MERRY CHRISTMAS

Luke 2:1-20

¹ In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ² (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ And everyone went to their own town to register.

⁴ So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷ and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

¹⁶ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷ When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸ and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 14:6

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Time to relax

I have on plenty of trades right now, maybe even a couple too many. In any event it's now time for me to chill out an enjoy the rest of the holiday season.

From here until about a week after the new year I'll take any profits the market wants to give me and I'll also monitor my trades, just no new trades here on out for awhile. The market slows this time of year and my injured fingers have been on fire with all these new entries.

Enjoy the holiday season!

New Trade - LEN

Proverbs 16:3 "Commit to the LORD whatever you do and your plans will succeed."

The market Triple Dogged Dare me to take this trade - so I'm taking it:

2 day's close above resistance - time to commit this to the LORD and relax and rake in the profit. Looking to the next level of resistance up as the target - $20.00 or so.

I bought the May 17 Calls for $2.73. Now just time to chill.

New Trade - HST

Proverbs 13:22 "...A good man leaves an inheritance for his children's children, but a sinner's wealth is stored up for the righteous..."

Don't be a Scrooge Mr. Market, give me a nice profit.

Here's a new entry - HST:

2 days close above resistance and I'm all aboard Long April 16 Calls for $2.35. The target is the next level of resistance above, gotta pull up a little longer chart to see it:

Target is $18.70ish. Got loads of time in our option to get there. Time to just sit and wait for the profit.

Thanks IP - Merry Christmas!

The market gave me another early Christmas present this year - 14% ROI in 3 days from IP - such nice market makers! This is a blessed Christmas indeed!

Here's the chart:

I could've stayed in for a bit longer to get more profit, BUT we are rapidly approaching Christmas and most likely stocks will just go sideways for a bit. So, instead of being greedy, I took my early gift and got out.

Sold my long Call Option originally bought for $3.85 and sold for $4.40, for a $0.55 profit, ROI% of 14% in 3 trading days.

Halleujah!!!

CBS - new trade

Abundant blessings for us!!

CBS chart:

Just your normal resistance break. 2 day's close above resistance. Also, this stock was upgraded the other day by multiple analysts.

Long March 17 Call $2.50.

Gotta go back a ways to find next level of resistance for target:

As Tiny Tim would say "God bless us every one"!

DNR - new trade

Christmas is coming and it's time to receive our blessings.

DNR's chart:

A simple bounce trade off a higher low (possible ascending triangle). Just looking to go up and hit resistance.

Long March 18 Call $2.00

Merry Christmas!!

MGM - early profits

Took profits early. Had 3 days higher for about a 12% move in stock price, so took profits and will look for possible entry.

Here's Chart:

Net: $0.37

ROI%: 14%

Days: 10 trading days

If we get another close above this resistance area, then I'll look for a re-entry.

Thank you LORD!

injured!

About cut my finger off yesterday with a saw, so entries will be short.

New Trade - IP

John 10:10 "...I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

I'm looking for a Christmas gift from the stock market this season and I found it in IP. Check out the chart:

This is simply an entry in an uptrend (i.e. higher highs and higher lows) in an individual stock (i.e. IP) while an uptrend in the overall market. I'm simply going with the flow - "a rising tide lifts all boats".

So, IP had a recent pullback and we had the buyers come in today and started driving price back up again. What also helped was that IP had an upgrade.

I bought the April 23 Call for $3.85. Why April? Because it's closest to 90 days at 119. Why 23? Because it's closest to the delta of .70 and had over 500 open interest.

My target is simply the last most recent highs and my stop is 2 levels of support below (i.e. last 2 times the buyers pushed price back up).

From here I just wait for the stock price to hit my target so I can get my Christmas gift - maybe Santa will come early this year and I won't have to wait long.

MERRY CHRISTMAS - REMEMBER JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON! Don't forget to send the ACLU a "Merry Christmas" card this year.

MRVL - loss

We got a loss today in MRVL:

As you can see, I've had 2 consecutive closes in my stop zone (which was 2 levels of support below my entry). No big deal, a loss is simply a loss - it's to be expected.

I originally bought my Call Option for $2.24 and sold it today for $0.92, so I took a $1.32 loss or a 59% ROI loss.

So, what do I do now? Cry? Get ticked off and kick the dog? Re-vamp my entire trading process? Quit trading altogether? Visit a Shrink?

No, I do what all profitable professional traders do - I look for the next trade.

CMCSA - target hit, profits taken

Thank you Lord - another good trade. Check out today's chart on CMCSA:

Today the target was hit. Yes, it took awhile to get there after some going sideways and pulling back, but today was a nice pop up to guess where???? RESISTANCE. I.e. the next line in the sand above for the sellers. Looking closely at this chart you can see that the bulls actually had price above resistance, but those sellers weren't about to put up with that mularky and they pushed that price back down to almost my line exactly. (resistance and support are AREAS not EXACTS - but it does make me look somewhat good on this chart, huh?).

Something else to take away from this trade - you GOTTA HAVE ENOUGH TIME in your option in order for the price to get to where it's going. If I would've purchased a shorter time frame option, then I most likely would have had either a loss or not as good as a profit. WHEN YOU BUY AN OPTION BUY AS CLOSE TO 90 DAYS AS POSSIBLE!

