What I Did Different This Time To Make 30% Gain In 2 Days

My POT put option expired worthless today. A loss of -$1250. Oh well. But you know what, I don’t care because I made some good plays in the last two days that helped me recover any recent losses and much more. I planned, waited patiently in cash and stuck to plan, executed, and now I’ve rewarded nicely…at least so far.

Here’s what I did differently from previously and succeeded:

• I didn’t jump in on a tempting entry point- better market timing
  • I screened some stocks for a potential play earlier this week and came across KLAC (KLA-Tencor Corporation) on 3/16/09. It looks good. REALLY tempting for a short given the extended rally. Candlestick showed a patterned called “bearish deliberation”. Time to get in right? Nope. I decided to wait.
  • What I would have done before: JUMP onto the wagon without any plan. “Overall market? It doesn’t matter!! This stock’s overbought! Monee Monee Moneey“

KLAC3-16-09

• Looked at the overall market dynamics
  • As tempting as it was, I knew the market still had big momentum on the bullish side. The market just had rebounded from a new-time low in decades and it was way oversold. Everyone expected that once the trend went bullish, it would reverse with quite some force.
  • What I would have done before: Pay attention to individual stocks
• Waited for a confirmation of “weakness”
  • Patiently scoping the stock everyday, I saw a sign that the upward momentum finally faded. People are now taking profits.
  • What I would have done before: I would have not waited until the market close. “If the market opened negative, then it MUST be going down!!”
• Patience
  • This time, I waited…I waited even though I wanted to press the buy button sooo badly.
  • What I would have done before: Too eager to make $ and afraid to “miss out” on this life-time opportunity. SO BUY NOW!

Result? A pretty good move.

KLAC3-20-09

Now I just need to set the right stop-loss (currently @ $23 but I should move it lower to lock in some profit) and enjoy the ride if it keeps going down.