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Have a small position in FUEL... Reported a great quarter, thinking of increasing the position. They are selling at such a discount in comparison to their competition.

 
One thing I've been surprised is that more folks haven't shown an interest in the Piker $10k -> $1M idea. Overall this has been a successful "live trading" concept, and one I'm moving more towards (along with the SH Sector Rotation Strategy) in 2015.

I've posted those trades faithfully and mostly in real time throughout the year. Results can be seen on this page of my blog.

http://steelhedge.com/current-portfolio/
I have been strongly considering giving this a go. As someone with less than two years in trading experience and no previous futures experience I'm trying to learn as much as I can before jumping in.
Couple questions for your Piker run here Siff...

I've been looking at your 2014 history and many of your exit points, especially early on, are not 10 point losers or 15 point winners. Are these instances where your exit points happened off hours and you are selling first thing in the morning; is a case of trusting the current charts more than the entry point charts and and choosing to get out; or just that you didn't want open positions because you would not be able to monitor them for personal reasons? Are you setting up automatic stop losses and limiting profits on your exit points?

Take the first trade for example...

entry date = 1/2

exit date = 1/7 at 7:30am

type = bear

point gain/loss = 9.5

Entry point is 1826.75

exit point is 1827

Did this 9.5 point jump coupled with charts get you to cancel your order early that morning?

Question 2:

Along those same lines...why is the average pt loss not -10? Is there another criteria for exiting before hitting that 10 point loser that's not detailed on SH.com

Thanks for the time and effort you put into all of this!

 
One thing I've been surprised is that more folks haven't shown an interest in the Piker $10k -> $1M idea. Overall this has been a successful "live trading" concept, and one I'm moving more towards (along with the SH Sector Rotation Strategy) in 2015.

I've posted those trades faithfully and mostly in real time throughout the year. Results can be seen on this page of my blog.

http://steelhedge.com/current-portfolio/
I have been strongly considering giving this a go. As someone with less than two years in trading experience and no previous futures experience I'm trying to learn as much as I can before jumping in.
Couple questions for your Piker run here Siff...

I've been looking at your 2014 history and many of your exit points, especially early on, are not 10 point losers or 15 point winners. Are these instances where your exit points happened off hours and you are selling first thing in the morning; is a case of trusting the current charts more than the entry point charts and and choosing to get out; or just that you didn't want open positions because you would not be able to monitor them for personal reasons? Are you setting up automatic stop losses and limiting profits on your exit points?

Take the first trade for example...

entry date = 1/2

exit date = 1/7 at 7:30am

type = bear

point gain/loss = 9.5

Entry point is 1826.75

exit point is 1827

Did this 9.5 point jump coupled with charts get you to cancel your order early that morning?

Question 2:

Along those same lines...why is the average pt loss not -10? Is there another criteria for exiting before hitting that 10 point loser that's not detailed on SH.com

Thanks for the time and effort you put into all of this!
There have been times (the Jan 2 & Jan 7 trades are examples but there are a few more this year) where I get a confirmed trend...and then the trend reverses before it reaches the 15pt gain or 10pt loss.

When I open these trades - it's a set it and forget it...win 15 pts OR lose 10pts. And sometimes the trade closes during regular trading hours and sometimes it closes overnight (One order filled cancels the other). But if I wake up and see that the trend has flipped, or the trend flips during regular market hours - I'll manually cancel the order - in the Jan 2nd trade example Flip from a Bearish Trade to a Bullish Trade.

Typically this occurs when the market is directionless - $VIX is really low. It does happen. You may notice there have been some trades that get within 1-2 pts of winning the 15pts only to turn into losers. #### happens...and a lot of time it happens overnight (that's why I call them the "night monkeys")

The average loss isn't 10pts exactly because of some of those trades...meaning not every trade that has lost - has lost 10pts. In looking at the spreadsheet I see at least 1 winning trade that didn't achieve 15 pts either...so I need to correct the "Average Win"...which will be a tad less than 15pts.

Understand - I'm just a one man show, and definitely not a mathematician..nor a spelling-bee champion.

With all that said - a quick note: I went back to the Top Weekly Sector Rotation and adjusted the spreadsheet to include Fidelity's $7.95 commission. I've also put together a NEW Bi-Weekly (every 2 weeks) Top Sector from the Largest 100 ETFs that I'll add to the page later on today. I sincerely appreciate the comments to help make this better for all.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
One thing I've been surprised is that more folks haven't shown an interest in the Piker $10k -> $1M idea. Overall this has been a successful "live trading" concept, and one I'm moving more towards (along with the SH Sector Rotation Strategy) in 2015.

I've posted those trades faithfully and mostly in real time throughout the year. Results can be seen on this page of my blog.

http://steelhedge.com/current-portfolio/
I have been strongly considering giving this a go. As someone with less than two years in trading experience and no previous futures experience I'm trying to learn as much as I can before jumping in.
Couple questions for your Piker run here Siff...

