The Dow lost 67 points today on again, light volume. Advance/declines were negative. I bought some OEX calls. I'm getting a buy signal, both short and intermediate so I have to take it. But the market is acting very poorly. GE was down today and my calls are now losing money. We are on the trendline and any weakness will negate this trade. I'm looking for the market to rally when it opens on Tuesday and perhaps I will just bail out of everything then. I will have to look at things over the long weekend. But right now it doesn't look good. Gold was up a buck but the XAU lost some ground and is right at its uptrend line. A break there could result in a short position but I have too much going on already. So I'm already in over my head for next year so let's take a look back at this past year. I started out losing 30% of my trading capital in the first 2 months. It was a terrible beginning which I do not want to repeat this year. But who knows? It was an up and down year. I made a lot of mistakes and had a few nice trades. But it wasn't quite good enough. There is room for a lot of improvement and I know this. My win % sucked. I got in late and out early. I got in early and out late. I had some options expire worthless which should never happen. I've got to get better. My trading account ended the year up 80%. It was a very frustrating year. I would like to have a better year in 2006. I've committed to doing the work. My discipline must improve. I know it isn't easy and I also realize that it is totally up to me. There are no excuses. I'll try and relax over this weekend and then get off to a good start for the next trading year...

Short blog today. Market not acting well, Dow down 11 on light volume. Advance/declines negative. GE up a few cents after being higher most of the day. I'd like to have the guts to pick up some OEX calls here but I don't. XAU still moving to new highs with gold actually down a bit. I am getting a buy signal on the overall market but it is short term. Perhaps I will think about it tonight and maybe get up early tomorrow and get some calls. Risky. No time today to write. More tomorrow...

The Dow was up 18 points on light volume. Advance/declines were almost 2 to 1 positive. GE was down early and ended up basically unchanged. My GTC order for calls was filled. I don't know if I'm glad or sad. I suppose I still want to do this trade but I'm skeptical at this point. We have moved sideways for so long I don't know what to think. It is right at the uptrend line though so if ever there was a time to try this trade, now is it. We'll see what happens. Gold was up around $7 and the XAU broke out to a new high. NEM rallied also. Perhaps I should have kept a better eye on this for this is where the volume is. But it could just be an end of the year thing with managers wanting some gold shares in their portfolio. That's a guess. The XAU is higher now than when gold touched $540. I think it's a positive for the XAU. Time will tell on that also. I think we are approaching oversold here on the overall market and hopefully GE will rise along with it. Nothing is for sure in this game though. Mentally I'm OK but would like to get a bit more sleep. I've been getting up earlier than I used to. Don't know why. We should limp along to the end of this holiday week here I believe. But with the volume so light, anything can happen.

The Dow lost 105 points on light volume. Advance/declines were 2 to 1 negative. No buyers today and I don't know what to say. I thought this would be just a slow week but who knows now? GE was down around 35 cents and is right at the trendline. My order is 10 cents away from being filled but now I don't know if I want it. I left it in though because I think by the end of the week today will be forgotten. Or maybe not. Gold was up $5 but I think the XAU was actually down today. I'll be keeping an eye on things for sure. Mentally I'm a little off with poor sleep lately and just a holiday mode. That has to change. I would like to get off to a good start trading next year for a change. It is up to me. Yeah the XAU was down over half a point. I'm going to stick with GE for now and it should get filled tomorrow or else today was the day to get it. You can never tell.

The Dow was down 6 points on light volume. Advance/declines were positive. It is holiday time. Next week should be slow with no real conviction one way or the other. Gold was little changed, the XAU rallied and then fell back. GE went nowhere. I still have my GTC order in but I'm thinking that I might cancel it next week. Not getting a good feel right now about where we are headed. Mentally I need a break but will stay focused on what I need to do. I'll review what happened this year and prepare for 2006...

The Dow was up 55 points on light volume. Advance/declines were positive. It is the holiday season. Volume will be light and the movement will have an upside bias. At least it should. GE was up about 30 cents on light volume. I am leaving in my GTC order and it doesn't look like it will be filled. We haven't gotten to the trendline as yet and may not for all I know. We'll see. But I think that at this rate I am pretty much done for this year. Gold was up 9 bucks and the XAU rose 2 and a half points. I guess I better keep an eye on this also. But the extra week on the options means that we are just arriving at the normal cycle. The market has moved higher and the OEX calls have barely budged. That is the trouble with extra time. Movement in the indexes doesn't necessarily mean movement in the option price. Mentally I'm doing fine with an extra half hour before going to work making for no time pressures. I'm looking forward to taking it easy over the long weekend and think that tomorrow will be a snoozer too.

