Re-Shorted Today

The stock market has rallied over 5% in a weeks time, and the S&P 500 is pushed up against its 50 dma.  Prices have pushed up near extremes that I feel comfortable taking short positions into again.  I am changing strategy this time to only manage a couple positions, since I am having to trade the swings now to get back into the game.  I am still nearly in last place.

I noticed that the Russell 2000 had rallied nearly 50% the last 12 months compared to the S&P 500 which had rallied 38%.  The $RUT was pushing against resistance which made a compelling short.  I used the 3X inverse ETF TZA.

I also believe China is not out of the woods.  It was also at an actionable area here as well.  I shorted it with the ultra inverse ETF FXP.

I am managing the trades with contingent stops on the S&P.  This is not automated, but a mental stop should the $SPX move into the 120 area.  Realistically, I do not see any more than 10 points of upside here.  I have set alarms to warn me.

Why TBT Suddenly Made No Sense

As well as my other positions I might add

This will be a long post because I have a lot of explaining to do.  For the record, I have exited all my trades, and I believe I played this crash like a harp string this go around.  My account is still embarrassingly low, but it is amazing what a little time allows you to do.  I vow not to repeat my past mistake from February.  This market will not allow for such mistakes.

There is a lot to mention so I will get started.  I will begin with the first two positions I exited a week ago.

TBT:  I am pleased with the way I traded this one, even though I lost money.  I purchased this ETF on January 15 at $48.51 and placed a stop on TBT at $46.00, which triggered a sale at $45.99 on April 30 on all shares.    I still believe that the overall idea is correct, and in a few months it should work lower, but technically speaking it became very sick.  You can see from the TLT and TBT charts below what happened.

XBI:  First, price broke below the channel.  Then, there became an area of resistance it could never sustain a breakout above.  Lower Highs after such a strong run made me nervous.  I had no idea what lied ahead.  I purchased this ETF on February 3 at %57.39 and sold it at $60.79 for a small gain.

 SZK:  I had forgotten to post this one back in February as I got stopped out.  This is the reason to use stops.  If you recall, retail stocks had an incredible run that began in February.  Fortunately, I was stopped out on Feb 12 for at $41.75.  Of course, the gains in retail were wiped out in a couple days.

I liquidated the balance of my positions (except for half my commodities position due to light trading volume) at the close of trading on May 6. 

CMD:  Sold for a small $1.04 profit.  I was only able to move half the position, and intend to liquidate the balance on Monday.

TWM:  Shorting the Russell was a very bad idea.  I feel lucky to escape with a $2.52 loss.

SDP:  I made $1.37!  Yippie!

SRS:  Technically, it was one of the best shorts I had, but the loss of $2634.50 made it the worst.  I had no stop so it was horrably mis-managed........as most of my losses were.  That will not happen again.

FXP:  I lost $$274.48.

FAZ:  Lost $3.69 on another horribly managed trade.

SSG:  Semi-Conductors cost me $3.13.

TYP:  A crazy candle on Thursday has left this chart useless.  Tech stocks crashed hard Thursday and Friday, making my loss here seem palatable.  I lost .47 a share on 1000 shares.

I will map out my strategy going forward in my next post.