Tuesday, November 8, 2011

FAS vs FAZ

Coincidentally, with the 2,000th post on this little blog, I took a much-needed break. The string of losing trades, albeit with mostly tiny to small losses, wore me down. Couple that with a busy workload and blogging wasn't a priority for the past several days. I've known for a long time that I need to air out my thoughts in order to bring order. The clutter doesn't work for me, so I leave it all here for my own benefit. I wouldn't doubt it's the same for a lot of traders.

Looking at FAZ, FAS and DGP before the market opens wasn't something I particularly enjoyed. It's something I made myself do, at least to keep in touch with a small sliver of the market. I haven't made the time to keep track of the mess in the ECU or stateside and I frankly don't miss it. I'm sure the break will be extended.

FAZ daily
Breaking 42 wasn't something I assumed would happen.
35, I wrote awhile back, is where I'd really get interested.
Now we have a pennant for the first time in weeks.
I'll watch from the bleachers.

FAZ daily
Pre-premarket has FAZ trading below 40.

FAS daily
The run from sub-9 to 15-plus was sudden and severe. 
The banksters would not and will let Eurozone interests fail.

FAS daily
Like FAZ, a pennant has formed, which often indicates
a big move is coming soon.

DGP daily
Haven't kept track of gold and silver spot price in ages.
These trendlines are clearly bullish, but I've stayed out.


DGP daily
The trickeration of the puppeteers is a major reason
why I'm in no rush to leap into the fiery lake of gold

Thursday, November 3, 2011

FASter (updated 318 am HST)

2:32 am (Hawaii) FAS on the move again. Haven't read any headlines and the TV has been off all night. But FAS closed yesterday at 13.75 and is hovering above 14.20 now in premarket trading. Fib retrace would bring it down to 14.04.

Update 2:39 am A lot of speculation yesterday is becoming fact today, possibly, with the Greek PM stepping down today. That opens the door for a new PM, basically a puppet, and that would make the referendum "acceptable" to the United States of Europe, and allow Greece to bounce out of the Euro monetary system. Win-win for all sides, and from what I read yesterday, this trail of madness makes sense in its insane way. In other words, as Turd Ferguson and others have penned, the route to printing paper continues.

Catching up with all this news in Greece as I lay here in bed with my laptop, watching Bloomberg TV online. Yes, I am in bed with Betty Liu. Again.


Obama side by side with Sarkozy. Was this ever really going to fall apart? There's no way the banksters would have let that happen, not this week.

Update 2:47 am FAS made ludicrous surge from 14.15 to 14.53 (in a 2-minute span) before selling back down to 14.35. Bloomberg reporting that the new ECB boss is cutting the base interest rate. The puppet show is ON.

New Fib retrace level for FAS is now 14.23. Currently 14.36.

Update 3:18 am Betty now says Greece PM is "fighting on" and will not resign. I'm glad I'm not trading on these contrary bizarro headline news. FAS is holding at 14.36 so far, but 14.23 (Fib retrace) is in range. I don't like these wacko reports though. They're all lying, aren't they?

More likely, the Greece PM is Dr. Jekyll when he's corralled by Euro interests, then is back to Mr. Hyde when he is back home.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Wednesday cinema & library

Blogs

Le Fly: Another staged crisis (Nov 2)

Vlogs

Audio

Mainstream
Bloomberg: 'Too soon' to discuss China buying more EFSF: Zhu (Nov 2)

13.33? (updated 944 am HST)

3:35 am (Hawaii) Looking for FAS Fib retrace to 13.33 off its high today of 13.69. Dow currently +162 (1.4%), Nasdaq up 31 (+1.2%), S&P +19 (+1.6%).

Update 4:04 am FAS touched 13.33, finally, for a minute or two, rose up to 13.45, now dipping a second time. If it can hold at 13.33 for more than a minute, fine. I'm not optimistic or skeptical. Everything is in flux because of Greece and today's FOMCpalooza.

Update 8:22 am Got my sleep, woke up about an hour ago, just lounging in bed. Laptop and Bloomberg TV online. I guess I could say I was in bed with Betty Loo this morning. FAS ran to 13.92 off that Fib retrace to 13.33. The precision of that retrace was cool, highly entertaining and fun. Too bad I didn't buy. I had an order in, but it never filled.  

As I slept, FAS pulled back again probably based on the Fed minutes of its 2-day meeting (no policy change). An hour ago, FAS dipped to 13.20, low of the day, and then ran to 13.54 before selling off again, mini-waterfall style. Currently at 13.26-13.33. So FAS is back to today's Fib retrace level.

Dow +123 (+1%), Nasdaq +13 (+0.5%), S&P +11.85 (+0.9%). FAZ is at 43.17-43.24 here.

Staying out through Bernanke's press conference.

Update 8:50 am From Business Insider, predictions from the Fed:
  • It lowered GDP growth forecasts for 2011 from 2.7%-2.9% in June to 1.6%-1.7%. For 2012, it revised projections downward to 2.5%-2.9%.
  • The Fed boosted unemployment projections to 9.0-9.1% from 8.6%-8.9%.
  • The Fed also raised PCE inflation estimates slightly for this year to 1.8-1.9% (they were predicting 1.5%-1.9%). Predictions for next year were relatively unchanged, however, at 1.5%-2.0%.
Meanwhile, FAS has broken higher to 13.49. No apparent reason why.

