though i would just start posting my profit loss on my trades. Haven't made much yet but starting to learn. Hoping to get some constructive suggestions/critisims

portfolio as of 11/09/2011                                           

Symbol                        Qty                               Price    
AAPL                             4                              $395.28  
AMZN                            7                              $211.22
BAC                               250                         $6.16
AMZN                            1                               $16                     $230 Call for April 2012

Total Holdings : $6199.66

11/15/11 Update
Symbol        Qty     Entry Price        Total investment         Current Price            Current Holding        Profit/Loss         Status
AAPL           4        $395.28             $1,581.12                  $385.92                     $1,543.68                ($37.44)               Sold
AMZN           7        $211.22            $1,478.54                  $217.83                      $1,524.81                 $46.27 
BAC            400     $6.11                $2,444.00                   $6.26                         $2,504.28                 $60.28                 Sold
AMZN(call)  1         $16.00              $1,600.00                  $17.90                        $1,790.00                 $190.00 
AAPL(call)   1         $13.60              $1,360.00                  $14.35                        $1,435.00                 $75.00 
RIMM(put)   2         $4.15                 $830.00                     $3.60                          $720.00                   ($110.00)

NET + / -  = $224.11      

 i bought 2500+ shares of S yesterday at 2.24. Will sell it at 2.50.

I am still unsure about S, their Q3 earnings were good and based on their investor day announcements, and Q3 financials, Sprint seems to be going  somewhere but looking at ATT and Verizon, they're not where they should be....so maybe undervalued a little bit? So maybe hold?

Tyranny,

You talked about how the Greed factor plays out in the markets. I wrote an article about that a little while ago. Do you agree with this?

http://www.theasiamag.com/perspectives/thats-my-american-dream

The "American Dream" isn't inherently American, rather, it's an amalgamation of migrant perspectives. This is the American dream from a Nepalis perspective.

 

“If you're still seeing the American dream, you must be sleeping.” I have heard people question where such rampant greed in modern society comes from. They say it’s unconscious greed, although I don't know just how unconscious the source of greed is.

I think it's just good old insecurity. In history, different people in different cultures have responded to insecurity in different ways. Insecurity has been expressed as paranoia, arrogance and defiance, in terms of social traits. In modern society, we have just chosen to express it as greed – finding security in the world of material possessions. The modern propaganda goes: earning money by hook or crook is the way to find security, love and happiness. The panacea to all of life’s problems is “material symbolism”, as promoted by the Church of Multi-National Corporate Culture (COMNCC).

Of course, you can’t have a church without also having a devil to be against. In modern COMNCC, the devil is portrayed as “the bear”. The bear is the global economy that is very hungry and chomping at our heels. This bear is what everyone is supposed to run away from by not falling behind in the rat race. This global economy is all devouring and never satisfied. We all fear being eaten alive by the bottomless pit of the stomach of the economic bear. This bedtime story is told in many different shapes and forms on many channels of the media.

Every good bedtime story needs to have a good moral. The moral of the bedtime story of the economic bear is that we should feel shame and guilt. We don’t need to personally feel shame and guilt, but since we know that the story is told in every household across the nation and the world, when we talk to someone at a party, we feel that they are judging us based on where we stand in relation to the chomping bear. We fear being detested and rejected by those around us because we aren’t good enough. We fear being laughed at because the wealth we own does not match up to those around us. So we find ourselves constantly comparing our own economic standing in relationship to others. In such an environment, each person fears having less than the people around them.

It’s like that story of the two friends who are being chased by a bear. One friend runs faster than the other feeling that he doesn’t need to outrun the bear, he only needs to outrun his friend. The lesson is that in order to be saved by the bear, we need to make sure we are surrounded by people who are weaker and run slower than we do.

In developed nations, where there are lots of opportunities, you learn to run faster. In under-developed nations, where there aren’t a lot of opportunities, you learn to smile in front of people but to drag them down when no one is looking. In essence, you learn to be Manipulative Mike. This is why there is rampant corruption and back biting amongst people in under-developed nations.