Enough of the speech, let's get onto the numbers:

Bought the option for $1.63

Sold the option for $2.19

Net Profit = $0.56

ROI = 34% in approx 6 weeks

Not the strongest of trades, but it IS profitable. So now, I'm looking for another good trade to put on. When the right one comes, I'll be ready for it.

Thanks Chuck!!

New Trade - MGM

2 Corinthians 8:9 "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich."

We've got a new trade. Check out today's chart on MGM:

This is a triangle pattern break out trade. Notice how the price consolidated making lower highs and higher lows since early/mid October. Look at how the volume has been increasing as the price has been going higher. Look at the relative lows in the stochs since early November and look at how the MACDs (especially the two lines) have been going up as well.

If you look closely you can see the earnings (noted by a small telephone on the chart), which came out MUCH better than expected (big white candle), should be helping this stock go up as well.

The target is the next level of resistance above - approx $15.70ish or so.

I bought the March (100 days to expiration or so - which was the closest options to 90 days) 12 Calls for $2.63.

So, as you might know by know, one of the following will occur with this trade:

1. The stock will hit my target and I'll take profits

2. I'll take my profit before the stock hits my target due to weakness or time,

or

3. The stock will hit my stop.

Either way, it's all good.

DOW Update

Took early profits today in DOW, check out the chart:

Why did I take profits? It was still going in my intended direction, it didn't hit my stop, and I still had plenty of time left until expiration. So why?

I took early profits because even though I have a target, it doesn't mean that the price is going to make a bee line right up to it. Instead there will be some ebb and flow. Today I seen a bit of a gap and a small doji candle. This tells me that we're running out of steam, that the gap was a bit too big and the bulls are now weak at these prices. In addition to that gap and doji I've noticed the volume has been dropping as we've been going up. The bulls are loosing their gusto.

So, I took profits and will keep DOW on my watchlist for a possible re-entry.

There are 2 other things to keep in mind when trading:

1. "A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush." (i.e. take profits when you can), and

2. There are many other great set ups either ready to trade or coming up which will give me a better edge than this current position. (i.e. you want to always get the greatest bang out of your trading dollars).

I sold this option for $4.00, after buying it for $3.25 approx a month ago. That gave me a net of $0.75 ($75 per share) for the trade. Again, doesn't sound like much, however the ROI was 23% in one month. If you annualized that out it would be 276% per year gain.

From here, it goes back on the watchlist for a possible re-entry - however if there are better set-ups, then that's where the trading dollars will go.

New Trade Time - MRVL

Okay, okay, okay Mr. Stock Market, I'll take the money on this trade.

Check out the chart on MRVL:

As you can see, this stock was in a consolidation (or symmetrical) triangle. It broke out of the triangle yesterday on rising volume. The volume increased today with higher prices. Also, it broke a prior level of resistance for 2 consecutive days.

In addition to all that sweetness, the stochs are going higher, the MACD histogram is getting more bullish, and the MACD lines look like they're ready for a cross up.

MRVL is in the technology sector, which is currently stronger than the SPX.

So, what I'm trying to say is that this looks like a good solid trade with a nice edge.

I bought a February 19 Call Option for $2.24. My target is approx $21.70, which lines up nicely on 2 different fronts (see the chart below):

1. It's the next level of resistance above, and

2. The measurement of the triangle pattern predicts this movement to get to this level.

So, there you have it, time to take the nice gift of money from Mr. Market - maybe he'll get it to us in time for Christmas. He better not be a Scrooge!

Glory to God!!!

CMCSA - update

This stock decided to get into full on pullback mode after I entered the trade - CONSPIRACY I DECLARE!!

Just kidding. I noticed a couple of days ago that it pulled back in a classic channel, when you get a channel (either on a trade that you are currently in, or looking for a new trade) you always look for a break out of that trade in the original direction of the stock before it started the channel.

In our case, CMCSA pulled back into a channel and today it had a nice substantial break of that channel along with volume that has been increasing over the past few days. I.e. - odds are we go up from here, and possibly quickly.

We're just sitting tight for now - just relaxing and letting this thing either make us profit or give us a loss.

XLU & DOW

Nothing major to report. The targets have not been hit and the stops have not been hit. XLU has had quite the pullback and even had a one day close in the stop zone - however it did not get 2 CONSECUTIVE days in the stop zone.

So, it's all part of trading, either we'll get a profit or a loss - nothing scary or dangerous, it's just trading folks.

PCX - took early profits

Here's the chart:

I took profits early on this trade. I got out around 16.81ish and was looking for about 70 more cents of a move.

However, there's a few reasons why I got out today:

1. It popped up above it's recent little resistance area with a small candle - to me it just feels like it's backside is sitting out in the open ready to get hit hard by the sellers tomorrow or the next day. If so, it will probably have a much larger pullback - and time is a tickin'.

2. The market has been pulling back/sideways lately and even though it had a nice pop up today, I can't help thinking that it may now go sideways until the end of the year. Hand in hand with this, I feel that there are most likely better setups giving me a better percentage return at this point in which to best utilize my trading moolah.

3. A bird in the hand...

I sold my long January 14 Call Option that I originally purchase for $2.15 for $3.25. A profit of $1.10 and more importantly an ROI of 51% in approx 4 weeks.

Not too shabby. Now I will use this trading capital and look for a pretty setup.

Thank you LORD!