Well, I don't have any secrets to share, but I'll be happy to pass along what I do to make money. First, I started writing covered calls on PAIR 3 months ago. Each time the stock was called away, but I made great money. Secondly, I try to buy on bad news and avoid momentum. For example, I loaded up when PAIR went down to 15 (was it in January?). I bought in the Jim Cramer style-- buying at each 1 point dip. I also own a great small/microcap stock-- GPTX. Check out the thread (not too many posts). GPTX is a four-bagger for me (core position for 2 years since 4) with frequent trading around the pullbacks. I made a killing in Dell recently (missed the boat today!). I bought at 110 (4 days or so before the split), sold at 140, bought back at 132, sold for a few points, lost 1200 dollars on the CPQ Friday post-closing announcement. Bought CHRZ recently at 42 and 43.5, sold today. I have a small account-- 20,000 dollars, but I regularly take money out of my account, largely to buy Bordeaux wine (I realize its irrelevant WHAT I do with my winnings). I DO pay big taxes-- 43 percent total or so). But I like trading. I'm still an amateur. I think Wade Cook has a few good ideas (I learned about covered call writing from him). I bought Cendant last week at 21 1/8 (Friday) at the close, sold Monday at 23 5/8. I lost 250 bucks shorting SEEK. I NEVER make money shorting, but wish I did.
The hardest thing for me is patience. WAIT until an opportunity presents itself (e.g, GLM at 21 1/16, ALK at 52 1/4 (sweet!!!), CHRZ at 42). I read everything I can (Briefing, Street.com, Barrons, IBD, books (lots of books)). In my earlier note, I did not intend to brag-- that's for amateurs. In fact, I think there are lots of people who do much netter than I. AND, I make mistakes: wanna know em? Here's a list: sold ITVU at 12 5/8; Sold RFMI at 16 (it went to 29); never bought YHOO; shorted ETH; Sold WFMI at 65. I use margin A LOT-- and it can be PAINFUL!!!!! But I use only a Dell notebook and RT quotes from Discover and Brown. I make the most money in microcaps (like GPTX-- keep your eye on it) and buying overreactions (like CD-- that was so easy-- 2 5/8 on 300 shares in one day). Well, that's how I do it. I just want to improve my performance!!! |
