Trading Results For The Last Week

A couple of weeks ago, I wondered if we are at a double top or double bottom. The question was answered last week as the Dow broke into new highs. Seriously, who was talking about Dow 14,000 a week ago? Now it’s just 50 points away, crazy stuff. So we now have a confirmed double bottom, which means stocks should move higher, but for how long?

I haven’t been day trading, except when getting stopped out. Just swing trading stocks that are breaking out of solid patterns on heavy volume. Here is what I traded in the last week:

JASO: - $1.29
This was last Monday morning. I bought at market open (mistake #1), was chopped/stopped out, the stock closed up 14%! Damn, stop was too tight (mistake #2).

MA: -$2
It seems like I always get burned when I trade this short term. It was my biggest swing trade winner in ’06. I shouldn’t have sold it. Next time, I will give it a generous stop.

AMZN: B/E
Stopped out today; had a feeling it would.

TSL: +$3
Bought it on Friday and sold it today near the dead nuts high of the day. It was just dumb luck that I sold it when I did. It finished down over 9% today!

Currently holding:
AAPL, GOOG, SPWR, RIMM, TRA

I took a little bit of profit in GOOG last Friday, since it was my largest position, and I wanted to have some cash for today. I am trailing my stops, hoping to keep at least some of my gains in these positions. I may need to rethink how I use stops. JASO would have been a nice payday, and MA is moving higher without me.