. I've placed the blame on something else so now I feel better. Hah!

vote #61

Yes... we'll log this one as one of those "interesting" days. I sold 7 of my 13 positions simply to lock in my remaining profits. The 6 other positions didn't break through support and didn't have enough gains in them to be worth selling.

Then at the end of the day I used some of that cash to buy up some stuff that seemed to be calling my name. May or may not be glad... but right now I'm positioned fairly well for whatever tomorrow offers. About 50% cash, 5 calls and 3 puts.

Today taught me yet another great lesson about cashing in profits. I hesitated and I got shot down. But it's not the OK Corral, so I'm walking away to trade another day.

If it weren't for this blog I think I'd be barfing up an ulcer and wondering which short pier to take a long walk on. With cement shoes. As I said this morning... just when I think I'm really starting to get this.... WHAM!!! right in the old kisser. But I'm slowly learning how to block and counter-punch.

Thank you Jeff
Thank you Brett
Thank you Raimo
Thank you DG
Thank you liz
Thank you VeroBeach Girl
Thank you Bob (and Pam)
Thank you Ben
Thank you Michelle
Thank you Laney
Thank you Amber for letting Jeff play.

There are too many to thank individually... but thanks to everyone here. OAs rock!!!

Steven, When you figure tomorrow out let me know. I am always away from computors (I also hit the wilds Raimo) on Friday. Today was the first day I did not close out my ??? positions by noon. THEY WERE ALL DOING SO WELL thought I'd give them a couple more hours. Went to sign checks, had a mundain conversation with someone and came back to @#@$@#%. Would have rather been in the shower Laney.

Now what? everything pretty much fell through my mental stops. NOw I have to decide to set my stops tight or loose.

Heavy siiiiiigh. What to do.

Diana

Don't watch often and don't read all but if not mentioned HOLX broke out well. :0)

VLO had started a great bounce on really good volume. It pulled back this afternoon on lighter volume and is down in after hours. If it pulls back to around 70, I think this would be a good play.

So, the market was tanking this afternoon and I'm on the phone with Dan strategizing about what to do and the dog comes up squeezing her legs together because she has to go out NOW! so I get up to let her out the back door. With bare feet in place and the door open I feel something on my foot so I look down and begin to scream into Dan's ear because a very large gecko is running all over my foot. Apparently it was more afraid of me because it promptly ran underneath my wine refrigerator never to be seen again before I had to leave to take my son to soccer practice. Dan has duty tonight so he can't come home to rescue me from the gecko. Well, I come home and prepare to feed the dog and the cat their dinner only to find a present by the cat dish. The gecko's tail. Just the tail. So now I know that somewhere in this house is the other half of the gecko and I know that the cat has found a really superb place to show off his hunting skills. Probably on my pillow....I'm afraid to go look.

My name is Kim. I am a wuss.

Kim,

I am a Veterinarian. Your cat did his/her job and will complete the task soon. A gecko will never hurt you or bite you. Just think of the Geico commercials. They have a nice british accent and are quite sophisticated.

Wuss,
We have two cats who are both exempliary at the art of catch, display, dismember, eat, barf, repeat... as often as seems necessary. I can only empathise. It is entirely possible the gecko is lodged deep within the cat contemplating escape. There are only two ways out. Hopefully Dan will return before mother nature runs her course.

Catherine recommends tears when Dan gets home. Even if it requires dragging up some childhood trauma. It usually works for her. It got us a free washing machine from Sears once.

Sean,
We must meet some time. I'll buy the first round. I may not be sophisticated (I had to check your spelling on that to make sure I had it right) but I think we'd have a laugh.

Or two.

Sean,

You mean like the time I opened the door to the back yard and it looked like someone had gotten murdered on my deck? The victim from that was never found either. Maybe I should rename my cat Raimo.

Kim,

If your cat is the head feline, then by all means name HER Raimo.

PP

Speaking of Raimo, I'm counting on him to kill some $@%$&%# bears tomorrow!! Although still a pretty positive day for me, I would like some of the unrealized profits returned to my account so that I can make them realized...

Chris, you are so damn funny! Catherine's right, I need to use this to my advantage since Dan has the day off tomorrow.

Consequently, I took one contract positions in the following options while the market was tanking. Let's root for counter intuitive thinking.

BIDU (scary, but yes I did it)
AMZN
FCX
KSS
MON
RIMM
SOHU
VIP

Chris,

I would love to meet the C2 team. I have spent my whole life trying not to grow up and I see you aspire to the same lofty goal. Life is way too short to be a grown up, even at 50 years old. I still cherish the title of village idiot but I bow to the King.

Chris,

Not that suicide is anything to laugh about, however in my opinion there is no reason to ever kill yourself over and end such interesting existence, but I did laugh at your long walk on a short pier with cement shoes, LOL.

And thanks for the thanks, even though I don't really think I did much.

I still want to find out if Brett will be in Vegas when I am, although I am sure he won't want to say so I don't harass him to meet an OA legend.

Doji Girl, yea it was pretty much terrible timing, the whole apartment complex internet went out.

This will be sad to admit(possibly weird) and people can make fun, but I am apparently spending too much time here on the blog and am too much of an addict that I am having dreams about it, haha.

Ben

Ben,

I told you I'd be there already, right? I'll be at Caesar's Thurs-Sun.

Brett,

Sorry I must have missed it.

That is awesome, haha. If you are going with couples I wont spoil your time but if you feel like meeting up I'd love to talk to a pro, I can even make it worth your while, say a 25 dollar chip? lol.

apparently clean cups as well.

Ben

Jeff,
that is the most appropriate song for this blog :-)

But like everyone else here, if it was not for you and this blog, i would be in a bad shape today.

The support system is great

Keep mentoring and challenging us.

Kim,
We still have not found all that we need for that Key Lime drink but I would think on a day like today you would mix you up some. I mixed up a drink of my own (Pam likes my creative drinks) and now I cannot remember what it was. That is the down side of creating without documentation. Before Pam turned my kids into wusses they used to be the perfect hunters for all things creepy in the house. We bought them some bug house with capture equipment - the whole works and that helped a bit. If the tail was still intact I think my daughter would come over and hunt for you if she had her gear. Without the tail would just creep her out.

Ok, on a trading note I called the IT coaches tonight to walk through my trades with another eye (mind) and was reminded to trade my plan. Why did I have one in the first place if I am not doing to follow it? Well that is just what I am going to do then.

Oh and Kim I was not going to admit it but I jumped into FCX too. Unfortunately, these bargins are down from my purchase price like I bet your BIDU is. I need few more puts in my account so will be hunting for them if I do not fall alseep...

CLEAN CUPS!!!!




CLEAN CUPS!!!!

Ben - No offense taken but it wasn't just luck. I have learned many lessons from the markets, from Jeff, Brett, Raimo, and many, many people on this blog. The advice that Jeff and Eric gave about taking profits often in this environment stuck with me. I lost 21% of my account in August but I kept working on improving myself and learning from my mistakes and as a result, I closed out most of my positions this morning with my account at an all-time high. For that recovery, for being able to sidestep the train that would have squished me had I not closed those positions according to the "take profits often" advice, for making money while the market collapsed and for making money after it bounced, I am thankful.

Nice one, Bob (and Pam).

This comment has been removed by the author.

Congratulations for the Blogger's Choice Awards win !!!

Wow this post has a magnet inside it.It grasps our mind to it.Very nice post.