Welcome to my blog!

I've worn many hats during my entrepreneurial journey, including writing and creating whiteboard videos, marketing, investor relations (Blurbeo), owning and managing my own vapor pen brand (TouchESubject), servicing the real estate market and other clients as the CEO of Puget Sound Field Inspections, founded CLV Investments LLC, and currently holding a position with Byte Me LLC as a Digital Marketing Consultant.

This blog was originally started as a way for me to track my progress in trading stocks, but it's has since morphed into much more. I now use it as a window into what I'm doing to reach my goal of financial freedom. You're going to see what I'm doing to create multiple streams of income, articles and interviews that are business related or featuring other entrepreneurs, and most importantly you're going to get to know me and hopefully I can inspire you to pursue your own dreams

I'm a very driven individual with a passion for customer service and improving our communities.

Please feel free to connect. I'd love to do business with you.


Friday, February 27, 2015

Updates: Resources and E-Trade

My last trade doesn't settle until Monday. But that doesn't mean I'm not busy learning and moving forward.

Here are a few updates that I'd like to share...

As you've likely read, I've been using Vin_Trader's WatchList as a starting point for looking into a stock to trade. I'm now adding a couple other traders into the mix to assist me with conducting my due diligence. ClayTrader's YouTube channel and JumpyStocks.com. Both have some really good charting that you can use for free.

I also just opened an account with E-Trade and will be trading with a small amount in that account starting 03-04-15. I plan on taking advantage of E-Trade's shorting feature and will be shorting stocks with it.

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

NBG Stopped Out @ $1.77 by 8% Trailing Stop

NBG gaped down this morning and triggered my 8% trailing stop. I'm not too surprised because of yesterday's performance but over all this one left me scratching my head. Yes, I missed the meat of the move last Friday, but the revival pattern was still good, good flow of news, good volume, strong bull sentiment on StockTwits... but for some reason it continued to pull back.

Dust off and try again when the trade settles... ugh.

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Timothy Sykes Seminar in Moscow Russia all on Video!!!

I haven't watched them yet but I had to share as soon as I saw that Sykes has uploaded (4) 1 1/2 hour videos of his seminar in Moscow Russia... That's right, roughly 6+ hours of FREE education!

I know many have negative opinions about Sykes, and yes, he seems arrogant at times... but hey, he's a self made millionaire and he's sharing with people how he did it... he can be as arrogant as he wants.

No matter what opinion you hold about Sykes you have to recognize two things:

1) He puts it all out there. Between Profit.ly and his free videos you see that he's not perfect. Just disciplined and consistent. He loses 30% of the time, but he loses small.

2) While he does run a business selling his teaching materials, there is plenty of free material by him that will give you the basics.

So with that said, here are the videos.










Rough Start but Still in the Game

Pre-market trading looked promising and there was a very health social buzz in the StockTwits room with some members already keeping track with how the stock was doing overseas, such as in Athens.

There was a 4% to 5% gain pre-market and it looks as if we'd see an immediate uptrend so I placed my order first thing in the morning and got in with 177 shares at $2.00. Of course that didn't last and the stock began to decline throughout the day.

The good news is that I had decided to change my trailing stop from a 5% stop to an 8% stop and that kept me in the trade.

So while the stock ended the day at $1.88, I'm still in and able to ride out tomorrow's trading session.

Here are a couple of charts from today!



Entry Marked & EOD Uptrend

My Big Fat Greek Trade: NBG

Sorry, I couldn't resist poking a little fun with the title for this post :)

Last Friday's trading session for NBG was an impressive gainer and it looks like many who held over the weekend took some profits when Greece's reform wasn't submitted in time... This was actually a good thing in my opinion because a healthy pull back before further gains is a good thing. Also, it gave me a chance to buy in at a lower placement while waiting long enough for my last trade to settle.

From the charts I've been looking at NBG still looks great for a reversal... in fact, if you watch the video by ClayTrader in the last post you'll see that the stock stayed well above the $1.76 level of resistance/support and attempted to break past the $2.05 level he mentioned. ClayTrader does a great job illustrating how this has created a nice uptrend line!


