KM: 7/10/08 Sales

Sold: V put
Closing Price: 77.25

Reason: the daily triangle pattern was not a strong enough reason to hold this position. In the middle of the day, as it recovered its morning losses and was beginning to rally back up, my 30 min chart told me that V will most likely go sideways than down. My system was not a sure 100% sell but using money management, i believed that my portfolio was actually way too bearish for such a sideways market. It was a hard decision to sell it, but in the end i got a good price for the day. I sold when V was down 0.5%. In looking at the daily chart now, i see that 75 is a very strong support and until V can close below it, i don't see much reason to get back into a put for Visa.

KM: 7/9/08 Through My Eyes

Market Outlook: Slight Bearish Neutral
Portfolio: 50% Bear, 20% Bull, 30% cash

today: weakness continues as the gains of yesterday were completely wiped out. A sideways day that ended up very down. If today was able to recover back in the last hour of trading, i would be at a slight bullish neutral stance, but since it could not even hold onto 1/2 the gains of yesterday, i remain a little more bearish. today i decided to sell a put and buy a call position as i feel the market can really whipsaw in these next few days as we are in an oversold bearish market straddling a main support.

tomorrow: the most bullish sector on my list is the pharma stocks. tech and financials are moving with the market so i am overall bearish on them, despite buying a call option on AAPL today. I believe that pharma can fight the weakness in the market and if it were to turn bullish and hold its ground against the bears, big tech especially GOOG and AAPL will lead the market. On the way down, i am liking the breakdown in sectors such as materials, casino, and energy.

KM: 7/9/08 Sales

Sold: GPN put
Closing Price: 46.67

Reason: Despite a great looking H+S top in the daily chart, on the 30min chart, with yesterday's spike and the continuation in the morning today, it was able to make a strong top pushing GPN to a neutral stance. I would not like to go long on GPN either though. I can still see GPN breaking down, but for now, it might just move sideways. I didn't want to get out so early, but from its strength today, i felt it best to play it safe especially since the market itself is quite unclear.

KM: 7/9/08 Full Disclosure

Position: AAPL call
Closing Price: 174.25

Target: 205
Stop: 176-177 range (if the next pullback cannot penetrate above this area, i'm out)
Price Pattern: pivot point breakout

Pro's: strongest big tech name, sellers only present at end of day when all was dropping
Cons: tech was extremely weak today, it broke clear support at 177, when toppling late, it fell hard, QQQQ failed to keep gains from yesterday and is in neutral bear territory in the 30 min chart now too.

KM: 7/8/08 Full Disclosure

Position: V put
Closing Price: 79.06

Target: 65
Stop: 79 (if the price holds above 77 on pullback, i'm out)
Price Pattern: symmetical triangle

Pro's: consumer spending is weak, financials are still weak sector
Cons: huge spike in market in the midday, the consecutive streak of green 30 min candles today after the price hit 72 on the low.



Position: GPN put
Closing Price: 47.02

Target: 40
Stop: 47 (very near stop after late rally)
Price Pattern: Daily Head and Shoulders

Pros: daily chart and 47 is strong resistance
Cons: range bound last few days and huge spike at end of day with heavy heavy volume



Position: AZN call
Closing Price: 47.22

Target: 55
Stop: 45.5
Price Pattern: Inverse Head and Shoulders (daily and weekly)

Pros: Strength in Pharmaceutical stocks lately, big volume on breakout of neckline
Cons: market still bearish and stock has already moved much lately

KM: 7/7/08 Full Disclosure

Position: DE put
Closing Price: 69.82

Target: 56
Stop: 71-72 range
Price Pattern: Weekly chart's double top breakdown

Pros - AG is breaking down, dollar strengthening, sector rotation out of commodities and material
Cons - MOS, AGU, and POT have strong trendline and MA support presently and if they bounce, DE will follow.

de - weekly chart

de - daily chart

KM: Technical Analysis Revealed

Following is taken from an analysis of a book on AMZN.com:

the real use of technical analysis is not that the patterns mean anything in and of themselves, its having the experience and judgment to know which pattern applies in a given situation that makes them truly useful, and the fact the traders themselves believe in them, so to some extent they become a self-fulfilling prophecy. So the field of technical analysis is itself a combination of art and science.

And actually, the most important aspect of trading is loss control and sell discipline, and understanding position sizing relative to risk and reward, since understanding the technical indicators is actually fairly straightforward, and many charting packages will do that for you anyway, so you don't even know how to understand how they're derived. And the charting packages will generate buys and sells by whatever indicator you want, but remember, it's knowing when to apply a given indicator that's the hard part. Finally, if you're planning on starting in on trading yourself, make sure you read up on and understand what's known as "money management" thoroughly before you set out--such as proper position sizing (not risking too much money on a given trade) and not selling your losers promply--an almost universal mistake among novice traders--and even pros who should (and do) know better. Good luck and happy trading!