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Mad Hedge Fund Trader

How to Lose Money

Diary, Newsletter

I?m really glad I watched the Super Bowl yesterday. Not only was it a great warm-up for next year?s championship game, which will be in my hometown of San Francisco. I also witnessed the worst coaching call in football history.

The Seattle Seahawks had the game in the bag. All they had to do was move the ball one foot over two tries at the goal line. Instead, they passed? Too bad I wasn?t able to find a bookie to take a last minute six-figure bet. I expected New England to win.

I have to tell you that I sympathize with Seahawks Coach Peter Carroll. For I sent out one of the worst recommendations in trading history with my BUY of master limited partnership Linn Energy (LINE) on December 1.

I then proceeded to break every rule in the trader?s handbook on how to manage this position. The errors were so many that I have to list them:

1) I scored the instant profit I was looking for, making 80 basis points within two days. I didn?t take it. Instead I got greedy, hanging on for more. It never showed.

2) I then ignored my own stop loss at $15, even though most of you bailed out then and there.

3) I then committed anther sin, waiting for the units to get back to my cost to get out, even though I constantly admonish followers never to do this. The market doesn?t care what your cost is. The market is the market. It has zero memory, and could care less who you are.

4) There were several substantial rallies that I could have sold into for a much smaller loss, to $14.80, $11.90 and $11.70. I didn?t. The ?getting out for even? syndrome strikes again.

5) I expected oil to bottom out in the low $60?s, which was much lower than most people?s targets. It didn?t. Instead, it dropped another $20 to the $43 handle. Once there is a glut of oil, there is no place to put it, as all storage is full, so it always plunges lower than you expect. With more oil industry experience than most traders, I already knew this. But I ignored the writing on the wall.

6) I waited for a yearend short covering rally to take me out of the position. It never showed. Instead, it went down faster, hitting a new five year low of $9.30.

7) I waited for a New Year rally to take me out. Ditto.

At this point, (LINN) is acting like a classic busted stock. Even though oil has bounced back by a hefty 15% in recent days, (LINN) has barely moved. If you throw good news on a stock and it doesn?t move, it is time to say hasta la vista baby.

For more depth on the grim outlook for Texas tea, please read my recent piece, ?More Pain to Come in Oil? by clicking here. Now is not the time to maintain an aggressive long in energy.

I?m sure (LINN) will come back some day, as it is well managed. In fact, it might even be the big trade of the year. But this could happen in months, or even years. And if you haven?t noticed, the name of this service is the Diary of a Mad Hedge Fund Trader, not the Diary of a Mad Long Term Investor.

Where I live, long-term is a long-winded way of saying "wrong".

LINE 2-2-15

WTIC 1-30-15

USO 2-2-15

Pete CarrollCan I Interest You in Some Linn Energy?

https://www.madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Pete-Carroll-e1422911237298.jpg 400 279 Mad Hedge Fund Trader https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png Mad Hedge Fund Trader2015-02-03 01:05:132015-02-03 01:05:13How to Lose Money
Mad Hedge Fund Trader

The Market?s Technical Outlook is Terrible

Diary, Newsletter

At yesterday morning?s opening bell, we were greeted with the unmistakable evidence the stock market is technically breaking down.

The Dow Average has broken its three-year upward sloping trend line. Market leading sectors, like Consumer Discretionary and Financials have all put in eminently convincing ?Head and Shoulders? tops (click here). More distressingly, the head and shoulders for lead sector Technology has already broken down. Check out all the charts below.

I quickly ran my expiration P&L this morning. I figured out that if I sold all my longs for small profits (SPY), (IWM), and kept all my short positions (FXY), (T), (AA), I would be up 4.43% year to date by mid February, which in this environment is nothing less than heroic. The exception to the analysis is my sale of Linn Energy (LINE), which will be the subject of my next piece.

For more detail on why this is happening, read today?s letter, ?The Great American Rot is Ending? by clicking here).

