I love this song, sort of an End of Empire anthem … I think it’s tongue-in-cheek, at least I hope it is. “Make it all back in one loop, give me the loot,“ indeed.
Movies Watched -- I Know Where I'm Going (1947)
91 minute running time … British movie … a love story … romance in the Scottish isles … would appeal to most women, I imagine … it wasn’t bad, it was sweet and charming, in fact, but it’s not a Top 500 movie … I’m not sorry I saw it, but I can’t recommend it, though John Farr does.
People here are very poor, l suppose. No, they just haven't got money.
Stock Du Jour, Thu. May 14, 2020, CODX
Co-Diagnostics (CODX) was the HTB du jour, doing 156,000 trades and $979MM in volume. Actually GNUS did more trades (245,000) but less dollar volume (255MM) so I could have chosen that one as stock du jour, but the truth is I took my wife to the flower nursery this morning and wasn’t at my desk, though I had Bookmap recording CODX since I knew it would still be in play since yesterday.
Anyway, CODX is not borrowable at my brookie and of course IB has no shares so I was out of luck as far as trading it, and of course it set up perfectly and crashed completely, even triggering SSR, which I suspected would happen (check my time-stamped TWTR feed). My entry woulda been above $28 and my exit woulda been in the $21s, but, “woulda.” C’est la vie. I’m getting a new brookie very soon.
When I got back in the afternoon I did play ALT (69,900 trades) and APDN (81,600 trades) and was pretty pleased with both of them. The borrow costs were 3.6 cents and 8.93 cents, respectively. AIM was in-play (82,700 trades) as was AKER (67,700 trades), and the latter dropped a midday offering that devastated the longs, absolutely savage (or beautiful, depending on what you think of old WAIN). So once again there was a ton of stuff in play, so you have no excuse not to be “banking sick coin, bro.”
I was a good boy and did not open up IB and therefore did not lose money there or pay $500 in commissions, which seems to happen every time I do log on … so just focusing on HTB land remains the way to go for me.
Stock Du Jour, Wed. May 13, 2020, VTIQ
VectoIQ Acquisition (VTIQ) was the HTB (hard-to-borrow) du jour, doing 152,000 trades and $1.34BB in volume … I paid 9.97 cents ($997 per 10,000) per share for the borrow … this stock was in the $30s (up from $15 five days ago, hee hee) and was very difficult in the morning as it kept on flagging and moving higher, frustrating the early shorts (don’t worry, they were just “dabbling,” with “starter size,” taking mere “paper cuts”) … it finally broke after 11 AM following a frenzied push above $35 (watch the tape below closely at that time … pause it, rewind, you know the drill), and gave me a spot to get short. I traded it after-hours as well, which messed up my averages, but my main entry was above $34, which was nice.
There was a bunch of stuff in play today: SIF, MARK (day two), CREX, CODX, etc. Just a wild amount of action if you’re a day trader … I guess the broad market was down, but HTB land is its own universe and I don’t think the tailwind or headwind from the broad tone makes much of a difference. I also traded CYCC (5.53 cent borrow) and made a hash of it, scalping around long with hotkeys and just producing a lot of paperwork while missing the big move down, bah. I caught SIF pretty well, not perfectly, but not badly either ... then got crap after-hours covers on the majority.
I did not open IB and therefore could not harm myself by shorting various ETBs (easy-to-borrow), which is usually my undoing as I lose thousands of dollars, not in borrow fees, like usual, but in bad trades, where I’m tricked, trapped, and top-ticked out — and of course pay an insane amount of commissions at $0.005 a share. As long as I focus my energies on HTB land via the brookie, good things happen. Until tomorrow, fellow pikers!
Stock Du Jour, Tue. May 12, 2020, MARK
Remark Holdings (MARK) was the HTB (hard-to-borrow) du jour, doing 370,000 trades and $451MM in volume. I did not play it (unfortunately) and focused on NNVC instead. There has been so much in play lately that I’m finding it hard to focus, and yesterday I “forgot” about a resting order in something that got triggered and instantly snapped back giving me a large loss, which I took (could have carried it and hoped for the best (and it would have worked out) but I considered it a mistake that had to be fixed immediately). Also I’ve been paying a lot in borrow fees that I’ve not been using effectively, so I slowed things down today and only focused on NVAX and NNVC.
I paid between 6.6 and 10.97 cents per share for the NNVC borrow and thankfully made enough money to pay those crazy fees. They took NVAX near $45 (it closed yesterday at around $25). I fought this one a bit (“don’t fight the tape”) and used questionable size at times (near infinite borrow at IB), and lost quite a bit of money on it in the end. Bad. Anyway, tomorrow is another day (until I run out of money or lose my mind).
Stock Du Jour, Mon. May 11, 2020, APOP
Cellect Biotechnology (APOP) was the stock du jour, or more specifically the HTB (hard-to-borrow) du jour, doing 200,000 trades and $215MM in volume. I paid 11.79 cents per share ($1179 per 10,000) for the borrow. APOP hit 5.81 pre-open and broke hard on the open to 4.30, then launched an absolutely vicious (or beautiful, if you’re a savage) stop run to 5.40, then fell again, then bounced again (yeah, a big coil), giving me a decent spot to get short. I was a bad boy however and took partial profits at hourly support, which was a mistake, as Dave Mabe and his warm blanket will tell you. Covered the rest at the close, but the damage was done and the all-out R not wonderful on a 12% gain.
A lot of stuff was in play today … MARK (258,000 trades and $398MM in volume), AMC (227,000 trades and $551MM in volume) which I was anxious to short but my brookie’s locate button wasn’t even responding (restricted somehow) … I asked the second brookie about a borrow and they said I would have to ask them directly, couldn’t get them through the automated locate … UAVS did 72,900 trades and $69.9MM in volume, MGNX did 76,300 trades and $577 million in volume, VTIQ did 33,800 trades and $228MM in volume … as I say, a lot of activity out there. They say there are lot of new retail gamblers in the game, and I believe it after looking through the numbers. Scary.
Touching and Teasing and Telling Me No
Looks like Regard’s “Ride It” is going to fall off the Spotify Global Top 50 … I think it’s good enough to include among my selections … video is sort of a celebration of crystal methamphetamine, which is unfortunate, but I don’t personally know any victims so I’m OK with it:
Chairman Recommended -- Herbal Tea
I tried a bunch of different herbal teas recently, and the best one I found was Paromi’s detox with me. Pricey at 60 cents a sachet, but worth it. I need a caffeine-free tea since any amount of caffeine I have during the day screws up my sleep cycle.
If you know of a better brand, please tell me about it.
Movies Watched -- The Big Heat (1953)
89 minute running time … Columbia movie … pretty gritty and violent for its day … suicide, homicide, blackmail, car bombs, threatening a policeman’s family, prostitution, torture, burning people with cigarettes, throwing pots of coffee in their face, strangulation, corruption … it’s pretty intense. The only problem I had was that Glenn Ford doesn’t come across as that much of a tough guy. Lee Marvin is a good bad guy, Gloria Grahame is good as a gangster’s dame, the head honcho Italian gangster was good. The story wasn’t bad, the pacing wasn’t bad, Fritz Lang directed, I don’t know why I’m hesitating to make it green-go … I guess I will temporarily until I see more movies from 1953. John Farr recommended it, calling it “brutal and in-your-face,” and he’s right.
You couldn't plant enough flowers around here to kill the smell.
Everybody Finds His Own Approach
Discovered Alice Sara Ott today … half-German, half-Japanese, born in 1988. Her discography.