I am back from a week of vacation in St. John. I am tan, a little trimmer, but not quite ready for the grind. Ten minutes into the trading day my headset was sent flying at my computer. Must have been a gust of wind mysteriously entering our trading floor 🙂 Last week my biggest challenge was Diet Coke with a lime or an iced tea, play basketball or lift, the NY Times or Boston Globe. WTF was with that FAST on the Open. That was not cool and certainly frustrating.

So ten minutes into my return I am marked down big on the illiquid FAST, my headset somehow survived the crash, and I took a deep breath. It was now on. I was back trading. And I needed to leave the fantasy world of pristine beaches, immaculate food, nine hour nights of sleep, and playing with my Kindle- for the real world.

One thing I did well was decrease my tier size since I had been away. Your skills can get a touch rusty when you leave the market for a week. So my loss right on the Open was not a big deal ($650). I took a few deep breathes, heard Dovey calling out UNH, and left FAST for this prettier stock.

UNH was a pretty easy short after its Open squeeze. Caught that. Back to flat. MMR offered a consolidation set up that padded my results. IBM below 132.50 in the After Hours was an A trade. Watch this 132.50 level in IBM tomorrow. So overall the finish to the trading day ended better than the start.

It will take me a few days to fully get back into trading. It is earnings season so I ought to snap out of my Caribbean funk quickly. Gonna go now and see if I can find some freshly caught seared raw tuna and coconut rice for dinner.

Long MMR, Long GERN, short bias IBM below 132.50.

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