Stampede trading

As the riders loped on by him he heard one call his name
If you want to save your soul from Hell a-riding on our range
Then cowboy change your ways today or with us you will ride
Trying to catch the Devil’s herd, across these endless skies – Ghost Riders in the Sky

Good morning it’s another beautiful day at the ranch. Don’t let the stocks run you over.

The markets are down a bit this morning as headlines like these are hitting just 16 hours after Greece and the EU and their welfare banking system had figured out how kick their can down the road for a couple more years:

• Unrest Flares on Streets of Athens

  Clashes broke out at a protest in central Athens against international demands that Greece undertake more austerity measures in exchange for badly needed financial aid.

  • Ministers Seek Vote in Athens | Bailout Gains Could Fade Fast
  • Crisis Blog: Tombstone Politics in Greece

Euro Falls on Greece Fears

Anyway, in the same way I implored you to ignore a single day’s action in a single stock yesterday, the point is as always to ignore the noise. And a 67 basis point move down in the Nasdaq that’s up double digits already on the year is mostly just noise.

Time for an EKDKQ trading update. To reiterate — this was a short-term, technical trade and we are at the very end of the time that I feel comfortable holding this stock. With a cost basis of about 34 cents, we sold 1/3 earlier this week at nearly 50 cents a share. The stock has since faded back and I’ve sold 1/2 of my remaining EKDKQ already this morning at about 39-40 cents a share. And I’ll be selling the rest of my EKDKQ position before the day is over. I WILL BE COMPLETELY OUT OF EKDKQ BY THE END OF TODAY. THIS EKDKQ TRADE IS OVER.

By the way, hold on to your hat — LPS is down for once today. That said, the traders who look at charts will note that LPS looks to be trying to break out and if it can close above $20, there sure could be another short squeeze to run the stock higher. Careful, but I’m staying with this as my largest short. I don’t want to get stuck in a cattle stampede either.

“Ghost Riders in The Sky”(1948 by Stan Jones). Scenes are from the movie “Cattle Stampede” (1943)