The statistics say that about 5% of the world's population owns 60% of the wealth in the world. In a global economy, if the top 5% of the world, whom the rest of the world either directly or indirectly works for, wants to motivate the middle 60% to work harder, what do they do? Well, it's easy. You give the bear steroids. The faster the bear on steroids runs, the faster everyone else runs in fear. The faster everyone else runs in the “rat race”, the more electricity (money) is generated for the top 5%.

We spend the prime 50-60 years of our lives preparing and worrying about the last 10-20 years of our lives, instead of following our passions and our dreams.

All that running leaves us tired and hating ourselves for being “inadequate”. It also leaves a lot of us afraid that we won’t be able to outrun the bear in our old age. That is a great motivating force for a lot of us pouring money into our nest eggs for our old age. We spend the prime 50-60 years of our lives preparing and worrying about the last 10-20 years of our lives, instead of following our passions and our dreams. This also prevents us from being there for people who need us the most.

And what about greed? I believe that the source of greed is the objectification of people. Its cure then would be to identify with the unlimitedness that comes from being “greedy” for relationships and for loving and playing with others. I believe real satisfaction comes from finding intimacy by identifying with unlimited “goods” instead limited “goods”. Unlimited goods are beauty, truth, goodness, joy, care, love, knowledge. These are things that the more we share, the more we have. I feel that if yours, mine and the rest of the world’s focus was more on the unlimited, then the limited would be seen in perspective. That’s my American dream.

 

This article was previously published in V.E.N.T! Magazine in April 2009.

@Homeyji ,

nice read...but jst some healthy criticism

the idea of economic bear/global economy..and running away from it ...kinda does not make sense at least not to me


something i can relate to ....
"It’s like that story of the two friends who are being chased by a bear. One friend runs faster than the other feeling that he doesn’t need to outrun the bear, he only needs to outrun his friend. The lesson is that in order to be saved by the bear, we need to make sure we are surrounded by people who are weaker and run slower than we do."

while trading its all about taking small profits...cuz if u dont someone else will..and one stock aint gonna make u rich , u gotta keep trading ...its not abt one trade...its about how long u stay in the game

and the greed factor u mentioned in the article is kinda generalized and assumptious because ...greed and the level of satisfaction are inversely related...it all depends on at what level you are satisfied ...may not apply to everyone and somewhat stereotypical




jst a comment abt sprint....watch 2.10...everything else really does not matter...the only thing that really matters is the price action...u can be highly optimistic or pessimistic about a stock(speculation)...but the stock is gonna do what the buyers and sellers decide for it to do

@fez, love the nickname lol

@ eastsidaz, RIMM will probably bounce off of low 13s ..cuz its abt time they put out a PR ...for it to get a bounce..a dollar bounce maybe ....if it loses 13s it will jst bleed to death...like nokia and palm like cnbc said ...and have a hopeless takeover..

later

@Tyranny

 merci monsieur, btw pretty close on the 2.10 there! 

It is doing very good aftermarket as T mobile and A T and T deal has fallen through. I still see long term future for sprint though. Q4 reports will tell the story whether to dump it for good.

I was curious what you Finance guys thought about the 'Occupy Wall Street Movement' in terms of what it means to Nepal:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupy_Wall_Street

If the world was a village, the United States would be the wealthiest and most powerful person of the village. In the village of the world, the US is the Gaun Mukhya. Well, don't you think the Gaun Mukhya enjoys being the top dog in the village? Don't you think the Gaun Mukhya enjoys all the chakadi that he receives with people coming to his angan rubbing their palms in supplication? Don't you think the Gaun Mukhya enjoys smoking his tamakhu slowly, pulling the smoke into his cheeks, nodding his head slowly and understandably? Of course he does.

He loves being the thulo manchhe of the village.

