Dumping GEO, PCU; Looking for next subject

The title basically says it all. If I actually held 50 shares of GEO I would have dumped them all by now. Which is weird, because the stock appears to be recovering from its slide. Down from $45.17 when I first "purchased" it last week to $43.10 when I "sold" it. My MSExcel looks like this:

Symbol GEO
Company Name GEO Group
Trade date 9/18/2006
Shares Buy 50
Price $45.17
Trade $2,258.50
Comission $20.00
Total spent $2,303.67
Trade date 09/25/06
Price $43.10
Shares Sell 50
Trade $2,155.00
Comission $20.00
Total $2,135.00
profit(loss) -$168.67
Which brings us to the whole point of this excersize. Not only is it important
to record and therefore brag about, your stock market gains, but you also must include your market losses in a manner that makes you look stupid and nerdy at the same time!
This is simply a part of the game. Now, does anyone have any tips on playing the horses, throwing dice at crap tables, or playing blackjack?
Oh well. The good news is that my other pick PCU is actually climbing in price today.
PCU is the symbol for SOUTHERN COPPER CORP., a wonderful business that actually does something for its money like mining copper. Here is a link from their story in FORTUNE magazine: http://money.cnn.com/2006/09/15/news/companies/southern_copper.fortune/index.htm?source=yahoo_quote
I only hold 25 shares of this little workhorse which I will "sell" today for a loss of $51.25 as I don't really trust it to hold onto its value very much longer.
My MSExcel worksheet says I still have $9,780.08 still to play with and I am considering putting $4500.00 of it into another company just to see how much more of this I can take. I just haven't decided yet on another move to make.
Stay tuned if you dare...

Today I do nothing

No, seriously! The market took a slip and fall today as it almost always does on Friday and if you freak out and sell just because of it you are a fool.
I am not buying anything now today (though some "bounce-bargains" may clearly exist) because I am not interested in cutting loose of any of my cash reserves. So today I will just let it all sit and take on some projects that have been eluding completion so far.
Have a great weekend and I will catch back up with you l8r.

Start Anywhere

Start Anywhere
When I first began this adventure with the Virtual Stock Exchange (VSE) I was looking for a way to practice and hone my trading abilities.
I found it to be a rather rewarding experience as I saw how quickly and rather effortlessly I could watch my picks turn into winners. As I said in previous entries here, I was able to watch my 1 million dollar nest egg grow into 5 million and then later 7 to 10 million dollars!
Unfortunately I was not as successful the next time out starting with only (only!) $100,000.00. I actually ended up losing about 20%, ending up with about $80,000.00.
Another guy jumped onto my game and actually succeeded me in position, winning first place over the one legged man in the ass-kicking competition behind him.
What happened?
I guess you could say I blinked. I didn’t stick to my guns and use only companies undergoing stock splits. In fact, at one point I actually tried to bet on against a company that was going through a reverse stock split by shorting the stock. That move didn’t turn out to be my most intelligent choice. The price of the shares promptly went through the roof as investors ran out to grab as many shares as they could get their hands on! Won’t ever do that again!
It also turned out that not every company going through a stock split rose in price either.
I think I may have learned something from that experience; quite a few “somethings”, in fact.
For instance, stock-split companies are not always winners. There are many factors that affect how an issue will rise in price. Many times an issue will have already have had a healthy run up in price and by the time the company announces a stock split investors may already be taking profits by selling the inflated shares. This is why it is always a good idea to find these little jewels before they get to that point.
One good barometer for predicting a stock’s behavior is the moving averages of the stock’s price. CBS Marketwatch likes to list the 50-day and 18-day on a line graph against a “mountain” graph of the price per share.
If you don’t know what a moving average is, click here for a quick recap:
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/technical/052201.asp
The idea here is to pick companies that going through stock splits whose 18 day MA’s are moving higher than their 50 day MA’s. This may not be a total lock on successful trades, but it may allow for a more predictable performance pattern overall.
So now comes the reason for the title of this missive; my choices for a $5,000.00 trade.
And the winners are:
GEO
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ta?s=GEO&t=1y&l=on&z=m&q=l&p=m10,m50&a=&c=

Trading at $45.17/share. I would pick up 50 shares. Spending $20.00 on commissions (highway robbery brokerage, inc.)
Trade Total:$2,303.67


PCU
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ta?s=PCU&t=1y&l=on&z=m&q=l&p=m20,m50&a=&c=

Trading at $91.41/share. I would pick up 25 shares. Spending $20.00 on commissions (highway robbery brokerage, inc.)
Trade Total: $2,327.00

Leaving a little over $5,000.00 in the “Cash” side in case something goes horribly wrong causing the stock market to go totally shithouse, allowing my carefully constructed house of cards to tumble
Which brings us to the fun legal stuff:
DISCLAIMER:
The above is offered for entertainment purposes only! IT IS NOTINTENDED AS INVESTMENT ADVICE! SO DON’T ASK FOR ANY!
Frank Austad will be held harmless for any and all statements made in this document.
That means this:
If you follow my lead and run out and spend your hard earned money on ANYTHING I POST HERE and you lose all of your money including your house and your shirt, IT’S YOUR OWN FAULT! DON’T BE A DUMBASS!
Stockmarket trading involves a great deal of risk and you may lose all of your money on your trades no matter how carefully you plan them. “Paper trading” does not guarantee success in market trades.
Now, hang up on your team of attorneys, apologizing to their secretary first, and go to the next blog!
SO THERE!