Stock Du Jour, Tue. Apr. 14, 2020, SONN

I’ve picked Chanticleer Holdings (SONN) as the HTB (hard-to-borrow) du jour; it did 108,000 trades on the day. AIKI was also in-play and did 149,000 trades, but it is on the Regulation SHO Threshold List and my bookie broker had no shares available to borrow. Somewhat predictably, AIKI dropped a midday offering, during a trading halt no less, though without a borrow I could not get involved beforehand.

NURO was a latecomer nanocap HTB and did 94,500 trades. WORX and ICD were both “Day Two” plays and I did short ICD. The borrow cost for ICD was 4.97 cents, for SONN was 5.93 cents, and NURO was all over the place so I paid between 3.57 cents and 9.7 cents a share.

Watch the video in slower motion using YouTube’s speed controls. Pause it, rewind it, watch at slow speed then at normal speed, etc. for all key points on the chart. The CQC column on the far right shows the cumulative quote count for the chart range (also useful to study). I’ve included my winning executions at the end of the video as always. Go full screen, 1080p. Enjoy!

Stock Du Jour, Mon. Apr. 13, 2020, WORX

SCWorx Corp. (WORX) was the stock du jour, doing 361,000 trades … ICD came in second with 108,000 trades … CANF was on my radar early on and I did trade it, but it only did 39,000 trades by end of day. All three of these microcaps were hard-to borrow and I paid 7.97 cents for WORX ($797 per 10,000) and 6.5 cents for CANF ($650 per 10,000). You need to have a lot of confidence in your ability when you pay these kinds of fees upfront. (ICD was $537 per 10,000.)

WORX was a runaway, there was a good spot to get long after 10 AM, but of course I missed it and was stalking it short all day — have to “make back” those borrow fees after all! There was a very tricky spot at 14:45, it looked like it was going to break, but zing, straight back up. Slow the tape down, pause it, rewind it, study it at that point. (It’s also the thumbnail image for the video). Anyone who was shorting the usual “holes” got run over. I fortunately was unharmed, but this thing was a widow-maker for sure.

I was finally able to short WORX near the close and also once after hours … my executions are included at the end of the recording. Make sure to watch in 1080p, full screen, so that it’s clear.

Movies Watched -- Night Moves (1975)

99 minute running time … dumb story, convoluted, badly paced, uninteresting mid-life crisis adultery as side story … bad mid-70s vibe … only positives were a number of bra-less women and Melanie Griffith at age 16 or 17 (nude scenes shot when she was 18). Wouldn’t recommend it though John Farr liked it, and wrote “Vastly underrated, it merits re-discovery.“ No, it’s underrated for a reason — it’s amazing how awful most movies were in the 1970s.

Oh, l just think good, clean thoughts, like Thanksgiving ... George Washington's teeth.

Little Man Lost in the Wood

Jimmy Scott’s version of this old Gershwin(s) song is probably my favorite. The great Jimmy Scott… R.I.P.

One-of-a-Kind Zippo Armor Flame

This Zippo Armor Flame from March 2004 (C04) recently sold on eBay for $431.69. The eBay post said that it was from a Zippo employee, so I assume it’s a one-of-a-kind or from a very small production batch. I do collect Zippo Armor lighters, but did not participate in the bidding for this one, though it is a beauty:

Movies Watched -- Cat People (1942)

73 minute running time … perfect length … really enjoyed this one, good, intelligent writing … fun story, early “horror” but not really, it’s all very subtle. Farr called it “a masterpiece of creepy, psychosexual mood cinema.“ I wouldn’t go that far, but it is good, and does get a coveted green-go rating.

Don't nobody like chicken gumbo?

How Not To Trade Stocks

Some will claim that the early guesses at a top were tiny “starters” which resulted in “paper cut” losses. Alternatively, no ”paper cuts” were taken and the later adds to the tiny “starters” were all “full size,” so it turned out that the trader had a great average and a fine trade, despite the early covers. Who knows? Maybe they’re not lying, but this looks like the approach of someone who “shoots from the hip.” Why risk busting out to a true runaway?

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Stock Du Jour, Thu. Apr. 9, 2020, CLSK

There was a lot of action in the microcap hard-to-borrow market today, but I selected CleanSpark Inc over ICD (Independence Contract Drilling Inc) since I considered ICD a “latecomer.” CLSK did around 60,000 trades today and ICD did around 94,000 trades. I paid 9.97 cents per share to borrow CLSK ($997 per 10,000 shares borrowed). I made nearly 30% on this trade all out (before fees).

Slow the tape and watch closely at key times … pause it, rewind, play at near normal speed (1/4 speed), pause, rewind, STUDY. I know it’s sort of intimidating to look at the order book like this, but once you know what you’re doing, you can’t live without it. Make sure you watch in 1080p so that it’s crystal clear.

Scream Heard Last

Love this cover of Last Kiss by Cœur de pirate, I only wish she had switched the gender of the victime … the original by J Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers is also embedded below … we’ll just ignore Pearl Jam’s version:

Movies Watched -- Ace in the Hole (1951)

111 minute running time so maybe could have trimmed 10 minutes or so… Kirk Douglas is great but this is dark stuff from Shmuel Vildr … cashing in on tragedy … took me several nights to watch it because I had to take breaks from it … probably due in part to the quarantine, so my mood isn’t as chipper as usual … cynical newspaperman Chuck Tatum going to get back to New Yawk from the boondocks one way or another … good old 1950s misogyny to boot … I’m going to hold off from recommending this one for now, though during brighter times I imagine I’d quickly give it a green-go rating. John Farr did anyway.

The circus is over!