Switching horses. Thu Sep 17

Another very strong day with the index up a further 62 points at 11.17 am after the September index futures contract expired as the last group of stocks matched out this morning.
I was tossing up which of Ppx and Sbm to cut last night and left it hanging. Early on, after gold had failed to rally any further than where it was at the end of our session, Sbm looked like it could run. It had no follow through though so I cut the position for square at 31.5.
Ppx was going nowhere either so I cut that too at 65 (v 65.7) especially as the explosive move I was hoping for in Linc Energy started up. I managed to get set at an average of 162 here.

Lyc is struggling to get through the old high of 84 and although I'm tempted to tip it out, the very similar chart in Mpo has made me pause for thought. Here's Molopo's daily chart.
If you compare it to that of Lyc it's apparent that they're very similar and the action in Mpo would suggest there's more room to move.
Both charts are unusual in that the stocks are rallying sharply despite the pullback lows overlapping the preceding highs. This is uncharacteristic of a trending stock except where it's the start of a larger scale pattern which would imply a big run.

11.31 My third long position is in Bsl. There was a lot of Spi related turnover which matched at 307 and the stock has since clawed its way to a gain of 3 at 312. The chart looks hopeful but once again, I realise that I might have been wise to consider two stocks which were on my watch list yesterday in preference to this. Here's Bsl.

The others were Awc....

....and Map. In the light of this morning's action it would obviously have been better to buy either of the others which are up 5.2 and 4.3% respectively compared to a 1% rise for Bsl. The point to notice is that they both closed at a new short term high giving a buy signal while Bsl is still short of its buy signal at 315. Awc is the better of the two breakout stocks because it cleared resistance well before the close which would have provided the opportunity for a good intraday gain.

Anyway, although this is the sort of thing I'm always looking at, it can be quite easy to have blind spots once you've got into a trade and be unwilling to switch into a better one. Trying to stick to 3 positions seems like it could be a good discipline and I'm happy to work out where I can improve. Having said all that, I'm quite confident about Bsl and I think it's too late to get onto either of the other trades.

1.10 The Xjo index is on its highs, up 99 points at 4749, after another day of the fomo (fear of missing out) rally. Bsl and Lyc are stationary but Lnc has pushed up to 175.5.

2.13 Lyc has tipped my hand and I'm stopping out at 79.5 (v 74.5) as the 60 minute chart just made a sell signal and the daily is a biggish reversal bar on a strong day. I still like it, mind you.

3.43 The market has been pulling back over the last hour and is now up 65 points. I was concerned that Bsl still hadn't broken, in fact it retraced to 307, so I'm out for square now at 309. I pre-empted a break which hasn't happened. I may get another chance at 315. Just long Lnc now but I'm looking at a couple of potential buys.

4.10 I'm not thrilled about buying property trusts generally but they are running at the moment. Gpt has closed at a new high and I've gone long at 64. I suppose I'm looking for a quick burst to 70.

The market has closed up 65 points. Long Gpt and Lnc.