Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Lesson learned

  1. This morning I was furious about the losses in LEH since I bought it at 29 on Monday, and I sold LEH at 25.3, and then it bounced back to 26.5, before it closed at 23.75.
  2. And I added AGU at 99.50, a new record, it closed at 100.13.
  3. So the result is in: a new low usually will lead to new record low, until it turns.
  4. A new high will lead to a new high, until it turns.
  5. From my perspective, I will never buy a new record low, until it turns.
  6. I will keep buying new record high, until it turns.
  7. Lessons learned.
  8. My DBA and DAG are doing great today, MOO and KOL, not so good. MOS, POT and AGU are all doing great today.
  9. Next: monitor these and take profit when I think it turns. Until then, keep them.
  10. I think DBA can easily break the record high of 43.5 set early this year, the rain in corn belt will push up corn, soybean. In fact, corn, soybean and wheat all had limit up today, that's a good sign that it will continue to go up tomorrow.
  11. Trading for over 5 years, now I think I finally agree with the "buy new highs" and "sell new lows" rule. I always did the opposite before.
  12. I think agriculture commodities will be the best vehicle to fight inflation in the years to come, and fertilizer companies (POT,MOS and AGU) are the best stock group to own for the next few years.
  13. The risk is government intervention, but I think U.S. government will more likely to intervene oil price than corn, since U.S. benefits from agriculture inflation (U.S. is the biggest exporter of corn and soybean in the world, for example), while on the other hand, U.S. is the biggest importer of oil.
  14. Coal should be a good buy too. I have KOL in place and will add more when it pulls back.

Cut PAL and LEH, Add AGU

Yesterday, I added LEH and KOL again, think it's a great buy, specially in LEH. I also added AGU from the sales of POT and MOO.
  1. Today LEH hit a new low, along with general markets. I sold it at the low of the day, talking about "good" timing!
  2. And I bought AGU from the LEH money. AGU hit a new record high today.
  3. Never try to pick up a great stock when it's down big, like LEH. At least wait three more days!
  4. On the other hand, never wait to add a strong stock, like MOS breaks out recently, and I wait and wait, now it's way above my target.
  5. But I decided to add AGU and buy it at record high today, to test if a new record high is better than new record low. I think the answer to this test is clear, regardless this trade is successful or not.
  6. New record high is a good thing. Buy.
  7. New record low is a bad thing. Sell.

Monday, June 9, 2008

Added KOL and LEH

Today, I added LEH and KOL.
  1. I think LEH may be over punished on the down side. I added a small position here to monitor it. May add more if it continues to dive.
  2. I added KOL. I think from growth perspective, it has more legs than oil companies, coal is cheaper comparing to oil, and it still the number one commodity used to generate electricity in US and China.
  3. Looks like I sold POT too early last Friday, good thing I still have the most POT left. I think POT and MOS are still the strong stocks to be.

Friday, June 6, 2008

Reduce positions

Today I sold all DBC and a small portion of POT. I bought a very small position in KOL (Coal related ETF).
  1. Recently, my DBC position turned out to be the best performer, too bad it's small. Since oil run up $17 in two days, I took profit in DBC and raise cash.
  2. Also sold some POT for good profit, I bought them at 180s and 190s. Raise cash.
  3. Bought a small KOL to monitor this sector. Comparing to oil, coal is cheap, so I'll use this ETF to monitor the sector. May add more in the future.
  4. DBA and DAG are almost back to the price I paid, a few more days like this, I'll be in black.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Changes

I think agriculture is the next big thing, and it still has a few years left in its run. However, recent price action on DBA is not as good as I hoped, and my positions in POT, MOS did better than I hoped. Therefore, recently (mainly today), I reduced DBA and DAG, and added MOO and POT. Now MOO is my new number 1 position. MOO has following main holdings: POT, MOS, DE, ADM and MON. I think all these fertilizer companies, agriculture equipments and service companies will do better than DBA in the coming years if food crisis is to continue, even just keep the price as its current level, these companies will do better.
Just early this year, potash price imported to China is tripled in less than 15 months. I think POT, which controls 22% of world potash reserve, will have great earning power moving forward. So I'll play and trade according to these new information. Even technicals indicate POT may break to new highs soon.
It's easy for POT to double in a year or two, but it's difficult for DBA, even DAG to double(2x DBA). Considering the public outcry on food prices. So I'll keep this as future guidance, usually, companies are better leveraged than the underline commodities.
MOO:
MOO tracks the DAX Agribusiness Index. 0.65% expense ratio. MOO holds 40 companies that trade on 13 exchanges worldwide. Companies must be worth at least $150 million to be included in the ETF, reports Index Universe Staff. The U.S. makes up the most of MOO at 55% followed by Canada at 9.3%. Holdings in the ETF include agriculture chemicals at 34%, agriproduct operations at 33.5%, agriculture equipment at 24.3%, livestock operations at 5.6% and ethanol/biodiesel at 2.3%.
Top 10 holdings of MOO as of 3/31/2008: %
Syngenta Ag
8.2
Monsanto Co.
7.91
Potash Corp. Of Saskatchewan Inc.
7.7
Deere & Co.
7.69
The Mosaic Co.
7.45
Wilmar Intl Ltd.
5.25
Komatsu Ltd.
4.94
IOI Corp. BHD
4.79
Yara International ASA
4.6
CNH Global NV
4.49

Monday, May 5, 2008

Positions and changes

  1. I sold YHOO last Thursday, ahead of the rise on Friday, and I was kicking myself on Friday, with YHOO up more than 6%. And today with YHOO down 16% now, I feel lucky!
  2. I added POT and MOS on Thursday and Friday. I think long term, these companies are better leveraged than DBA; and similarly, GDX is better leveraged than GLD. But with oil cost high, it will put pressure on gold companies. So my focus will be on agriculture and fertilizer companies.
  3. My main position is DBA, followed by POT and DAG. I also got enough GDX.
  4. I will add these on weakness, and take profit on sharp rise.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Patient

I don't have enough patience. I added commodities too early this time, after I exited almost all of them in March. As a result, I cut almost all PM related positions at a loss and now only hold agriculture related positions mainly in DBA. I also keep GDX since it's down too much and I think it's a value play.
If I wait until today, then I can add aggressively now in DBA, great entry is the key!
Now I will only add a small position each time, since I don't have enough cash and current positions are entered at higher prices.
I still think DBA is not done, but what do I know? I underestimated the power of the dollar rally.