Historically this week has been the worst week of the year for the stock market and while the sample size is small (50 years) its still something to pay attention to.
The market is gaping up about .5% 45 min before the open after a down day on Friday. I have on several longs and took profits Friday on several other longs. Today depending on how the first 15 to 30 min go I will look to add Breakout trades for a very short term swing.
We are getting through the sell in may period pretty good as the markets have held up well. Come mid October its time to start shifting strategy to more medium term swing trades. At least that is the prevailing wisdom. Last year I put on a portfolio of stocks in mid October only to witness one of the largest market drops in history over such a short period of time. I finally abandoned all of my rules and jettisoned all of the stocks to take up only short term swings.
I did not get out at the bottom but as we all know now the market made a V shaped recovery and most likely if I would of stuck with my plan I would of had profits in every trade. That goes to show you that a seasoned gambler such as myself can diverge from the optimum strategy from time to time. The human mind is a tricky thing. You will never harness it completely , unless your a Vulcan. And if your are I would like to meet you:)
Enough craziness for this morning. Big news this week with the Fed meeting on Wednesday and Japan shortly after that announcing any stimulus plans it may have. Typically these are fade the pre event move. Thats the % way to go with these but its still not low risk. But not much is anymore these days.
If you want to follow some of my trades along with my thoughts typically given after the open you can go to @rickjswings. It’s my private twitter feed for the stock market and its free. Sports Handicapping is the subscription-based part of this site. But considering the cost of joining it’s almost free:)
Good Luck Today
RickJ
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