Short week due to Thanksgiving!

The past week was great for both Fast Money Trading and Slow Money Options.  This coming week I will only trade the first 2 days.  The reason is Thanksgiving falls on a Thursday.  The day before there will be light trading and the day after very light trading.  I choose not to take on that kind of risk knowing it in advance.  That is what experience teaches you. Here is an interesting note I talk about in my book, “The First 60 Minutes Of Trading”. The Pre-Holiday Effect Over the past century, there have been nine holidays during which the Exchanges have traditionally been closed. Historical research shows that stock prices often behave in a specific manner in each of the two trading days preceding these holidays. By becoming aware of this behavior, both short-term traders and longer-term investors can benefit. The general strategy is to purchase equities one or two days prior to a holiday. Short-term traders would look to sell just after the holiday while longer-term investors would wait until yearend. Both strategies have proven to be profitable plays. The theory behind this effect is that traders are lightening up their holdings (selling) prior to the three-day holiday in order to avoid any unexpected bad news. The selling pressure drives stock prices down, making those days a good opportunity for buying lower in the range. Here is the average pre-holiday results for the last 50 years, based on the S&P 500 Index: Holiday Buy two days before, sell at year end Buy one day before, sell at year end President’s Day* -0.1% 12.2% Good Friday 7.3% 17.8% Memorial Day -4.7% 22.8% Independence Day 13.3% 37.3% Labor Day 16.8% 33.7% Election Day 17.9% 4.6% Thanksgiving 4.3% 1.1% Christmas -7.1% 15.2% New Year’s 31.1% 19.6% NOTE: President’s Day data is comprised of the aggregate of both Washington and Lincoln’s Birthday prior to 1998. The original research was based on the behavior of the S&P 500 Index around the 419 holiday market closings that occurred from 1928 to 1975. To put those returns in perspective, if you had invested $10,000 in the S&P 500 Index in January 1928, and sold it all in December 1975, you would have ended up with $51,441. However, if you had invested one-ninth of your money just before each pre-holiday period (selling everything at the end of the year), you would have finished with $1,440,716. Not bad! So how did we do last week in SMO?

Last week I traded the SPY Put spreads gaining 5%.  I also traded APPLE put spread for 4% gain Repeating myself but you should have the weekly charts up on these stocks with bollenger bands.  Oh and don’t forget the big red lines I've told you about it keeps you from getting into trouble. 

Come on let me teach you how to Fast Money Trade.  I have had hundreds students over the

years most are successful but not all.  Some are willing to learn and let me help them and follow this new way to trade.  Others are mired in their old ways and either won’t listen, thinking that they’ve a better way to do things.  All I ask is have a open mind listen and ask questions.  Making my daily goal of $250+ on average on a weekly basis will give me  somewhere around $60,000 year.  This sure goes a long way in supplement my retirement dollars and lifestyle. Please view my results.  This is a teaching site.

My results for the year are posted so you can see what and when I traded weekly. https:/docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccckey=0AjgjBJLwH3rdERid3A0RE1GRFlyaHB0S0VxbHc0Vnc&usp=drive_web#gid=0 

(SLOW MONEY OPTIONS)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aj-gjBJLwH3rcjJqRndVSlBzY2hNenM4YXZQT1FBZEE&usp=drive_web#gid=0 

 (FAST MONEY TRADING)

You know I had some good days and some bad, some good weeks and bad.  But I have a trading plan, goal and consistency in my trading and that is what I'm trying to teach you.  I believe each of you can do the same thing it takes discipline.   Remember me talking about trading/investing is like running a business?