November 8, election day

Today is election day.
Closed the SPXL long at 93.30 for a .55 per share loss.

October 25, seasonal trend higher

Heading in to seasonal up-trend.
Long SP500 for a short-term trade ahead of some technology earnings. SPXL at 93.85.

October 3, quarter start

DJIA 18,254 -54.30
NASDAQ 5,301 -11.13
NYSE 10,691 -31.06
S&P500 2,161 -7.07

First day of the quarter and indices are down after the end-of-quarter markup last Friday. Now looking for market to turn back up.

SDS 16.50 +0.11. Closed this SP500 short position for loss of 0.65 per share. This was a poor trade entry.

September 14, markets weak

Markets were down big last Friday, up big Monday, down big Tuesday. Today, Wednesday, market is around flat.

Markets look weak and tomorrow could be another big down day. Went double short the SP500, SDS, at 17.15.

VXX, Barclays Bank iPath S&P 500 VIX Short Term Futures, 41.15 +0.07

September 7, AG stronger than silver

DJIA 18,502 -36.19
NASDAQ 5,271 -4.69
NYSE 10,876 -14.54
SP500 2,183 -3.36

Monday was Labor Day holiday. Yesterday, Tuesday, silver and AG were up strongly. Today silver is giving back some of the gains while AG is looking to stay flat. Therefore AG is relatively strong compared to silver.
Bought more AG at 13.22. Previous close was 13.32 and AG will show strength by closing there.

September 2, Friday before Labor Day, long silver

Broad indices opened higher, sold off sharply at 12:30, and are attempting to retrace higher.

Went long AG at 12.23, a miner which is a proxy for the price of silver. This could be a several day or several week hold. A few weeks ago it made 18s, and now looking for a partial retracement of that price.

September 1, flat into long weekend

Thursday, with one day before the long Labor Day weekend, look for broad indices to close slightly higher tomorrow (Friday). Many vacations are starting today, so volume should be even lighter tomorrow. Sold the short SP500, SDS, for essentially no gain.

Sold the DUG, ProShares UltraShort Oil & Gas, at 48.76 for 2.07 per share gain. This can continue to run further.

August 26, short into weekend

Broad indices were higher, sold off, tried to rally to break-even at 3pm, and went lower in to the close. Weak market tape. Metals were higher then sold off to a small loss. Dollar was higher and looks to continue higher. Markets failed to hold higher prices.

Went short SP500, SDS ProShares UltraShort S&P500, at 16.50.
Went short oil and gas, DUG ProShares UltraShort Oil & Gas, at 46.69.

Next week, going in to Labor Day weekend, will be light volume.

August 22 morning, closed metal short

The broad indices open 1/2% lower.
Metals did open lower. It looks like the metals used up the downside energy.

Closed the silver short (DSLV) for a 1.21 per share gain.

August 19, short metal into weekend

DJIA 18,553 -45.13
NASDAQ 5,238 -1.77
NYSE 10,829 -33.72
SP500 2,184 -3.15

Metals and specifically silver closed below recent prices, into lower 18. Silver and the metals can go lower next week. Bought triple short silver, DSLV, near the high of the day (near the lows for silver).

SLV 18.35 -0.42

August 12, flat into the weekend

DJIA 18,576 -37.05
NASDAQ 5,233 +4.50
NYSE 10,822 -13.74
SP500 2,184 -1.74

Sold yesterday's ultra long SP500, SPXU, for a wash. Gold was higher in the morning, flat-lined, then sold off sharply starting at noon to close negative for the day.
Sold yesterday's gold short, DGLD, for profit of $1.05 per share.

August 11, Gold Horn

DJIA 18,614 +117.86
NYSE 10,836 +61.17
SP500 2,186 +10.30

DGLD 42.25 +0.78. 3x inverse gold. Bought at  $41.44.
SPXU 23.01 -0.30. Ultra short S&P500. Bought at $22.98.
Looking to sell both positions tomorrow (Friday).

Gold made a horn and proceeded to sell off, following silver and platinum lower. When gold failed to keep the gains of the day, went short.

The broad market indices, having slowly sold off over the past couple weeks, were higher and were showing the up-strength was wearing thin.

July 1st

DJIA 17,949 +19.38
NASDAQ 4,863 +19.89
NYSE 10,516 +26.00
SP500 2,103 +4.09

Sold double long SP500, the SSO at 66.70. This was bought last Friday on the BREXIT swoon.

Thursday market consolidating

Indices were mixed today, Thursday. The market is consolidating recent gains. BATS is released tomorrow. Expect the market to be higher for the BATS release (priced at $19 per share), then flat to lower.

This is a good time to go to cash, and possibly consider shorting the banking sector.
 
XLF Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF 22.98 +0.05
IYF iShares US Financials 86.05 +1.73
SKF ProShares UltraShort Financials 45.73 -0.23. Day range 45.36 - 46.29.

VALE pops

Broad indices were up nearly 1%.

The Yen continues to show strength, up about 11% this year. US Dollar is at 94.

SPX 2,061.72
DOW 17,721.25
 
VALE 5.32 0.44(9.02%) 
There has been strong up-volume the past three days. Nice move today, could be time for a pause.

Platinum is nearing round-number 1000. Could be time for a pause or a short.
PPLT 96.39 1.25

April 2 Weekend, SPX DOW VALE

This market is strong with nary a pull-back after quarter-closing. Next year may surprise those on the sidelines.

The indices closed up on the day. Let's watch for any correction in the indices next week as a possible buying opportunity.

DOW 51.14

SPX 2072.78

VALE 4.30
This miner is looking to retest the March highs. Either wait to see how VALE retests the March highs, or the impatient can start a small long position here.

End Of Quarter, SP500

End of quarter window-dressing may be holding up the indices. Short term traders may want to lighten up on longs in the indices, such as the S&P 500. Active traders may look for S&P 500 to end this week no higher than the current price.

SPX 2,067.50+3.55 +0.17%

Volume 161.67m

Mar 31, 2016, 12:01 p.m.

20160325AM Digital Currency Prices

A couple popular digital currencies, in the crypto space, are bitcoin and ethereum. Bitcoin price seems to have stabilized while the community works through scaling issues. Ethereum enjoyed expanded attention which resulted in a price spike. Ethereum price is now pulling back.

 Ethereum price ~10.7

Bitcoin price ~419.

20160322 Brussels Attacks

Brussels was attacked at the airport entrance and near the financial district. US markets shrugged it off, indicating higher stock index prices are ahead.

20160319 Weekend, Dollar trade closed

Dollar rose slightly. Gold dipped slightly. Not much change in the actual trading vehicles.

Gold (as a dollar trade) opened a bit higher, and this trade was closed in the morning. Holding this trade over-night did not materially increase the profit on DUST which was gained in the afternoon yesterday.

Dollar short term buy

The dollar has sold off for several days, recently down ~1. It is time for a pause in the dollar downturn.

Gold often trades counter to the dollar. Gold is often under pressure on Fridays. To play a dollar rebound, bought DUST, a 3X inverse gold ETF at 3PM today. Already up 5%, looking for 10% on sale Friday morning.

20160304 Gold, Miners, Bitcoin Tumbles

Gold and miners have had a quick bounce with significant percentage gains.  Many have damaged balance sheets and most suffer low commodity prices.

The bitcoin network hit processing limits, and transaction processing was significantly delayed. Even paying higher transaction fees was not able to keep transactions from regularly taking hours to clear. The bitcoin price dropped significantly today.

The drop a couple weeks earlier coincided with a bitcoin developer leaving the project and highlighting significant problems, including inability to process payments which was encountered today.