Monday, October 13, 2014

I made a lot of money in an Apple trade last week. While enjoying a 12-mile run this morning, I gave a lot of thought to my next play on the stock. I like Apple a lot. From my perspective, investors are undervaluing the company. Yet my perspective doesn’t matter. All that matters is what the market thinks, and as a whole, the market likes Apple. Still, I’m convinced that the stock trades higher in the months and years to come. That said, I had some big gains in the stock, and those gains were on my mind as I was running this morning. I thought that I could leverage the gains higher by trading out of Apple and deploying my assets into another high-beta stock that the market has undervalued, from my perspective. I set my sights on Twitter. Twitter had touched a multi-month high of $55 last week, but it sold off toward the end of last week during a broad market sell off. It had dropped to around $50. My thoughts were that I could sell the Apple, take the profit, and buy Twitter at a discount. Then profit again. Well, the idea was great, but the execution was flawed. I sold Apple at $101.55, just after the market opened. It was a good trade, as I booked new gains. But just as I sold the Apple, Twitter started to run. I placed a big order for Twitter, at the market. Well, when the trade went through, I learned that I purchased my shares in Twitter at 51.90–which was the highest price of the stock all day. Immediately after I made the purchase, Twitter started to drop in value. By the end of the day, the Twitter tumbled to the high 40s. It erased the entire gain that I had been celebrating in Apple. Had I waited a few hours, the plan would’ve worked well. But the right decision at the wrong time, I’ve learned, is the wrong decision.

 

Days since my release from prison: 427

Miles that I ran today: 12

Miles that I ran so far this week: 24

Miles that I’ve run during the month of October: 102.39

Miles that I ran so far in 2014: 1,966.41

Miles that I need to run in order to reach my annual goal of 2,400 miles: 433.59

Miles I’m ahead of schedule to reach my 2,400-mile goal by the end of 2014: 80.82

My weight for today: 168