 

SPY 2-2-15

DIA 2-2-15

RSP 2-2-15

XLY 2-2-15

RYT 2-2-15

PSCF 2-2-15

VIX 2-2-15

SkydiverTime to Bail

https://www.madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Skydiver-e1422906198890.jpg 253 400 Mad Hedge Fund Trader https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png Mad Hedge Fund Trader2015-02-03 01:04:522015-02-03 01:04:52The Market?s Technical Outlook is Terrible
Mad Hedge Fund Trader

Testimonial

Diary, Newsletter, Testimonials

Really enjoyed the Chicago lunch with you, Jim and the guys from Toronto. My trading improved just from the two-hour lunch seminar. Looking forward to coming in the spring if you do another Chicago lunch.

Thanks,

Rich
Detroit, Michigan

John Thomas

https://www.madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/John-Thomas-e1422916318181.jpg 300 400 Mad Hedge Fund Trader https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png Mad Hedge Fund Trader2015-02-03 01:03:582015-02-03 01:03:58Testimonial
Mad Hedge Fund Trader

February 2, 2015

Diary, Newsletter, Summary

Global Market Comments
February 2, 2015
Fiat Lux

Featured Trade:
(THE GREAT AMERICAN ROT IS ENDING),
(SPY), (TLT), (FXY), (FXE), (USO)

SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY)
iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond (TLT)
CurrencyShares Japanese Yen ETF (FXY)
CurrencyShares Euro ETF (FXE)
United States Oil ETF (USO)

https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png 0 0 Mad Hedge Fund Trader https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png Mad Hedge Fund Trader2015-02-02 09:34:252015-02-02 09:34:25February 2, 2015
Mad Hedge Fund Trader

January 30, 2015

Diary, Newsletter, Summary

Global Market Comments
January 30, 2015
Fiat Lux

Featured Trade:
(FEBRUARY 4 GLOBAL STRATEGY WEBINAR),
(SIGN UP NOW FOR TEXT MESSAGING OF TRADE ALERTS),
(QCOM), (SPY),
(THE CHINA VIEW FROM 30,000 FEET)
(FXI), (DBC), (DYY), (DBA), (PHO)

QUALCOMM Incorporated (QCOM)
SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY)
iShares China Large-Cap (FXI)
PowerShares DB Commodity Tracking ETF (DBC)
PowerShares DB Commodity Double Long ETN (DYY)
PowerShares DB Agriculture ETF (DBA)
PowerShares Water Resources ETF (PHO)

https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png 0 0 Mad Hedge Fund Trader https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png Mad Hedge Fund Trader2015-01-30 01:07:462015-01-30 01:07:46January 30, 2015
Mad Hedge Fund Trader

January 29, 2015

Diary, Newsletter, Summary

Global Market Comments
January 29, 2015
Fiat Lux

Featured Trade:
(QUALCOMM GUIDANCE CRUSHES STOCK), (QCOM)
(BUSINESS IS BOOMING AT THE MONEY PRINTERS),
(TESTIMONIAL)

QUALCOMM Incorporated (QCOM)

https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png 0 0 Mad Hedge Fund Trader https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png Mad Hedge Fund Trader2015-01-29 09:12:472015-01-29 09:12:47January 29, 2015
Mad Hedge Fund Trader

Qualcomm Guidance Crushes Stock

Diary, Free Research, Newsletter

It seems that the harder I work, the luckier I get.

Last week I made a bet that companies with a high share of international business would be punished severely during earnings season.

Specifically, I picked QUALCOMM (QCOM), the San Diego based maker of processors for cell phones, tablets, and laptops, because it had the highest percentage of foreign earnings among the S&P 500.

Three days later, after years of dawdling, the European Central Bank announced a particularly aggressive form of quantitative easing that sent the Euro crashing. You might as well have sent a torpedo directly into QUALCOMM?s bottom line.

The company?s Q4 earnings report, announced after the Tuesday close, confirmed my worst fears. While the earnings held up surprisingly well, the second half guidance was downright apocalyptic.

The stock immediately gapped down to $65 in the aftermarket, off some 8%, in a heartbeat.

Foreign earnings are a great place to hide when the greenback is soggy. It is a terrible place to be when the buck is moving from strength to strength, as it has for the past eight months.

It turns out that there is much more that is wrong under the hood at QUALCOMM than the recent collapse of the Euro and the Yen.

Much of the meteoric growth of Apple?s (AAPL) iPhone 6 sales in recent months has been at the expense of Samsung and other competitors. I hate to say ?I told you so? but I have been predicting this all along.

