The Investment Thread (stocks, bonds, real estate, retirement, just not gold)

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Let me ask you this and this may be naive but a stop loss isn't a guarantee. Could a stock theoretically plunge 50% on bad news say 3 to 1.50 over minutes and your order not yet filled until it's at 1.50 due to no buyers at the higher 2.75 limit you placed. I'm sure it is rare but is that not a risk you take ?

It happens everyday almost-- just look at the small-cap biotech companies that have a failed clinical trial. Novavax dropped 80% in 1-day a few months ago.
When trading these stocks you have to be aware of big events and earnings. I never hold for any of them because there is too much risk of a huge loss.
On the contrary, if a stock has great news, there is usually time to get in and catch some of the gains.

This morning I made a killing on $EYEG. They announced a deal with Valeant today. It was already up 40% in the pre-market-- I waited about 30 minutes after market open for a dip and recovery. Grabbed shares at $2.35-- huge buying pressure was coming back into the chart on the 1-minute candles. Ended up selling my shares at 2.85 and 3.75 (wanted to get out before $4 resistance on the daily and weekly chart). Gaining over $1 per share in 1-day on a penny stock is huge-- I wait and wait for these kinds of trades. But using a stop is crucial-- I always start trailing my stop to break even once I have over a 5% gain. It isn't always ideal but it has saved me from some crazy losses. Turning a profit into a loss is not acceptable if you want to be a trader-- basically like getting a $100 bill at Walgreens and giving the customer $200 in change. Luckily $EYEG never triggered my stop so I was able to ride my 2nd half for huge gains.

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I was going to post a info sheet about $EYEG and how I timed my entry today. However, a poster named Superbloom on stocktwits already made a great post about this. There were 3 good entries on EYEG today. That were all listed on the chart. I typically go for entries during the first hour of the trading session and the last 1.5 hours of the day. The breakout during the middle of the day can be less reliable. Superblooom used 2.50 as his first breakout resistance point. I decided to go in a little earlier at 2.35 because of the huge news catalyst (partnership with Valeant pharmaceuticals), huge volume, and a reversal pattern on the 1-minute chart (break of the high of the low candle).

During the morning research, it is imperative to start scan through the big pre-market gainers. I posted a list here below of the scan I use for big pre-market movers:

Premarket.JPG


$EYEG had a great catalyst and decent premarket volume of over 200k shares. However, since it was already up over 40%, I did not want to buy during the premarket. In fact, the stock dipped to a low of 2.13 after the market opened. These high-flying premarket stocks typically drop into the open. We then look for a break of the open price before jumping back into the stock.
After the entry at 2.35, it was just a matter of taking profits and rolling up the stop-loss. The stock ending up having massive volume which made me decide to use a very wide stop-loss. This allowed me to stay in the stock until I exited my second half at 3.75. The stock ended up with a volume of 30 million shares.

If you want to understand momentum trading, spend a lot of time understanding this chart. There is a ton to learn here. Finally, I showed one last chart of how I chose my profit targets. Profit targets were based on prior resistance lines on the daily chart. By using one-cancels-other (OCO)/bracket orders, it is possible to have both a stop loss and a profit target sell order at the same time. Sell into a target is much preferable to hitting a stop loss. Luckily was able to hit both targets on $EYEG today.

eyeg2.JPG


Scanners can help find these trades throughout the day.

lowfloat scan.JPG

I included a picture of a custom scanner I created on Thinkorswim. This scan syncs into my smartphone app so that I can check it at work. You always want to pay attention to the big movers on the day. I try to create a watchlist of at least 5 stocks every-night. Then I revise this list in the morning based on premarket information. Since I've already done my homework, I can set alerts ahead of time, have saved custom order templates, and know exactly where I want to enter and exit a stock.

Based on the scan today, it is possible that $EYEG has a continued run over $4 tomorrow. It closed at $3.70 which is near its daily high of 3.90. I also have other scans that look at the big moving momentum stocks on the day. There are many possible strategies, but having the right scans is crucial. Most of these penny stocks are only 1-2 day trades for me.
Big gains are possible, but really the game is all about getting the small gains of 10-15% over and over. However, trades over 50% are certainly possible, just don't expect them to be the norm.
 