The Gaun Mukhya will help the other villagers. But he will never help them too much. Why? Because he will lose power. The Gaun Mukhya's power comes from people needing him. From them depending on him. From them fearing his gundas. From them daring not to vote for people in county elections that he says, should not be voted for. If the other poverty stricken villagers actually start to become independent, then what would happen to the Gaun Mukhya? His skills would no longer be relevant. He would no longer be in demand. No one would fear offending him. Then what would happen to the career of the Gaun Mukhya? What would happen to his clout?

So the Gaun Mukhya would be damned if he was going to help the global village enough so that they don't need him anymore.

But the Gaun Mukhya has children who have become educated in proper values. They understand democracy. They understand egalitarian values. They understand exploitation. And when they see how their father acts, they are torn. On one hand they want to be loyal to their father. But on the other hand, they know that their father's money is 'blood money.'

Credit is the currency of the Gaun Mukhya to bleed the world. All the poor come, doing chakadi to the Gaun Mukhya so he will extend their loans a little bit more. And the Gaun Mukhya gets to play the benevolent benefactor in public while bleeding all the poor villagers in private.

In Africa there are 'blood diamonds.'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_diamond

In Nepal, there is 'blood grains,' 'blood tourism,' 'blood farming' and 'blood banking.' There is blood everywhere.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupy_Wall_Street

And these children of the Mukhya, they see the Gaun Mukhya for what he really is. That is why they do 'Wall Stree Protests' against their father's 'blood banks.' These are banks filled with blood of the poor and needy. Blood that has been extricated like in this movie:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mard

Will Sprint rally tomorrow just like today?

@eastsidaz, I'm hoping it will, given the note that it ended on. I hope higher than 2.4.

I doubt. I got out at 2.38. I was hoping to hold until 2.50. But nah. MT has been my bread n butter lately.

There's the RIMM PR I was talking about...it broke 13 on the downside though...up 10 percent after-hours ...it's all a conspiracy...lol ...they time the PRs based on technicals...so they get the best bang for their PR

Do u have to pay extra for after hour trades?

@eastsidaz, yeah sorta...u gotta route it through marketmakers...INET,ARCA...etc...limit and market orders don't work pre and after-hours.....they charge pershare a lil extra...depends on ur broker ....

@Tyranny, that's interesting! So if a company wanted to do a release on some not so favorable news, they would do it at the end of the day? Consider me a rookie, what are the logistics associated with doing that? How does the biggest bang for the buck work out?

@Fez...i dont know about the time they post the PR..I m talking about technical indicators ...abt bad news they would probably do it when the stock is at its highs to lessen the damage caused by the bad news ...m jst gonna refer to things that I have posted here on sajha in the past for examples...

for CRM CFO selling shares when the stock was at its highs of the month>>>less damage

LNG ..abt a week ago i think..50MA line was abt to cross over 200 MA line..bullish as it can get(golden cross)...they put out a PR of india or some shit ....stock shot up and when it got to a point they put out another PR about dilution and it tanked

FSLR abt a month ago ..was on another thread i think..inverted bullish hammer ...next day put out a PR ...stock shot up

if u think abt it ...its jst things u notice that make sense...might sound like conspiracy theories but I've seen it happen numerous times to set it aside as conspiracy theories

yeah abt RIMM...stocks love round whole numbers(probably cuz of options strike prices) ...the reason i was talking abt low 13s was ..its another set of options with that strike prices of 13...BIG money
chartwise nothing bullish though

 When is the payroll tax extension deadline? Stock will drop like it's hot due to the deadlock which I am sure will happen. Then will be a time to go all in. 

@tyranny, thanks, interesting trend, guess it helps to release bad news in pairs with good news.

 Did anyone ride on MU this morning?

I'm short 200 MU 6.40 avg overnight...
Markets gapping tomorrow
6 long positions overnight ....
CRM. At 96
ORCL at 26.61
GNK at 7
RIG at 40.19
DMND at 29.60
PCX at 9.06

Short..CEI at 14.96 .. Cutting losses on this one tomorrow...

 YOKU looks good tomorrow. Keep it on the watch.