Sold 3 PAA.TO 10DEC Puts 25.00 @ $2.25, Mark $24.62, Loss 0.3%

Pan America Silver Corp. (PAA.TO) is making another run to test the short term high. Seeing that the volume is relatively higher on this test of $24.80 resistance (Figure 1) and that I have lowered my mental stop to $24.30, I have ditched this short position at a small loss at 10 am today. I am mostly in cash again. I still have a small bullish position in Kinross Gold. I’ll just be letting it run its course.

I have no idea which way the market is going at this 1080 junction on the S&P. There are some important supports just below. I will keep my hands off until the market decides which way it will go.

Pan America Silver Corp. (PAA.TO)

Loss is ($2.27 – $2.25) * 3 * 100 = $6 + $25.90 commission = $31.90 = 0.3%

Sold 250 VEN.TO @ $7.89, Profit +2.4%

Ventana Gold Corp (VEN.TO) is testing its resistance at $8.00 corresponding to a 38% retracement level from the mid-June dive (Figure 1). Furthermore, gold is tracing an inverse cup-and-handle with a resistance at $1170 (Figure 2). So rather than wait and see if VEN can break upward, I decided to book my profit and watch from the sideline.

Ventana Gold Corp. (VEN.TO)

Gold (from Finviz)

The past few weeks have been difficult as I have had a series of losing trades. So I am playing it safe until my account can make a new high. Which is actually just a couple of percentage point away.

In any case, the profit for this trade is ($7.89 – $6.93) * 250 = $240 – $9.90 commission = $230.10 = +2.4% in account.

I can’t help but feel that VEN will continue its rapid climb for a couple more days. I am eyeing the 50% retracement level at $8.50 as an immediate target if VEN does break through.

Sold 140 LLL.TO@ $40.00, Breakeven

Update at Noon: Looks like I am wrong. LLL.TO is testing its recent high at $40.50. However, volume is rather low up to now.

I’m out my Lululemon (LLL.TO) position because of market softness. Bonds (TLT) are holding a support level. EUR/USD is struggling to hold above 1.27. And the oversea markets (Asia and Europe) are weak overnight. Perhaps the market is getting ready to catapult up. Perhaps it is not. But I’m not going to place my bet on anything as I don’t have a clue where it’s about to go at the moment. So I am stopping out of this position at breakeven. Preserving capital.

Moreover, recent price move in Lululemon (LULU on Nasdaq) is disappointing. Despite the market marking new consecutive highs for the past few days, LLL is stuck in a rut as shown in Figure 1.

Lululemon (LLL.TO) intraday

Purchase price of these shares were $39.86 from a week ago.

Exact return is ($40 – $39.86) * 140 = $19.60 – $9.90 commission = $9.70. In any case, I’m all cash in my account now. At least I’ve free myself from the market for the next two weeks during my trip to Hong Kong.

Here’s an updated view of the daily chart of LLL.

Lululemon (LLL.TO)

Bought/Sold 250 TCK.B.TO @ $34.10/$33.68, Loss -1.2%

What I thought would be an intermediate term hold turns out to have lasted mere minutes. I bought Teck Cominco (TCK.B.TO) after a small bounce at $34 support during lunch today. Figure 1 shows the clear support level. Also note the fact that my recent shorts haven’t been working, so I thought I would go with the flow and go long.

Teck Cominco (TCK.B.TO)

However, the market edged lower almost immediately after my long entry (something I haven’t done in a while). TCK cracked the $34 support swiftly to $33.80, my mental support. My alert was sounded and I kept an eye on it afterward.

But then not long after $33.80, my hard stop at $33.70 was filled and TCK traded down to $33.66 or so. It has now stabilized around $33.80 as of 2pm. Figure 2 shows the intraday chart of TCK.B.TO.

TCK.B.TO intraday chart

Loss for this trade is ($33.68 – $34.10) * 250 = -$105 – $4.95 * 2 commission = -$114.90 = -1.2% of account. My account is now experiencing a 3.4% drawdown since the high on June 8th.

I can’t help but feel that this was a stop hunt. TCK is creeping higher at the moment. However, as my initial position was stopped out, I am not going to re-enter this trade just yet. Let’s see what it does near the close today.

I am labelling this particular trade as a bad trade because my stop was clearly too tight based on the time frame that I am observing. I should have reduced my position size and widened my stop to account for the recent volatility.

Update: TCK gapped down 7% the day after. At least my exit was timely.

Sold 4 MFC 10OCT Puts 17.00 @ @1.43, Mark $16.27, Loss -0.5%

Not much is happening in the market as it is trading in a tight range. This is not good for my options as the time delta will slowly eating away my premium. So I’ve decided to unload this position at a small loss just now as the market is testing support across the board.

The U.S. dollar index is testing $86 resistance. Oil is testing $78 support. S&P500 is testing the 1070 support zone.

Purchase price for these puts were $1.48 per contract last Wednesday. When Manulife Financial (MFC.TO) was trading at 16.38.

Loss is ($1.48 – $1.43) * 100 * 4 = $20 – $13.95 * 2 commission = $47.90 = 0.5% of account.

As you can see, the commission is horrible on my RRSP trading account at Questrade. I will wind down trading options from now on and move back to trading forex in the summer. My live account at Dukascopy is ready…

Update: The market finally broke support the day after this exit. This was not a good exit as I lost patience. MFC is testing $16 support on June 29th opening hour and I don’t expect it to hold. This could turn out to be a winner if I had held.

Manulife Financial (MFC.TO)