SD- 2021- ACTIVE MANAGEMENT FOR GREATER SUCCESS IN 2021

[sd]

4-1-21 2nd Quarter starts!
FUTURES UP! NICE- may add to some positions today-

StockMarket mentor- You can sign up for a daily SMM stock recommendation -
Today was 2 ways to position for a trade in LRCX-- both the breakout and also the alternative entry at the 50 ema.
tHIS MOVED UP FAST OFF THE OPEN- I tried to get a fill using a limit just over the active price range-seen on the chart but it never paused- and I quit chasing it .

From Dan @ SMM




I want to look at Lam Research ( NASDAQ: LRCX ) today, this is why; this stock is right up kind of bumping against 600.00. Now here’s the thing, in this market right now breakouts, frankly, they just haven’t been working that well. Some of them like Restoration Hardware ( NYSE: RH ) for example, that was a stock that broke out here. It got chopped up for a little bit, not a huge sell-off but came back for a retest, and now it’s off to the races. It’s nice to be a bull in Restoration Hardware ( NYSE: RH ).
We are looking at Lam Research ( NASDAQ: LRCX ) here and the textbook trade idea that you get from anybody who is a pattern trader is, buy the breakout; it’s $600.00. When the stock comes above 600.00 buy that thing. It was up to 603.50, today, nice action, fairly decent closing location right below 600.00 so it could very well be if we see some buying pressure, we are going to push through that 600.00 level, clear out all the supply and then just see the stock keep going. That is what your typical trade would be, buy this breakout.

Now, I don’t have a problem with that, in fact I am saying the same thing, hey, guess what? I want you to buy the breakout. If the stock starts trading back above 600.00, go ahead and buy this breakout, in this market right now I wouldn’t give it a tight stop, give it about 4, 4.5 percent. If it falls back below today’s intraday low then get out, you can always re-enter.

There is another entry that could be an even better entry and that is one more pullback to test the 50-day moving average, which is kind of starting to trade flat. So if there is a weak day in the market you could get the stock coming back down here below today’s intraday low, you could even see it coming back below yesterday’s intraday low.

Or if it came back to test the 50, that would be the best thing of all, because you are able to start a position right here at the 50-day moving average. But you are able to then keep a really tight stop on it because your entire thesis for buying the stock is, if the stock falls back to here and then starts to rebound a little bit, I think this is a buyable bounce and so this is the kind of money I think I am going to make. Which means that if the stock falls below the 50 and hits this little area right here then I am wrong to buy the stock and I am going to be out. That’s the way you make this trade if it pulls back.

It is just really important, on trades, to have more than one plan. It doesn’t mean that you are going to execute either of the plans. It just means that you have to have a, if this, then. Oh, but if this, then. Once you can start creating multiple hypotheses you are going to wind up a better trader because at least you know what your options are.

And by the way, sometimes knowing what your options are is in accepting the fact that you literally have no options. Or you don’t really have an option, you just have one action and that’s not an option other than just go or no go. But here for Lam Research ( NASDAQ: LRCX ), I think you have got 2. I think you can buy a pullback if it falls to the 50 and then keep a tight stop or you can buy a breakout and then keep a tight stop under the breakout.

Ideally, you get to do both. Ideally, you get to buy here, and then you get to buy here when the stock comes back up above, so that would be the best-case scenario, right here. Got it, got it, that’s it. Dan Fitzpatrick, Stock Market Mentor, check this out, we will see how this trades tomorrow.

FREE CHART


tHE lrcx TRADE MOVED TOO FAST- Did BUY the Semi index.

I will add to positions today-
SMH, MOON, FINX- added to VWO- VOOG IJH CNBS,
Seeing upside in the China etfs- potential bottom has been made?
Started several positions yesterday- Bought a small slv position on yesterday's low move higher- SLV having some commercial & solar applications.
AMAT position up +5% today- HPQ making a new High- solidly uptrending-

