Archive for the ‘bhp’ Tag

today – close brg, cmj, open bhp (short)

BRG:  I closed my position today in Breville at $4.26 for a 6% profit under System B.  The exit is unfortunately well off the peak about 3 weeks ago (these are weekly charts for System B), giving up a nice bit of the profit – remember it’s not about picking tops and bottoms though..

Anyway, taking into account the original entry, and the pyramid entry, this is a very nice trade!  Note that the 6% profit does not include the original entry, as that was taken before I returned to my blog – so that would be cheating.

CMJ:  I closed my position today in Consolidated Media Holdings at $3.20 for an 8% profit under System B.   If you look closely at the few bars prior to the close the share appears to be forming a broadening triangle, so I suspect there might be a significant move here shortly.  I might keep this on the radar, and see what comes next for this one.

Again, as for the BRG transaction above, this is a very nice trade, taking into account the original breakout followed by the pyramid entry.  I’m very happy with this one also 🙂

As for the one above, the 8% profit does not include the original entry.

The exit is unfortunately well off the peak about 3 weeks ago (these are weekly charts for System B), giving up a nice bit of the profit – remember it’s not about picking tops and bottoms though.

BHP:  I have opened a short position in Broken Hill Pty Ltd today based on a System B entry.  I have entered this position when BHP was at a price of $32.17 using a short option position for leverage.  Similar to my warrant positions, it’s quite small in order to manage the risk.

The option expires in about a month so if should track closely to the actual value of the trade.  The value is in the money, but only just.  Lets see how we go.

today – open cey, thought on bhp

pyramid into CEY

pyramid into CEY

CEY: Increased my position in Centennial Coal today.  This was a pyramid entry at $3.53.  I set an entry trigger over the weekend to fire when the upper resistance level was breached – but as you can see, resistance held and the price fell after my entry.

Still, the share has been performing well and volume is strong.  I’m looking for a climb to the upside tomorrow or I may have to rethink this secondary entry.

bhp - triangle breakout

bhp - triangle breakout

BHP:  The big Australian is always worth watching, with good trends, gaps and all sorts of good stuff.

Of interest today is the white candle coming out of the descending triangle, looking like a very nice breakout signal.  As I am still bullish on BHP I have taken this trigger to take an call option on BHP to try and capitalise on the move.  If you review my BHP trades you will see its not always my most profitable instrument, however at times in the past it has rewarded me well.

bhp flag

bhp flag

On a hunch I have changed the position of my lines outlining the triangle and I get the diagram found to the left.  All I’ve done is draw it more like a flag, and shown the measured move I am hoping to profit from.  Not a perfect flag I’ll admit as I like to see it formed over a shorter period when compared to the duration of time spent forming the ‘flagpole’.

I’ve added this chart to chart.ly as I wanted to play with the tool – you can see it here.

For anyone interested – WPL (Woodside) has also broken through resistance and is looking good for a move.  If I hadn’t already entered BHP I’d say its a stronger looking move.

trade idea bhp-15 – closing

bhp - the close

bhp - the close

Well, the BHP trade is stopped out today – see the graph to the right.

Given its a paper trade, I will assume I bailed on the fall through the stop loss line, at $37.60.  Exited for a 7.7% gain.

Now – if this wasn’t a paper trade I would still be in, as the close was marginally above the stop loss (which was $37.50).  So – don’t know if this is good or bad till tomorrow.

What is of interest is that todays trade has a long tail candle looking like rejection of the lower prices – so the longs may still be in the running.

all ords

all ords

The graph to the right here is the ASX all ordinaries showing the the steady rise since earlier this year, and the rapid rise coinciding with the rise I rode on the BHP trade.  Its interesting that BHP appears to be at the bottom of its channel, and the All ordinaries appears to be at the top of its channel.

Transparency

Todays reading of the interwebbything  covered this post from Howard Lindzon on transparency.  I’d have to say I agree with him no end – I really struggle to take at face value what I read about various companies, be it in the press, the web or even the company reports.  Thats why I work with charts and price movement – often with an indicator or two thrown in.

And as for the transparency provided by twitter…?  I post my (public) trades on twitter more or less when they happen, and write posts here.   Is it possible for me to rig my results?  Yup – I’m sure I could diddle it, but for now there is no reason for me to do this – I am reporting on myself for my benefit.  Over time I will start to compare my results with managed funds, and work out if I am ‘wasting my time’ – or then again – see if I can go work for a managed fund… or.. I’m sure there are other options.  Its not like my day job is really stimulating me at the moment!

trade idea bhp-14

bhp at end of week

bhp at end of week

Ahhh the BHP paper trade…

The close on friday is approaching the stop loss, but not closed below yet.

