Just a few charts to show what I was looking at and trading today. The chart below shows my entries indicated by the red arrows; my stop levels indicated by the white lines and my exits; the first green arrow is where I got stopped on 500 shares and the second one is my limit exit.

Here is what the chart looked like after I exited at 84.35.

If I had not used such a tight stop I could have caught this move with full size and been done for the week. Oh well, the market was a little thin to start with and is still acting squirrelly, so I don’t want to risk too much capital.

In line with this trade, I noticed MA setting up a nice Inverse Holy Grail (IHG) on the 5min chart with two Doji consolidation bars. I thought seriously about shorting it with 500 shares, but erred on the side of caution. Would have been a sweet trade. So it is jut before lunch and I have made $325 on one trade, missed some big moves and I am done for the day. I should have kept my stops looser and not tightened my profit target. V was weak as the market was moving up to fill the gap but I didn’t read the signs correctly.

After a few hours of reviewing the market, a few stocks and my own thoughts on what is happening right now I am looking to start some long positions in a few ETF’s by scaling in over the next couple of days. Nothing very sexy mind you, just an attempt at taking advantage of a good opportunity. I will be looking to get long XLF, SSO, XRT,XLE,IAI and XLK. I also am looking at positions in GLD and the USO but have not came to a conclusion on these two trades. I don’t think that the wash out is over just yet and there could be more big swings in the market in the coming days and weeks but I will have defined stops on these positions and will add if and when it appears that the short term bottom is in. Be careful out there people and only take risks you can afford to take. Mr. Market will black your eye and take your lunch money if you let him.

Update: I just started a long position in USO at 70.12.

A couple of charts for your viewing pleasure.

I bought some Jan $90 call options on DNA yesterday ahead of the FDA meeting hoping for approval of Avastin to be used to treat breast cancer. Basically just a lottery ticket trade. I got 10 contracts at .15 (small position I know). Well, the FDA didn’t like the cost/benefit ratio and the stock was sold hard.

Patients on Avastin and chemotherapy survived on average 26.5 months, compared with 24.8 months for patients taking just chemotherapy. FDA said the difference was not significant.

Here’s the chart of DNA. I will probably continue to hold these until expiry.

This morning I waited for setups to happen before taking any trades. I was watching some of the techs and saw AAPL breaking its opening range and RIMM was making a strong move up. I got in both of these at 9:00 with 100 shares initially and then doubled my position. RIMM didn’t work out and I was stopped on the trade for about a $200 loss, but I continued to hold onto AAPL.

After getting out of RIMM, I noticed that FSLR was touching its 20-SMA so I stepped in 200 shares looking for a strong move up. I was stopped out of this trade also as it traded back below the 20. I was hit for about $300 on this one. I was still in AAPL and looking to hold it for a goo move up. I kept moving my trailing stop up and was eventually pulled out of the trade just after 10:00.

After this trade I had to leave the office for a few hours to take my wife to the doctor. I got back just before 2:00 and noticed SHLD trading down to its 20 where I was tempted to take the trade. However, the market had a small pull-back and the sellers hit SHLD for about 1.5 points. After the quick sell off ther was quite a bit of sideways action which offered a good entry and a close stop. I took this last trade, set my stop and held on for the move up. I should have put on more size since the setup was favorable, but I only had 200 shares. The sideways action continued for a few minutes and then the buyers returned to the market and pushed the price back up to the 20. I had to leave early to pick up my brother’s kids from school and to run some errands, so I exited the trade near the 20 for a quick $120. Had I not had to leave I would have stayed with the trade with my trailing stops in place and could have potentially doubled my profits.

Stupid me had to go and open my mouth yesterday and mention my now dead 4-day winning streak. I suppose I jinxed myself. I had a short day again because of piano lessons so I was taking it easy. I only took two trades before lunch in FSLR and RIMM, both for small losses. When I left after lunch we were down over $100 on futures but when I returned a few hours later tradeitp had made the losses up and managed a small profit. Driven by his turnaround and the fact that I didn’t want my winning streak to end I looked for something to trade in the last 30mins. SPWR looked decent and I could put in a close stop so I shorted 100 and then added another 100. Of course, my stop price was hit and I was filled at the market which caused me to lose an additional $140. So much for keeping up my winning streak……

No charts this PM.