I'm making an investing shift in strategy here- As I view those investment ETFs that are still trending - uptrend still intact- but with periodic pullbacks through the 21 and possibly even to the 50 ema- I'll take a partial position today- and add on a pullback to the 50 ema area- SMM style approach for a choppy market-
For those other types of trades on positions that have been in decline- USE ARKK, MOON as examples - The recent swinglow and yesterday's reversal higher- ARKK entry $119.96
with today's follow through higher- looks promising- I'll bring my stop on ARKK up to yesterday's entry low $116.00 with the presumption that today's breakout higher is indeed the Real Deal. The move into TECH this week looks to round out the markets-
QQQ's - Large cap tech breaking out today- initiating a position in the qqq's.
Also chose the midcap growth fund IJH that has trended well in 2021 and also been one of the best performing midcap etfs. I'm looking at this group to be the next growth sector benefitting from the back to normal recovery.

just added 2 GOOG on today's breakout of the recent range bound decline, MSFT also breaking out higher today from a recent range- very similar -
ARK funds pulling back late am-
Noticed CRM attempting to breakout from a month of sideways action.

A recent entry last week in IBM seemed to be a good breakout entry- but it has lost some momentum this week-
It's pullback this week has generated Psar sell signals on the 2hr,4hr,Daily
$vix is low, 10 year rates are down,


QQQ's back above the 50 ema- taking a position long

I ended up adding a few more positions- In the energy space, I bought a partial FCG, XLE and will add to the position if they drop closer to the 50 ema.
Going into the Close, I plan to start a partial position in the QQQ's- which are presently declining slightly on the 5 min chart- I have a trailing Buy-stop order to Buy if it reverses and goes higher, but as an exercise in better buying- will see if it comes back into the Close and makes a low below the most recent swing low intraday 323.22


the trailing Buy-stop filled as price went above the downtrend line drawn, and psar generated a Buy- on the 2 min chart.


It may prove interesting to see if Buying volume comes in at the Close- or selling....

QQQ's ended the day with Buying coming in at the end of the day-final 30 minutes. Big Volume going into the Close-


I ended up just taking partial positions today and yesterday- Approx 50% still in cash , and so if there are some pullbacks in the uptrend, I may add in -

Nice broad market Close- Nas up 1.75% Russell 1.5% Tom Lee thinks we're setting up for a strong small cap-Rip your face-off rally.
With a 3 day weekend- a good jobs report- let's see how April goes next week!



\

[sd]

4-5-21
Van account Closed last Thursday $242.800 IB premarket $21,900- STRONG JOBS REPORT LAST WEEK Market Futures higher- TSLA beat expectations- $vix $18.00 Very low volatility.
The 10 year 1.725% perhaps is being accepted by the markets as also good for a recovering economy.
The IB account is all in- with a mix of stocks- AMAT, BA, HPQ, MO,PG, MO and PG were simply up momentum names- but belong more as dividend paying ...
Chip stocks making a recovery, tech making a recovery last week- AMAT, SMH,
I will be increasing positions today-in the Van accounts- last week I had gone back into EM -with VWO- holding several Chinese funds- started GNom, MOON, VOOG,
Also bought VOOG- S&P large cap growth-

As Friend Swift had suggested- a transition into more of an Investing focus vs trading would fit the lifestyle - TRUE- However, Not all investments will recover once the market decides they're too speculative, too expensive - and that is why I only hold a recent small ARKK position- and view it as a trade at this point.

Present Criteria along those lines- is that out of favor and declining below the 50 ema are not positions to hold onto-
Stocks that are below the 50 ema, but basing sideways- like CRM- are potential Buys- as they provide a prior swing low as a stop-in case they resume the downtrend.
I did take a position in CRM as it is in a sideways base , made a dbl bottom, and is moving higher- CRM made a breakout move higher Thursday-
Also holding some stocks-IN vAN- MSFT, GM,QCOM,GOOG,GE - aDDED AAPL,FB-
Back in to a number of market ETFs- QQQ's working well-large cap tech up 2% while the QQQJ smaller tech was only up .28%
Also back into a few of the infrastructure names-
Also intentionally bought some of the dividend ETFS- NOBL, OUSM - TDV- as long as they maintain the uptrends-
Less than 15% in cash with today's adds.
Spent 1.5 hrs after the market open selecting funds to add into- Then it was the remainder of the day in the garden- prep, seeding. and transplanting some plants we had started indoors a few weeks ago-

[sd]

4-6-21 Markets relatively flat at the open- Not making any added trades today-We're going to spend the day in the yard & garden-
Saw a TSLA downgrade with a price target of $150.00 Transports, industrials - IYT,XLI both continuing higher- Small caps IWM, VIOV, Emerg mkt, vwo, amat, kweb,xle,fcg tdv ,uri all higher ESGU- gapped up yesterday, higher today socially compliant fund-
in the red- semis SMH,BA,CNBS,CRM,XLU,MOON, KURE,IBM
Remaining positions relatively flat.

