Ifihadthecash's Blog

Stock Market September 23, 2009

The Fat Lady — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 10:31:45 +0000

So the experimentation begins again. There strangely wasn’t that much to choose from in the ranges that I was looking, but ESLR caught my eye as one that fluctuates around 20%. Since I’m using only $1000, the fluctuation would do me good and allow me to rebuild quickly and get to the type of funding that I can live off of. After all, that is the whole point, right? To use the stock market winnings as something that I can live off of.

So, it was 470 shares @ 1.99 = $935.30. I haven’t put in a stop order, being that I can’t spread it out on this particular ‘fantasy’ game. If I were going to do it, I would set the price at a 5% trailing stop when it reaches $2.35. The low point would be $1.70 or so, which is a 10% loss or thereabouts.

Stock Market September 22, 2009

The Fat Lady — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 01:01:32 +0000

I haven’t posted over the past few days. Yesterday, I didn’t post because I couldn’t travel on the road to get to my place – it was flooded. Friday, I didn’t post because nothing actually happened.

Today, the Sprint sold for $4.41. I bought it for $4.09, making a profit of $364 (after commissions are taken out).

I’m going to switch myself downward again, having been at $15K, then $5K, and now I’m going to do this particular experiment at $1K. Reason being? I have a chance of potentially actually HAVING the cash to do this by the end of the year. This means, too, that I have to look at gaining a higher percentage to make a profit after the $20 is paid out.

So, final total for this portion of the experiment is

$15200 + $364 = $15564 (+$564 or a 3% gain (5% really, since I was using only $10K of it and the other $5K for reserve). Not too bad for 1 month and 4 days. This experiment is really based on percentages, anyway – it doesn’t matter what dollar amount that I use, but there’s more of a commission hit for the lower ones.

Stock Market September 17, 2009

The Fat Lady — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 01:37:48 +0000

Everything took a hit today, and I’m standing pat. It wasn’t one of those days where I could really fret about the stock market anyway.

Stock Market September 16, 2009

The Fat Lady — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:13:28 +0000

The site was acting a bit weird today, and on the heels of having the JASO sell, I decided to get some S(print). It looks like it’s on an upswing right now. I was able to pick it up for $4.09 a share, and fully expect it to go up to $4.30 or $4.40 in the next week or so.

I’m working on the process for getting a loan so I can really say that I have the cash.

Stock Market September 15, 2009

The Fat Lady — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:29:52 +0000

The JASO sold today for $4.15, making a total profit of $316. This brings me back into the positive, even after the world fell apart earlier in the month. The ‘end’ of the month is on Friday, and I can officially say that I’ve made a profit.

$14884 + $316 = $15200 (+$200)

Stock Market September 14, 2009

The Fat Lady — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:05:25 +0000

I really was never good at the waiting game. Especially when that waiting involved watching the stocks that I’m playing with take a small tumble. I’m no more than 5% down on them, and I’m not going to sell them because I know that they’ll go up, but it’s aggravating to watch sometimes.

Stock Market September 11, 2009

The Fat Lady — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 00:54:48 +0000

It was a beautifully rainy day today, perfect for the market to stall out just a bit. I’m still holding the Family Dollar and the JA Solar, because there’s not been that much of a loss involved with them. In fact, the JASO is still showing a tiny bit of a gain.

I look at my comments about HL, and right now it’s selling for about $4.45, and I got rid of it the first time at $3.10. I’m thinking about dumping Wall Street Survivor in favor of a fantasy stock site that I have the same flexibility with as my Ameritrade account.

On a different note, I’m going to be playing with the format a bit, to make this a little bit more friendly. Maybe put some explanations in things.

Stock Market September 10, 2009

The Fat Lady — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 01:42:34 +0000

The Family Dollar is merely hanging out – no news to drive it. Of course I haven’t had it too long, so I’m still waiting for it to do something. Right now, it’s around 1 or 2% down, nothing to particularly worry about or really take any consideration of.

JASO, the solar equipment company, went up 5% or something like that today. I didn’t get a chance to sell it, but I did set the bar a little higher. You see, this is where the trade triggers come into place, something that I would definitely have if the game that I played had them. Hopefully, the stock will gain another 5% and I can wholly claim that I’ve gained for this month.

Stock Market September 9, 2009

The Fat Lady — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:41:13 +0000

The Office Depot (ODP) sold today for $5.34 per share. I bought it at $5.10 a share, so there was a tiny bit of profit involved. I’ve decided to just take the $20 commission fee off of the selling total, which makes it a lot easier for me to calculate.

In the meantime, I was able to pick up Family Dollar (FDO) yesterday for $28.25, and I got some JASO for $3.87. So now we’re back into the waiting phase of the game. I expect the JASO to pick up a little bit later on in the week, and the FDO to be some time next week. It’s the waiting part that always gets me. Just watching and waiting for something to sell, that’s the killer. I’ve decided not to pay attention to it for a little while, though.

$14664 + $220 = $14884 (-$116)

Stock Market September 7, 2009

The Fat Lady — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 14:16:24 +0000

Despite everything that I did to try to catch it, the HL sold. Again, there would have been a qualifier placed on it on Friday that said ‘if this goes DOWN 5%, sell it, but otherwise leave it alone. It sold at $3.75, netting a total of $760.

I put in a bid for the Family Dollar (FDO) because I know that one’s going to go back up to $31 or $32. Right now, it’s about $28.50, and I’m tempted to just put in a market order to get it, rather than the limit order that’s in there right now. I’ll put in the sell order to get it at $31.50, making me a healthy amount over the couple of weeks that I’d have to hold it.

The more that I work this, the more I realize that I need to think ‘over the month’ rather than the course of ‘over the day. I STILL haven’t gotten into the ‘gaining’ territory after I went nuts and sold all of the stocks, but I’m holding a bit better footing. The Office Depot should sell tomorrow or the next day, making up the difference and getting me back to base.

$13884 + $760=$14644 (-$356)