CLOSED CIENA & FNSR

Finally sold CIEN today around 9:40 at 2.07 bid 2.08 ask. I felt good about selling it mainly because CIEN has been a POS acting very weak, opening high and giving back all the gains by the end of the day for a week now. Also, I noticed that while the IXIC opened higher, about 8pts, 2pts above futures, it was showing signs of weakness because it did not rally higher when the DJI went from 40 to 70. These two factors combined and gave me the confidence to sell out of the position with a 4c/share gain.

As the IXIC kept on showing signs of weakness and as FNSR did not keep moving up with the market, I decided to sell that too at 1.38, with a gain of only 4c/share. After transaction fees, I only gained 7 dollars on this transaction!

2 hours after selling, CIEN is down a lot and FNSR WAS down a lot but has gained some back. As I suspect, there¡¯s growing speculation on FNSR because of the 9/2 earnings date. I would buy FNSR right this moment if it were not for the fact that the markets are fucking weak as shit. So I¡¯ll just sit and watch for a market bottom before buying. I need to buy all at once, not 1000 at a time because the transaction fees are killing me. If it weren¡¯t for the transaction fees, I¡¯d have a profit of $57 not $7.

I felt satisfied and confident when I sold, but still too anxious. I don't really know what to expect tomorrow so we'll wait and see...

Situation update:

Stock has appreciated about 25% from its early august low of 1.13. At 1.38, it¡¯s probably near the middle of a rally to 1.6. The main reason for this rally would be anticipation for its earnings on Sept. 2. As I have learned the hard way, it¡¯s no sure bet anymore that these tech stocks will appreciate 10% right before earnings. In this case however, the technical aspect is also very appealing. It¡¯s broken through the immediate downtrend when it passed 1.35. What I noticed about FNSR, is how strong it is. On down days, it only drops a percent or 2. On up days, it rallies 6-9%. Relative strength is probably at 95 or so (I have no exact figures). Anyways, MACD is rounding up, and the slow Stochastic did not hit the July low of 0, even though prices dropped way below ¨C This is a bullish divergence. My take is that the stock will fall a little bit in the next few days if the markets don¡¯t hold up, so I guess if it¡¯s a probabilities game, I should buy more FNSR. I plan to buy 800 shares if it drops to the low 1.30¡¯s and another 1000 if it resumes an ¡°upward climb.¡± To make the 2^nd entry less subjective, I¡¯ll define an upward climb as heavy buying volume and a rally of more than 4%. However, given its recent strength, it¡¯s probably not possible for FNSR to drop to low 1.30¡¯s. Depending on what the market does, I might sell both FNSR and CIEN. 

My entry was at 2.04, today¡¯s close. I bought because its shares was up big time (4%) in pre-market action when both the IXIC and DJI futures were slightly lower and record oil of $49.5/barrel!! I was expecting the markets to have fucking tanked, but it held up! That¡¯s why I bought strength. Because from my experience, individual strength becomes super strength when a weak market jumps around and goes in the individual stock¡¯s way. That was what I was banking on, that the markets would turn around and head higher right at the open. The stock rallied fucking 5% after I bought it, but I was in the subway, missing my opportunity to sell, and a CSCO decline brought the entire sector with it. Up to this point, I still don¡¯t know why CIEN went up so much on Friday, which is why I haven¡¯t sold it yet, because that¡¯s not why I bought it. I think whatever it is, it had better reveal itself tomorrow, or I¡¯m out of the stock because it¡¯s kinda weak, just flowing and ebbing with the markets, and more so when the market drops.

For Tuesday, I¡¯m expecting a weak open in either direction with no conviction, so if CIEN starts to falter again, I AM GONE. I¡¯ll put that money into FNSR or VTSS because I think they offer better risk/reward ratios. ADDITIONALLY, IF IXIC DROPS BELOW 1835, I AM GONE AS WELL.

*IXIC did drop below 1835, about 8 pts lower, but it came back and it did NOT show any signs of panic selling so I guess this bull market is stronger than I thought. The bears are just hibernating for now.

AFTER A SUMMER OF NO TRADING, I'M BACK IN THE MARKET NOW.

I'll continue my journal entires of trades after this current one is closed. I've found that my ego gets too tied up when I disclose my positions before they are closed.

Kendoooo man..if you know what to do and how to do it, i'm sure u'll be able to gain the self discipline to just do it.

"We aren't making a living, we are making a dying. Consider the average American worker. The alarm rings at 6:45 and our working man or woman is up and running. Shower. Dress in the professional uniform-suits or dresses for some, overalls for others, whites for the medical professionals, jeans and flannel shirts for construction workers. Breakfast, if there's time. Grab commuter mug and briefcase (or lunch box) and hop in the car for the daily punishment called rush hour. On job from 9-5. Deal with the boss. Deal with the coworker sent by the devil to rub you the wrong way. Deal with suppliers. Deal with clients/customers/patients. Act busy. Hide mistakes. Smile when handed impossible deadlines. Give a sigh of relief when the ax known as 'restructuring' or 'downsizing' - or just plain getting laid off - falls on other heads. Shoulder the added workload. Watch the clock. Argue with your conscience but agree and support the boss. Smile again. Five o'clock. Back in the car/subway for the evening communte. Home. Act human with mates, kids or roommates. Eat. Watch TV. Bed. Eight hours of blessed oblivion.

And they call this making a living?" - Elder (COME INTO MY TRADING ROOM)

Maybe this is why I'm pursuing a career that has an 82% failure rate. I've had moments of success and it feels like I will one day own everything this world has to offer. And there's the flip side where it seems I'm destined to fail at the very thing I love. I can't blame anyone but myself for the failures in "trading." Because I wasn't really trading, I was half investing and half showing off. After reading countless books, I've finally identified my problem.

1. My methods for trading before were very flawed with no safety net nor did I stick to a strategy day in and day out.

2. I did not have enough money to trade with, so I got other people's money...but the thing was, that still wasn't enough to meet the minimum requirement for trading. Rather than being smart and not play a losing game, I had to play and one day, the fact that my #1 was flawed, ruined my trading efforts once again.

3. My mind was weak. I had no business using other people's money to trade and I'm sorry. I started out with the goal of developing a trading system and earning big bucks. I ended up trying to prove myself that I'm right with every trade I made. I finally realized that this is a deadly trait in trading.

It's amazing how a few books could change my perception of myself and make me want to change a lot of the things about myself that prohibit success in the markets. I've decided not to trade with other people's money unless I can get a 50K stake and I have at least 3hrs/day to devote to research. Now that I've developed a system, I must test it and continue testing it on my own account so that I may have the confidence to stay with a trade when it goes against me. Even though trading has been the ultimate challenge for me and it's beaten my ass countless times, there's no way I'm going to give up on the one thing I'd wake up early for. There's no way I'm gonna be that guy caged up by this corporate world like in the first paragraph. It's about time for me to stop always talking about how I'm going to start doing shit and just do it.

Well...this is the 2nd week i've worked Merrill and the work is just beginning to relate to my major slightly. I'm reading endless analyst reports on individual large caps such as msft, csco, hd, hon..etc. Boring as SHIT.

On another note, I've started binge reading again...this time should be the last time i binge read. bought 6 books on trading and risk and WOW this shit is mad interesting. At this point I know I have the passion for this stuff and aching to start. But all i can do in the meantime is intern and do useless shit.

S H I T