Technically It Does Not Getting Better Than This!

The S$P 500 is about to confirm the bottom.  It was not a V-shape bounce, but a W-shape bounce.   Usually W-shape bounces are better than V-shape bounces.  The 50 day moving average held and MACD about to cross.  It doesn't get much better than this for Longs.  

We should be able to hit 1670 without much effort, which is the top of the Bollinger Band. This just happens to coincide with a Fed Meeting tomorrow, so it could mark a top or we could continue to slowly ride the upper band.

Personal account at its highest point, up over 26%

Riding the Momentum with SVXY

The market regain its traction today.  Was busy most of the day with work, so make a final hour trade with $SVXY for a quick $560 profit.  This ETF is short the $VIX futures contracts.  When you buy this you are betting the volatility will be lower as measured by the $VIX.  This ETF is extremely volatile with 3-5% moves in one day.  

$SVXY generally goes up when the S&P is up and even when it is flat due to the contango nature of the VIX futures contracts.  The ETF will short the 1st and 2nd months VIX future contracts and generally the fund increases in value as the future prices decay to the spot price, which is generally lower in value.

Double Take on MLNX!

Terrible day in the market today.  The DOW open up over 100 points and then proceed to close down 126 points for a 200 point swing.  This is a change in character for the markets.  It was a nice bull run for the first 5 months of the year.  Buy and hold was the best way to profit. Now we seem to be correcting from that amazing run.  We should be shorting every spike and covering every dip.  It should be a good time to trade the extremes, versus just riding the trend.

I sold my $SPXL long into the early morning spike for a small loss.  Holding onto my $XIV long position, since this should eventually revert to its mean and I should be able to profit from.  I saw $MLNX in play.  It dropped over $1.50 in the first 30 minutes and started a fast run higher.  I recognize the pattern of short covering and this one has a high short interest.  

I made an initial purchase at $47.15.  33 minutes later it spiked over $1 and I cashed out at $48.17.   MLNX proceeded to go up another $2 from where I sold it.  Damm, but a profit is a profit, so I'm not complaining.  After reaching a high of $50.98 it came back down to $49.50.  I decided to make a 2nd play and bought at $50.02.  In 23 minutes, it went over $50.60 and I cashed out.

It was a nice double take scalped and good thing I got in and out as I did.  The stock proceeded to drop back down for only a .69 gain, for the day after being up over $3.  I should have shorted it in the later afternoon, but did not want to be greedy on one stock.

Strange Movement in the VIX Futures

I noticed something odd this morning with the $VIX and the VIX Futures.  The VIX (Volatility index) was down, which usually means that the VIX Futures should also be down, as tracked by the VXX or UVXY, but they were actually up.  When I actually looked at the VIX futures, yes, they were trading up, while the VIX was trading down.

So I got to thinking, why would VIX Future people be buying the VIX Futures, when the spot VIX is actually trading down.  My only conclusion was that if I were a large Mutual Fund or Hedge fund that was going to sell a large amount of S&P stock and I knew I would move the market, then what would I do to hedge myself?  Well, if I knew I could push the market down with my selling, then I would buy puts or buy VIX futures knowing that volatility would increase dramatically and I could profit from my selling.

Sure enough after 1:20PM EST, the selling started in the SPY and the VIX Futures spiked up.  This might become a good indicator of a pending sell off in the market.  I will keep watch eye to see if this theory holds up.

Another Job Offer in the Works

Been working another new opportunity with a company called Apriso.  They do MES software, just like my current company.  They serve more industries than just Electronics.  The position is for a Solutions Consultant.  I would learn their software tool and configure the software for various clients.

I have interviewed with the hiring Manager, Architect, and two Program Managers.  The job was on Monster.com.  Someone from Monster emailed me and I just disregarded the initial email the first time, seeing that the position was in Long Beach, CA.  After the 2nd email I decided to reply since I noticed it was actually a remote position.  I just need to be near an airport and they would fly me out to customer sites.

After an initial screening with the Monster rep I was sent to HR at Apriso.  After the HR interview I had a couple video conference interviews, a phone interview and one face to face interview.  All went well.  On July 11th, they flew me out to Long Beach for a final run of interviews.  The very next day, the HR manager made me a verbal offer.  It was more money than my current job and more benefits.  I would start contributing to a 401k plan again and all the other typical big company benefits.

I wanted to say that I beat the odds with this job.  This job was posted on Monster.com and I have been looking for about a year now.  They say that only 2-3 percent of people actually find a job on the major online job boards.  That is because for most jobs they have over 100-500 people applying.  This puts the odds of you getting a job online, very low.  Does it happen? sure and now say that it happen for me, but keep in mind that the odds are still low and most people usually find jobs by referral or networking and many times the job is never posted online.