I've been looking at your 2014 history and many of your exit points, especially early on, are not 10 point losers or 15 point winners. Are these instances where your exit points happened off hours and you are selling first thing in the morning; is a case of trusting the current charts more than the entry point charts and and choosing to get out; or just that you didn't want open positions because you would not be able to monitor them for personal reasons? Are you setting up automatic stop losses and limiting profits on your exit points?

Take the first trade for example...

entry date = 1/2

exit date = 1/7 at 7:30am

type = bear

point gain/loss = 9.5

Entry point is 1826.75

exit point is 1827

Did this 9.5 point jump coupled with charts get you to cancel your order early that morning?

Question 2:

Along those same lines...why is the average pt loss not -10? Is there another criteria for exiting before hitting that 10 point loser that's not detailed on SH.com

Thanks for the time and effort you put into all of this!
There have been times (the Jan 2 & Jan 7 trades are examples but there are a few more this year) where I get a confirmed trend...and then the trend reverses before it reaches the 15pt gain or 10pt loss.

When I open these trades - it's a set it and forget it...win 15 pts OR lose 10pts. And sometimes the trade closes during regular trading hours and sometimes it closes overnight (One order filled cancels the other). But if I wake up and see that the trend has flipped, or the trend flips during regular market hours - I'll manually cancel the order - in the Jan 2nd trade example Flip from a Bearish Trade to a Bullish Trade.

Typically this occurs when the market is directionless - $VIX is really low. It does happen. You may notice there have been some trades that get within 1-2 pts of winning the 15pts only to turn into losers. #### happens...and a lot of time it happens overnight (that's why I call them the "night monkeys")

The average loss isn't 10pts exactly because of some of those trades...meaning not every trade that has lost - has lost 10pts. In looking at the spreadsheet I see at least 1 winning trade that didn't achieve 15 pts either...so I need to correct the "Average Win"...which will be a tad less than 15pts.

Understand - I'm just a one man show, and definitely not a mathematician..nor a spelling-bee champion.

With all that said - a quick note: I went back to the Top Weekly Sector Rotation and adjusted the spreadsheet to include Fidelity's $7.95 commission. I've also put together a NEW Bi-Weekly (every 2 weeks) Top Sector from the Largest 100 ETFs that I'll add to the page later on today. I sincerely appreciate the comments to help make this better for all.
Thanks for the response, good to hear I'm understanding things.

Are you considering any modifications to your strategy for 2015? The set it and forget it approach seems to be working, but I'm wondering if there's a way to limit those losses after they start out well in the black? By my count there are 7 instances (out of your 23 losses)where you were up 10 or more points before losing in the end....what would the difference be if you could change your stop loss to break even if it hit 10? Would it result in any less 15 pt wins? (i.e. ES_ runs up 10, down to -1, then back to +15 for a winner) Clearly this would be tough to do without spending a lot of time on it, but perhaps changing the stop loss every 24 hours to 10 points below the current might yield even better results?

I appreciate the real time log of this, it allows me a much better understanding of the strategy.

 
jason12vb said:
siffoin said:
jason12vb said:
One thing I've been surprised is that more folks haven't shown an interest in the Piker $10k -> $1M idea. Overall this has been a successful "live trading" concept, and one I'm moving more towards (along with the SH Sector Rotation Strategy) in 2015.

I've posted those trades faithfully and mostly in real time throughout the year. Results can be seen on this page of my blog.

http://steelhedge.com/current-portfolio/
I have been strongly considering giving this a go. As someone with less than two years in trading experience and no previous futures experience I'm trying to learn as much as I can before jumping in.
Couple questions for your Piker run here Siff...

I've been looking at your 2014 history and many of your exit points, especially early on, are not 10 point losers or 15 point winners. Are these instances where your exit points happened off hours and you are selling first thing in the morning; is a case of trusting the current charts more than the entry point charts and and choosing to get out; or just that you didn't want open positions because you would not be able to monitor them for personal reasons? Are you setting up automatic stop losses and limiting profits on your exit points?

Take the first trade for example...

entry date = 1/2

exit date = 1/7 at 7:30am

type = bear

point gain/loss = 9.5

Entry point is 1826.75

exit point is 1827

Did this 9.5 point jump coupled with charts get you to cancel your order early that morning?

Question 2:

Along those same lines...why is the average pt loss not -10? Is there another criteria for exiting before hitting that 10 point loser that's not detailed on SH.com

Thanks for the time and effort you put into all of this!
There have been times (the Jan 2 & Jan 7 trades are examples but there are a few more this year) where I get a confirmed trend...and then the trend reverses before it reaches the 15pt gain or 10pt loss.