[sd]

Markets relaTIVELY FLAT - Best performers in the port at 10 am- AMAT, HPQ,SLX,GOOG,SMH,IBM,MSFTXLU
More Red than Green- KWEB, GM, VWO - Not stressing about this day'- $VIX going even lower- good for stocks.
Back into the yard- grape vines need tending/rooting

[sd]

4-87-21
Futures higher - Rotation back into Nasdaq appears to be continuing-
Jaime Dimon views the Rally as lasting into 2023-
Bitcoin is being presented by Peter Theil as a threat to the US Dollar- Expect regulation soon be advocated- by the gov't.
From an investing /trading view- how much of what has run up so much has run too high? Are the recovery plays overdone?
EV plays overdone? TSLA basing below $700 NIO still ion a downtrend - m $35.00 was the dbl bottom but it has failed to get above the 21 ema and the downtrending 50 ema-
Since these MEME trades often work in tandem- Perhaps investors are actually getting more discriminating. BLNK breaking out of the recent step up higher Base - EMA's intertwined- Potential EV infrastructure play Not a position- The DRIV ETF is basing sideways- Also not a position- and it may contain too many highly overpriced names.

EOD- Nasdaq the big market leader today- ARKK basing at the 120-125 range-
Value underperformed and momentum gained- Spy topped a new high- -I'm invested in VOOG for that exposure SPY was up .47%, VOOG up +1% Over the longer term , VOOG outperforms SPY, but with greater volatility-
On the tech side- Semis up- SMH, AAPL, ARKK, BETZ, CRM, FINX, GOOG,MOON, GNOM all logging in gains-
ESGU, GRID, FIW- social recovery / electric/water all up
IWD mid caps up, IYT down slightly
KURE< KWEB up. HTEC global healthcare ...
Down- GM, XLE, FCG,

Flat- Value, financials.real estate. Infrastructure plays - waiting on an infrastructure bill passed. already a big run up in the recent months---

And an excellent day in the Garden !

[sd]

4-9-21
Split personality markets- Nas down, Plenty of red in the port- CRM bucking the trend and moving higher- XHB amat,msft-as well
Amat position hit my 137 stop this week- - entry was in the $128 area.
Only time for a quick 4 hr chart- CRM - a recovery business play coming off a dbl bottom



I added to my existing QQQ position today- when I came in for lunch- Spring continues!

[sd]

Friday Strong Close !
There was a lot of institutional buying at the last hour pushing a large number of stocks and the S&P, QQQ,Dow- making highs-Small caps not participating-
CRM MADE A VERY SOLID GAIN OF +3%!
To be noted- TSLA has been in a steady decline from the $700 print it made Monday am - and the AARK fund did not participate in today's strong Close-
Viewing the chart by using the 1 hr and including volume- there had to be a lot of programmed buy orders waiting to be in going into the Friday Close- I think this
bodes well for next week-
The 1 hr chart of CRM- Note the strong volume accompanying the strong move today
Large cap Tech- GOOG, AAPL,FB, The QQQ's - have had a good uptrending week.

As I have recently spent less time viewing the markets- and more time doing Life- I have also been testing the waters as an investor- Holding a diversified portfolios- with a large number of small targeted positions- I've refrained from putting in stops this past week- and testing my emotional fortitude- as some positions have declined-
What I have found is that I likely have set myself up for a substantial account decline should some event jolt the complacency out of this market- And so, while I have allowed some positions to be held although they are in the red- I'm not holding any that are in downtrends-- But this weekend, stops will be reinstalled.
I have had stops in the trading account though- I found I was getting whipsawed on some positions- and I don't want to be monitoring stocks consistently - ideally catch the open, and perhaps the last hour... As the market goes through this sector rotation, what was in favor gets discarded the next week- it seems large cap tech is certainly getting a new look after such a substantial decline-

