I looked at my watchlist today at 3:45 (June 30th, last 20 minutes is probably the most inefficent market of the year due to Russell index shifts, so it behooves you to be awake and alert at that time). I knew I hit my first LANC trade at 19 1/16, but when I realized that one hit I threw in a couple other limit orders on the chance they might hit. Strange things were going on with SNH trading and it was showing 7 15/16, so I threw in a "what the hell" limit order at 7 3/8 - a crazy price, which I didn't expect to hit. Then I threw in another LANC order. When the market closed I checked the orders and they showed up as pending cancelled, and then didn't check again. Figured alright, I got one. SNH was such a ridiculous bid (10% below the market quote) that I didn't expect it to hit.
Now I'm looking at my account again and I notice that the orders both hit well after the market closed. I added significantly to my already large position in SNH at 7 5/16 - so much for a limit order at 3/8 - that shows how crazy the market is at this specific time. And my second LANC order hit as well. Thank you Russell index. After watching what happened last year at this time, I would expect that LANC opens at 22 or so and SNH at its usual 8 and change on Monday morning. And if they don't, fine - I know what I own and am delighted at the prices I got. That may have been the most profitable 15 minutes of my life - unfortunately for me, time was so of the essence that I only traded one account and that was my mother's, where there was a pile of cash until about 4:15 today. So actually it might have been the most profitable 15 minutes of her life. Not counting chickens before they're hatched, but watch these two stocks Monday with these prices in mind.
And mark your calendar for June 30th next year and have some cash on hand - this makes the January effect look like nothing if you know what you're looking for and have done your homework so you are prepared to pull the trigger instantly. |
