All rested and ready for battle

What a great summer that was. We finally finished our tour of the jersey shore last week capped by several returns to stay in the majestic Long Branch NJ. Who would have taught that in between Bergen and Cape May areas, there are actually some nice areas to enjoy in NJ?

The best part of the summer for me were the many trips to the shores were I was able to enjoy time with my family and the quite time to gather my thoughts and plan my strategy and make some life changing decisions.

While walking along the shores of Cape May, I started to realize that I have veered away from my regular trading routines into a more careless attitude and half step preparations in during the month of June.

It was in the shores of Atlantic City where I pondered the questions about why it rains every time I watered my lawn or why my NOV and CELG trades keep getting stopped out only to find out that the prices are higher a few days later. You see, during the last week of June, I was basically taking money from the market with my right hand and donating it back with my left hand. It’s nothing destructive but mentally taxing. So I made a soul-searching decision to change my strategy to take more intra-day trades as opportunity arises to take advantage of the volatility and to shift my time frame higher for my position trades instead of daily to weekly. It was also a nice break from demands of active trading. Atlantic City was a perfect place for us to visit. You see, it was the first place that we visited right after we arrived in this country and this trip is our second. In our first visit, we stayed in a very old/cheap motel, rolled into town with an old car and ate in cheap restaurants. This summer, we stayed in opulent suites overlooking the ocean, dined in the best restaurants and stayed in the area with high roller accommodations (a feat that can be accomplished without really throwing away your money). This trip certainly gave us perspective of where we started, where we are and what we want to accomplish.

It was in the shores of Belmar and Point Pleasant where I made life changing decisions such as, I will only have me steaks medium instead of well done or my morning breakfast will be cereal instead of omelet. It is also where I finally realized that after my family and friends, there are two things that are important to me…trading and programming. I have decided to merge both and shored up my knowledge on arbitrage, derivatives and future contracts. I also planned the technology and platforms were Focker will be re-created. It was cleared from that point that although my automated trading robot Focker has been loyal and very profitable; it needs to be re-written in a better technology. C# and .Net it is even with great resistance from Focker.

The pristine shores of Long Branch, void of all the brouhaha of the Caribbean beaches, provided a perfect setting for me to think deeply about the future. With all the advances in technology, singularity and improvements in the health sciences, I made the conscious decision to exclude the time I have spent studying the market like a hermit. So from now on, I will be 10 years younger. It was also clear a to me a few weeks ago that to get back to my big winning ways, I have to get back to my strength which is to picking up stocks that moves fast and big and I just did that with AAPL, AMZN, SYNA, FSYS, CNQR, MA and several puts on the ags sector.

I am certainly waiting again for a good sunny weather to get back to the shore before fall kicks in. Hopefully, the waves will whisper why I missed that in-your-face opportunity to cash in on the financial sector debacle. But deep down I already know the answer. I will trade only the opportunities that my eyes sees and let the other traders take care of the rest that slips pass by me.