BID BALLS @ 3.12

This morning started with me driving a friend to the airport with about 30 minutes notice because their other ride was apparently still drunk from a heavy Monday night of drinking.

Of course I drive and see the Dow opening at +200 and not being able to hold it. So naturally I want to buy some puts but I didn’t grab my laptop and there probably wouldn’t be free wireless anyway. I really need to get wireless trading on my phone. The $50 a month data plan is almost starting to be worth it.

Then we rally and at about 3:00 pm or so I see the Dow is up something like 340 points, so I buy some puts and go to class. Near the end of class I get a txt stock quote on my phone that says +415.

Oh shit.

I don’t really care that it rallied that far. In this market buying puts when we’re up 340 is a pretty good idea, and I can’t really base my strategy off a once-in-five-year event.

The Nikkei is selling and I’m not waiting up for Europe.

This weekend I did some over payed work. I didn’t work much, but had to spend 3 days in a different city so I was well compensated for that. However some scheduled payment to my checking account didn’t go through for some reason, so I had barely any money since I don’t keep cash in my checking. So a pretty boring weekend. Just enough money to afford food.

Over this long stretch of time I was able to watch Wall Street again which was nice. I also looked over a ton of trades I did over the past 6 months and realized that a lot of my trades didn’t work out because I didn’t have the balls to stay with them. Basically I ended up bleeding slowing from small losses and comish.

So after looking through a couple hundred charts and staying up until 3 in the morning I have 4 trades to put on tomorrow at the open that will I’m going to stick with.

Oh, and I’ve been laughing my ass off since this whole Spitzer thing started.

BID TIME @ 3.01

My girlfriend and I sit at a table by ourselves. The candle on the table and the orb light fixtures cast a soft, dim glow through the room. Some electronic music plays in the background as we sip our drinks.

I feel like I should be happy, but I’m not. I did a lot of things right, but I could’ve done better.

On Thursday I bought puts in XOM, INTC, EEM and SPY. By most measures I had a pretty good day, but there is a persistent nagging feeling that I could’ve done better. I could have bought more puts, I could’ve held them until 3:50.

My drink is good, something my girlfriend ordered. Flavored vodka and cranberry juice. We talk for a bit. Other plans for the weekend, the coming week, the summer.

But I feel like I should be back in front of my computer, going over charts and trades again. That’s the motivation that keeps me trading. That feeling I could have done better. That desire to prove myself.

Trading is pure. This bar I sit in buys alcohol, mixes it and provides me and environment to enjoy it in return for cash. Trading cuts out the part where a business provides a good or service. Trading is buying something and selling it more.
Cash out, security in. Security out, more cash in. Business can’t get any simpler than that.