When I open these trades - it's a set it and forget it...win 15 pts OR lose 10pts. And sometimes the trade closes during regular trading hours and sometimes it closes overnight (One order filled cancels the other). But if I wake up and see that the trend has flipped, or the trend flips during regular market hours - I'll manually cancel the order - in the Jan 2nd trade example Flip from a Bearish Trade to a Bullish Trade.

Typically this occurs when the market is directionless - $VIX is really low. It does happen. You may notice there have been some trades that get within 1-2 pts of winning the 15pts only to turn into losers. #### happens...and a lot of time it happens overnight (that's why I call them the "night monkeys")

The average loss isn't 10pts exactly because of some of those trades...meaning not every trade that has lost - has lost 10pts. In looking at the spreadsheet I see at least 1 winning trade that didn't achieve 15 pts either...so I need to correct the "Average Win"...which will be a tad less than 15pts.

Understand - I'm just a one man show, and definitely not a mathematician..nor a spelling-bee champion.

With all that said - a quick note: I went back to the Top Weekly Sector Rotation and adjusted the spreadsheet to include Fidelity's $7.95 commission. I've also put together a NEW Bi-Weekly (every 2 weeks) Top Sector from the Largest 100 ETFs that I'll add to the page later on today. I sincerely appreciate the comments to help make this better for all.
Thanks for the response, good to hear I'm understanding things.

Are you considering any modifications to your strategy for 2015? The set it and forget it approach seems to be working, but I'm wondering if there's a way to limit those losses after they start out well in the black? By my count there are 7 instances (out of your 23 losses)where you were up 10 or more points before losing in the end....what would the difference be if you could change your stop loss to break even if it hit 10? Would it result in any less 15 pt wins? (i.e. ES_ runs up 10, down to -1, then back to +15 for a winner) Clearly this would be tough to do without spending a lot of time on it, but perhaps changing the stop loss every 24 hours to 10 points below the current might yield even better results?

I appreciate the real time log of this, it allows me a much better understanding of the strategy.
Analyzing your results further, it looks like you're already doing a pretty good job of limiting the losses when it turns red. There are only 2 or 3 significant losses where you didn't exit of your own free will.

 
Amaya gaming bought out pokerstars for 4.9 Billion and has a market cap of 4 Billion? Don't know anything about the company but seems like it still might be undervalued. Always thought whenever online poker comes back fully in the US a couple companies will flourish.

 
siffoin said:
jason12vb said:
One thing I've been surprised is that more folks haven't shown an interest in the Piker $10k -> $1M idea. Overall this has been a successful "live trading" concept, and one I'm moving more towards (along with the SH Sector Rotation Strategy) in 2015.

I've posted those trades faithfully and mostly in real time throughout the year. Results can be seen on this page of my blog.

http://steelhedge.com/current-portfolio/
I have been strongly considering giving this a go. As someone with less than two years in trading experience and no previous futures experience I'm trying to learn as much as I can before jumping in.
Couple questions for your Piker run here Siff...

I've been looking at your 2014 history and many of your exit points, especially early on, are not 10 point losers or 15 point winners. Are these instances where your exit points happened off hours and you are selling first thing in the morning; is a case of trusting the current charts more than the entry point charts and and choosing to get out; or just that you didn't want open positions because you would not be able to monitor them for personal reasons? Are you setting up automatic stop losses and limiting profits on your exit points?

Take the first trade for example...

entry date = 1/2

exit date = 1/7 at 7:30am

type = bear

point gain/loss = 9.5

Entry point is 1826.75

exit point is 1827

Did this 9.5 point jump coupled with charts get you to cancel your order early that morning?

Question 2:

Along those same lines...why is the average pt loss not -10? Is there another criteria for exiting before hitting that 10 point loser that's not detailed on SH.com

Thanks for the time and effort you put into all of this!
There have been times (the Jan 2 & Jan 7 trades are examples but there are a few more this year) where I get a confirmed trend...and then the trend reverses before it reaches the 15pt gain or 10pt loss.

When I open these trades - it's a set it and forget it...win 15 pts OR lose 10pts. And sometimes the trade closes during regular trading hours and sometimes it closes overnight (One order filled cancels the other). But if I wake up and see that the trend has flipped, or the trend flips during regular market hours - I'll manually cancel the order - in the Jan 2nd trade example Flip from a Bearish Trade to a Bullish Trade.

Typically this occurs when the market is directionless - $VIX is really low. It does happen. You may notice there have been some trades that get within 1-2 pts of winning the 15pts only to turn into losers. #### happens...and a lot of time it happens overnight (that's why I call them the "night monkeys")

The average loss isn't 10pts exactly because of some of those trades...meaning not every trade that has lost - has lost 10pts. In looking at the spreadsheet I see at least 1 winning trade that didn't achieve 15 pts either...so I need to correct the "Average Win"...which will be a tad less than 15pts.

