Great 1st Q. 2006

Whew, it was a busy day.
I told you yesterday that it will get hairy today.
Let me explain, but first, let's recap.
I am used to measuring my performance.
Always count your beans. You will never improve if you don't measure.

During the first three months of 06':
Dow 30: + 3.9%
SP500: + 3.7%
Nasdaq: + 6.0%
Acetrader: +20.2%
I am sure luck had a lot to do with this impress result.
If I were you, I would keep praying that Acetrader continue this trend.

Before I forget, I bought into SYMC at $16.7 today as per my last note.
Good thing that i didn't chase it. I played cool.

Our good friend Judd had asked me if Microsoft VISTA will hurt SYMC.
(VISTA will have internal security software embedded in the Windows).
BTW, what a smart question. He is definately thinking.
I do not claim to be an expert in the tech arena.
All I know is that there are very very smart investors who buy & sell with information you and I do not have. And the price tells me that we are OK. In the short term, VISTA was delayed releasing the Window until next year (good news for SYMC investors). I expect to be out of this stock near $20 level earning myself 20-30%. So, I do not particularly worry about the long term.

From my previous notes, you know that I am short ICE.
ICE went up to $73.14 today (bad) then fell to $67.32 (good for me) in about 15 minutes! That's a $5 movement. Oh, my. What a day. I am still short.

I think we have maybe few weeks left until the market becomes soft.
This summer does not look good for stocks. I hope I am wrong.
If you are holding an index like funds, try to move them to cash.

The future is in Asia. (EEM, EPP, EWY, FXI)
The future is in Tech. and Bio Tech. (PWO, IBB, PBE)

In the next ten years, that's where money will be made.
Remember that.

Short term, you need some Oil related coverage. (OIH)
You want to have some insurance just in case something happens in the Middle East.
As you know, I have OIH and BJS.
Have a great weekend.

Wild Day Expected ...

Today is the last dayof March 2006.
Do you know what that means?

It is the last day of first quarter as well.
There will be a lot of portfolio adjustments going around.
The market will be wild. Up and down for no reason.

I need to buy SYMC today.
Hopefully for a good decent price.

Here is a Lesson #1:
Q. Isn't it better to buy SYMC when it was at $16 rather than at $17?
A. No. We all need to pick an entery point.
When it was at $16, it was still in the down trend.
It may be stuck in the 15-16 area for the next 6 months.(never tie up your $)
We need confirmed breakout move before deploying our troops($).
The break point for this was about $16.7
We will only buy if it breaks that, and it did yesterday.(went as high as 17.14)
Can this come back down? Could it be faulse positive?
Yes, and yes. But we play the odds.
Odds are better if you py higher price than buying at the low.
If we are wrong, I will tell you and we move on. It's that simple.
We only have about 10,000 different stocks to choose from : )

P.S: Never mind what others paid for a stock. Who cares?
As long as you can make some, that all you care.
I see too many people miss a stock by not acting on it because Dick bought it for lesss.
Sometimes you will miss the boat, sometimes you get lucky.
Oh! what-fun-it-is-to-ride .....

Buy: Symantec (SYMC)

SYMC went up 6.56% today.
I've been watching this for sometime.
Today it broke both 50 & 200 day M.A. (Good sign)
Down side is very small & up side is quite big.

Therefore, I am in.
I was trying to get it at $16.7 but it went stright up.
Tomorrow I will try again to buy it in the 16's.
Expect 20-30% gain on this one without much pain.

Oh, if you don't know what business SYMC is in, too bad.
You need to at least look that up.
Trust me, you already gave your $ to SYMC whether you know it or not.

Welcome ...

Welcome to AceTrader notes:

Instead of e-mailing to all of you, I've decided to keep a journal for myself, as well as to communicate with friends. Yes, I am doing just fine and "Ace" is my son's first name.

I have both trading account as well as investment account. What's the difference you ask?
Investment time horizon.

Trading account is for a short term play (1day - few weeks at the most).
Investment account is for a long term play (months - years).

Obviously, you can have both in one account.
But please understand the difference.

As of today, these are my troops in the investment account.
MATK(28), AAPL(60), IGLD(6.5), OIH(142), BJS(35), RICK(4.7), BTYH(1.5), IDWD(0.7)
For simplicity, decimals were rounded off unless the stock price is in the single digits.

In my trading account: I am Long MATK(32) and Short ICE(67)

FYI:
Long = Betting that the stock will go up (most of you do this)
Short = Betting that the stock will go down (generally this carries more risk)

I will welcome your comments! Keep it coming ...