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Technology Stocks : EFII - Electronics for Imaging -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: cc rogers who wrote (583)	12/17/1997 6:52:00 PM
From: Harold S.	Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 1460

CC, Ok I will explain it again. First of all, I will gladly pay uncle sam 28% at the end of the year if I could make 5/8 point on every stock I played. In fact, I do quite well day trading and find it usually more lucrative than a buy and hold philosophy. To be honest, I have a pension plan, deferred comp., and other mutual funds for the buy and hold/investment philosophy that I will look at in 15-20 years to see how I am doing. I am 30 years old and run an investment club strictly for those people who have money that they want to put to work in the market in a very risky way. As you put it, it is a large amount of money to risk, however; that what this money has been predetermined to be used for. So, we have a stock like efii that has plummeted a very large way on a percentage basis in one morning's time. I watch the stock at the open and look for the initial bounce in the first 5 minutes. This is often followed by a further selloff that takes anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour. At that point I look for a pivot point in the price of the stock and buy no less than 2000 shares. Once the stock pivots and begins upward I immediately start to look for that price that stands out as resistance and watch the bid and ask sizes very carefully. When I see the point in question I sell all 2000 shares. If the stock is up only 1/4 point then I have made 500 dollars on that trade. They are often up more than a quarter point but that is what I look for as a minimum. In the case of efii I missed the morning action and watched it move between 15 and 16 7/8 all day, never getting a good feel for an entry point and always feeling like it would retreat to the opening price of 14 3/4. Sure enough at about 3:15 it moved to 14 3/4 and bounced off it with a high bid size. The second time it retreated to 14 3/4 I snagged 2000 shares before it bounced. The stock started back up, as they usually do immediately before the close on a major selloff day like that was and I watched for a pivot point. Sure enough, at 15 1/4 the stock looked tired and by the time my sell order hit I was out at 15 1/8. I was pleased with 3/8 of a point <or 750 dollars> in about 15 minutes time. As i watched I was very happy to see the stock move back down to the 14 3/4 area at aboput 10 of 4. I felt strongly it would close strong and gap opent he next morning, as most in that situation do, so I snuck in with another 2000 shares just 15 minutes after I had sold the same shares at 15 3/8. I watched the stock close strong and at 14 7/8. Keep in mind that all this time I have not a clue in the world what this stock even is or does!! The next morning the stock opened very strong but started to sink. Not knowing whether it would again rise, I sold all 2000 shares for 15 3/8. Another 5/8 point <1250 dollars> I then moved to Pairgain where the next day I bought 2000 shares on fire sale at 17 5/8 and sold them one hour later for 18 5/8. Yes, I don't always win. But as someone else said, I keep a very strict limit on what I am going to lose on a stock before I say I was wrong and move on. Usually that limit is 3/8 of a point. I don't do this for a living, in fact I am a police officer, however; I work midnights and often find myself staying up 3/4 of the day making a weeks worth of pay in a tiny fraction of the time it takes me to make it at work. (even if you take taxes out) Is it stressfull?? SUre it is. Is it fun?? It's a blast!!! Hope this helped and didn't bore too many people. P.S.- I am very long one stock though and that is MUEI. Look at the chart and you will see why. By September of next year MUEI will either be 23+ per share or have been bought out. It is now 9 dollars a share. Good luck to all...and if you see EFII at 5/8 bid or higher in the morning, you'll know I am out with another 1/4 point under my belt.