The Dow was up 28 points on light volume. Advance/declines were almost 2 to 1 positive. We were due a bounce and the market was much higher earlier in the day. I think we will move higher but hang around for a day or two. GE was down about 20 cents and is almost at the uptrendline. My order remains in effect and it could get hit tomorrow. Or I might have to adjust it if the line is touched. We'll see what happens. Gold was down today but the XAU rose 3 points. Interesting. I may need to keep a closer eye on that. Not much else to say about today. Mentally I'm feeling fine. The week should close quietly, with the holidays arriving over the weekend. Next week should be a snoozer early on also.

The Dow was down around 31 points today on light volume. Advance/declines were about even. I took yesterday off from the blog and we were down yesterday also. We are at short term oversold. Any downside tomorrow can be used to get long it you want to. However the summation index has turned down so I'm not so sure what to do here. I am trying to get long GE. I have a GTC order in for some January 35 calls. We are almost at the uptrendline for GE and I will get long there. If it doesn't hold, I'll get out. Might want to try some OEX calls here also. Not sure exactly what I'll do but should try something if the technicals call for it. Gold was down again today and is now under $500. The XAU fell a couple points too. Staying away from that market for now. No clear idea of what to do there. I'll wait for the XAU to get back to the trendline. But this market could be over as far as the longside goes. Don't know for sure but I'll keep an eye on it. No other trading thoughts for now but I do expect some strength here in the stock market towards the end of the year in anticipation of the new year. Mentally I'm a bit tired as I had to get up early today and did not get a full nights sleep. Also trying to be patient here as the options have an extra week on them. But I have to do it when the signal comes and it looks like we are getting one tomorrow but it could be a weak one. We'll see...

The Dow lost 6 points today on average volume. Advance/declines were slightly negative. I managed to stay out and did not make any trades this week. GE was basically unchanged. Gold was up a bit and the XAU gained about 2 points. We now enter the holiday period which generally has a bullish bias. However we are up against resistance and slightly overbought. Volume tends to dry up now too so it's hard to trust any moves. I would like to get long GE but now I'm not so sure. There are negative divergences out there on the McClellan oscillator and that cannot be ignored. I am also getting bearish readings on the CBOE call/put indicator. I guess I will just have to try and be patient to wait for a decent signal. Perhaps I'll take the rest of the year off at this point. Try and get ready for next year which should offer many good opportunities. Mentally I'm feeling better, getting over the slight cold that I have. I need to re-focus on what needs to be done here to insure the success that awaits next year. But for now I'll try and relax, enjoy the weekend and develop some type of gameplan for the new year. An extra week on the January options also will play into the scenario. But for now, rest...

The Dow lost a point on average volume. Advance/declines were almost 2 to 1 negative. We are almost done with expiration week. I think it is skewing things a bit. Overbought here and need a rest. GE was up on heavy volume. Looks like I missed that one. Not feeling good about that. Gold was down again today and the XAU was actually up about a point. No trades there for now. I am trying to sit it out here and so far have been successful on that count. Don't know about GE now but I still feel like it could work. Not much else for now with the holidays coming up. There is usually a positive bias and I don't know if I can play that. Mentally I'm not there today as I still have a cold and I had a problem with my teeth on top of that. So I'm trying to just hang in there for now and regroup. Looking ahead to improving my trading next year. This year I started out losing a lot of money and I don't want to repeat that. I don't want to be too cautious but I don't want to be stupid either. I've got to just go after the good trades if I can find them. I know what it takes, it is just a matter of me doing it. We'll see about expiration...

The Dow was up 60 points on a little less than average volume. Advance/declines were positive. No trades. I am trying to stay out of the indices before Friday. Gold got clobbered and the XAU was down over 3 points. I should have shorted it the day it was up $10 and then sold off. I wasn't paying enough attention. GE was higher and the volume was good. I want to go out to January on this issue but will wait for some weakness. However that may not happen and the technicals are oversold. We'll see what happens. I want to do it though and will if I get a chance. I'm not feeling well, I have a slight cold. This in turn is affecting my view of the market. So I'm staying on the sidelines for now. It is probably the best thing to do. Looking to get long GE and that is about it for now. Will keep an eye on the XAU for the uptrendline. Options expire on Friday...

