Slope Of Hope with Tim Knight

Why I Shorted Devry

As most of you know, I am a dyed-in-the-wool chartist. I base my decisions on charts and very little else.

There are rare occasions, however, when an investing idea is based on something more than just the chart. Such was the case with Devry, which is one of those for-profit education outfits.

Simply stated, I don't think I've ever seen a group of "customers" as unhappy with a given service as I have with the field of for-profit education. I'm not picking on Devry in particular - - there are many firms out there (ITT Institute, etc.) But as one surveys the landscape of the "graduates" from these "schools" (I am not accidentally using all these quotation marks....) it seems to be a bunch of folks that feel very ripped-off.

Everything's Fine in Europe Now Bar

Waiting for that Golden Shorting Opportunity

Bold Enough to Call A Top? (by Andy Crowder)

Well, I already made that mistake. 1.9% lower. Check out my post from last Tuesday.

But, 1.9% lower really isn’t that far. Especially if you consider all of the bearish indicators that currently reside on  a sentiment and technical basis.

I use very few indicators. I am a strong believer in the linear regression of time and price.  You know, mean-reversion,  bell curves, simple overbought/oversold indicators. Simple, logical, intellectual and more importantly mathematically sound indicators that are the first step towards long-term trading success. Emotions are nonexistent. Time and price determine my parameters.

Revenge on Federated Investors

You may recall that on Wednesday I got stopped out of FII at a really lousy price based on a completely bizarre intraday spike in the stock (I've pointed out where I got stopped out with the red arrow below).

Well, after taking a look at the chart, I decided it still was a good short, so - - in spite of the recent pain - - I re-entered the position. I'm glad I did, because today I covered (where the green arrow is), turning my frown about FII upside-down.

It just goes to show that even when something rattles you, it makes sense to step back, take a breath, and re-assess with as much objectivity as you can muster.