StockTwits has also been buzzing since Friday and it appears that the majority of traders there are seeing this gain soon, and by a decent amount.

So,with all that said, NBG will be my next trade and I'll be using $345 of capital with a trailing stop of 5% and a position size of 177 shares.

If she treats me well I'll owe Vin_Trader a big fat thank you for placing it on his watch list last week.








Sunday, February 22, 2015

National Bank of Greece Sa (NBG) Stock Chart Technical Analysis for 02-2...





My last trade settles on the 24th and this is one that I'm watching very closely. Depending on how it looks by Tue and what going on in the news I may trade this as a long.

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Out of GLUU for Now

I went into today's trading session knowing that I was pulling the trigger and taking  my losses. I did hold it throughout the day and let the movement whittle away a little of the losses but once I saw that the end of the day was starting to taper down I pulled the trigger. It could have been a lot worse.

This was probably one of my worse trades in regards to how and why I got into it, plus the fact that I lifted my trailing stop. But that said, I also feel like I learned a lot from this one and did a good job of  taking out some of the losses near the end.


Knowing that I was exiting today helped. The day started pretty choppy, which seemed odd for GLUU and made me think that it was more of an intra-day consolidation. I chose to continue to hold for the second half of the day and road it to $5.19. When the down trend began and looked to continue to the EOD I pulled the trigger and exited at $5.15... so as a learning experience I felt really good about my exit strategy.

I don't think this will be my last trade with GLUU, especially with the Katy Perry game set to come out sometime next Fall. 

 


Chat With Traders: Weekly Interviews with Profitable Traders

I recently came across Aaron Fifield's "Chat With Traders" podcast while looking for something to further my learning on all things trading. There are limited choices when it comes to podcasts on trading stocks, some are outright stock promoters talking out their asses while others lack quality.

But not Chat With Traders

Hosted by Aaron Fifield, a young and determined trader out of Brisbane city, the podcast sets out to interview a new profitable trader each week... and he hasn't failed to deliver. In fact, in the eight weeks the podcast has been up and running Aaron has already interviewed some trading legends such as Timothy Sykes, Matthew Owens aka TriForceTrader, and Anand Sanghvi of Sang Lucci to name a few.

Besides the audio quality behind the podcast and Aaron's ability to keep me (the listener) engaged, the other reason I've become a fan of his show is the reasoning behind the show. He isn't pumping stocks, pumping his ego, or push his products... he's learning and bring us along for the ride.

I did something similar years ago when I first began to take my writing seriously and wanted to educate myself on what it takes to get published. Author-2-Author (A2A) lasted for about a year and a half and I had the honor of interviewing some truly talented authors like Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. I took that experience and confidence boost and moved forward with sending manuscripts out... 6 children's books, 3 audio stories, 1 novella, and 2 short films later I still look back at those interviews.

So, if you're like me and have questions about trading and what it takes to be profitable... plug in your headphones and listen while Aaron asks the questions you want answered!


Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Watch List Results and GLUU

First I'll start with the results from the watch lists:

HART started the trading day with $2.26 a share and reached the EOD with a gain at $3.58 a share or 6.55% and a high of the day at $3.65. CRNT also ended the day with a gain of $0.07 5.98% and the high reaching $1.28 a share. My last stock, BXE, on the list didn't do as well but did see a small amount of green in the session with the high of the day being $3.16 a share, it did end the day in the red however at $2.84 or -8.68%.

As for Vin_Trader's watch list many ended the day in the red but all did see gains during the trading session. NBG dropped from $1.63 to $1.51 or -7.36%. While SD did better and ended the day with a loss of -0.85%  at $2.33. SD did see a decent high of the day however with it reaching to $2.53. DNR ended with -4.85% at $8.63 a share and seemed to stay in the red all day. My favorite pick of Vin's for the day was GDP which still ended in the green but saw the high of the day hitting 4.50 a share.

All said and done I'm really happy with the watch list I made and like the fact that I was able pick out the best performing from Vin's list. I'm not sure if I can make this a daily thing, but doing dry runs of watch lists seems to have been helping me with identifying good trades.