The Dow rose 55 points today on good volume. Advance/declines were positive. The Fed rose rates again and the market took off on the language of the statement. Which was bearish by the way. Go figure. I don't think there will be a trade for me now in the OEX or SPX but who knows, I do some crazy things sometimes. Perhaps if we get some weakness tomorrow but the risk here is a lot. I probably should look to go out to January with my GE idea and leave it at that. But perhaps I'll do something on a very short term basis if a signal comes through. GE was down a nickel on good volume. Gold sold off but the XAU hung in there. I'm going to wait for it to get back to the trendline. Overbought in all time frames. No need to be in a hurry there but that market has drawn a lot of interest and can't be ignored. Mentally I'm a bit tired from last nights dinnerfest and booze. Not the kind of situation for trading. I'm going to rest up tonight and just take it easy. That will help. I need to rest and I know it. I will try not to force things here but I get the idea that the market will run up into the expiration. Inflation number on Thursday. Trade number tomorrow. The smart thing to do here is probably just sit it out. But there will be some money to be made so..... But for now, rest.

The Dow lost 10 points today on light volume. Advance/declines were positive. Entering a tricky period here to trade. I think we need to see some weakness and then maybe some strength at the end of the week but it isn't set in stone and it is just a guess anyway. Things will have to unfold perfectly or I probably shouldn't try to do anything. The risk is high. I will probably try and go out to January on the GE trade. No guarantees there either but at least I'll have time on my side. Gold rose over $10 at one point but the XAU ended up selling off and so did gold. I think the rise is over for now but who knows? Cutting this short today, more tomorrow...

The Dow was up 23 points on light volume. Advance/declines were positive. I dumped the OEX calls for a heavy 70% loss. Not the way I'd like to end the year but it's possible that I won't make another trade this year. Doubtful but possible. I could have sold out at a 60% loss but held on and then just decided to get out and start fresh on Monday. Sometimes it's better that way. This trade was a winner and I turned it into a loser and that is unacceptable. My trading has been horrible this year but it's not time for the recap just yet. I think there will be an opportunity next week but I don't know if I'll be good enough to take it. GE was up early but then sold off some. I almost bought some calls there but my order did not get filled immediately so I canceled it. I am going to get some January calls there next week. Maybe. Gold was up another $5 today but the XAU was down. This market needs a rest and I will try and wait there before getting long. I missed this move and it my own fault. When I could have been making some good money there I was busy taking a 70% hit in the OEX. Stupid. Mentally I'm not feeling all that confident after todays loss. I will have to forget about it and move on. That is the only way to do it. I will try not to dwell on it and let it affect the next trade. I have an idea and I will see if it works out next week. I am not feeling good about what happened today but what can you do. The volume has dried up and it doesn't look like the market can get any traction to the upside. That said, I'm going to try and relax this weekend and get back at it on Monday. It is a tough game, a humbling game and it certainly can take a toll on you mentally. I'm trying my best and I need to get better. That is the truth...

The Dow down another 55 points on heavier volume. Advance/declines were positive. My OEX calls are big losers. I probably should have just sold them today. The big cap stocks are getting hammered here but the overall market is strong. The OEX was down more than the SPX and that rarely happens. Bad news from Merck and Intel after the bell and that makes for a rough day again tomorrow. It pisses me off. But there isn't anything I can do about it. This trade is just a loser. I blew it again. Makes me wonder why I even bother with this shit. I am really feeling down on myself today and I don't know why. I need to keep it together and not let my emotions take over. It isn't easy. Gold and the XAU continue to climb and that is where I should have been. It doesn't make me happy. I pulled my GE order off the table. No sense in losing any more money at this point. I'm getting killed with the OEX trade. And it was a winner at one point. I should have listened to the market. When it sold off on Tuesday. That was the key. I saw it and didn't do anything. Now with Intel and Merck getting pounded, I'm doomed. This is a tough game. What more can I say. It just doesn't get any easier. It only gets harder.

The Dow lost 45 points today. It came back in the last hour and that is encouraging. The volume also contracted and that's a positive. Advance/declines were negative. I was expecting a pullback and if we can contain it here that will be good. If not my OEX calls will be losers like they are now. I should have dumped them yesterday and re-bought them back today but hindsight is easy. I'm not sure that they will work out now because they have not been able to take out the highs as yet and it doesn't look right now like they can. I tried to get some GE calls and this is strictly a short-term trade. I have a GTC order in and this is at most a 3 day trade right now. I don't know if it will get filled but we'll see. We should see some strength in the overall market in the next 2 days. That is my guess for here. Maybe not tomorrow but by Friday for sure. Gold continues to move higher and I just can't bring myself to get long when it has moved so far and is way overbought. But who knows what I will do. The XAU is now over 120 and the January calls I was thinking about are just too expensive. It is going to be tricky to get out of this OEX trade at this point. I may not get a chance at a profit. I think the GE trade will work if my scenario of some positive action takes place. My ideal situation would be a move to new highs but that is wishful thinking at this point. The Fed meets next week also and that will tone things down at the beginning of the week. Mentally I'm a little down for not doing the right thing but I still think there will be some moneymaking opportunities here before the expiration and I will try to keep in tune with what is happening to exploit them. I also do not want to project what happened last month into this one because I don't think I could get that lucky again so soon...