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Appreciate your insight^

Do not listen to this guy, it takes a lot of effort and luck to do what he is describing. Ever hear of sell the news? These stocks will fall below their close price sometimes after everyone takes their profit leaving you stuck in a stock you had no desire being in the first place.

Right now he's trying to redeem himself after recommending a stock that has fallen over 50%. Remember he thought 2.3 was a good reentry point and now its under 1.5. Not saying he's clueless, just that it takes a lot of effort and you will win just as many as you will lose but hopefully just enough to make a profit.
 
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Do not listen to this guy, it takes a lot of effort and luck to do what he is describing. Ever hear of sell the news? These stocks will fall below their close price sometimes after everyone takes their profit leaving you stuck in a stock you had no desire being in the first place.

Right now he's trying to redeem himself after recommending a stock that has fallen over 50%. Remember he thought 2.3 was a good reentry point and now its under 1.5. Not saying he's clueless, just that it takes a lot of effort and you will win just as many as you will lose but hopefully just enough to make a profit.

You are just misconstruing what I wrote, 2.30 was a good entry point for a scalp rebound-- set a stop and get the heck out if it fails. Trading is trading not a wedding. I recommended NAK and it went up over 100% after I recommended it. You have to take profits. I have already detailed exactly how I took my profits as NAK went up and I have nothing I need to redeem myself for.

Sell the news--- of course. That's why we have stops

That said, you are absolutely right that this takes a lot of effort and a lot of luck. There is no doubt about that, I spend a lot of time working on this stuff. This is not suitable for everyone but I do not work alone and I have a circle of professional traders that I work with.

Swing update:

Stopped out of $EDIT at 26.85
 
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You are just misconstruing what I wrote, 2.30 was a good entry point for a scalp rebound-- set a stop and get the heck out if it fails. Trading is trading not a wedding. I recommended NAK and it went up over 100% after I recommended it. You have to take profits. I have already detailed exactly how I took my profits as NAK went up and I have nothing I need to redeem myself for.

Sell the news--- of course. That's why we have stops

That said, you are absolutely right that this takes a lot of effort and a lot of luck. There is no doubt about that, I spend a lot of time working on this stuff. This is not suitable for everyone but I do not work alone and I have a circle of professional traders that I work with.

Swing update:

Stopped out of $EDIT at 26.85

You need to put that on all your posts then. My point on your reentry was its impossible to know when that dip was over and people need to understand that. I also look at stocktwits once in awhile and it amazed me when I saw posts of bought at 2.8, 2.7, 2.6 etc. Almost all these people probably lost on these trades. Right now Im seeing 1.5 being resistance which may be the floor but I also saw 2.0 being said as resistance and that was easily broken.

The goal at a minimum in day trading is being correct 51% of the time obviously the higher the better and that needs to be known.
 
You need to put that on all your posts then. My point on your reentry was its impossible to know when that dip was over and people need to understand that. I also look at stocktwits once in awhile and it amazed me when I saw posts of bought at 2.8, 2.7, 2.6 etc. Almost all these people probably lost on these trades. Right now Im seeing 1.5 being resistance which may be the floor but I also saw 2.0 being said as resistance and that was easily broken.

The goal at a minimum in day trading is being correct 51% of the time obviously the higher the better and that needs to be known.

Fair enough. Just jumped back into NAK at 1.55 in after-hours. This is a scalp trade-- looking for a huge short covering. Position nicely profitable so far will hold as long as I can
 
Ryzen is a game changer, Intel has a competition now. I am waiting for that for a gaming desktop. Cheap and powerful. That's why Amd's been on a tear.

I have a 5-year old computer with a 2600k processor. That old beast overclocks to 4.5ghz on air and 5ghz with a water cooler I put on it. It is fast enough to get a perfect score (11) on the SteamVR VR readiness test with a modern GPU. I just took that 2600k, added a GTX 1070 I got on sale for $329...boom...a rig that cost me very little to upgrade and can run anything including VR. You don't need the latest and greatest CPU. It's all about the GPU. Hopefully the Vega will be a cheap, beastly machine itself.
 
