What's a Tim to do?
What does a bearish swing trader do in an environment that feels about as hostile to him as a panel of Harvard Law School constitution professors would be against Christine O'Donnell? How does one cope when the environment is utterly different than one's style?
The pat answer, of course, is "adapt", and I'm certainly doing that as best I can. But let me be clear about this mutation.
What I Am Doing
+ Paying far more attention to the Euro than I ever have in my life;
+ Balancing my shorts with long positions (I have about 25% of my portfolio in longs);
+ Staying relatively "light" and away from margin (I'm about 75% committed right now);
+ Keeping my stops fresh;
+ Making good use of GLD and GDX as day-trading or overnight trade tools (funny enough, I'm short GDX and long GLD at the moment);
+ Keeping my ears tuned to the Slope comment section for ideas, insight, and information
What I Am Not Doing
+ Buying momentum stocks simply because they are going higher (PCLN, AAPL, BIDU, CMG, and so forth); it's tempting to want to buy, for instance, PCLN, since it seems to go up very day, but no, I refuse. I'm not going to get sucked into a March 2000 environment. No, thank you.
What I Have Ceased Doing
+ Paying attention to mass media Elliott Wave predictions. Absolutely worthless.
I am in "get through this" mode, and I will remain so until the coast is clear. This has not been an easy time for me – far from me – but I'm still very much in the battle, and I am managing my risk and – – on the whole! – – my emotions so they do not get the better of me.
I'd be interested in hearing how everyone else is doing, both good and bad.