Impuse to flee

Got out of Baidu with the market so skittish. I keep sleeping through the open (4:30 am Hawaii time), and that hurt me today. Everything was up big at the open, then sold down through the day. BIDU was up 28 to 369, my break-even point, at the beginning of the session. By the time I woke up, BIDU was down to 350. Then it slid and slid. My mental stop-loss was 344 (7% off today's high), but I held on and then sold at 337. Of course, the stock rallied a bit to 344 at the close.

Another factor in my BIDU sell was John Najarian saying that he believes there is one more major selloff ahead because a major institution is still unloading and will do so on the next drop. Najarian is astute, no reason to doubt him.

Apple killed me today. Apple opened up from 170 to 177, then slid. At 166, I'm was ready to sell, but I remembered my oath to never sell Apple shares again and held on. RIMM was at 118 early before sliding like the rest. At one point, by my math, my account was up more than 10% (at each stock's high). Sure I can't pick the top, but had I sold near the top, that's a 7 or 8% profit instead of finishing in the red for the day.

I fret because of this margin call, small as it is. I thought today would be up and I'd chip away at that debt. Instead, I lost money (on paper). I'll be content to get out of this market. Too wacky. Still have AAPL, RIMM and NTDOY.