Update 9:44 am Not touching anything here, though I have a bias to the long side. 13.51 is a crucial point for FAS, being the 50% retrace price of the latest run from 13.21 to 13.80. FAS is testing this intraday support level for the second time now.

Bouncing FAS

3:21 am (Hawaii) The more I think, the better I trade. It's when I fail to think, fail to write or journal, that I fall off the tracks. Discipline would've kept me in and stopped me out of FAZ at good price points yesterday. Instead, I chased, stayed in overnight despite expecting a possible bounce in bankster stocks, and I sold this morning at 42+ for a sizable loss (almost $3/share).

I have faith in discipline. It's emotion that leads to dumb trades. Futures are up modestly = Dow futures only +41 while FAZ was -6% - but again, it was a bad trade from the start. Before afterhours trading closed yesterday, I thought about getting some FAS to balance out my FAZ trade, which I didn't do. FAS is up 6%, which was what I knew could happen based on previous boxes and patterns of ascending volume in FAZ during the past few months. 3-day surges followed by selloffs. Major selloffs.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Tuesday cinema & library (updated 530 pm HST)



Blogs
(new) Peter Brandt: What charts say about US stock market (Nov 1)
Turd Ferguson: MFing Global (Nov 1)
Lance Roberts: Fed trapped by inflation, there will be no QE3 tomorrow (Nov 1)
Reggie Middleton: Greco-Franco bank run has skipped pond, landed in NY/Chicago (Nov 1)
Zero Hedge: How US banks are lying about European exposure (Nov 1)
SGS: Carnage update (Nov 1)
Le Fly: Life could be worse (Nov 1)
Jake Gint: Pumpkin head market (Nov 1)
Cain Thaler: I'll take a break from pessimism (Nov 1)
Rajun Cajun: Pullback to the 20-day (Nov 1)
chessnwine: Melting away the coked-up rally (Nov 1)
bigdad06: China moves on water! (Nov 1)
RT: Lauren Lyster (Nov 1)
Gerald Celente: Liberty Plaza, part 3 (Nov 1)
(new) NewAmericaNow: Greece: SHTF imminent (Nov 1)
(new) Christopher Greene: MF Global is next Lehman (Nov 1)
Audio

Mainstream
(new) Business Insider: Europe - What to expect in the next 24 hours (Nov 1)
(new) Business Insider: Fitch joins mass freak-out over Greek referendum (Nov 1)
(new) Business Insider: The sad story of why everyone's angry at Italy (Sept 23)

Trick or Treat?


FAS vs FAZ - Discipline vs Emotion (updated 3:57 pm HST)

FAZ daily
Another 10+% move, now up roughly 25% in two days.
Note the four boxes. In each of those 3-day time spans,
FAZ volume exploded in similar sequence.
Each time, FAZ sold off drastically after those 3 days.
We're at the end of another of those 3-day boxes.

FAZ daily
I guessed yesterday that the new range would be 36 to 42, the
latter being previous support. Today's candle is not quite bullish,
and though a lot of traders think rising volume is good, sometimes
it indicates a blow-off top. That's been true of FAZ lately.

FAZ daily
This kind of exploding volume, the last 3 days worth,
happens often enough in FAZ. Kind of like a drunkard getting
ready to ralph. Full pukeage tomorrow?

FAS daily
Though FAZ looks about to pass out from fatigue, FAS and
this hanging man candlestick look horrendous. More so with
the conviction of this volume. Then again, there might not be
any sellers left.

FAS daily
Off today's low, just barely. Entering here is only for the brave.
I have no love for the banksters, but I did trade FAS from 11 (or so)
to 11.33 a week or two ago. No way to know where it bottoms
this time.

12:26 pm (Hawaii) My first look at FAZ as a buying opportunity today came after the rise to 44+. I waited for 42.96 as a Fib retrace and possible entry point. I missed it, felt fine. It ran up to 45, came back down and I waited to see if 42.96 would hold. It did not. All the stops and profit-taking kicked in as FAZ sank to below 42.30. I didn't nibble. I went to sleep at around 5:30 am local time.

Near the end of the day, FAZ ran again on yet another intraday dip. The Fib retrace this time was 43.67. Sure enough, FAZ ran from 45+ down below 44 and briefly touched the 43.60s. Again, I didn't step in. FAZ ran above 44, then to 45. What did I do? I chased at 45.15, debated on getting out before the bell at a little above break-even, broke discipline and held it. As usual, FAZ sold off right after the closing bell and remains at just above 44.00 after hours.

This is the difference between knowing and executing, discipline and emotion. I normally refuse to hold FAS or FAZ overnight due to European lunatic behavior. But this time, I intend to walk out and take a small loss strictly because the market has sold off several hundred points on the Dow in two days, and Helicopter Ben is speaking tomorrow. I will not test that tar pit of death. Sure, FAZ will run higher eventually, but it's time for a breather and traders will jump out as they already have late today. If it returns to 40 or 35+, better price.

Maybe Bernanke says nothing tomorrow. Maybe the chatter about Greek default and investor lawsuits against MF Global gets heavier. Maybe it's time for me to establish a longer-term position in FAZ. Too many maybes equal probably not.

Update 3:57 pm If FAS does a 5o% Fib retrace off its recent high, that would bring it to 12.58. It hit a low of 12.72 today. Close enough? Won't surprise me if FAS bounces tomorrow.