Understand - I'm just a one man show, and definitely not a mathematician..nor a spelling-bee champion.

With all that said - a quick note: I went back to the Top Weekly Sector Rotation and adjusted the spreadsheet to include Fidelity's $7.95 commission. I've also put together a NEW Bi-Weekly (every 2 weeks) Top Sector from the Largest 100 ETFs that I'll add to the page later on today. I sincerely appreciate the comments to help make this better for all.
That $7.95 commission really prevents someone with a small bankroll from trying out the weekly strategy. If you started with $500, you'd be negative before you new it just because the commissions would eat up your money.

i think you could get away with doing the monthly sector rotation starting at $500 b/c you can avoid the fee after 30 days :thumbup:

 
siffoin said:
jason12vb said:
One thing I've been surprised is that more folks haven't shown an interest in the Piker $10k -> $1M idea. Overall this has been a successful "live trading" concept, and one I'm moving more towards (along with the SH Sector Rotation Strategy) in 2015.

I've posted those trades faithfully and mostly in real time throughout the year. Results can be seen on this page of my blog.

http://steelhedge.com/current-portfolio/
I have been strongly considering giving this a go. As someone with less than two years in trading experience and no previous futures experience I'm trying to learn as much as I can before jumping in.
Couple questions for your Piker run here Siff...

I've been looking at your 2014 history and many of your exit points, especially early on, are not 10 point losers or 15 point winners. Are these instances where your exit points happened off hours and you are selling first thing in the morning; is a case of trusting the current charts more than the entry point charts and and choosing to get out; or just that you didn't want open positions because you would not be able to monitor them for personal reasons? Are you setting up automatic stop losses and limiting profits on your exit points?

Take the first trade for example...

entry date = 1/2

exit date = 1/7 at 7:30am

type = bear

point gain/loss = 9.5

Entry point is 1826.75

exit point is 1827

Did this 9.5 point jump coupled with charts get you to cancel your order early that morning?

Question 2:

Along those same lines...why is the average pt loss not -10? Is there another criteria for exiting before hitting that 10 point loser that's not detailed on SH.com

Thanks for the time and effort you put into all of this!
There have been times (the Jan 2 & Jan 7 trades are examples but there are a few more this year) where I get a confirmed trend...and then the trend reverses before it reaches the 15pt gain or 10pt loss.

When I open these trades - it's a set it and forget it...win 15 pts OR lose 10pts. And sometimes the trade closes during regular trading hours and sometimes it closes overnight (One order filled cancels the other). But if I wake up and see that the trend has flipped, or the trend flips during regular market hours - I'll manually cancel the order - in the Jan 2nd trade example Flip from a Bearish Trade to a Bullish Trade.

Typically this occurs when the market is directionless - $VIX is really low. It does happen. You may notice there have been some trades that get within 1-2 pts of winning the 15pts only to turn into losers. #### happens...and a lot of time it happens overnight (that's why I call them the "night monkeys")

The average loss isn't 10pts exactly because of some of those trades...meaning not every trade that has lost - has lost 10pts. In looking at the spreadsheet I see at least 1 winning trade that didn't achieve 15 pts either...so I need to correct the "Average Win"...which will be a tad less than 15pts.

Understand - I'm just a one man show, and definitely not a mathematician..nor a spelling-bee champion.

With all that said - a quick note: I went back to the Top Weekly Sector Rotation and adjusted the spreadsheet to include Fidelity's $7.95 commission. I've also put together a NEW Bi-Weekly (every 2 weeks) Top Sector from the Largest 100 ETFs that I'll add to the page later on today. I sincerely appreciate the comments to help make this better for all.
That $7.95 commission really prevents someone with a small bankroll from trying out the weekly strategy. If you started with $500, you'd be negative before you new it just because the commissions would eat up your money.

i think you could get away with doing the monthly sector rotation starting at $500 b/c you can avoid the fee after 30 days :thumbup:
Pro-Tip: Don't attempt anything I post here with a bankroll of $500. Lets call these posts "educational".

 
Couple of question for ya Siff for those of us following or considering your Piker method.

1) If someone were not able to get an entry point when you did...is there a technical chart or two you can suggest that would help us determine if it's still worth getting in or not? I realize your charting methods are your own technical formulas and not standard, but are there widely accepted ones you put some faith in?

2) How long does it generally take for one of your trends to break down? An hour, 4 hours, overnight... (i.e. how long after you enter a position is it not even worth looking at?)