End of week summary- I only had 2sells this week- I sold BA on the morning news that it had to ground some of it's recently released planes due to an electrical issue- I likely took a loss on that transaction- but simply put in a market sell---- AMAT pulled back and hit my stop-

Account Close up marginally $244,558.--in the Van accounts-
IB $21,974.00
about 16% in cash -

[ira85]

I ran across this message warning investors of the danger of using stop loss orders. At first I thought “How odd.” I've just been learning that proper use of stop loss orders is essential for success as a trader. You must be quick and assertive to maintain the discipline of the stop loss order. Now these guys write that using them at all is dangerous and a bad idea. But upon further thought I guess it takes sense. There are lots of strategies to trading and investing. Everyone knows Warren Buffett's approach is quite different from the strategies used by high frequency traders.

This appeared on the Motley Fools web page. I've edited. If the wording is awkward it's probably my editing that's at fault.

(Start) “We're digging in here on risky investing behaviors. Stop loss orders. You may as well call them guaranteed loss orders.

What a stop-loss order is you say, "Hey, if my stock falls to x price, go ahead and sell it automatically." There are algorithms out there on the markets that are hunting for these things, they are built to drive down the price of your stock so that they trigger those orders and they get your stock from you. It feels like the kind of move to protect profits as it were, but really all it's doing is taking shares of what could be an amazing business away from you. So I classify this one as a straight up toxic behavior.

In some situations people have used stop-loss orders as a tool. I do not think they are appropriate for most individual investors. Stop loss orders can really cost you shares in a great business. Selling it too soon can just be a rough way to go. Then finally, talking about leverage. Leverage is just really dangerous, so please be very, very careful. Using stop loss orders and leverage, both dangerous. (End)

I have subscribed to the Motley Fools advisory stock letter. They pick stocks weekly or at other intervals and advise subscribers to buy stocks on the Fool's list of recommended stocks. One of the complaints I had was they often posted audio recordings of their updates rather than printed updates. I find it much easier to use a printed update. They were trying to pick stocks that would become big price gainers over the next year or longer. Sometimes they hit a homerun and one of their picks would be a big gainer and would be prominent on lists of big gainers. But they also sometimes picked stinkers. I never saw how they were doing anything particularly innovative or sophisticated. Or maybe they put their best stuff on audio recordings and I just missed them. -ira

[sd]

Good Sat IRA! I think the Motley Fool's approach is on an investment theme- Meaning that they have done quite a bit of research on a potential stock to add into their portfolio- or so it would seem- They would also likely advocate "Averaging Down" on one of their 'stinkers' that didn't go as planned- and I think they hold for the long term- with conviction based on the fundamentals of the company's business succeeding over the long term-

They are also correct- a stop-loss can be hit by institutional trading programs that seek to enter or add to a long position . Particularly ones that are relatively tight.
I think this can be seen when a stock is in a sideways base, fairly well defined lows, and then price has a push lower-below the lows- just enough to activate and buy the stops that are under the base- Price then goes up higher that day, or the next and "BreaksOUt" above the top range of the base- But, is it a Trade or an investment? and by what standards do you decide- even as Warren Buffet does- to Throw kin the towel and take a loss? Even the Oracle has made some bad investments- and eventually sold them for losses- He's famous for being a long term investor- but he also knows when to cut a losing position- His RULE#1 Don't Lose Money- and Rule 2- Don't forget Rule 1- is he invests when things are undervalued in his opinion- so, as he explains in this Clip- He doesn't know how far a speculative mania can push up prices to new highs- but like Cinderella at the Ball- he plans to exit early because he got there early .
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zWzG-Ncj50
Since we don't have the resources of Berkshire Hathaway either financially or in analysis- - protecting our investing dollars from either a bad investment decision we have made , or a broad market decline- Can be defined by the Charts-
Where we choose to draw that line in the sand and exit the position is what is up for each of us to determine-for ourselves- Minimizing a losing & declining position is prudent- It is likely losing because the market no longer supports the prospects for the fund or the valuation.... This would assume that the trend has rolled over and is heading South- Stage 3 in the trading cycle- peak has been made-