I may of asked this before but couldn't find it. Do any of you trade stocks in a Roth IRA? I'm looking into that to avoid capital gains tax.

If so, what application do you use? And do you like it ?
I have my Roth IRA with Vanguard and they charge $7 per stock trade. I don't actually do many trades though; maybe 20/yr. I'm just accumulating some big-name growth companies. One went up 50% in a few months so I sold that, and of course it's tax free.
 
Ya I'm thinking that's the best route for sure. I guess the only disadvantage is you can't claim a loss on your taxes?
True, but if you're consistently making losses overall, perhaps you should rethink your investing strategies...
 
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No but I do have a couple of losers I've held for awhile with decent amounts of loss. It adds some risk was what I was mostly getting at.
Sure, when you trade you're going to have some losers. So then you should take some capital gains elsewhere in your portfolio in the same year to balance out the losses, and you won't pay any tax on the gains. Even if you want to keep those companies, just buy them back with an increased cost basis. What I was saying was if you don't have any capital gains on other companies meaning your portfolio is showing a loss overall, then you're not doing a good job at picking stocks. DCA in index funds might be a better choice.

Do you mean does Vanguard have a phone app? Yes, but it's just a basic app that shows your account and lets you enter trades.
 
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Fair enough. Just jumped back into NAK at 1.55 in after-hours. This is a scalp trade-- looking for a huge short covering. Position nicely profitable so far will hold as long as I can

Man all the good news comes out when I'm not watching.

Not sure where it will open but might have to get in if it gets in the 1.6 range. Unfortunately work won't let me trade this tomorrow.
 
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I have my Roth IRA with Vanguard and they charge $7 per stock trade. I don't actually do many trades though; maybe 20/yr. I'm just accumulating some big-name growth companies. One went up 50% in a few months so I sold that, and of course it's tax free.
$2 for assets over 500k in Vanguard funds. Free for >1M for 25 first trades.

Ofc, I have no use of the service... I don't trade ever.
 
I have a 5-year old computer with a 2600k processor. That old beast overclocks to 4.5ghz on air and 5ghz with a water cooler I put on it. It is fast enough to get a perfect score (11) on the SteamVR VR readiness test with a modern GPU. I just took that 2600k, added a GTX 1070 I got on sale for $329...boom...a rig that cost me very little to upgrade and can run anything including VR. You don't need the latest and greatest CPU. It's all about the GPU. Hopefully the Vega will be a cheap, beastly machine itself.
Yea, they are selling a GTX 1060 rig for $800 16 gb ram and i5-7500 (4 cores), 250 gb ssd. Powerspec G221. I want more cores lol. I'll wait for Ryzen with a least GTX 1070 deal but I could be waiting for a long time lol.
 
Short squeeze... Got their pants dropped today lol
 
Trump better perform or this is going to be one epic collapse. Up now about 17% since the November low and its solely based on expectations. I'm still fully in but I'm ready to protect when needed.
 
I haven't looked at my accounts since december, I'm sort of curious to see what they're at now.
 
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Does anyone here use an HSA as an investment vehicle (after maxing out 401k and Roth)? You can open an HSA even if your employer doesnt offer one (HSA Bank and Wells Fargo seem to be most popular) and the money grows tax-free. Seems like it might be another smart way to shelter from taxes. For those who do this, which bank do you use, what are the fees, and are you able to allocate the money to stocks?
 
Does anyone here use an HSA as an investment vehicle (after maxing out 401k and Roth)? You can open an HSA even if your employer doesnt offer one (HSA Bank and Wells Fargo seem to be most popular) and the money grows tax-free. Seems like it might be another smart way to shelter from taxes. For those who do this, which bank do you use, what are the fees, and are you able to allocate the money to stocks?
I wanted to but it appears my Walgreens insurance is not eligible because it has a HRA.

https://www.irs.gov/publications/p969/ar02.html#en_US_2016_publink1000204042
 
CVS health insurance allows you to contribute to HSA plan. Can we invest that money in stocks if we are not using that money.??
 