I find it interesting that your wins, on average, take a dip of 3.5 points before going up 15 points in the end. Also, roughly 33% of your wins take a dip of 5 points or more at some point. (shows how important dedicated technical trading is and gives us wanting to learn by following a time cushion we can get in)

I'm thinking in the case if I were to get in at a better price than you (what the max is is TBD, thinking that 3.5 specified above), I'd set my limit at 15 from my entry point, but my loss at 10 from yours (so my loss might be 8 instead of 10)...I just can't decide what the best strategy would be from the other side of your entry. Even if I were to get in 10 minutes after you, that might be 2 points...so I lean towards setting my limit at yours, then setting my loss at 2/3s of my limit. My thinking is to take the 15 even if your trend says I can get a few more, but limit the losses.

 
Couple of question for ya Siff for those of us following or considering your Piker method.

1) If someone were not able to get an entry point when you did...is there a technical chart or two you can suggest that would help us determine if it's still worth getting in or not? I realize your charting methods are your own technical formulas and not standard, but are there widely accepted ones you put some faith in?

I'm not sure. You can put up a 200 period Moving Average line (or something similar- like I mentioned on Twitter)...and trade on the correct side of that line. With that said there'd be multiple periods where you'd get a whipsaw loss after whipsaw loss. The only results I feel confident in are the ones I use. I'm posting pretty much the trades in real time.

2) How long does it generally take for one of your trends to break down? An hour, 4 hours, overnight... (i.e. how long after you enter a position is it not even worth looking at?)

The market is always different. Sometimes we have a fast market with a lot of volatility. And sometimes a slow market that just drifts along. It seems on average most trades open and close within 24 hours.

I find it interesting that your wins, on average, take a dip of 3.5 points before going up 15 points in the end. Also, roughly 33% of your wins take a dip of 5 points or more at some point. (shows how important dedicated technical trading is and gives us wanting to learn by following a time cushion we can get in)

When a trend flips typically it will make a move back towards support (in a bull trend) or resistance (in a bear trend). But I don't know how far those dips will be. I can only say "the trend confirmed at $_____. At that point the race to 15pts is on.

I'm thinking in the case if I were to get in at a better price than you (what the max is is TBD, thinking that 3.5 specified above), I'd set my limit at 15 from my entry point, but my loss at 10 from yours (so my loss might be 8 instead of 10)...I just can't decide what the best strategy would be from the other side of your entry. Even if I were to get in 10 minutes after you, that might be 2 points...so I lean towards setting my limit at yours, then setting my loss at 2/3s of my limit. My thinking is to take the 15 even if your trend says I can get a few more, but limit the losses.

To me this is ethically like a broker front running. If I knew that's what people were doing from my information it would really piss me off. In reality - at a 3.5 pt entry off mine - I think you would find that you would not get filled on the best and easiest of trades...but would absolutely get filled on every loser.

From a spreadsheet this looks easy. I can tell you in real life with money on the line it's not. And one thing I've really come to appreciate about the piker is the set it and walk away system - actually minimizes some of the internal stress. It's also one that has built on it's own success. The information has been posted in real time with close to 1 year of data. The results are good. As mentioned on twiter - I will be making an adjustment to the Piker system (as a result of our conversations so props to you)...but all I can say is the signal at that price point is THE signal.
 
I'm thinking in the case if I were to get in at a better price than you (what the max is is TBD, thinking that 3.5 specified above), I'd set my limit at 15 from my entry point, but my loss at 10 from yours (so my loss might be 8 instead of 10)...I just can't decide what the best strategy would be from the other side of your entry. Even if I were to get in 10 minutes after you, that might be 2 points...so I lean towards setting my limit at yours, then setting my loss at 2/3s of my limit. My thinking is to take the 15 even if your trend says I can get a few more, but limit the losses.

To me this is ethically like a broker front running. If I knew that's what people were doing from my information it would really piss me off. In reality - at a 3.5 pt entry off mine - I think you would find that you would not get filled on the best and easiest of trades...but would absolutely get filled on every loser.
Thanks for all, but in response to this...my intentions are not to try to get in at a better price than you, just realizing that it's not very likely that I get in at the same time you do as the swing can be +/- a couple points pretty quickly. Just trying to define clear rules and not be greedy. I certainly don't want to rub you the wrong way, so if your opinion is that we should go after that same 15/10 split even if we're 2 points off your entry point then so be it...but you hit the nail on the head with yesterday's peak and if one got in two points later than you they'd be sitting on a possible loser right now instead of a 13 point winner. Just seemed logical to me to that if I were to cap the wins on one side, I'd also need to cap the losses on the other side. Ideally I'd get in at the same parameters as you...but that's not going to happen every time.

 
Playing the dips and highs on XOP and BIOYF continue to make for a Merry Christmas. BIOFY seems to be losing momentum though so I'm likely not going to add an more position until something happens to bring it back.

XOP, however, seems to continue to be as reliable as clockwork over the last 30ish days.

