Solitaire Trader

Snoopy Dance: NVEC

Every time a stock in my portfolio goes up 10% or more in a single day, I do a Snoopy Dance!

NVEC was up +10.38% today.  This is its 2nd Snoopy Dance in 3 days!

Monday 10/23 Trades

Monday's Trades:

Buys: BEAV, AOB, PMTR, ENZN, ALGN, TRT.

Sells:

IWOV - stop hit for -4.13% loss.
NUVO - stop hit for -3.20% loss.
RNWK - stop hit for -3.62% loss.
AVNR - stop hit for -6.75% loss.

I'm having too many losers, but at least with the small position size and close stops, it's keeping the losses very small.  The good news is that there are a few stocks in the portfolio that are really running (see today's Snoopy Dances).

Friday 10/20 Trades

Friday's trades:

Buys: none.

Sells:

ININ - stop hit for +14.27% gain.  A shame about this one, I was hoping for better but it gapped down through my stop.  It happens.  Still, since I had two lots it was a big position gainer.
TSRA - stop hit for -2.43% loss.
CRAY - stop hit for -6.13% loss.
APN - sold for +6.34% gain.  Company was acquired.  Two lots, so worth twice the losers in position size.
URBN - stop hit for +4.24% gain.

Friday

Tomorrow is options expiration day, and although I don't always stop trading on expiration day, I probably will this time.  I've been trading a lot this past week and it is time for a break.  Unless I see something really great, I probably won't make any new buys.  I will be selling APN as it was acquired today (didn't find out about it till after the close).

On the whole these last couple of weeks have been very good.  I'm having a lot of success with range contraction plays such as Narrow Range 7 (NR7).  Strong stocks are bursting out of narrow consolidations and running up huge.  NVEC (today's Snoopy Dance) is one example. 

Here's another one:

There are now 8 stocks (of 35) in the portfolio up more than 10%: NVEC +33%, FMD +31%, ININ +28%, SVVS +22%, MIKR +15%, TIE +13%, IDEV +11%, NUVA +10%.  7 stocks are below their buy price, but the worst is only -2%.  What has really gotten me back into groove again was reducing my position size down to about 1/3 of what I was using last spring.  This means I've been taking small positions in a whole lot of stocks, but the small position size and tight stops have kept the losses small, but the big winners are really starting to build.   At some point it will be time to start thinking of taking profits, but I'm keeping my stops in tight so that might take care of itself if the market drops.

And GO CARDINALS!  W00t!  Beltran strikes out with the bases loaded and two out in the bottom of the 9th.  Man, you can't make this stuff up!

Snoopy Dance: NVEC

Every time a stock in my portfolio goes up 10% or more in a single day, I do a Snoopy Dance!

NVEC was up +20.49% today!

Thursday 10/19 Trades

Thursday's trades:

Buys: AVNR, ALTH, MA, ILE, BVX.

Sells:

SMSI - stop hit for -5.22% loss.

Wednesday 10/18 Trades

Wednesday's trades:

Buys: NRPH, NGA, VOLC.

Sells:

STSI - stop hit for -5.31% loss.
ATML - stop hit for -3.62% loss.

Nice move up for portfolio stock NVEC here on Thursday morning.

Tuesday 10/17 Trades

Tuesday's trades:

Buys: LNG, NUVO.

Sells:

OPSW - stop hit for -3.06% loss.
BWNG - sold for a +22.40% gain in 1 week, company was acquired.

Monday 10/16 Trades

Monday's Trades:

Buys: ISIG, MIKR, CRAY, CLEC

Sells: None.

Update

Yes, I've been bad about updating.  I've been too busy trading to blog about it.  I've updated the portfolio link on the right.

Although a few stocks hit their stops and dropped out, for the most part the stocks I've been buying have been going up.  I've been buying a lot of stocks, with very small positions (about 1/3 or 1/4 the position size that I was trading in the spring).  Also I've been setting my stops very close, sometimes within 3-4% of the buy price.  Remarkably few stops have been hit even with the stops that close.

Here is the current portfolio:

SVVS, FMD, URBN, OPLK, VLO, OPSW, TSRA, APN, RNWK, ININ, IDEV, ICOC, TIBX, HWCC, BIOV, BWNG, TIE, STSI, ATML, IWOV, NUVA, BRKR, ISIS, NVEC, SVNT, SMSI

Of these, the notable winners are FMD +27%, SVVS +24%, ININ +19%, URBN +10%.  Only 2 stocks (ISIS, SMSI) are below their buy prices.

I highly recommend watching Brian Shannon's videos over at Alpha Trends.  Although he trades shorter term than I do (day trades or only a few days holding), some of the stocks he's been featuring lately have had good setups for longer term trades as well.  If you've been watching his videos, you'll recognize some of the stocks above from them.