A Spectator Sport

Welcome to the sidelines, have a Gatorade or perhaps a cold towel.

I haven’t replaced a single stock I was stopped out of yesterday during the epic attack on Zion by The Machines.  I’m still long a ton of stuff for clients but I was more than happy to be taken out of some names, looking at my portfolios today with fresh eyes.  This tape is whacked, if you’re a fast trigger, have at it.

If they stage a triple digit rally today, I’ll be unimpressed.

My wishlist is prepared, stocks I’ve been dying to buy but unwilling to chase.  Some of these stocks have gotten below where I hoped they could on a rational pullback, but as they say, be careful what you wish for.  Real market players know that it’s not counterintuitive to love XYZ at 20 but hate it at 15.  This is what makes purchasing stocks different from from purchasing virtually anything else.

This morning I went back to Jesse Livermore (Reminiscences of a Stock Operator) and reminded myself that you don’t always have to play…sometimes you go fishing.  Here we are in a no-man’s-land range and I’m more than happy to let someone else try to be right about what happens next.

The last thing I’m interested in doing is attempting to trade political news and innuendo out of Europe.

I have a great deal of conviction in the fact that right now, I have no conviction.  For me, this market has become a spectator sport for the time being.