 
I'm 100% invested right now, but will be getting some cash into the portfolios around year-end. I have one name and one name only that I'm going to be adding to aggressively and it's Vogogo. I know there's a bunch of smart folks that think crypto-currency is a fraud or a Ponzi scheme destined to crumble, but as far as I know, Vogogo is the only publicly traded processor of these goofy things and there's a chit ton of money pouring into the sector by Silicon Valley and other deep pockets looking for ways to play in this space. I think there's some catalysts ahead that will take the stock higher and at $3.50 a throw, I'm likely to take a nice sized swing at this one when cash comes in. Currently a 4% position for me personally and a nice sized position for our funds.

And I won't be selling a single Amaya share either. I staunchly believe this will be a $50 stock in 2015.

 
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For those of us doing siff's sector rotation, he posted a series of tweets last night that he was modifying the rotation rules going forward.

I'll let him come in here and give the details as he'll explain the context a whole lot better than I could, but the basic gist is that 50% of the rotation will go to $SPY (and 50% to that month's top sector), provided the market signals an overall bull market.

 
For those of us doing siff's sector rotation, he posted a series of tweets last night that he was modifying the rotation rules going forward.

I'll let him come in here and give the details as he'll explain the context a whole lot better than I could, but the basic gist is that 50% of the rotation will go to $SPY (and 50% to that month's top sector), provided the market signals an overall bull market.
I'm not sure I can explain it any better than that.

Currently the strategy is 100% invested into $IJR (Ishare S&P Small-Cap ETF). On the next rotation -likely in December- this strategy will invest 50% into $SPY (I might actually use $IVV, but the point is: in a bull market 50% of the fund is always invested into SP500 )...and 50% into whatever the Top Sector is for December. If on a month $IVV is the top Sector 100% of the fund would be dedicated to SP500 ETF. Other months would be a 50:50 split.

The scan from December moving forward will be as follows:

1) Overall Market Trend - If Trend is Bullish 100% of this strategy will be invested. 50% into SP500 + 50% into Top Sector. If Trend is Bearish 100% of strategy will be in cash.

2) If Mkt is Bullish- a second scan based on price and momentum will be run to determine the top sector for the following month- Universe of sectors include: $ADRE; $EFA; $IEF; IJH; IJR; and $IVV.

3) The Top Sector will also be examined to determine if it is also in a current Bull Trend. There are rare cases when the Top Sector is not Bullish. In that instance that portion of the portfolio (50%) will go to a cash position. One any given month the allocation of this strategy could be: 50% $SPY + 50% Top Sector; 50% $SPY + 50% Cash; or 100% Cash.

4) All moves within this portfolio take place on the last trading day of the month - near the close. Obviously each individual following this strategy will have a slightly different entry and exit. For record keeping purposes I'll update my website with the price on the close. But I will also include my specific entries on a separate spreadsheet.

5) Moving forward on the last trading day of the month I will also include price points where I believe the long term trend turns bearish. This will be for both the $SPY and for the Top Sector. However - once a position is entered that position is held until the last trading day of the month. October 2014 is a great example why it is better to wait till the end of the month. I'm including the "zone" where the trend might flip as further information.

6) The Steelhead Top Sector Rotation Strategy is posted here and elsewhere for informational purposes only. Trading involves risk and this strategy is not for everyone. Though I believe no one has more interest in your money than you do- they tell me I should let you know that it would be wise to consult a financial adviser for all your investing needs prior to making any investment decision. There are some great financial advisers here at FBG.

The last trading day of the month is Fri - and it is a holiday shortened trading day. I have a pretty good idea of what the top sector for December will be, and should know with 99% certainty after the close tomorrow.

 
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Good info Siff, thanks!

Just curious, have you backtested the new strategy against the prior returns? Wondering how it would have changed things.
SH Sector Rotation has underperformed (slightly) the $SPY for the past 3 years. When you add in the capital gains on ST moves it diminishes the return even more. This adjustment essentially keeps pace with the $SPY in this current market environment while giving it an opportunity to participate if one sector gets really hot.

Will still go 100% to cash in a bear market. That's why I'll provide a "line in the sand" price point each month.

 
Could be priced at 0 in a few years. Seriously.
I have never been high on NFLX, unfortunately :kicksrock:

But I don't know about the valuation of 0. The price point is still light years ahead of what these others are offering. Imagine a standalone HBO, then Showtime, then Skinamax... The costs for NFLX will still keep a loyal following.

They'll end up being like the MetroPCS of TV services. At some point when their stock is priced more into reality, somebody will prob scoop them up.
They will not exist in a few years. Period.

They rely on the studios to feed them movies. First HBO starts this streaming, then the studios realize they can just stream the stuff themselves and undercut HBO on everything but their originals. Studios charge higher rates, the ISPS (controlled by the studios) charge higher rates to pass through, plus competition from networks and other outlets content to give away programming for free, and boom. It's over. HBO was way out in front of this trend a decade ago with original stuff. Now, it's payday.

