The advantage of per share over ticket charge was reinforced shortly after 10am this morning when, not wanting to cause a volume spike, I liquidated my long position of 1,000 PSFT in 5 lots of 200 shares, on the coattails of the shortlived ISM euphoria. As soon as CNBC's Steve Liesman went into a rant about his puzzlement at the market's non-reaction to all the recent, great economic numbers, I was out like Flint. Only the fear, perhaps unwarranted, of my generating a repeat NITE-like software glitch together with the inevitable SEC investigation, prevented me from banging the short hotkey. A quick glance at the intraday chart highlights the opportunity cost foregone by my hyper-caution, yet puts into perspective my respect for the SEC and my serious lack of friends in high places. Besides which, I didn't want to get into any more trades - I had a lunch date at 12. Wanting to look respectably stylish, I had gone to the Men's Wearhouse yesterday where I was outfitted from top to toe. I find their cash return policy very generous so I had every intention of eating carefully. The E train brought me into midtown Manhattan, where I rendezvoused with a limo driver friend who owed me a favor or two. He drove me the 2 blocks to one of New York's finest dining establishments and I thought I could hear the fading sounds of his cursing just seconds after he had formally deposited me and was driving off into the heavy Fifth Avenue traffic. I still can't fathom why he wasn't prepared to wait outside like the other drivers there. As the Maitre d' directed me to my table, I nearly disjointed my middle finger when I feigned an attempt to reach for my wallet in the still unstitched blazer pocket. My anguished scream of pain largely went unnoticed and before long I was being introduced to the CEO of HPQ, Carleton Fiorina. Both she and Gretchen were... My inherent modesty combined with a healthy respect for the privacy of others (possible lawsuit) prevents me from continuing in detail. Suffice it to say that the Compx wasn't the only thing spiking at 3:30pm.
Wednesday June 5, 2002 3:24pm PSFT is trading in a tight range around 20.40. Boring. 3:25pm What the #@*%?! PSFT, SEBL, VRTS and other Naz 100 take off. Frantically look up and there's a commercial on CNBC - what else? Jump in already. Naah, this'll end up like the shortlived "10:00am ISM economic number" spike this morning. 3:26pm Switch to CNNfn, Bloomberg - nothing. What am I waiting for, it's 20.80 and rocketing - buy 500 at least. But what could it be? 3:27pm Bob Pisani says it looks like the start of program buying. I'll wait. Now at 20.90. Cool it, baby. 3:28pm Switch to CNNfn, Bloomberg, CNN, FOX - nothing. Smashes thru 21 like a hot knife thru butter. Shoulda gotten in at 20.60, I'd be out by now with a nice profit. 3:29pm Art Cashin says it must be some rumor. Rumor about what? Seems to be losing steam - should I fade this mother? Easy now. 3:30pm Shove your pyjamas and 20 second commute, everybody in every office must know what's going on - they'll be selling to me if I buy now. 3:31pm Finally the news is out - ORCL won't warn. What the #@*%?! Feeling the need to refocus, I get up and break into a sensitive rendition of "Is That All There Is".
The following Series 7 practice question may be of interest: "Let's put some lipstick on this pig." This quote is attributable to : (a) Latest Schwab commercial (b) Maria's make-up artist, 5:30am CNBC studios, Fort Lee, New Jersey (c) Both (a) and (b) (d) Neither of the above No animals were hurt during the writing of this post.
Mr. Sub I enjoy your writing style. (envy) and think you content is enjoyable too. (almost as good as mine would be if I could write like you) P.S. I have not learned how to use that vb stuff so the above comments are not in red. (If I could program I wouldn't be daytrading I be retired from the income generated off my computerized trading)
Thanks jem. To write something in red, enclose it in [ color=red ] and [ /color ], without the spaces. eg. [ color=red ](envy)[ /color ] (without the spaces) would look like (envy). You still have a few minutes to edit your post if you wish
Today was filled with trading opportunities, particularly in my software stocks. On days like these, there is no such thing as midday doldrums and I found myself initiating a nice trade in PSFT shortly after 12 which I closed out 25 minutes later. It was the second of two profitable trades that made this one of my best days for a while. I did what I normally do when I don't want to continue trading - closed the execution software and left NexTrend running. I find this extremely useful especially during lunch hours when the occasional MM trick can lure me into commission generation at best and a "why the @$^& did I get into this trade" loss at worst. Last Thursday afternoon I saw the 210-minute uncut version of "Once Upon A Time In America" on AMC - this afternoon there was nothing to draw me away from the market, so I compromised on a short nap. Two new commercials on CNBC - the emotional crying face of the mother-to-be seeing her baby for the first time on GE's ultrasound reminds me of my first margin call, and for some reason Fidelity's sober "It's not enough to be invested - you've got to be personally invested" comes across as "It's not enough to be screwed - you've got to be personally screwed." The arrest of ImClone's ex-CEO brings to mind the following story: A guy was sitting quietly reading his paper when his wife walked up behind him and whacked him on the head with a frying pan. "What was that for?" he asked. "That was for the piece of paper in your pants pocket with the name MaryLou written on it," she replied. "Two weeks ago when I went to the races, MaryLou was the name of one of the horses I bet on," he explained. "Oh honey, I'm sorry," she said. "I should have known there was a good explanation." Three days later he was watching a ballgame on TV when she walked up and hit him in the head again, this time with a baseball bat which knocked him out cold. When he came to, he asked, "What the hell was that for?" She replied "Your horse called."
There was a young trader from Bright, Who blew up his account overnight, He shorted the yen, And then buggered a hen, Much to Donald and Robert's delight. A shy trader who barely speaks, Decided to study the Greeks, He put on a spread, While still lying in bed, And then proceeded to fondle his cheeks.