I wanted to but it appears my Walgreens insurance is not eligible because it has a HRA.

https://www.irs.gov/publications/p969/ar02.html#en_US_2016_publink1000204042
I also am a Walgreens employee...are you thinking that because Walgreens gives us $150 in an HRA for completing our health risk questionairre that this disqualifies us from taking advantage of an HSA? Plus we cannot contribute to our walgreens HRA in any way. Yes they offer FSA but thats only optional. I will have to contact HR about this
 
CVS health insurance allows you to contribute to HSA plan. Can we invest that money in stocks if we are not using that money.??

Yes, if you go to the connect your care website it will guide you through which investments you can put the money in (it has some pretty decent vanguard index funds). I am quite happy because I already have 30k in the account and I'm only in my early 30's.
 
HSA max contribution may double to $6500 for singles, $13000 for couples under GOP plan.

HSA is way better than ROTH IRA. You don't have to pay Medicare tax, Social Security Tax, Federal Tax on it (still need to pay State Tax). It is tax free if you spend it on healthcare which everyone will do eventually.

Think about this...contribute 18 k in your 401 k plus 7 k from employer match and another 6 k in your HSA. That's 31 k tax free per year...25% of your salary!

That is why I always tell people you don't need to buy a house to lower your tax liability. Just max out your 401 k and HSA contribution!


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Yes, if you go to the connect your care website it will guide you through which investments you can put the money in (it has some pretty decent vanguard index funds). I am quite happy because I already have 30k in the account and I'm only in my early 30's.
how can I contribute more money into that account? per pay check i can only contribute max of $111? i know it won't make any difference at the end of the year as i can only contribute $3500 per year but i wanna invest early.
 
I also am a Walgreens employee...are you thinking that because Walgreens gives us $150 in an HRA for completing our health risk questionairre that this disqualifies us from taking advantage of an HSA? Plus we cannot contribute to our walgreens HRA in any way. Yes they offer FSA but thats only optional. I will have to contact HR about this
Yes, because when you read the IRS section about HRAs: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p969/ar02.html#en_US_2016_publink1000204194 it confirms that a HRA is always funded by the employer only, and not the employee, which is exactly what the $150 is.

Then it says: "An employee covered by an HDHP and a health FSA or an HRA that pays or reimburses qualified medical expenses generally can’t make contributions to an HSA."

I guess you could suspend the HRA because it does say this:

However, an employee can make contributions to an HSA while covered under an HDHP and one or more of the following arrangements.

- Suspended HRA. Before the beginning of an HRA coverage period, you can elect to suspend the HRA. The HRA doesn’t pay or reimburse, at any time, the medical expenses incurred during the suspension period except preventive care and items listed under Other health coverage . When the suspension period ends, you are no longer eligible to make contributions to an HSA.
 
I have an HSA from my old job- after I left I started getting charged a monthly service fee of $4.50 per month. Just something to keep in mind... Granted, I wasn't using mine as an investment vehicle and I'm young/healthy- just put money aside "in case". I only had about 2,500 when I left and the monthly service fee was slowly grinding that down.

Just something to keep in mind. To some people the fee would be fine, to me, when I wasn't contributing more to the account, it wasn't worth it.

Have had something similar happen to me. I didn't have that much and most of it was employer contribution but I still hate seeing it dwindle down $4 every month. Can it be transferred to another HSA?



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I have an HSA from my old job- after I left I started getting charged a monthly service fee of $4.50 per month. Just something to keep in mind... Granted, I wasn't using mine as an investment vehicle and I'm young/healthy- just put money aside "in case". I only had about 2,500 when I left and the monthly service fee was slowly grinding that down.

Just something to keep in mind. To some people the fee would be fine, to me, when I wasn't contributing more to the account, it wasn't worth it.

Think of it this way...as your HSA money grow, this $4.50 monthly fee will become less and less (% of your total balance).