While QUALCOMM sells to both companies, particularly its Snapdragon 800 quadcore processor, it gets a lesser share of the profits on its sales to Apple. QUALCOMM is therefore, effectively, an indirect short position in Apple.

Oops!

I think you can take QUALCOMM?s woeful stock performance today as a warning that there is more suffering to come on the foreign earnings front by other companies yet to report.

For more depth on this, please read yesterday?s piece on ?The Unintended Consequences of the Euro Crash? by clicking here.

As for the happy holders of my recommended QUALCOMM (QCOM) February, 2015 $75-$80 in-the-money bear put spread, good for you! You have just made a nearly instant 2.25% profit on your total portfolio in a mere seven trading days. That works out to a gain of 22% on this single position.

There is no point in running this position the remaining three weeks into the February 20 expiration, as you have already reaped 95% of the potential profit. Better to free up the cash to roll into a new position, while simultaneously reducing your risk.

Or, you could simply take a long vacation from the miserable, unforgiving market.

QCOM 1-28-15

ShipThere Goes QUALCOMM?s Earnings

https://www.madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Ship-e1422539739992.jpg 262 400 Mad Hedge Fund Trader https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png Mad Hedge Fund Trader2015-01-29 09:10:192015-01-29 09:10:19Qualcomm Guidance Crushes Stock
Mad Hedge Fund Trader

January 28, 2015

Diary, Newsletter, Summary

Global Market Comments
January 28, 2015
Fiat Lux

Featured Trade:
(THE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF THE EURO CRASH),
(FXE), (EUO)
(CAT), (PG), (MSFT), (M), (FDO), (COST), (TGT), (WMT)
(RSP), (QQQ), (IWM)
(WATCH OUT FOR THE HEAD AND SHOULDERS)
(SPY), (QQQ), (TLT), (FXE), (FXY), (GLD), (SLV)

CurrencyShares Euro ETF (FXE)
ProShares UltraShort Euro (EUO)
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT)
The Procter & Gamble Company (PG)
Microsoft Corporation (MSFT)
Macy's, Inc. (M)
Family Dollar Stores Inc. (FDO)
Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST)
Target Corp. (TGT)
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT)
Guggenheim S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP)
PowerShares QQQ Trust, Series 1 (QQQ)
iShares Russell 2000 (IWM)
SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY)
iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond (TLT)
CurrencyShares Japanese Yen ETF (FXY)
SPDR Gold Shares (GLD)
iShares Silver Trust (SLV)

https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png 0 0 Mad Hedge Fund Trader https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png Mad Hedge Fund Trader2015-01-28 11:36:082015-01-28 11:36:08January 28, 2015
Mad Hedge Fund Trader

The Unintended Consequences of the Euro Crash

Diary, Free Research, Newsletter

For those of you who heeded my expert advice to buy the ProShares Ultra Short Euro ETF (EUO) last July, well done!

You are up a massive 48%! This is on a move in the underlying European currency of only 18.5%.

My browsing of the Galleria in Milan, the strolls through Spanish shopping malls, and my dickering with an assortment of dubious Greek merchants, all paid off big time. It turns out that everything I predicted for this beleaguered currency came true.

The European economy did collapse. Cantankerous governments made the problem worse by squabbling, delaying and obfuscating, as usual.

The European Central Bank finally threw in the towel and did everything they could to collapse the value of the Euro and reinvigorate their comatose economies. This they did by imitating America?s wildly successful quantitative easing, which they announced with local variations last Thursday.

And now for the good news: The best is yet to come!

Europe is now six days into a strategy of aggressive monetary easing which may take as long as five years until it delivers tangible, sustainable results. That?s how long it took for the Federal Reserve?s QE to restore satisfactory levels of confidence in the US economy.

The net net is that we have almost certainly only seen the first act of a weakening of the Euro which may last for years. A short Euro could be the trade that keeps on giving.

The ECB?s own target now is obviously parity against the greenback, which you will find predicted in my own 2015 Annual Asset Class Review released at the beginning of January (click here).

Once they hit that target, 87 cents to the Euro will become the new goal, and that could be achieved sooner than later.

However, you will not find me short the Euro up the wazoo this minute. I think we have just stumbled into a classic ?Buy the Rumor, Sell the News? situation with the Euro.

