I wonder about Cramer sometimes.

[TonyM]

On Tuesday Goldman Sachs was a buy when it was already up $7 and today it's a sell after going up another $5. Nothing wrong with taking a profit, but the reasons given for buying on Tuesday did not sound (to me) like this would be a 2 day trade, nor did he mention that if it rises $5 you should take profits and sell. That is my only gripe about the call on Tuesday, it would have come off better had he mentioned an exit point.



Tuesday:
http://www.thestreet.com/funds/stoptrading/10308542.html




Today: http://www.thestreet.com/_tsclsii/funds/madmoneywrap/10309053_3.html

[zyzzyva57]

Add this from Fridays show:

http://www.thestreet.com/_tscs/funds/madmoneywrap/10308049_3.html

[aj14]

I wonder about Cramer all the time, but we still make money shorting his ideas.
Keep it up Jim; you are doing fine!

[TonyM]

Bad Cramer...today he's calling for GS to go $50 ps higher...sure glad I listened to him and bailed last Thursday (I don't actually own GS)

This is a real wtf Jim? He's definitely got some good ideas, but he should be very familiar with GS and that sell call last Thursday coupled with today's $50 increase prediction is just mind boggling, I think the commercialism of himself is eroding his credibility and changing his focus.

[robvia]

I bought one GS call.

GS is doing a stock buy back, which is why it keeps going up even as the market is going down. That's the new thing with companies these days. They have tons of cash, so they buy back stock.

His idea to take profits off the table is a good one. He mentions to take half and then see what happens. Predicting an exit point is very hard.

The thing we have to look out for, is October is always a bad month.

[MoMoney4Me]

On his Mad Money show this week at Boston College he gives GS a target of $300 and list it as one of three stocks you have to own for the next year. The other two he liked were SHLD and GOOG.

http://www.thestreet.com/_tscs/funds/madmoneywrap/10310255_2.html

[zyzzyva57]

Is there ever a good month in this game?!

I do swear there always seems a reason why the market is off, but just wait till blah-blah

Then blah-blah occurs and this is the first time ever why the market did not react positively

I would hate doing this for a living

[MoMoney4Me]

Traders come and traders go, but investors live forever !

All the more reason to be diversified across all asset classes and cap sizes as well as exposed both domestically and internationally.

The more I see volitility in today's markets the more I realize the value in diverisfication, small steady gains, and time in the markets.

There's no reason not to be in, but keeping your head above the waters usually dictates that you be invested to mirrow the indexes rather than trying to beat them. Your upside is limited for sure, but asset preservation should be paramount in your strategy. Every time you lose half your money on a spec play, you'll have to double up on the next one just to break even.

Systematic investing across a mix of no-load index funds will provide the security of market gains over time and limit your losses as well.

Greed is the largest contributing factor to failure in today's markets. I too have money that I continue to throw at what I think is "HOT", but my greatest gains have come from those investments that I continue to add to over time and have limited downside risk. Stick with it long enough and you'll see what I mean. You can let those individual speculative stock picks keep beating you to death, or you can take a conservative long term approach and invest your money. You'll look back 20 or 30 years down the road and be smiling all the way to the bank.

[robvia]

Is there ever a good month in this game?!



October has the Triple Witching day. It's when everything expires. There are cycles to the year, usually 3 bad months. But October is the worst. You really want to sit out the next month.

Read some books during that month. Visit your local library and check out all the investment books. I've been reading a bunch. Most of the books talk about Buffett, but that's long term. There are speculator books I can recommend if you want. The authors name is Victor Neidermeider. He has a few books out.

[Svenwulf]

.. not trying to bag on anyone, because everyone on this board is, or has concern for newbies, but (from investopedia):

Triple Witching

An event that occurs when the contracts for stock (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/triplewitchinghour.asp#) index futures, stock index options and stock options (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/triplewitchinghour.asp#) all expire on the same day. Triple witching days happen four times a year: the third Friday of March, June, September and December.

This phenomenon is sometimes referred to as "freaky Friday".

The final trading hour for that Friday is the hour known as triple witching. The markets are quite volatile in this final hour, as traders are quickly offsetting their option/futures orders before the closing bell. If you are a long-term investor, triple witching will have a minimal impact on you.

[TonyM]

October has the Triple Witching day. It's when everything expires. There are cycles to the year, usually 3 bad months. But October is the worst. You really want to sit out the next month.

Read some books during that month. Visit your local library and check out all the investment books. I've been reading a bunch. Most of the books talk about Buffett, but that's long term. There are speculator books I can recommend if you want. The authors name is Victor Neidermeider. He has a few books out.

As Sven just pointed out; triple witching was last week (ending 9/15) and traditionally September has been the worst month for the market.