Bookkeeping: Covering Celanese (CE) Short

I am going to take a quick gain on the Celanese (CE) short I put on earlier this week; it has quickly fallen 5% from my entry so I'll take profits here and try to find a similar candidate.  What I've done is build a portfolio of names on the short side, generally in the 1.5-2.5% range and as each comes in I'll take profits and try to find a suitable replacement - especially with a market that can go either way at this point.  My stop losses have been in the 2-2.5% range and I am looking for gains of 5%+ if possible.  So trying to put the odds (2:1) in my favor.  I'll look for bigger wins if the market can drop below S&P 1108 and stay there; otherwise I'm just darting in and out with some short term hedges to offset the long side.

I'll place a limit stop order back near where I originally shorted CE as well, in case the market rallied and takes the stock up with it.  Obviously if the market drops this has a potential for a move to $26 in a snap.


It would be very nice to return to the market of pre 2007 when 'student body left' trading did not dominate and you could make money by shorting bad charts while concurrently going long good charts.

No position