Think blockbuster. Because that's where they will be sharing a place with soon enough.
For a few sentences that must have been pretty compelling as the thought of shorting entered my head immediately after reading it.

I would be too scared though, getting caught on the wrong side of this is devastating. I've actually posted numerous times in the last few months about how I would love to short Tesla (although I think their future is different than what you outline for NFLX) just due to an insane valuation right now. But my feelings there are the same as this one and the end result of getting caught on the wrong side is devastation.
why don't you buy a put then?
The trader in me likes this idea:

I'd want a some kind of bounce towards $380ish. I have a target of $220-$270. Will have to see how they price the options in the morning and over the next few days if it does move higher- I'd be willing to risk $1 and hope to make $4+ - the pricing is key - the option game ain't what it used to be.

So if for example $NFLX moved to $380...and the Jan $350 Put was priced at $15 or less - I'm in at that point because my expectation of an $80+ move (price at $270 or lower) gives me a risk reward of $1 to make $5+ (my $15 put will be worth $80+)

Be looking at a Jan or March 2015 expiration.

I basing the $220-$270 target on support levels over multiple time frames in conjunction with a bearish trend for NFLX (which has been bearish since late Sept at around $440) and a bearish trend for the overall markets.

So that's the plan now we just need to exercise a little patience and see if the plan unfolds accordingly.
Did anyone do this? We've got about a double at this point on the March 350's.

Edit: I have the January 350's not the March and it is in a Spread position.

 
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Good info Siff, thanks!

Just curious, have you backtested the new strategy against the prior returns? Wondering how it would have changed things.
SH Sector Rotation has underperformed (slightly) the $SPY for the past 3 years. When you add in the capital gains on ST moves it diminishes the return even more. This adjustment essentially keeps pace with the $SPY in this current market environment while giving it an opportunity to participate if one sector gets really hot. Will still go 100% to cash in a bear market. That's why I'll provide a "line in the sand" price point each month.
One clarifying question on the cash position, siff. Isn't a bear market partly what the IEF sector is for? Going through your backtesting, during the 2008-09 crash the rotation was making money (or at least, heavily reducing equity losses) by being in bonds/IEF.With the bull/bear "line in the sand" as the first test, when would you ever rotate into IEF?

ETA- not against adding "cash" as a rotation sector in theory (I believe I floated that idea out there many pages ago), but I always looked at it as an emergency "every sector looks bad" ejector seat option. Maybe you're saying the same thing but I wanted to make sure.

 
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So Sif, what are you thinking for December? My simple analysis shows EFA with IVV, maybe IJH coming up 2nd depending on the last couple of trading days.

Another way of looking at it shows me ADRE or IJR but I think that method is too dependent on the rebound from their poor numbers in September.

 
So Sif, what are you thinking for December? My simple analysis shows EFA with IVV, maybe IJH coming up 2nd depending on the last couple of trading days.

Another way of looking at it shows me ADRE or IJR but I think that method is too dependent on the rebound from their poor numbers in September.
Found your tweet buried a bit. I see you are saying IVV at the moment.

 
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Good info Siff, thanks!

Just curious, have you backtested the new strategy against the prior returns? Wondering how it would have changed things.
SH Sector Rotation has underperformed (slightly) the $SPY for the past 3 years. When you add in the capital gains on ST moves it diminishes the return even more. This adjustment essentially keeps pace with the $SPY in this current market environment while giving it an opportunity to participate if one sector gets really hot. Will still go 100% to cash in a bear market. That's why I'll provide a "line in the sand" price point each month.
One clarifying question on the cash position, siff. Isn't a bear market partly what the IEF sector is for? Going through your backtesting, during the 2008-09 crash the rotation was making money (or at least, heavily reducing equity losses) by being in bonds/IEF.With the bull/bear "line in the sand" as the first test, when would you ever rotate into IEF?

ETA- not against adding "cash" as a rotation sector in theory (I believe I floated that idea out there many pages ago), but I always looked at it as an emergency "every sector looks bad" ejector seat option. Maybe you're saying the same thing but I wanted to make sure.
$IEF tends to be the default sector in a bear market but I said "Cash" in a bear market to be open to the possibility that one day all of the Sector ETFs are in a bear trend including $IEF. The back testing is great, but we're investing moving forward in time. This is one reason for the adjustment into a 50% position in SP500 ETF ($SPY or $IVV). I don't have a great understanding of the bond market in general, but I can foresee a scenario where if the market actually turned bearish - the bond market would play a heavy role in that turn of the trend. I hope that answers your question - I'm not trying to be vague. Just stating that in real life with this strategy there are 7 honest potential holdings ($ADRE; $EFA; $IEF; $IJH; $IJR; $IVV & Cash). I don't view this as a departure in any way from all that I've written about the strategy.

 
So Sif, what are you thinking for December? My simple analysis shows EFA with IVV, maybe IJH coming up 2nd depending on the last couple of trading days.

