Broad tone neg, first trend day down in ages … I got a margin call in my $4000 ToS account on the ARRY as they gapped it against me, that was a surprise, never seen such a thing, it must suck to be a little guy, any kind of day trading just impossible if you’re short stacked, no wonder the kids go to the sleazy offshore bookie brokers, they don’t have a choice … anyway stopped out of ARRY and re-shorted it immediately in both ToS and IB. AMRS looked weak so I did the Smashian in the money add and it instantly went against me. Added more off today’s OR, but they drove me out. Made a sorta mistake not tightening stop on it, but did end up taking 1R loss (on one leg only, coulda and shoulda been three legs given morning action but I was confused by in the money add and old posish so thankfully took a smaller loss than I should have) on today’s trade … the larger AMRS play still underway, even added some more at C which was only semi-wise? Covered some MGNX at D since the range is so crazy there, I’ll be happy to be all out at minC, fingers crossed it’s way down there… two decent HTB plays this morning HYRE and ATOS (see below), I played neither, PULM a latecomer and instantly failed, I never woulda been quick enough, BIOC also briefly in play, I didn’t take the borrow, LCI earnings thought I’d get a play but they slammed it so hard during OR it was finished.
Conquest's Dark Humor
From a 1999 interview with Robert Conquest:
“I always thought it'd make a good book: poems by Mao, Stalin, Ho Chi Minh and Castro. They all wrote poetry. Illustrations by A. Hitler.“
Trading Notes -- 20190206 Wednesday
Broad tone slightly neg … my trading vacation hasn’t started yet since I needed to close up some old positions … and establish some new ones out of a sick need to gamble, lol. Adjusted targets in APHA and took it off for a decent profit, turns out the crazy sized add would have been good to hold on to but no I prudently scratched it, same goes for ZYNE which broke down dramatically but I had scratched the giant add so just took a normal minC Typ3 gain, which was impressive enough on its own… NVLN and TRVN the HTBs of the day, I was fortunate to choose TRVN (0.02) since it was picture perfect (see below) with a C entry and minC Typ3 exits, took a late in the day trade in ARRY in ToS and of course it looks like it will stop me out, zero for two in that account, ha! Something call MGNX, I called it Magnavox, went nuts, started shorting too early PO but it was fine since I sized it correctly (thank god) and got good adds at B & A, but I still might not make a dime in it, we’ll see, 1.5MM shares avail made it a must play, shorted AMRS again, we’ll see how it goes. EOLS woulda been a good play but I had a lot going on and went to gym at midday which will be a good new habit.
Tigers in Tiny Spaces
I dig these old farts … that lead guitarist is almost exactly my age … the entire band shares my sartorial and grooming style.
Trading Notes -- 20190205 Tuesday
Broad tone poz, shorts no tailwind. CRON woulda been a perfect trader but IB doesn’t have shares anymore. Got trapped in APHA end of day yday, stupidly tried my triple/quadruple sized scalp thing for the first time and of course got stuck, then pulled the stop, then added several times, then pulled that stop (all after hours) then carried it, then covered near top tick pre-open though not exactly top tick, then it got smashed at the open falling over a dollar from my cost, which meant that my loss was over 4x expected and if I hadn’t covered I woulda made a ton of money at the open… bad, very bad. But the story doesn’t end there. Shorted AMSR, IB miraculously found shares (now I know why), broke out of a giant coil, problem was my sizing on first entry was 2x normal so the eventual loss when I stopped out (didn’t pull that stop) about 2x average, bad. Then I re-shorted APHA in a disciplined way but added again 4x normal? and it went against me. Then I added to my ZYNE short (which was doing fine) 4x normal and it went against me. Notice a trend? Rough day. I’m going to walk away for awhile until I get my head on right. Might be at least a month given the extent of the losses.
Trading Notes -- 20190204 Monday
Broad tone poz … short headwind … once again I left a bunch of open orders out there in ZYNE and APHA by mistake and got filled in everything … wasn’t super bad but I did have to pull the plug on APHA higher than I wanted and with more shares than expected… ZYNE sorta tanked so I may be ok there, we’ll see. Stock du jour was EOLS PO (0.032 borrow) and I shorted B&C and covered minC then waited on Typ3 but it had to go back up and test so I scratched it. Had massage today so didn’t stick around to manage stuff. Had orders back in on APHA, got back just after 3PM and APHA was tanking so I decided to try my new super-sized scalp and of course it reversed on me (Murphy’s Law) and went exactly a dollar higher, closed 11.40 AH (scary when you’re doing nutty size, IB thank god still have 500K+ of borrow, my nightmare is that they disappear at the top, after taking multiple 1R losses), anyway CRON also very much in play but IB had NO shares and that was weird because they’ve had a lot of CRON forever now; covered SXTC at minC and Typ3, StuckAtaProfit, took forever to cover, I was the bid for ages, huge winner but of course pales in comparison to APHA losses… OPK I cut at the close and 30 seconds later they announced an offering and it dropped 20%, comical. Some Chinese fraudy thing called ZKIN came alive late (“latecomer”) and there was literally no data to populate the chart so I couldn’t see what was going on… no borrow of course but it just faded to nothing … MDJH was sorta active PO but again no borrow and it died in RH. Recalling when NBEV went from 2 to 10 and I fought it all the way taking a mega-loss then borrows disappeared when it hit $10, I pray same doesn’t happen with APHA though loss there could make NBEV look like drop in bucket.
