Open... Up?

The answer (again) is yes! Sure why not? Another day another Green start- it does boggle the mind. From a looking stupid standpoint I bought some TCK 50 at 8.3, which proceeded to go up to 8.5 before deciding it liked the 7's better, not that I'm panicked, but its a paper 'loss' on what was somewhat a 'panic' purchase- I wanted in, and I was going to get in. I took a flyer on IO Jan 7's for $1.2 as I said its been bouncing between 8 and 8.75 for a while, and think it could move up nicely on some low volume, and hopefully turn .4-.5/option (~40%)

ANR confirmed its offer for Massey which is unfortunate as I had not gotten in on that. The move makes a lot of sense for Alpha- their management with Massey's mines and resources should yield a nice turnaround, plus it adds cash and adds 1/2 billion in net sales to the bottom line. Coal is starting to get trendy with the analysts however, so once that happens the peak is usually not far behind. Sadly because the institutions are moving out while the individuals move in leaving the little guys as the bad holders.

I think the best advice I ever read about the markets was a two pronged piece, 1) Never fall in love with a stock. 2)The best stockpicker averages about 70% so you are doing well if even 3 out 10 are losers. This goes back to step 1 however, don't fall in love saying 'It'll come back' For a stock to lose 50% it then needs to increase 100% to get back to value- its much faster going down, take your lumps and walk away. I'm still trying to put this into practice.

UPDATE*** Sold all my IO 7's at $1.45 (as some pass at 1.5) but its a 21% gain minus fees, which is a solid win. As I said I'm a little spooked by what could happen between this year and next (that and I won't be in front of a computer) for a week.