Stocks & Commodities V. 23:2 (122, 108): At The Close by Jayanthi Gopalakrishnan

Stocks & Commodities V. 23:2 (122, 108): At The Close by Jayanthi Gopalakrishnan

It’s been a rather slow month when it comes to trading (I am writing this in December 2004). Perhaps it’s because my attention hasn’t been so focused on the markets, or perhaps it’s just that I wasn’t able to find any attractive opportunities, which may be an indication that I should fine-tune my strategies. Perhaps waiting for the 11:00 am (PT) action isn’t working anymore. I did make one trade that I would like to share with you. It happened on December 7, and I’ll have to admit that I broke the rules on this trade. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index was well above its 50-day moving average (Figure 1), so, strictly speaking, I should have only gone long, based on my basic trading rules. But I saw an opportunity arising, and perhaps my confidence led me to open a short position, even though it was contrary to what I should have done.