Hang in there, profitable at the moment on the long.  If the bulls keep running, we can reasonably expect resistance above to break, in which case this will become a very attractive long position.

Hold.

trade idea bhp-13

bhp today

bhp today

So, not a good day for my portfolio today, a few stops hit which I’ll have to deal with tomorrow – looks like a late fall in some stocks.

To review the position on this paper trade – as stated yesterday the short position closed out (at the upwards red arrow) for a loss of capital of ~50%, not too bad, as it was only a small position, so this still ~2% of portfolio loss.

The long trade is still open.  Not looking good today due to the strong black candle falling from resistance, however I will not exit – I will wait for confirmation by closing below the stop loss line.

On another note, did some web surfing tonight and stumbled across some interesting posts.

I quite enjoyed this post about getting divorced from discretionary trading by the Milktrader – well written, and something on my mind.  Since I started this blog I have been discretionary trading whilst I wait for my Systems to start generating signals.

Another article of his goes on to talk about ‘trading rules‘, and his thoughts on them (text from Milktrader):

There is personal stuff at stake. Anyone who preaches to you that you need to stop it and get a plan is really preaching to themselves. They are healing a wound, or trying to convince themselves that they no longer participate in the egregious activity of trading without one.

I find this very interesting, and I encourage you to read his article.  Part of the reason for this blogs being is to assert a level of rigour over me and my actions.  I lost a chunk of money a few years ago now, as well as a chunk with everyone else with the financial crisis over the last couple of years.

  • My best trades (profitable, stress level) have been discretionary
  • My most consistent returns over time have been system / rules related
  • My worst trades have been either discretionary and system related when I have broken my portfolio allocation rules, and when holding losing trades.

As someone famous once said “Know Thyself”

trade idea bhp-12

well – lost out on the short trade today.  The short trade was in a warrant with a hurdle at 29 which was clearly penetrated today, closing my position.

bhp today

bhp today

But the long trade is still looking good.  A definite penetration of resistance in early trade was quickly stopped in its tracks  to stop around the resistance line.

Should resistance be penetrated it could be expected to become support, and the long trade will continue – otherwise we could be approaching its limit in a dip over the next day or two.

trade idea bhp-11

bhp - 3/8/09

bhp - 3/8/09

At a point of hesitation.

Both positions are firmly within their relevant stop loss boundaries.  The bulls appear at a slight advantage based on the rise late today.

Hold both short and long positions.

trade idea bhp-10

The big Australian has a small dip.

bhp - a small dip

bhp - a small dip

In the last post I saw a decision point on the short term horizon – a view that proved correct.

Looking at the graph today, 2 positions need to be commented on.

The long trade (the paper trade) is still open, however the profit is being eroded as it dips towards the stop loss line.

The short trade (which is actually in play, not just on paper) is currently profitable.  It is fairly highly leveraged due to the use of the warrant which is very close to the money, but that just means I go for a very small position to fit with my portfolio allocation model.  I think this only has a little way to go, and will maintain a tight stop and set a profit target.

Cheerio,

trade idea bhp-9

bhp - decisions...

bhp - decisions...

More on BHP – the big Australian.

This has been a paper trade going on for a while now, and the long position is profitable.

I am however cautious about this current long market… we are now over 10 days increasing on the trot – and that doesn’t happen too often.

Does this break the rules of a paper trade?  I am long the trade (in this paper trade scenario), and have a mid / long term bullish view of BHP.  I do however think that the bulls have good a good trot – and at the same time as BHP is hitting a point I’d expect to see resistance.   So – today I entered a short leveraged position in BHP expecting a short term dip.  Not on paper – a warrant trade on BHPXOQ – I must say a risky position, and highly leveraged – so only small.  Lets see how this plays out.

Too confusing now – two positions in one thread…?

trade idea bhp-8

my on going paper trade of BHP – making me wish I backed this one… but anyway, on with the next installment.

bhp last friday, daily

bhp last friday, daily

Looking at the chart to the right, BHP has come up strongly from the bounce off support which showed my short position failed.  Since then, the share has made strong movements to the upside, in line with the ASX all ordinaries.

The price is now just shy of possible resistance from the recent minor high seen to the left of the graph.  Should that resistance prove weak we can expect BHP to push strongly upwards.  Too close to the point now to enter – wait for confirmation of a penetration to the upside.

Should resistance be found, it would be wise to sit out and see the strength of the move to the downside.