After rallying higher on Monday and Tuesday, the market basically traded flat, seeing some profit-taking here-and-there, as discussed in my article on Tuesday. We had an awesome week with many triple-digit gainers, including +180% on Wynn, +163% on VMW, +126% on FSLR, and +107% on CAT. Here are the closed trades for the week:
- 12:49 | Ecstatic Plays FAS ($93.20) Sold to Close 0810C90 Aug 90 calls, at $3.20 +5%
- 07:49 | HappyTrading FDO ($63.70) Sold to Close 08P65 Aug 65 calls, at $1.50 -29%
- 12:17 | HappyTrading SINA ($52.40) Sold to Close 08C50 Aug 50 calls, at $4.20 +53%
- 07:22 | HappyTrading VMW ($97.40) Sold to Close 08C90 Aug 90 calls, at $7.90 +163%
- 11:56 | HappyTrading AMZN ($234.20) Sold to Close 08C240 Aug 240 calls, at $1.50 -44%
- 12:09 | HappyTrading AGU ($97.50) Sold to Close 08C95 Aug 95 calls, at $3.10 +24%
- 11:34 | HappyTrading FSLR ($21.00) Sold to Close 08C18 Aug 18 calls, at $3.05 +126%
- 08:48 | HappyTrading KLAC ($53.00) Sold to Close 0608C50 Aug 50 calls, at $3.01 +67%
- 07:26 | Ecstatic Plays SINA ($50.70) Sold to Close 0810C47.5 Aug 48 calls, at $3.50 +138%
- 07:24 | Ecstatic Plays CAT ($88.25) Sold to Close 08C82.5 Aug 83 calls, at $6.00 +107%
- 07:08 | Ecstatic Plays WYNN ($101.40) Sold to Close 0810C95 Aug 95 calls, at $6.45 +180%
- 07:05 | HappyTrading FSLR ($20.18) Sold to Close 08C18 Aug 18 calls, at $2.42 +79%
- 12:41 | Ecstatic Plays SINA ($49.92) Sold to Close 0810C47.5 Aug 48 calls, at $2.90 +97%
- 11:18 | HappyTrading VMW ($94.05) Sold to Close 08C90 Aug 90 calls, at $5.10 +70%
- 11:08 | Ecstatic Plays SINA ($49.05) Sold to Close 0810C47.5 Aug 48 calls, at $2.30 +56%
- 11:06 | Ecstatic Plays WYNN ($98.50) Sold to Close 0810C95 Aug 95 calls, at $3.95 +72%
- 07:24 | Ecstatic Plays FAS ($93.59) Sold to Close 0810C90 Aug 90 calls, at $4.65 +52%
- 07:13 | HappyTrading GOOG ($647.80) Sold to Close 0810C640 Aug 640 calls, at $11.00 +38%
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More and more, I’m that the problem with active traders (myself included) is that they are too active! In other words, they trade too much! High-frequency computer trading is changing the trading landscape. There’s simply too much noise intraday. I’m continuing what I started last month and slowing the trades down even more. Not only am I slowing the trades down, I’m also setting up stricter trading criteria. So, we have slower and fewer trades, but, the result is much better. This will also help to keep us more centered.
What I’m also finding is that it gives me even more free time and decreases the amount of time I’m spending watching the market. With the high-frequency trading, there are too many bogus movements. It’s actually better to just not see them to not even react to them. The high-frequency computer trading is certainly a problem, in my opinion. No wonder more and more individual investors are losing their faith in the financial markets. It’s like the big banks are trying to squeeze out pennies on a trade to make more money. What they are really squeezing out are the individual investors who might want to invest their money in the markets. Thus, not only is the volume decreasing, money going into funds is decreasing as well. Basically, by being greedy and trying to make pennies, they are killing the markets.
But, for us traders, we can take advantage of the situation (although I sincerely hope that computerized high-frequency trading will be banned). While the market maybe making high-frequency "micro"-moves, we make trades that focus on "macro"-moves. In the eye of the storm, it is quiet. So, we’ll stay centered and wait calmly for the trades to come to us.
I’ll be back tomorrow with next week’s Market Forecast.
Happy Saturday and HappyTrading! ™ 