Movies Watched -- Silence (2017)
160 minute running time, insane. Adam Sackler (why does this guy get so much work?) and some other kid I've never seen before as Jesuit priests on a mission to Japan (1640s) to find lost priest Liam Neeson and convert the locals or minister to the already converted, who are being mercilessly persecuted ... Scorsese is interested in religious persecution and martydom, but it doesn’t make for a good movie. 160 minutes of torturing the audience. Who funded this?!? Red rating, avoid.
Kyle Smith correctly writes: "30 years in the making ... it plays like 30 years in the watching."
Manohla Dargis writes: "There’s a crushing lack of urgency to this story and its telling...."
Mick LaSalle writes: ”‘Silence’ is Scorsese at his worst.”
Michael Phillips writes: “…methodical and stately to a fault.“
Kate Taylor called it a “failed passion project”
Tortured members of the viewing audience
Movies Watched -- Logan Lucky (2017)
119 minute running time. Watched at 1.5x ffwd. Heist movie / redneck comedy made by snotty coastal elites ... making fun of southern (West Virginia) white trash culture: old pickup trucks, NASCAR, child beauty pageants, camo Carhartt caps, The Google, two tours in I-raq, everyone's tattooed, etc. ... goateed Channing Tatum as hobbled ex-coal miner, with Katie Holmes (she’s ageing well) as his ex- and Adam Sackler from Girls as his brother.... blonde Daniel Craig (his explosives explanation with chalk was funny) .... Hilary Swank plays Arnold Schwarzenegger ... fake Southern accents were grating and offensive ... sets up for a sequel, oh no! ... directed by Steven Soderbergh?!? It was at least 20 minutes too long, but it wasn't super duper terrible. Yellow rating.
Rex hated it (but he has always loathed Soderbergh).
Miner's alien daughter, stranger to blue water
Trading Notes -- 20190201 Friday
Second anniversary since I started day trading again! Man I've lost a ton of money and time doing this, but I’ve got time and money to lose, plus it's a blast.
APHA screaming, FIDO 9, ton of borrow always, thought I'd done nicely shorting B A A+ esp. when some dumb Citron tweet hit and it tanked, but it turned right around and stopped me out -1R, hmmm annoying. Re-shorted a leg in the afternoon, we'll see.
TTNP (FIDO 19) and TBLT earlier stocks du jour, no borrow but some great PO spots, coulda done very well.
TMSR (FIDO 23) latecomer, another amazing play but no borrow, alas
Attempted to play OPKO, Squashed Toad, TexMex mentioned it on TWTR, had unlimited borrow so... bad B entry then SSR made it sticky and a pain, added A will quit there, will be patient and look for a scratch
SXTC super thin but came in with a plan and executed it but now predictably StuckAtaProfit, will have to wait for next week to cover
Short NIO at B after ToT, only got partial fill (HALF!) because they ran out of shares to lend, out at minC and Typ3, nice trade but really hampered by no size with limited borrow, NIO 7BB mkt cap doesn't belong on list but I traded it anyway
ZYNE came back alive, though super thin. Took the tiny loss with stupidly held short, good news is I didn't add add add to it, but I did re-short it later at a good spot
CODX approaching target below 1.20, woulda been worth even 7x borrow cost
FBIO it ran and I debated where to trail stop but ended up taking small loss on remainder, bah
Trading Notes -- 20190131 Thursday
Away nearly all day in hospital for LLP bronchoscopy, so an abbreviated entry. Broad tone poz, short headwind. SCYX the stock du jour, lotta borrow pre-open but all gone (a couple hundred thousand shares) by open … FBIO also lots of borrow all day, shoulda played both but they were chase entries so I only did FBIO, chase entry PO, covered minC, waiting on Typ3 (OR Typ3 hit but I’m being patient). OSTK jammed me out at tightened stop and instantly tanked to new lows, sheesh. CODX PO offering the dirty bastards… amusing since broker says overnight borrows will now be 7x, up from 4x. SXTC no borrow, mover but super thin, gave interesting spots. Tried to short NIO in absentia but when it triggered, no borrow (was borrow earlier, I assumed they wouldn’t disappear, wrong again).