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Have had something similar happen to me. I didn't have that much and most of it was employer contribution but I still hate seeing it dwindle down $4 every month. Can it be transferred to another HSA?



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Yes you can transfer it to a different HSA bank or credit union. Many have no fees. Check out Connexus.
 
I just started using it on sunscreen, got rxs for some OTC meds, filled a cavity, etc. I'm down to almost nothing which is good.

Haha likewise. Used it at the dentist, got some new glasses and another year worth of contacts. Still a thousand left so I'd rather it not be nickel and dimed to death.

Yes you can transfer it to a different HSA bank or credit union. Many have no fees. Check out Connexus.

Stellar. I do have an hsa with my new employer so I thought transferring it there would be easiest. Thanks!


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Whoa RAD is down at $4.65, down about 22% in just the past week. I guess the Walgreens buyout isn't happening.
 
Sold PTLA last week at $38.50 Bought in 2013 for $23ish

Watching stocks is not for me. Got out. I wonder how much Ill hate like when andexanet alfa comes out
 
Whoa RAD is down at $4.65, down about 22% in just the past week. I guess the Walgreens buyout isn't happening.

What's interesting is everyone I talk to above me acts as if it's going to go through.
 
Investors are pricing in the deal not going thru... Who knows what's gonna happen.. I do think voting shareholders will be stupid to vote "no" on this deal and miss 40-50% upside guarantee vs. Staying independent and watch the stocks crater further to $3. It's just the FTC problem atm. They are saying the new FTC trump guy will approve it.
 
Just bought a used, mint condition LG G5 for $190. Value. Value. Value. Everybody thought the phone was weird...just fine for me.
U missed a slickdeal post? $120 at best buy new, no monthly plan on AT&T Verizon and sprint, cancel contract immediately, unlock and keep the phone.
 
U missed a slickdeal post? $120 at best buy new, no monthly plan on AT&T Verizon and sprint, cancel contract immediately, unlock and keep the phone.

Not signing a contract...and Sprint wanted a 2-year deal. Nope. But that drove prices way down all over. Brand new one can be had for $250, no contract on BB.

Seriously, though...that $120 was ridiculous if you are okay with a contract.
 
Not signing a contract...and Sprint wanted a 2-year deal. Nope. But that drove prices way down all over. Brand new one can be had for $250, no contract on BB.

Seriously, though...that $120 was ridiculous if you are okay with a contract.
No contract deal, you can cancel your plan anytime and the balance is due for $120, after you pay it off, you can unlock immediately for all 3 carriers... explained in the posts. It was a damn good deal. I was a little late to get on it since I didn't have a day off for a straight 4 days, by the time I planned to go to BB on my day off, deal was gone. You know it was a steal when you saw there was 130+ pages discussion on it in just a week lol. I am keeping my G4 for another year I guess.
 
Anyone care to speculate who the next big retail company to sputter out is going to be? JCPenney? Best Buy? One of the two dozen auto part supply stores? Target? (gasp)

I think mid-tier restaurant groups will falter next. Given how cheap groceries are and all of the cooking technology/options that make high end cooking possible at home, as well as changing tastes, a lot of the lower/middle end will suffer. This sort of ties into retail, so anything found at a mid-tier mall will suffer as foot traffic dies. I'm thinking:

BLMN
BWLD
DRI
DIN

There's a few upper tier restaurants that will do well in each of those groups, but overall I think the restaurant scene is over saturated. I mean seriously, when was the last time anyone in a growing demographic set foot in an IHOP?
 
Anybody else thinking the Trump agenda won't pass? Like his tax cuts for corporations. What would happen to these companies that expanded and hired people in anticipation of the tax cuts?


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Sold Chipotle at $732. Repurchased it at $418.

Chipotle is now @ $445. Up 12% within the last 2 weeks. Just a couple of months to go until it is classified as a long term investment.




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Was Chipotle a loss for you before?

Nope..had sold it for 732 and made a huge profit, then Ecoli outbreak happened. Repurchased afterward.

Up 1.5% today. Get your chipotle!


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