I think trend trading lends itself well to control losses , because you have a determined upwards direction in the emas and price relative to those emas - The question is where do you place a hard stop-loss-? if at all- The decision to enter a trade means a trader has some bias that the trade will go as he or she plans. Often what we select does not go through a rigorous exam for the fundamentals, since we are not analysts- - Often the choice to Buy is based on something we have seen discussed on TV , or is in the News or on the Web-
So, we Buy- and now we have a personal bias that may give us a sense of "conviction" about the merits of our decision to Buy when and where we did. You also hear Cramer suggesting that people do the "Homework" , buy with a part of a position- I've heard him say 1/4, and if it comes back lower, add another 1/4, and if it goes still lower- add again- essentially trying to Average the price down- I think that's a particularly dangerous folly on individual stocks- - because it's the human element that we want to be proven "right" that drives us to take that action to add to a declining position.
Presently, I'm both trader and "investor"- but as an investor- I'm now giving the investments perhaps a bit more wiggle room as this sector rotation continues to move some areas in and out of favor-and then perhaps again in favor- Large Cap Tech in favor recently. However- my investments are based on assessing the trend- as still viable- I think my "value" investments presently are in the emerging markets- VWO-,KWEB, etc. I think a bottom is here- but i'm perhaps Early- Warren style.

-As you noted in an earlier post-a lot is dependant on where we enter a trade- "ENTRY IS EVERYTHING" according to SMM, Minervini- Buffet would agree- He only Buys when things are at a discounted price. He takes a fundamental measurement based on intrinsic value- -Most of us are not buying stocks or ETFs at the lows- It is foolhardy to be Buying anything just because it is in a significant decline and getting cheaper-let's say it is below the 50 ema and below a declining fast ema- definitely Not the time to be buying- Warren has the patience to allow the market to tell him when price has become a real value-

Minervini, SMM Dan- take specific types of trading set ups- with stops at the 6-8% max on the entry-and then there are variations on the trade itself- some partial profits taken, stops adjusted to protect the initial cost of entry- etc-
They also periodically will remain in Cash-if they don't like market conditions- Dan @ SMM- stayed out of the market recently- and reduced trading position size as well- He may be back in now....
Chris Verm.... BAN trading strategy is interesting- Employs a -15% stop-loss approach, sells off portions of a trade at various gains- holds the remaining 25% until stopped out or breaks the 50 ema.
His approach uses a momentum scan approach to select best performing etfs similar to Brian Livingston- His online webinar also provides a download to a video presentation that provides a link to his exact scanning process at barcharts-
vimeo.com/493915845
My recent entry into CRM would not qualify for his SMM trading criteria- Wants to see the 50 ema trending up and price above the 50 -but it met my definition of a R.O.T. trade and it also provided a relatively low % loss if price had turned lower-
Using the prior swing low pullback sets the standard for the entry-

All of this said- Hard stops should be kept wide enough to allow a trending position to trend- and then it's up to the individual where to set and protect the entry cost- Landry had a good approach with a portion of his stops progressively wider - above the entry, but then trailing at the 50 ema after taking some partial profits-
Stops saved me from having a large decline in last year's sell-off- I think I only had about a -10% account decline- and in other market pullbacks- 2018- 2007 stops saved me a larger loss of capitol- This is an evolutionary process for me, so I'll likely err on the side of caution because at other times in the past when I've been complacent, the market teaches me it was the wrong time to be so trusting- The $vix is at historically low levels now- and so it is reasonable to assume we are in the "best of Times" -at least this week- and while I want to be optimistic that the recovery will go full steam for the US, I also hope it wasn't all priced in 6 months earlier- and that the Clock is not yet ticking near midnight for those of us not astute enough to enter the Ballroom in the early hours.

at some point, when one believes one is investing in one of Americas Best and long established companies- The market can tell us by the Chart action that the majority of the market participants don't hold the same belief- The last original Dow member- that was just recently tossed out- but look at this Chart



CRM:

[sd]

Considering several dividend funds I presently hold in the Van portfolio- NOBL, TDV- TDV is a relatively new tech dividend paying fund that also has outperformed the S&P 500 this past year + and is trending well-

www.fool.com/investing/stock-market/types-of-stocks/dividend-stocks/dividend-yield/

