Yahoo's Investment Challenge......November
Novermber 2, 1998
October is gone but the TopGun's portfolio rolling on! Look for some familiar names among our early leaders. CPLY up $2+ on takeover speculation; CIEN up $3+, CYSP traded at 10+ before releasing earnings (DARN) closed at $8; and EBAY +$4 early and Momma Yahoo up 14. SNIC was up a tad, but stock that closes at $2, opens at $7 is hard for me to buy even with Yahoo's money.
I have saved the trades that brought the top 5 finishers to the leaders circle and will try and publish them for reference. Some of the leaders didn't have the early triples in stocks like VIP and EBAY yet traded their way to the top. I think all are worth a serious study. If any of them would like to chip in a trading tip or two I would be glad to publish it here...but I'm not going to pitch anybody's stock picks.. Yahoo gives you message boards for that.
"Buyer Beware" Recently had a sick feeling deep down when a newsletter writer I use to trust got busted for dumping into his recommendations. Made a million bucks... they said. Hope he invests it wisely. Maybe buy a gas station... HiTest or Regular? JGM
November 3, 1998
"The problem with day trading is Not day trading!"
Is this rally getting long in the tooth?
When you look at the devastation most stocks
have suffered since summer, particularly small stocks I still see plenty
of beaten down stocks even after 1300 point rally. But Yahoo was
a 10% winner yesterday proving traders don't have to look for obscure
stocks to make money. Yahoo and AL , IBM , MU and the like are now playing
the "How high is High" game and each day can bring new buying from shorts
who guessed wrong plus new money coming off the sidelines.
The point to this Game I think is not learning to hit home runs. Hitting singles consistently will net you a big league contract. So if you are buying your pet stock and hoping for fame and public acclaim, you are missing out on a chance to learn some trading skills. And contrarily to what some have posted under "Tips for the Clueless Masses" [which sounds like a prescription for alcoholism and herroroids ] you don't have to become addicted. Just careful and patient and using a parachute... like most of those I know who do this professionally.
Watch out for AOL stock splits. Lot of challengers will get killed because there exists no program currently to adjust the number of shares ...just the price. So if you want to loose 2/3's of your money.. be long the day AOL goes EX-Dividend..I think it is November 17.. but always check for stock splits in current news on message boards. If the Challenge allowed short selling... you would look like a hero the next morning. I personally am glad they don't.
Short selling is not bad. It serves a purpose .. if fact it is easier and faster to make money on the short side than grinding along with the bull... just ask those short EBAY, AOL, YHOO, etc. But professionally short sellers develop a negative attitude.. almost as bad as gold bugs...everything that is bad is good.. and real tragedies like wars and terrorism makes them lick their chops. Had a gold bug client years ago who would call every morning scanning for wars, pestilence and plagues or acts of terrorism. One particularly sunny morning there were NONE! Not one drop of bad news anywhere except for an airline crash . His reply, "Well at least we have that plane crash going for us."
Here are some new resources to check for future
winners. Big Charts list top % movers and other volume/price studies for
traders, also sophisticated charts with parabolics etc... You really need
this stuff... Look at any chart long enough.. with all these different
measures eventually you'll find some reason to justify having bought that
dog in the first place.
Have a nice day.
BigCharts
CBS
(news, options + business wire)
Nov TopGuns
OctTopGuns
Top Gun Sites and commentary by John G. Mueller are intended
to be of interest to those playing the Yahoo Investment Game and in no
way should to be misconstrued as investment or trading advice.
It's just for fun folks!jgm