ALY & FPO

I bought to cover my shares of ALY just a moment ago - at a loss of $0.56 per share. Its best to have my capitol back to invest in a security that was not affected by the Election Day Frenzy. Let's try it again.

Just short sold FPO at $11.17 as it made the proper set-up and it has quite a bit more room to move. I'm really eyeing IVAC and MENT at the moment as well. I have to admit even as a technical trader, I'm leery of using all my capitol shorting around this Election - I'm not sure what's going to happen tomorrow when the winner has been decided.

I think I'll keep what I have in cash, in cash.

Watchlist & Stock Picks 11/4/08

Alright, I've been watching the market and my watchlist has definitely changed. The "Election Day Rally" has knocked a lot of stocks out of the set-up pattern they were making.

Here are the stocks I'm most excited about:

FPO
MPW
BKI
CONN
IVAC
MENT

Here are the remaining symbols on my watchlist:

ALKS - although I think its past its prime to get in.
AMLN - although I think its past its prime to get in.
AYR
BLX
BRKS
BW
CE
CMCO
COGT
DAR
EXR
FOR
GIGM
GSIC

Election Day

I voted this morning, it was only a 52 minute wait. As I was leaving the voters were arguing with the elections judge - I think I narrowly avoided a riot.

Well, today I heard on NPR that there has been an "Election Day Rally," and sure enough my shorts have gone up. We'll wait it out for this afternoon to see if I need to cut my losses or if the excitement will fade off.

I'll update my watchlist if I can.

Watchlist & Stock Picks 11/3/08

After the market close on 11/3/08 I ran a query on stockcharts.com and it returned a huge amount of symbols that met my pre-determined criteria. My eyes became tired after the "M's" so I decided I had plenty of potential stocks.

Here are the stocks I'm most excited about:

ACLI

ALKS

AMLN

APP

AYR

CLMS

FPO

IRC

MPW

Here are the remaining symbols on my watchlist:

AAUK

ABB

AMCC

AMSC

ARA

ARBA

BDN

BKI

BLX

BPZ

BRKS

BW

CE

CMCO

COGT

CONN

DAR

DRE

EXR

FOR

GIGM

GSIC

ID

IVAC

MENT

This is a ridiculous amount of stocks compared to the usual 5-10 that I normally keep on a watchlist. It is particularly ridiculous considering all my funds are currently placed! It is important for me though, to keep an ongoing watchlist because I could sell a security at any moment and I'd like to have a replacement ready and waiting.

If a stock does not make the desired set up within about 3-5 days, it will usually fall off the watchlist. It's always interesting to see which make the cut and which don't!

SogoElite

SogoElite is my first choice in brokers. For starters, they're cheap. They're real cheap. They're $2 dollar roundtrip cheap if you trade less than 200 shares at a time. Anything over 200 shares and its $.004 per share to get in and to get out. There's a $10 monthly data charge but you really can't beat this deal if you are a frequent trader. To get a better understanding, the commission schedule is proudly displayed on their home page: elite.sogoinvest.com.

Additionally, it has an easy-to-use platform that you download to your desktop, rather than the online interface most brokers use. I can short sell, buy to cover, buy, sell and execute after hours trades if I feel so inclined. I was a bit leary of the platform at first, but after getting started, I truly can't imagine how I'd operate with out it. Everything I need is there. The way I have it set up I can see monthly charts, daily charts, my watch list, and my currently owned securities all in one neatly organized window with to-the-minute stock quotes. I buy and sell on the spot through the SogoElite platform. I can see when my order was executed and watch its progress as soon as I've purchased it. The only regret is that I cannot see a percentage return on the securities I own - I have to crunch the numbers on my own to see if it's ripe for selling. But that's a minor complaint for sure.

One less-than-minor complaint is that the platform doesn't communicate immediately with the online SogoElite site. My trading activity isn't reflected on the online account history or the account activity panels for 24 hours. Considering I keep a meticulous journal of all my trades this grates on my nerves if I forgot to write down my purchase and sell prices. I have to wait until the next day to journal my wins/losses. Again, there's always a work around - write it down or wait a day. Nevertheless, it is a strange delay.  

SogoElite has a number of customer support methods; video tutorials for every facet of the platform, a toll free number, and 4 separate e-mail support accounts. I find the e-mail support a bit cumbersome as it takes a few hours for a response. That's understandable considering the nature of e-mail, but nevertheless I prefer the toll free number as I rarely have to wait for a customer service representative. Despite it being a discount brokerage firm, I haven't received "discount" service at all. You won't have to worry about getting help after you've signed up for an account. All around, I've been very satisfied with SogoElite and would recommend it to any trader who has at least $2,500 to play with. (If your funds are a bit more limited, try its sister company: sogotrade.com. It has an online interface and a lower minimum.)

FOR MAC USERS:

One caveat which I've found a way around is that the platform is not compatible with Macintosh computers. However, I simply downloaded the Apple Bootcamp which allows me to run a PC on my Mac - at start up you just pick PC or Mac (easy!). If you call and ask customer support, they will tell you that the platform does not work on BootCamp...but it does. They're simply not able to guarantee that it will work but mine has been operating fine for over a year.

Compare SogoElite to:

Just2Trade

SogoTrade

Zecco

See the Commission Structure Comparison

Last Updated 12/8/08

QCOM & ALY

First post. Today I short sold QCOM at $37.07 and short sold ALY at $6.39.