As for GLUU, it was a rough day and hard to watch the stock working in the red for over half of the trading session. It did manage to recoup a little and end at $5.12 with a loss of -2.10%. My last trade settles tomorrow and I think I'll be pulling out of GLUU regardless to the movement, likely faster if the trade begins to slip further. I'm looking at a rough $70 loss but doing so will increase my trading size from $200 to a little over $300 a trade. That increased trading power will make the amount I lose off the top from trading fees sting a little less.


One more thing... there was a decent Seeking Alpha article that was just published.



Stuff to Watch Today

I've already posted a few stocks I'll be watch tomorrow as a learning exercise but I thought I'd add the watch list from Vin_Trader as well.

I'm thinking I'll be entering a trade sometime later this week once my last trade settles... either a new trade or I'll be closing out the GLUU position for a loss just so I can free up the funds being held up in it. I hate to leave GLUU because I honestly think they're a good company, but it may be wiser to pull out now and lick wounds with the plan to re-enter the trade once we get a touch closer to the Katy Perry game release.

My Watch List:
HART $2.26
CRNT $1.17
BXE $1.47

Vin_Trader (VinAlerts.com)
NBG $1.63
SD $2.35
DNR $9.07
GDP $4.09

With Vin's watch list I'm betting on GDP, looks like a strong reversal and good momentum.

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

EOD Results for OIBR-C, SQNS, & MTL

My observations for today's picks:

OIBR-C ($2.63) ended the day slightly in the red but did see a small gain with the high of the day reaching $2.75.

SQNS ($1.79) ended the day with a gain of 8.94% ($1.95) and at the high of the day hit $1.99 a share.

MTL ($1.48) ended the day with a mild gain of 4.73% ($1.55) and a high of the day at $1.57 a share.


Here's my watch list for tomorrow as I continue to wait for my last trade to settle...

HART last EOD $2.26 @ 15.07%
CRNT last EOD $1.17 @ 14.71%
BXE last EOD $1.47 @ 11.47%

Monday, February 16, 2015

3 Stocks I'm Watching: OIBR-C, SQNS, MTL

I scanned over the gainers on Yahoo's Market Movers section for last Friday and decided to pick three to watch. I'm not placing any bids on these, just observing if I can apply some of the patterns and ideas and pick stocks that see gains in a day or two.

OIBR-C @ Last Close = $2.63 @ 15.86%
Fous Revival Pattern


SQNS @ Last Close = $1.79 @ 11.88%
Momentum Trade




MTL @ Last Close = 1.48 @ 10.45%
Momentum Trade


Sunday, February 15, 2015

So Close Yet So Far

Saw a ferarri club as we left Sultan to get the boys' haircuts today. Nothing like sitting in a minivan with two kids and seeing that much money rolling down the street to highlight how far you have to go... Looking forward to the journey!!!

Friday, February 13, 2015

Ending the Week with a Small Gain: MCP

I placed the buy bid last night before going to bed and was able to enter @ $0.99 a share with 208 shares. Not a huge position but the free capital was smaller due to an unsettled trade and the hold on GLUU.

Woke up to the stock bouncing at $1.05 to $1.07 a share and decided to take profits rather than attempt a hold over a holiday weekend.

Trade sold @ $1.0601 a share for a small gain of $15

Going to continue to hold my position in GLUU. As funds settle next week I may close out that trade even though it'll be at a loss. I think at this point having those funds tied up is also costing me.

MCP Play

Decided to buy 208 shares of $MCP for the Friday session. It's another promising pick from Vin_Trader with an impressive chart. The stock was at $0.9263 at the end of the day Thursday with a gain of 11.60%.





I plan on setting a 5% to 8% trailing stop on this as soon as the buy bid is official. My hopes/plan is to get in at the opening to take advantage of the morning spike... especially with some news regarding China's rare earth exports taking on a hit in January.

Thursday, February 12, 2015

StockTwits is Having Some Feed Issues Today


"StockTwits.com is experiencing some delays today. Messages are backed up. We're sounding the fail bear! A fix is coming ASAP. Stay tuned and please let us know if you need any help or have any questions." ~ From StockTwits' Facebook page.