The Dow was up 21 points today but was much higher earlier and sold off at the end. This is not a good sign. Volume contracted going higher, another warning signal. Advance/declines were positive. My OEX calls are about back to what I paid for them and it doesn't look good off of todays action. The candlestick chart doesn't look good here either. I'm holding for now but I don't like the scenario. Tomorrow should be a down day. I don't expect a tremendous decline but time is running out and there is just a small window of opportunity, I believe. GE was higher and sold off to basically unchanged. The chart doesn't look good there now either but a play could develop. Gold was up a touch but the XAU rallied almost 3 points. Looks like a breakout and I did place an order for some NEM calls. Might be chasing it and that is deadly. Did not get filled but it is a market that really looks like it wants to go higher. Perhaps tomorrow if I get a chance but it's risky for sure. Mentally I'm tired and did not spend the day here and that has thrown me off of my routine which I don't think is conducive to good trading. I need to be in my office but I do have other responsibilities now and I am trying to juggle them. Focus and discipline must remain the keys and I cannot let anything deter me from my goals. The market requires the utmost attention and so that's what I have to give it. There are no shortcuts. I cannot let other things get in the way of success. That is the way it is. Anything other than my full attention is a waste of time and money. It's the truth, those are the facts and I must deal with them...

Early post today as I am leaving right at the market close. 45 minutes to go and we are off over 50 points. Advance/declines are almost 2 to 1 negative. I expected some weakness here early in the week and we are getting it. Unfortunately I think it could last until the close Wednesday and the OEX calls I purchased are already back to breakeven. I will try not to buy more even if they get cheaper. GE is higher today and I have an order for some calls there but I don't think it will get hit. Could bode well for the overall market but who knows. Might try to get them in the next couple days if they pull back a bit. Or not. Gold is up around $4 but the XAU isn't doing much. This is usually a negative sign. I need to wait here as we are just about as overbought as it gets. We'll see. Not feeling good about getting long right here for gold. Mentally I''m doing fine after a nice weekend and I will attempt to clear out my head some more today after the close. But the game looms large and I would like to end the year on a positive note. That said I do want to remain disciplined into the end of the year. It's not going to be easy but nothing is in this crazy game....

The Dow lost 35 points today on average volume, maybe a little light. Advance/declines were about even. Although the action implies higher prices, you never know. I'm still holding the OEX calls. I expect some weakness at some point next week but overall I think we'll see higher prices by the end of the week. After that, who knows? Gotta be careful. GE was down today and the volume picked up. Haven't bought the calls here yet and maybe I won't. Gold was down today as was the XAU. Really need to take a break here before I think about getting long again. There is a trendline about 5 points lower on the XAU and I guess I'll wait for that. Employment report was as expected and we did not get a lot of movement really. Not sure what to make of that but it is out of the way. Mentally I think I've got a handle on things here but I don't want to be too aggressive either way. I'm still on the year ending in 5 theory and so I want to be long into the expiration. Don't know if that will hold up but it should. I'm getting more focused and I can see that there is plenty of things to do here, marketwise. I need to stay on top of things regardless of the holidays. Summation index still pointing to the upside and I'll stay in tune with that. Trying to get enough rest and the weekend is here. I'll try and relax...

Back to the upside today as the Dow gained 106 points on good volume. Advance/declines were 3 to 1 positive. The OEX calls I bought are in the black but they did not move that much. Disappointing. I am going to hold on for a while since there is just over 2 weeks until expiration. But this could be a tricky call. I might sell them next week and then buy them back in the final week. Way too far out to really know what is going to happen. GE did not move with this rally today and that is troublesome. Of course I still want some calls there so I feel good about that. But who knows? Gold rose over $6 today and the XAU bounced back over 3 points. Still overbought here but you cannot deny the move higher and I certainly want to participate. Gotta be careful though, there is way too much news coverage on this. Mentally I feel OK as my timing was almost right yesterday. But it is a dangerous game that I'm in here and I know it. Employment report tomorrow and we could head right back down. I've got to get some targets set up for this trade and also check the weekly charts. We are still overbought on the OEX so that's a problem going forward also. We did work off a little of that trin-wise in the last 3 days. Tough game and coming into the last month of the year. Tomorrow is important...