On SA, a number of Authors there offer subscriptions-Fee based - to their market dividend approach - It's an area that I have little knowledge in or experience-
Since I am actively self managing my retirement portfolio, but don't have any bond exposure- the portfolio would be viewed as having excess risk compared to the 60-40 or 70-30 % allocation of stocks to bonds I should be in by conventional past investing metrics- Of course that portfolio allocation was determined in past decades when bonds actually gave a return that was higher than inflation.
The issue I think I have with some of the dividend yield chasers is that the trade off for the higher yield also may come with a lack of price performance or even price losses the total annual return- then is in negative territory- and so, I'd want to get both-= the gain from a dividend, along with price appreciation- I would want to see Price appreciation be going up, as well as the dividend = a net positive Total Return for the position.
This is an area I will explore further -
Proshares dividend funds offers a variety of different dividend fund exposures -Note- they all sold off hard with the market last March, and since the SPY also has a dividend yield - presently 1.50% $6.17 but also significantly outperformed all of the funds except for TDV- since Jan 2020. All of these funds had significant declines in the 2020 sell-off- The Spy return over that period was +32%- TDV + 42% the rest of the funds ranged from just a 4% return since 01-2020 to 22% and also had significant declines in March 2020-
www.proshares.com/resources/dividend-investing-center.html

Chart comparing NOBL,REGL, TDV, SPY from Jan



TDV and SPY- since 01-2020- Both initially appreciated in early 2020, both dropped together about -30% from the start- and the tech focused TDV outperformed the Spy by +10% over that time frame with a 42%+ return-


Large cap Tech -QQQ's even with the sell-off/rotation in recent months- has continued to be a market outperformer-
While it had a quick + 13% gain in Feb 2020, from the start of the year- It also did not decline as much as the SPY about -18% -from the entry price- but overall the decline from top to bottom was about -30%





Worth taking note of- Exposure to the tech sector over the past 5 years has substantially outperformed the return of the "Market"- and the gap appears to have widened substantially in the past year +

[sd]

Sunday pm -4-11-20 been a good weekend- most of the garden stuff is done- Going fishing Monday- and Stops are in on all positions-

As i reviewed my account positions- my worst performer is Moon, followed by 2 rental company positions- HRI, URI. Relatively small positions but as losses go- they are losers and need to be cut where they stand if they go lower and do not recover Monday-

In the decision to upgrade stops- I am 1st person to chastise myself for not setting stops earlier- There have not been many significant declines- MOON is my deepest - $180.00,
and i thought the recovery plays URI and HRI would continue- but that may not be the case...But the inaction I indulged in this past sweek+ - Lulled in perhaps by a lack of volatility - I'm glad I don't have to receive a market wake up call to initiate taking action-
For stops, I elected to use the faster time frame charts - 2 & 4 hr versus the daily - As we head into the next earnings season, and a "concern" about a 4th wave of the C virus
is picking up- The present stops should keep losses relatively tight to where the present price action finished this past week.

[ira85]

The Motley Fool investment advisory service has come in for some criticism recently. As I was reviewing various rating surveys it appeared to me there were two kinds of review. Those who said it was a very helpful site and highly recommended, AND reviews that were extremely critical, accusing the Fools of being crooks, etc. I'm a little skeptical about the critical reviews. Some of the language sounded to me like it was written buy the same guy. Like one unhappy customer wrote multiple reviews as if he was ten different customers.

But I was also skeptical there weren't more critical reviews. I suspect lots of customers to financial advisory services get a lot of complaining when the market tanks and they lose half of their investments.

Here is the Fool criticism www.trustpilot.com/review/fool.com -ira

[sd]

