PTR- Looking back
Back on March 7 I bought into Petro China at $112.05. The oil sector was booming and the DOW had just come out of one of the worst days in history. We lost 250 points in one day over a China "Scare". PTR got hit hard and I saw this as an opportunity.



This stock had been on a straight line up since it came public. What were the chances of it reversing? How much lower could it go than this? It had just broken through the 200 day moving average on significant volume because of the China thing. Usually I would see this as a negative sign, but on a stock that had been going straight up like this, It just looked cheap!

Quickly we went up and bounced off the 200 (#1) but the support held on the way back down (#2). When it busted through the 200 about a week later(#3), I knew I was in the right place. All we needed was a catalyst to send this stock higher.

On May 5th the Chinese government announced that they "found" a ONE BILLION TON oil field off the coast (#5). Hey!? Where did that come from?? The stock shot up $15 to $129.80.



I was looking for about a 10% gain and there it was. I sold off on May 30th at $127.85 because I wanted to book the profits. Yesterday PTR closed at $142.65 a cool $12 up from where I sold it only a month ago. This morning PTR opened at $150 on some news about it selling its shares on the Shanghai exchange.

Looking back I could have easily made 20% on that trade instead of 10%. Why did I sell? They had just made an incredible "discovery", The stock just exploded past the 200 and 50 day simple moving averages and the MACD just converged positive. Sometimes its better to just be patient and re-analyze the stock before pulling the trigger on your plan.
20 Jun 2007


Bought Some Magnetek
My buy just triggered in MAG @ $5.10.
I have had to buy order in ever since I wrote the article about the energy conservation trend.
This stock has been on my radar ever since I owned some 2 years ago.
These guys are in a perfect position to benefit from the energy conservation trend. They produce power converters that help distribute energy more efficiently. Just yesterday I read an article where people from Google were quoted talking about how so much of the energy in PC's and servers is wasted. I think we are going to start hearing about a lot of products that waste energy and MAG is in the perfect place to benefit from fixing this problem.
The chart just looks okk. The stock is riding the 200 day simple moving average. My hope is that it will pop off of it. I am putting a stop in at $4.50 just in case, but I dont think it will get this low.
14 Jun 2007


RACK- Trading The Opening Bell
Woke up to an analyst upgrade of RACK. It closed last night at 12.55 and opened at 13.07. The analyst Initiated coverage with a "Buy" stating that we have seen a bottom in its gross margins and that the company is in "Turnaround Mode". It better be after falling 65% in 5 months!

I have tried trading the opening bell before and I always suck at it. There are people who's strategy is to trade the market open every morning. They make their trades, and they are done by 7:30am. Thats pretty smart if you have the cash(and balls) to do it!

I knew the stock would dip after opening so high but I always worry that I will miss the boat. I bought in at 13 about 5 minutes before it dipped to exactly where I expected it too. DUH! The market was rallying! What if What if!? Oh well, it popped back to 13 and is hanging out there now. I still believe RACK will fill its gap up to the 16.50 mark. The downside is minimal, I think I will hang around a little longer.
14 Jun 2007


Jamba Juice Explodes On Record Earnings, And Then Tanks
Jamba Juice reported record revenue and growth Monday. Read the press release here. The stock POPPED from $10 to $11 in after hours and then got hammered. Now its back at $9.50 and it is acting terrible.



Being from Los Angeles I have been interested in JMBA since the moment I heard it was going public. I have been following it since the day Service Acquisition Corp. (SVI) announced It was going to buy it back in March 2006. Then in Oct. 2006 SVI became JMBA and the rest is history...



The stock has gone down ever since. It is HATED for reasons I can not understand. This is a major growth story with a major brand name; whats not to like??? I think this stock will have its moment in the spotlight eventually. Until then I am going to wait on the sidelines. No point in owning a down stock.
12 Jun 2007


Trading Strategy - Filling The Gap
I am working on a strategy known as filling the gap. This is nothing new but I dont think many traders focus on it. If not a lot of people are doing it, then its bound to be successful. I noticed this pattern when I was trading RACK.



Stocks usually fill their short term gaps. A gap is when a stock makes a large jump either up or down and leaves what looks like a gap in the chart. Sometimes this happens because of news, and sometimes it happens for no reason at all.



Now there are some rules that go along with this. Not every gap gets filled.
1) Never trade this strategy on a big gap down. I would consider a big gap anything over 20%. These usually occurs because of a news release. Keep your eye on that news.
2) Sell once the gap is filled. Our strategy is to fill the gap, if you want to hang on to the stock after the fact, you will need another strategy/reason.
11 Jun 2007


Keeping my eye on Under Armour
The market is opening on my side this morning. I own two stocks right now, AAPL long and UA short. AAPL opened up over $1 and UA is down 2% all in the first 3 minutes of the market.
After it rally'd with the market on Friday, I was worried UA would start trending against me. This morning's action verifies that it is not. It broke its short term support on unusually heavy volume and kept going. Traders picked it up at $45 and ran it back up to its short term resistance at $46 at the same time as the market turned green. I believe it will bounce off of 46 and trend lower. If it gets above 46.08 then it might start going green.
11 Jun 2007


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