You guys held up well without me today and I think it’s time for a little reward. I already mentioned that I was doing a lot of trend trading before this market turned so volatile. FYI – as you might imagine trend trading becomes a lot more difficult when implied volatility is on the rise:

But when I was still chasing long term discretionary trend trades I also became a big fan of pyramiding. No – we’re not talking about a pyramid (ponzi) scheme a la Madoff – I’ll teach you that one later 🙂

What I’m talking about is a popular technique of stacking additional units (i.e. positions) on top of your first one as the trade [...]

I just got back – looks like I missed out on a glorious day. Actually I wasted one hour standing in line to apply for a passport. Then they told me that I have to send in my citizenship certificate. NO WAY I’m doing this unless I have a notarized copy of the original. Can you imagine the red tape nightmare if it gets lost in the mail?

It was a nice ceremony though – can you believe over 6000 people attended it? There was basically a sea of people taking the oath – almost surreal. Anyway, I will put up some pictures later.

Back to business – it seems the green scenario might be in the making here as this was quite a retracement. We [...]

Good morning rats, just a quick reminder that I am going to be missing in action for the next few hours as I’m attending my naturalization oath ceremony this morning. I might be back before the close of the bell, but you know how it goes. I think the occasion calls for the appropriate Rammstein clip:

Disclaimer – the song is a bit cynical – just like me.

Anyway, this is an important day for me – it’s been a long time in the making. While I’m out please make sure the market doesn’t drop below 740 – I don’t think they’ll let me trade on my iPhone while taking the oath 😉

See you on the other side [...]

UPDATE 3:15pm EST: I’m pretty much mentally checked out at this point. The Zero has been flat for the past 5 trading days and I remain hedged with a few nice longs in between. Was about to take profits on POT but I think it can bust higher. I might chime in later today if there’s anything imporant to report.

We are at the 50% fib line on the SPX. So far I’m still looking at either the green or the blue scenario. Frankly, the orange scenario has lost much of its luster and although theoretically still possible I’m having grave doubts. I think you guys know the drill regarding the action points – if in doubt check yesterday’s [...]