jim,
it has nothing at all to do with cajones...I've found for myself a disciplined trading works better for what I am trying to do in that account. I was watching the trading channel of NEM, drew my line in the sand, put in the order and moved on. It didn't happen that time. Now the technical indications on that particular stock have moved out of my range for buying. When they come back into range, I'll take another look, pick another price and take another shot. As I've said several times, gold looks interesting for the first time in about 10 years, but it's still a revealer, not a flasher (s)
On the other hand in my tech account I've used a different strategy for the past year. Would it have been better selling it all when I decided on the strategy..absolutely. Over the past few years, investors have been more focused on tactics than strategy and I try not to confuse the two.
For all the bombast on the board, there are some good strategy calls, I just disagree with some of the tactics of those strategists.
On the other hand, my strategy with techs has been to hold onto those I think have long term bright futures and accept and use the volatility. That does not mean I am going to sit idly while Rome burns. In essence I've more than doubled my share count in the past 12 months by writing calls and using proceeds to buy more stock.
The recessionary turn and tech sell off was fairly clear a year ago. The duration and depth was not. Should I have written deeper in the money calls? Of course. Should I have bought the additional shares later? Of course. But that's tactic, not strategy. More than half my shares of holdings like BEAS and SUNW are basically free having been financed by the calls, and I intend to continue the project at least until fundamental earnings news turns positive. If I feel that one of my favorites has become flawed in it's business model I'll replace it with something else. So far that's not happened. I figure that gives me about 9 months to continue buying my core tech with other peoples' money although I admit the premiums have gotten squashed along with market dreams.
mt |
