There are a couple of facts that came together that were of aid to me in my trading today: (1) my portfolios each have different "personalities" and components, in spite of them all having the same style (which is my own); and (2) as I went through my 34 IRA positions, trimming them down to 24, I took it upon myself to go through my "Wrecks" watchlist of over 300 components.
The fact I went through the Wrecks watchlist was eye-opening to me, and here's why: even though there were a number of stocks that I felt had, for the time, shot their wad, I was really surprised to see how many stocks still looked like really enticing purchases. I wrote about them earlier today. So even though the market has lurched 30% higher in just a matter of weeks, there are still many stocks which look like really high-reward/low-risk setups. So before day was over, my "shrunken" list of 24 IRA positions had doubled to 48. And here's the amazing part – – of the 24 positions that are new as of today, 22 of them are already profitable! Here are a couple of examples.
This was at once troubling and exhilirating to me at the same time.
It was troubling in that I have a lot of puts and shorts, and I'd obviously love to make a lot of money on them. Unless and until we get a nice, healthy downswing (let's say 100 points on the S&P), these positions are just going to sit. So that's frustrating.
What's exhilirating to me is that I am proving to myself that I can keep an open mind about the markets, and that even in the course of cutting my exposure on my IRA positions, I can still open my eyes to new possibilities that are unquestionably bullish. I have struggled so long to be able to get out of this bear suit I was born in, and I know I am making real headway.
The "net-net" of today was an extremely small loss across all portfolios – – a tiny fraction of a percent. I still don't have any firm conviction about where the market is going, and frankly, I don't think the market does either!
