Financial Reversal

I dropped C on thursday thinking that it had run its course. It did make it into the 29$ range for a stint but dropped back to the 28's. I dumped it at 28.72, picking up some profit. It gained another dollar on friday so my dumping time wasn't optimal, but it wasn't far off either.

Now I'm taking the short side of the financials with 100 shares of SKF, which I purchased today despite E*TRADE's insistance on ruining me: I put in a limit order for 94 when it was trading at 94.02. No execution. I up the limit order to 94.4 when it's at 94.42, still no execution. I switch to market order and continue to click refresh while I wait for it to execute. Nothing. The stock rises to 96! Still no execution, so I decide to cancel the order. It tells me it cannot be cancelled. So at 95.9 the order executes. Let this blog be the ultimate criticism of this horrible trading system.

Anyway, the bet basically boils down to the fact that we've so far had a pretty shitty rally. There hasn't been any significant volume outside of MSFT and YHOO, but the upswing was a considerable percentage. I made over 10% on my citigroup trade, and it wasn't optimal as I said.

I think the position is speculative: I want to be there shoul there be a big crash. Getting in a few minutes later (or, worse still, just sitting on the button trying to execute and ETRADE rebuffing my advances), would significantly reduce my profit. The risk? I don't see a massive intraday rally anytime soon. All of my sources, including Jim Cramer, the most foolishly bullish of them all, say we're due for at least a few more 300 point corrections. Each one of those days could be worth a thousand dollars. Each day of hovering around is +/- 100, so I don't need to worry much about them.