First, the second half of my EZCORP (EZPW) short executed.
Here is how the trade played out - I originally went short on Jan 27th (Tuesday before "bad bank " sent the market screaming higher) as a hedge to my long position [Jan 27: Bookeeping: Short EZCORP]- one of my favorite chart formations. Despite the CNBC heroics to drive the market up, we had an excellent trade in a short amount of time. I wrote
EZCORP is around $14.66 as I type this; I'm starting a 2.9% exposure. It's stalled at the 200 day moving average each of the past 3 sessions intraday. I'll set a quick stop loss just north of $15 and add to my long position if the stock is strong enough to break through. $15 is about 2.5% downside. I'll shoot for $13.50 on the downside or a 7.5% gain.
I covered half Friday the 30th [Jan 30: Bookkeeping- Taking Half Off Shorts in EZCORP (EZPW) and Brinker (EAT)] I wrote
By doing this, I am playing with the house's money if I get stopped out. If the stocks go back to my original short points, I will rebuy this "half" of each trade. If they fall another 4 percent or so I'll close out either / or. EZCORP was shorted in $14.60s and now half is going out at $13.80
I was originally shooting for $13.50 for downside but moved my limit order down to $13.30 Friday when I covered half the short since I could be more aggressive. That hit this morning.
So with half the order (in 3 sessions) we went from $14.66 to $13.80 (+5.9%)
And with half the order (in 4 sessions) we went from $14.66 to $13.30 (+9.3%)
Overall, I got my $13.50s target ($13.55) - just broken into 2 pieces. 7.6% gain in 4 sessions overall - a nice quick scalp.
If I had been around this morning I would of gone long in the low $13s to ride this back to mid/upper $14s - where I'd reshort it. EZCORP is much like this market, range bound and you play the range until it breaks (everyone piles in long on S&P in low 800s the past 3 weeks etc)I'll be shorting again around $14.50. Again, I wish I had been around to throw in a long order this morning since I love playing range bound names like this long and short.
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Another limit order for Sequenom (SQNM) hit this morning so I'm increasing my stake from 2.0% to 2.8% with purchases in the $20.60s. I don't see any specific driver for today's fall (-7%) but I am incrementally building the positions as it falls. The stock is near the 50 day moving average - my goal is to average down if/when the stock falls to $17 and make this a top flight position in the portfolio at that level.
In my old Marketocracy.com portfolio I had a substantial gain in this name since I started buying in the teens, but in the new portfolio that was started early in January I am now down on the position. Looking to the long term I hope to be "down" more in the short term so I can get my average cost much lower.
Long EZCORP, Sequenom in fund; long Sequenom in personal account