The next act will involve the ECB sitting on its hands for a year, realizing that their first pass at QE was inadequate, superficial, and flaccid, and that it is time to pull the bazooka out of their pockets once again.

This is a problem when the entire investment world is short the Euro. That paves the way for countless, rip your face off short covering rallies in the months ahead. Any smidgeon or blip of positive European economic data could spark one of these.

Trading the Euro for the past eight months has been like falling off a log. It is about to get dull, mean and brutish. So for the moment, my currency play has morphed into selling short the Japanese yen, which has its own unique set of problems.

As for the unintended consequences of the Euro crash, the Q4 earnings reports announced so far by corporate America tells the whole story.

Companies with a heavy dependence on foreign (read Euro and yen) denominated earnings are almost universally coming up short. On this list you can include Caterpillar (CAT), Procter and Gamble (PG), and Microsoft (MSFT).

Who are the winners in the strong dollar, weak Euro contest? US companies that see a high proportion of their costs denominated in flagging foreign currencies, but see their incomes arrive totally in the form of robust, virile dollars.

You may not realize it, but you are playing the global currency arbitrage game every time you go shopping. The standout names here are US retailers, which manufacture abroad virtually all of the junk they sell you here, especially in low waged China.

The stars here are Macy?s (M), Family Dollar Stores (FDO), Costco (COST), Target (TGT), and Wal-Mart (WMT).

You can see this divergence crystal clear in examining the behavior of the major stock indexes. The chart for the Guggenheim S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP), which has the greatest share of currency sensitive multinationals, looks positively dire, and may be about to put in a fatal ?Head and Shoulders? top (see the following story).

The chart for the NASDAQ (QQQ), where constituent companies have less, but still a substantial foreign currency exposure, appears to be putting in a sideways pennant formation before eventually breaking out to new highs once again.

The small cap Russell 2000, which is composed of almost entirely domestic, dollar based, ?Made in America? type companies, is by far the strongest index of the trio, and looks like it is just biding time before it blasts through to new highs.

If you are a follower of my Trade Alert Service, then you already know that I have a long position in the (IWM), which has already chipped in 2.12% to my 2015 performance.

You see, there is a method to my Madness.

EUO 1-27-15

FXE 1-27-15

RSP 1-27-15

QQQ 1-27-15

IWM 1-27-15

IMF Jan 2015 WEO

John ThomasNever Underestimate the Value of Research

https://www.madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/John-Thomas1-e1422462857973.jpg 302 400 Mad Hedge Fund Trader https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png Mad Hedge Fund Trader2015-01-28 11:35:022015-01-28 11:35:02The Unintended Consequences of the Euro Crash
Mad Hedge Fund Trader

January 27, 2015

Diary, Newsletter, Summary

Global Market Comments
January 27, 2015
Fiat Lux

Featured Trade:
(MORE PAIN TO COME IN OIL)
(USO), (XOM), (OXY), (COP), (DAL)
(THE SERVICE JOB IN YOUR FUTURE), (MCD)

United States Oil ETF (USO)
Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM)
Occidental Petroleum Corporation (OXY)
ConocoPhillips (COP)
Delta Air Lines, Inc. (DAL)
McDonald's Corp. (MCD)

https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png 0 0 Mad Hedge Fund Trader https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png Mad Hedge Fund Trader2015-01-27 10:54:442015-01-27 10:54:44January 27, 2015
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Legal Disclaimer

There is a very high degree of risk involved in trading. Past results are not indicative of future returns. MadHedgeFundTrader.com and all individuals affiliated with this site assume no responsibilities for your trading and investment results. The indicators, strategies, columns, articles and all other features are for educational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice. Information for futures trading observations are obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but we do not warrant its completeness or accuracy, or warrant any results from the use of the information. Your use of the trading observations is entirely at your own risk and it is your sole responsibility to evaluate the accuracy, completeness and usefulness of the information. You must assess the risk of any trade with your broker and make your own independent decisions regarding any securities mentioned herein. Affiliates of MadHedgeFundTrader.com may have a position or effect transactions in the securities described herein (or options thereon) and/or otherwise employ trading strategies that may be consistent or inconsistent with the provided strategies.

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