February 2005

Kissing Fish - Happy Valentine's Day

A pair of tropical 'kissing fish,' locally called Jie wen yu,' kiss at a pet shop in Shanghai, February 14, 2005. The kissing fish, an aquarium fish that puckers its lips, is a popular gift during Valentine's Day (news - web sites) in China. A pair costs 50 yuan ($6). REUTERS/Claro Cortes IV

Well, at this point, I am trading 3 stock systems and one ETF system.  The stock systems are based on the CNBC list, the Zacks Number 1 list, and some lists from the AAII site. In all cases, the equity curve is positive, so that even though many signals say to be in case, these systems have been able to find good stocks, in general.

February 4, 2005

A few days ago, I added an additional stock system, and increased my holdings in the developing markets.  The major averages were down today, but I only lost about $240, which is, as a percentage, negligible.

I am now fully invested.  It has been a decent week, but AIQ took a tumble, and that certainly reduced my returns for today.

February 7, 2005

On my way to Clearwater to give a presentation on trading stocks

February 15, 2005

On my way back home.  Some of the reference material from the presentation at Clearwater is also below.  

CANSLIM description - from the AAII website

Ten Bad Habits - from Investor's Business Daily

You Can Beat the Market - Refutation of the Efficient Market Theory

However the best presentations were in the AI area - using Amibroker to produce AI market analysis and timing.  Go to FT-Monitor and buy.

February 16,2005

RTWI was selected by one system.  Cannot see buying that one - just look at the chart.

Some Words about the Holiday Inn in Clearwater

While the meeting rooms and the food were fine, I think if I go back next year I will stay elsewhere, because:

(1) One phone in the room had a paper insert that said to dial 8 for an outside line.  This did not work, and when I called the front desk, she said that they knew that was wrong, but had not fixed it.  Conserving paper, I suppose.

(2) The other phone said the room number was 502.  In fact it was 205.

(3) The wireless internet worked, but only about 30% of the time.

(4) The towel bar over the toilet by the shower was leaning a bit.  So I did not use it to steady myself getting into the shower.  Good thing, since when I took a towel off it, it fell off.  If I had leaned on it, I would have been face down in the toilet.

(5) The dryer required $1.25 to get started.  Every pay dryer I have seen allows you to put in one quarter at a time, but not this one.

Now (1) and (2) just show a deplorable lack of attention to detail.  (3) shows that they do not care about quality of service.  (4) means that they need a good lawsuit.  The one that bothers me the most, however, is (5), since it shows a lack of respect.  "Let's rip our customers off, since they probably do not know how to find a laundromat."  I can afford the additional $.50 it cost me to dry my clothes, but I do not appreciate the sentiment.

February 18, 2005

Caught up on a few trades that did not get made while I was on the road.

February 21, 2005

I am working on systems that trade less often.  So far so good - no sacrifice of return.  Making the transition will take some time, of course.

February 24, 2005

Well, maybe next time the Monitor group should meet in Key West.  The IEEE SSSWG, of which I was once a member, did that a few times for some highly technical sessions.  Besides, there might be some entertainment of a rather different sort.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/sfl-fnaked23feb23,0,4487739.story?coll=sfla-news-florida

KEY WEST · A drunk Monroe County prosecutor thought it would be funny to run naked across a parking lot and hop into a friend's car, authorities said. But the joke was on him when he jumped into the wrong car and was arrested.

Albert Tasker, who works for the Monroe County State Attorney's Office, told authorities he had been drinking with friends and thought it would be funny to shed his clothes and run to a friend's car in the parking lot of a Key West motel, according to a police report.

But Tasker apparently got in the back seat of a car occupied by a woman waiting for her boyfriend. The woman called 911.

The plan was not so bad, but the execution lacked something.  Too bad the woman did not have much of a sense of humor.

February 25, 2005

Fabulous Friday.  Closing out the month a day early.