Another way of looking at it shows me ADRE or IJR but I think that method is too dependent on the rebound from their poor numbers in September.
Found your tweet buried a bit. I see you are saying IVV at the moment.
Yes. I've 99% confident that this will rotate into $IVV on Friday.

That Bull/Bear line in the sand will be around 1990 of the $SPX. Meaning if end of December $SPX is below 1990ish I'd consider the IT to be Bearish. The 1990 number is rising but for now that is the "oh ####" zone we're looking at.

 
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In other news, still looking at XOP drop like a ####### rock. This can't continue forever, but I'm not catching a falling knife... yet.

 
In other news, still looking at XOP drop like a ####### rock. This can't continue forever, but I'm not catching a falling knife... yet.
Im watching COP looking for the time to get in......when does your crystal ball tell you to pull the trigger?

 
I'm 100% invested right now, but will be getting some cash into the portfolios around year-end. I have one name and one name only that I'm going to be adding to aggressively and it's Vogogo. I know there's a bunch of smart folks that think crypto-currency is a fraud or a Ponzi scheme destined to crumble, but as far as I know, Vogogo is the only publicly traded processor of these goofy things and there's a chit ton of money pouring into the sector by Silicon Valley and other deep pockets looking for ways to play in this space. I think there's some catalysts ahead that will take the stock higher and at $3.50 a throw, I'm likely to take a nice sized swing at this one when cash comes in. Currently a 4% position for me personally and a nice sized position for our funds.

And I won't be selling a single Amaya share either. I staunchly believe this will be a $50 stock in 2015.
Down almost 15% today???

 
Bought FLEX for my brokerage account and REGN for my IRA today. FLEX at $11 is really cheap and I anticipate it will be more fairly valued in 12-18 months, but I will sell at $17 regardless of the timeframe. REGN is insanely expensive on trailing earnings, but the pipeline is one of the best in biotech. I now have 53% of my (very small) IRA in REGN and WWAV, so I'll be looking for dividend aristocrats to buy for the remainder.

 
Sold CBI today for tax loss harvest. Bought HAL as a substitute. Early next year back into CBI. Oil drop has been brutal to all but the biggest megacaps in the space.

 
Platinum stocks down something like 30-40% the last couple days due to this lawsuit alleging price fixing.
Wow. Saw HSBC mixed up in this. Shocker - they got booted out of the drug cartel money laundering business, so they had to do something to keep their profit margins up.

 
Just read the Forbes article about your boy, GM. Not sure if I'm impressed or if I want to sell all.
He's wired differently than most, that's for sure. What he pulled off was incredible, IMO.
There's no doubt about that, but it's hard to tell if he's operating at such a different level than everybody else that there's no way to stop him or if he's just an incredibly tenacious dog who's looking to chase the next squirrel until he kills it, with no idea where he's going long-term.

 
Just read the Forbes article about your boy, GM. Not sure if I'm impressed or if I want to sell all.
He's wired differently than most, that's for sure. What he pulled off was incredible, IMO.
There's no doubt about that, but it's hard to tell if he's operating at such a different level than everybody else that there's no way to stop him or if he's just an incredibly tenacious dog who's looking to chase the next squirrel until he kills it, with no idea where he's going long-term.
I'll start to worry if/when HE sells stock. For a kid who didn't come from money, slept on park benches in outdoor hockey venues and quit college, I find it astonishing that he hasn't cashed in at least some of his chips for personal gain. We asked him why and he simply said "now is not the time to sell". Good enough for me to hang on and my firm is doing the same.

 
Just read the Forbes article about your boy, GM. Not sure if I'm impressed or if I want to sell all.
He's wired differently than most, that's for sure. What he pulled off was incredible, IMO.
There's no doubt about that, but it's hard to tell if he's operating at such a different level than everybody else that there's no way to stop him or if he's just an incredibly tenacious dog who's looking to chase the next squirrel until he kills it, with no idea where he's going long-term.
I'll start to worry if/when HE sells stock. For a kid who didn't come from money, slept on park benches in outdoor hockey venues and quit college, I find it astonishing that he hasn't cashed in at least some of his chips for personal gain. We asked him why and he simply said "now is not the time to sell". Good enough for me to hang on and my firm is doing the same.
Link guys? Thanks. Just now dipping toes in this thread.

 
I'll start to worry if/when HE sells stock. For a kid who didn't come from money, slept on park benches in outdoor hockey venues and quit college, I find it astonishing that he hasn't cashed in at least some of his chips for personal gain. We asked him why and he simply said "now is not the time to sell". Good enough for me to hang on and my firm is doing the same.
And it is probably going to win you the stock contest. :)

 
Bought more CVX. Can't pass up a rock solid 4% dividend. This is a fire sale. I hope it goes down to 90 so I can back up the truck.

 

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