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The extrication plan that I posted last week did not go well. All of the shorts hit their stops, resulting in losses in all but one of them. The list overall suffered a loss of 3.8% on an average holding period of 23 days. That was worse than the previous week’s 0.8% loss on an average holding period of 29 days.
I’ll close out the one long on Monday with a small gain.
Why so many sell signals from two weeks before failed so badly is a question that I can’t answer. It may be that the sell signals were too obvious, and that many traders were just gunning for the shorts. It is never a good idea to be so confident as to take a week off without stops. That’s one condition where stops are important.
Or don’t put positions on before year end. I’ll try to remember that one at the end of this year.
This Friday’s screens had 19 buys and 22 sells. That’s nearly even. It follows 16 buys and 34 sells the previous Friday. There was no sign of any emergent moves on any of the charts with signals. Most resulted from rangebound jiggles.
There’s just nothing to do this week. I await clearer setups.
Below is the record of last week’s drubbing. It was enough to wipe out all of the 3.1% average gain for picks closed out in December, with a few tenths left over.
The table and charts of open and new picks are below (subscriber version only).
The strategy and tactics opinions expressed in this report illustrate one particular approach to trading. No representation is made that it is the best approach, or even suitable for any particular investor.
These picks are illustrative and theoretical. Nothing in this report is meant as individual investment advice and you should not construe it as such. Trade at your own risk.
