Stuck

When the last trader on Earth sells this dollar, let me know. That's going to set-up a nice trade.

Wait. That guy is me. The dude with a hot-poker stuck to his insides.

Fine, I admit it. I waited a few days, but I admit it. Now I don't even want to make money on this trade - I just want out. That's the psychology of a bad or poorly-timed trade (poorly bench-marked in my case). Now I've got to step over my own dead body to make money here. Who wants to perform like that?

Nature of the beast I guess.

I love my job, don't get me wrong. But it can get ugly. Sticking-out multiple parts in varying directions means occasionally something's going to get whacked. This is why you have got to be disciplined. This is why you can't let a loss get momentum on you.

This is why you want to push on players stuck in such a rut. Push push push until they either break or until some miracle bails them out. They're basically a zit that has one general destiny (pressure will build and build until something pops). I want to be pushing on that zit, I don't want to be the zit.

My futures accounts lately have been the zit.

Okay, okay, it's not all bad. These same zits losing money in futures this week performed very well with equities (still!). We're all shocked at how quickly you can return-to-sender gains in futures - but we're big boys, no? We're still printing money and the other side is still giving it away.

I'm not the only incredibly successful dolt on this planet right now either. The battle between Kobe and Carmelo is epic (if you haven't seen) - an epic war between two guys who are well-matched and uber-determined to out-perform the other. One guy is older, more cold-blooded and experienced, but the other guy is coming-on, bigger and with a longer reach (and frankly, quicker on the ball/boards). Anyhow, Kobe was in the zone of zones late last night; sick, cold-blooded zone - the kind that means he'll eat your children before he blows the opportunity. He was going to make his shot from anywhere on the court and he had demonstrated this several times in the fourth quarter (with Carmelo literally in his face). So when it was down to the final few seconds and his team (Lakers I think) needs 3-points to send it into over-time - the greatest basketball coach of all freaking time designs a play to get the ball to some ancient-glory old guy who throws-up prayers these days from behind the arc. Kobe doesn't even touch the ball. The play was sent somewhere else. No way to cash in like that. Half-off greatness coupon with the expiration date expired. Jaw dropper.

When I saw that, I felt better about having misdirected this currency trade. I gave the ball to Fisher. Fisher didn't eat any little children. I'm sitting here with dollar-off egg on my face.

Fine. Today is that ever-lovely brand of pre-holiday seasonal strength. Only this time the market is a bit suspect coming in, so no whole-hog approach (if we re-cave later in the session it won't be a shocker). I did adjust for this and fortunately my longs today are walking over my shorts (hence, even though I'm still slightly net-short, equity portfolios are up nicely).

Towards the end of the day (or sooner if things should deteriorate) I expect to re-shift back to net-short. This is either a negative or else dull market now, until proven otherwise. I have my views, but I am still not sharing. I will however do my best to keep in stride with it as it develops. One half-step behind in most cases (which is unlike being the only guy left who's long the dollar).

Good long weekend. I'm going to get outside and kill something. I'll be back with my updated kill-list of shorts by Monday night. Don't do what I do - now you know why I'm always saying it/

Total Position: 1.07-to-1 net short (plays 1.19-to-1 net short considering leveraged SKF), 63% invested (NOTE: stepped out of SDS temporarily for seasonal strength. Will likely go into wkend closer to 2-1 net-short, depending).

Currently Long (according to size): ASIA ( 6.7%), CYOU (6.1%), LIHR (5.9%), SNDA (reduced, 5.7%), BKE (3.7%), PEET (2.9%)

Currently Short (according to size): SDS-long (temporarily 0%; SP500 Dbl-short), STRA (5.1%), NTRS (new, 4.1%), NDAQ (4.1%), CAL (new, 3.7%), SKF-long (3.6%; Fncl's Dbl-short), MDT (3.5%), FULT (3%), CNO (2.8%), SKYW (2.8%)
(Note: inverse-ETFs SDS and SKF represent being dbl-short the respective indices)

Futures Accounts: (still stuck and buried long these)
-Short 30% Jun Euro last night, 1.3683 ave.
-Short 20% Jun BR Pound, 1.5602 ave.

Options (relevant accounts): no position

Bearing the Pain

Bears are feeling it still. I don't want to be a bear as long as it looks like this.

Like it or not, the market is behaving well today; notably resilient on the heels of this week's blast-up.

I reduced yesterday's (new) shorts as a result, and while some of the exit points were poor relative to the day's range, these were presumed hedges; when they were closer to profitable I was holding out of necessity but ultimately unloaded when it was clear they couldn't hold their own water.

Accounts here are still positive today (so far) and this is because the leadership longs are making up for negative recent short trades.

That and a nice entry into DIOD long in the opening minutes.

These blaring-ugly trades can be laughed at via the Twittfit on the right >>> Notice how long my losses are held, relative to gainers. Even if I'm full-out pathetic with fresh-fires, I'm rarely ruined because I keep my broken clocks telling the right time and throw out anything worse.

If I brush aside everything I might think and simplify matters, the simple truth is that 1.) the market is consolidating softly and quietly, which is constructive action; while 2.) Bellwether GS has so far managed to re-take its 200-day moving average today (>115.27); and 3.) when I put on shorts it feels a lot like a pitchfork in my skull, while my long positions have been basically printing money.

That last part is relevant to me and I weight that that highly when analyzing protection, aggression and whether I'll be buying a last-minute plane deal to Boca Bora this weekend; get out to the water for alternative thrills and kills.

I'll be hunting more live longs by scouring the charts this weekend (from whatever location I find myself). The market still behaves like a bull at moment and I'll continue to treat it that way until the bears finally turn this fork around.

Last weekend's list of leadership longs can be viewed here in the meantime.

Total Position: 3.42-to-1 net long, 73% invested

Currently Long (according to size): RJI, PMCS, WNR, NFLX, ARST, CHKP, LFT, MYGN, MNRO, TSYS, DIOD, DRI, IOC

Currently Short (according to size): NTRS, RSH, ELOS, EGO