WOW! ALMOST 50% OF THE REVIEWS ARE NEGATIVE! I read through a dozen plus negative reviews from some very unhappy and diverse subscribers! Of course they are "long term" holders with a 5 year window to get back to even- There were some very valid complaints- I find that the MF is also linked in to many of the Zacks analysis when I go to find reviews on stocks through Finviz.com
I think the IBD "nifty Fifty" is also followed by several funds looking for growth momentum candidates- As with any service- the timing of the initial recommendation should
not be putting one in at a market peak- and perhaps also very highly overpriced. Of course I'm certain that the "big returns" they now claim included holding AAPL, AMZN, throughout their huge price swings- and downtrends....Certifying the belief that if you only hold long enough- the market will reward you for your hard earned conviction that time heals all wounds-
What these subscription firms should all be required to do is to provide an audited report of All their recommendations- Winners and also losers- but theat would be asking for too much transparency- Unfortunately, some people not only pay a large annual subscription fees, getting "Upsold" to different levels of services- There is no accountability
if the proposed investment tanks- as the Fool claims it has a half a decade outlook- and so they likely do not issue any Sells along the way to protect their investors.
Such is the nature of the financial markets-providers, brokers, and advisors- They have been allowed to sell the sizzle without being held responsible for the results if unsatisfactory- It is only within the past few years that the Fiduciary standards were made law- and they are likely limited in protecting the consumer-
The unsuspecting investor is the bread and butter- but the benefits of today's social platforms is that many are learning to be wary of the high priced sales persons, and learning more on their own- After all, No one will care more about your investment dollars than you- It's smart business to ask questions of those who are guiding you as an investor.
How do they make their money? If you or I lose money in our accounts, do their fees get reduced because of a lesser return? Not likely .
Ultimately, the financial markets are less of a mystery for many aand with low or no commissions and an internet full of information, people are becoming more aware of the potential for gains, and also losses- but in the end, the retail consumer is becoming much more savvy- they just have to survive the learning curve of trading- and ideally become investors before traders- Betting on individual stocks carry inordinate Risk compared to index investing- All of those hundreds/perhaps thousands of companies over the past decade that are no longer listed- There should be a memorial because at one time, they all had some promising story- when they came public- How many actually survived to live ,grow and prosper are rare as hen's teeth - Similarly, as the Auto industry came into being- in the late 1800-early 1900's, there were apparently a lot of start up companies- that eventually evolved into the big 3 survivors-

[sd]

With stops in place- We went fishing before the market opened- and returned to find it was a relatively subdued day- Markets slightly lower-
A few stops executed- .
The fishing was similarly subdued at Shearin Harris Lake, NC. in the early morning- But improved when we moved to an area where the waters were warmed by the nuclear reactor/s water cooling system- - (Exhaust stack over Lolo's Left shoulder. )
What was amazing, was a Fish LOLO caught -on a worm and 8 lb test line- - that provided her a 10 minute fight- and we have never seen the likes of- The photos don't do it justice- it has beautiful colors and also tattoo type markings- Turns out it is called a Mirror Carp- The 1st we ever caught - And Yes, it was released back into the waters.


Meanwhile, I settled for a 3.5 lb bass-
and we caught a few decent catfish... But a day on the lake was our reward for doing the garden and yard work this past week.

[sd]

4-13-21 Market futures rolling deeper into the Red this am on news that there are 6 cases of Blood Clots possibly connected to the JNJ vaccine-
This is similar to the reports about some incidents with the Astrazeneca vaccine in Europe.
That single dose vaccine has now been put on pause by the FDA. This will undoubtedly discourage those that were on the fence from taking the vaccines- and perhaps will only stall the vaccination participation to get the country to herd immunity- and still a rise in cases -a 4th wave- is being transmitted in areas of the country with some of those the variants. We've had the PFE-BNTX vaccinations -2x and no severe reactions- and, we still " mask up" when going in public- and carry hand sanitizer with us-

several hours to go before the market open- Dow down about .5%

Did buy some MRNA, DHR, AMZN- as all are higher today- MRNA higher on the JNJ concerns, DHR promoted by Cramer- industrial - and AMZN is finally $100 above it's prior range- just bought 1 share. Pricey. IBM has stopped out...
Was stopped out on DBA in yesterday's pullback- it went back higher today will reenter-close to my stop-
Added 50 to the HTEC position on today's higher move above the range breakout.also now above the 50 ema

PM- Tsla made a higher Close- ARKK up -
Tony Dwyer- permabull came on CNBC and thinks we've had our best run year to date- take some profits off- believes it is already priced in for the good earnings we should be seeing in the weeks ahead- COIN ipo tomorrow- will have to see if it lives up to the Hype- crypto play- Since mid Feb, Bitcoin via GBTC has been in a sideways range- possibly getting a near term breakout today- No position-
Large cap tech in favor-