Slope of Hope Blog Posts
Slope initially began as a blog, so this is where most of the website’s content resides. Here we have tens of thousands of posts dating back over a decade. These are listed in reverse chronological order. Click on any category icon below to see posts tagged with that particular subject, or click on a word in the category cloud on the right side of the screen for more specific choices.
Horror Movie
I’d say we’re at an extreme. I sure hope so!!!!!
Thaddeus J. Bottomsly
My charting the past few weeks hasn’t been an “A“. There’s no grade high enough. I’m thinking Nobel Prize would be about right. As for my trading, I usually castigate myself mercilessly, but I’d say, oh, a B or B- or thereabouts. Not terrible. It seems like eons ago that, last week, they spoke of “narrow tariffs“. What a bunch of bunk.
Psych Out
Every single position I have is a bearish one. Everything I’ve been talking and writing about is coming true. The market is in a free-fall, and the moment it opens, my portfolio will be worth a lot more.
Having said that, let’s explore what an inveterate screw-up I am, and we’ll begin with Rule 8 from my Trading Rules:
VIII. EMOTIONAL AWARENESS IS YOUR GREATEST ASSET – Feeling super-confident and giddy? You should probably be in all cash. Feeling demoralized, frustrated, and out of synch? You’re probably close to a great entry point.
Let us also examine a comment I made yesterday, which is definitely out of character of what I’ve been saying for a long time:
Not NEARLY Short Enough
Well, slip me into a pink taffeta dress and call me Peaches. The market is collapsing, and I’m not NEARLY short enough. Not even close.
Let’s back up a bit. I’ve been feeling rather jerked around by the market this week. So much so that I trimmed the sails quite a bit. Among the four accounts I trade, the allocation levels I’m at are 40%, 56%, 60%, and 65% allocated to live positions. In other words, I’m at about 50% cash.
That was a comforting thought to me when the Prezident lumbered out to the podium and stated that there would be a 10% “baseline” to tariffs, which sent markets around the world exploding higher. After a little while, though, he clumsily pulled out a big poster board like those a kid would use for a science project and which displayed the much, much higher than 10% tariffs, and the markets absolutely vomited all over themselves. My adoration of that 50% cash vanished INSTANTLY. Jesus H. Christ, man!