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

5% Stop Loss and $JOEZ

Vin_Trader put out four stocks to watch on 02/11 and I attempted to scalp a quick profit since it was already halfway into the trading day when I checked his blog. It was a loss for me, but not because Vin_Trader had a bad pick... his pick was actually 12% to 16% gainer for the day. There were a few things that went wrong here. One being that I had a poor entry point, I entered hoping that the stock would gain to a 20%+ gain for the day and scalp maybe 8% to 10%, that didn't happen of course and my trailing stop snagged me as the stock began its consolidation period. Which brings me to the other thing I see wrong here, looking back I think I set my trailing stop too tight at 5%. The last few times I used a 8% trailing stop. That said, if the stock drops tomorrow I should be happy with the 5% loss and lick my wounds. 



Tuesday, February 10, 2015

GLUU Update & Vin Alerts Update

Day two of the week is done and I thought I'd do a little updating. 

GLUU closed in the red @ $5.03 after a mostly mild trading session for the company. I did see that there was some positive A/H trading with GLUU @ $5.05. I'm guessing that we're seeing a bit of consolidation until another upward grind or maybe another catalyst gives it a nice jump. Either way I'm continuing to hold the position I have.

Just for fun lets see how Vin_Trader's last picks are doing:

SD =     $1.87  @ -$0.37
BTU =   $7.48  @ -$0.32
OCN =  $8.27  @ -$0.27
HK =     $2.08 @ +$0.03

Looks like HK is the winner so far but the other three did see movement that could have easily been solid gains if you had stops in place or took an active role in when to pull out... Such as SD on Monday hit $2.35 a share in the morning! BTU at $8.15 a share Monday morning, OCN with $8.77 a share, and HK with $2.23 a share!

I'd say that's a win for Vin_Trader!

Monday, February 9, 2015

Vin Alerts... Watch and See!

When I first started taking penny stock trading seriously I came across the main figure heads of the business, Timothy Sykes, Cameron Fous, Superman, Jason Bond, etc...

There is a lot to learn from them, even without paying for memberships and videos. 

Youtube is full of promotional trading videos from these guys and if you pay attention you will get the basics.

Another great place to learn from is StockTwits, which brings me to Vin_Trader.

I started following Vin early on and while I haven't used his plays I have been observing and learning from him. Vin has even been kind enough to email back a couple of times

His swing picks from 02-03 ended the week with 3 of the 4 stocks at the Friday close with gains.

So I thought I'd post his picks for 02-10 and we'd watch together.. Hell, if my last trade transaction finishes up in time I may take a position on one of them.


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SD     starting @ $2.19 per share Monday 02-09
BTU   starting @ $7.82 per share Monday 02-09
OCN  starting @ $8.54 per share Monday 02-09
HK     starting @ $2.03 per share Monday 02-09

I'm really interested in HK and will be watching that one closely.


Friday, February 6, 2015

GLUU Closed @ $5.06

Another strong day for GLUU with the stock closing at $5.06 and great way to end the week. With any luck we will see a continued uptrend next week, StockTwits seems to be positive on the subject.

Now the question is... to I wait until we get as close to a range that limits my losses and look to trade again... or continue to hold and hope we see about the $7.45 area for a profit? Admittedly the mid-$7 range is high and not as likely as a low-$6 range in the next couple of weeks. But still, some traders on StockTwits with way more experience than little o'l me are saying GLUU will go higher give time, much higher.

Thoughts?


Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Is a Sell of Shares Near? GLUU on the Rise

As you can see by the lack of posts I haven't been trading since around September... This is partially due to the two stocks I'm holding taking dips when I didn't expect it. Yes, I know, I didn't do what I said I'd do and cut loses.

But that said, GLUU looks promising to climb again. It closed at $3.84 today with a gain of +6.37% and a nice +13.54% gain after hours.

Seems GLUU has struck a nice deal with Katy Perry to develop a game similar to the Kim Kardashian game that they did so well with. The great news is that Katy Perry has a much larger fan base and was just in the half time show for the super bowl.

I'm hoping that this spike in after hours gains continues and we see a climb like before. If we see that, I'll be selling my shares and moving on, hopefully with a nice profit.