The Virtue of Patience

A new trading week, the S&P smashing through 1,130 resistance and the Bulls seemingly in control for now offered hope that I could book some profits this week on the swing trades I've had in the works this month... but, no. It seems more patience will be required.

HAUP seems intent on testing the 50dma around 2.48 before too long, while CPE showed brief signs yesterday that it was about to break out but it failed at 4.02 (coincidentally enough the price I've been placing sell orders the last few sessions but pulled it off when the stock start showing intraday strength and potential to start a move towards its 200dma at 4.49) before sinking back to support in the 3.70s.

NLST is the only one of the three that has stayed green this week with a modest move off support to the 2.90 area and that came, ironically enough, when the market was red today.

So no real progress in realizing some gains there but I did get caught trying to capitalize on some of the bizarre volatility in HDY in the final hour of trading as it zinged back and forth between 1.70 and 1.90 in a 10-minute spell. Of course, once I had a sell order in place for 1.90 and it fired, the stock blew past that level and closed a penny off the high at 1.97.

That level just under 2.00 has been formidable resistance for HDY in the past and I'm hoping it rebounds down a bit so I can re-buy my position, hopefully back in the 1.70s!

On the Operation Salvage front, a GTC limit order of mine triggered yesterday at 0.034 on penny turd JEDM, getting me out of a trade I should never have let turn red in the first place with about 40% of my initial investment intact — a couple of hundred bucks more than I would have escaped with last week so I'll take it, especially as the stock has sunk back to 0.024 today.

With a bit more breathing room, I've been upping my efforts to generate some day-trading profits but have found it frustratingly difficult, timing my entries too late and catching stocks as their momentum dies. I was stopped out of LOCM (though I knew going in that the upside was limited as I was jumping on at the tail end of a big move), sold ACAS at break even after it hit a wall of resistance and BGP had moved just a penny by the close today, ending the day at 1.27 (0.02 below my entry) so that's become a new short-term swing trade for me. The chart looks promising for more gains, though, hopefully tomorrow.

On a positive note — and strike another one for patience! — LVS made another 52-week high with a nice point-plus move on a red day for the broader market, bringing me to within touching distance of a 1,000% gain on what is unquestionably my favorite stock!