The fool would be me after a double-whammy on Citigroup today. First, the run-up from 97¢ to 3.08 (Wednesday) turns out to be primarily driven by short sellers who simply couldn't get their hands on shares. Fine. Then, C announced a reverse split in a stagnant trading session. The stock ran up to 3.89 in the first 15 minutes of the market (another early blast-off), then did a free-fall to 2.60. If you sold for a huge profit in those 15 (or 30 minutes), kudos to you. The stock did stall around 3.40, then at 3 before finishing at 2.60.
The financials all took a hit today, no surprise considering the massive run-up of the past week. I'm still holding, didn't make a move today. Not that I shouldn't have. Some people have itchy fingers. I have a costly aversion to pushing the button, pulling the trigger, however you want to put it. Didn't help that I (unexpectedly) fell asleep and missed the first 20 minutes of the market. Yeah. I should set the alarm clock. In hindsight, I broke one of my own rules about fast-moving stocks: up 50%, sell 50%. Had I stuck to that, I would've unloaded half at 3.45 or so. Why didn't I? Not sure. I do know that though I'm not emotionally connected to stocks (these days), I'm patient. Too patient. To a fault. Is patience an emotion? Not really. Better to be neutral, keep a good distance away and see the whole picture. Back away and see the entire mountain (up to the peak, and the potential dropoff downhill) rather than be so close to the action that you smell the trees.
Where does C go from here? My guess is C goes sideways until earnings, which is a month away. Stuck in traffic. Meanwhile, I'm one of the fools stuck right there with it.
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