As I mentioned in yesterday's Options Jam Session, the stock market is currently sending mixed signals and it has me open to the idea of adding some short exposure to my portfolio to balance the risks to my open long positions.
So I'm on the hunt for weak stocks that are showing signs of losing significant support levels.
If there's one thing Brian Lund learned about himself over the past 30 years in the markets, he must write. Without a doubt, without even thinking about it, he knows that to express himself and to complete his thoughts into productive trading, he needs to sit down and start writing.
And this makes sense. We hear this a lot from our smart friends.
Barry Ritholtz once wrote: "I write to find out what I'm thinking."
In this conversation with Brian, we get into the importance of sleep hygiene and how it's so important for us to be at our best. Not just in trading, but in living.
We dig into challenges Brian has overcome along the way, including an ADHD diagnosis, and morphing from an always-on entrepreneur who constants has problems to solve to a trader who must sit on his hands and wait for things to happen.
We also cover his hacks like therapy, meditation, and a CPAP machine to help him maintain his sharpness.
If the way Nvidia is trading is an indication that the semiconductors run is far from over, then we have to believe some additional names down the cap scale will attempt to play catchup.
One of those names is Advanced Micro Devices.
Check out the ground that $AMD has to cover to get back to all-time highs:
My portfolio could benefit from some directional diversification right now. As such, I had my eye on a bearish bet this morning to help balance out my mostly directionally long exposure.
And one name that I and our analysts discussed in our meeting yesterday appears to be hanging on the precipice of a potentially large fall. The company will be announcing earnings on July 4th (who does that?) and I think that might be the final nail in the coffin to send this stock lower (if not sooner).
If there is one thing that stands out from any conversation with Brian Shannon about the trading process, it is this:
For discretionary traders, there are no rules. Instead, there are "guidelines."
And because Brian is human, he occasionally breaks his guidelines and suffers the same consequences as anyone else. Everyone gets what they deserve. Even a trader of 30+ years like Brian Shannon.
If a trader buys the dip or sells the rip without a plan to control her risk then she, too, will get what she deserves. Eventually. The market is always on the hunt for our weaknesses.
Last week in Sonoma, we uncovered a bunch of potential trades that are setting up in a variety of sectors. But one of them is sending a glaring signal that it is ready for us to get involved right now, so let's not waste any time.
As this bull market shows signs of resuming its march higher, we're setting our sights abroad because U.S. stocks don't have a monopoly on great setups. There are some great companies overseas that trade here in the U.S. that are also setting up for great stock rallies.