Hedgie Gets A Wedgie

Ralph Cioffi, former investment bank Bear Stearns hedge fund manager, is escorted by law enforcement officials to a waiting car after being arrested in New York June 19, 2008

"Clang clang, go the jail guitar doors
Bang bang, go the boots on the floor
Cry cry, for your lonely mother's son
Clang clang, go the jail guitar doors"

From "Jail Guitar Doors" by The Clash

Level the playing field...

Ready to go again...

The 11/30 call was early, but still looks right to me...

Miner Contemplation

Wayne Campbell writes on Silicon Investor:

"There was a blow off top from late 99 to March/April 2000 in the Nasdaq. Pigs were flying. Money could be made and kept by buying tiny momentum plays and then selling a bit into each absurd upday through Feb Mar and April.

Sikaman Gold turned Internet stock....300 million shares out had a 3D shopping "portal" where you could move your curser around a little boxes that represented stores. Click on the box and you went to the stores website. That was it. Stock went to a buck and stayed there for weeks. Advertised on the Superbowl that year (Those wierd blimp or scoreboard overlays). I had stock worth half a cent earlier and bailed at 7 cents in 1999, just ecstatic to get out with anything.

We could be ready for a mirror in the mining sector. Big, but risky money (buy high sell much higher....buy crap, sell insanely overpriced crap) may be able to be made again right here.

Nov and Dec are the set up months buy anything that sniffs of momentum.....sell into rallys starting Feb March....be all out by April fools day.

Mine the SI threads for potential momo plays. Watch for junior miners at the superbowl and the Air Canada Centre being renamed the Aurelian Canada Centre. Place your asks by thinking the stock will never hit that price, then double the price."

JER.v is breaking out on volume...

PEZ.V - The Gift That Keeps On Giving

I posted about Pediment Exploration a couple of times earlier this year (6/28, 7/25) as I saw some intriguing patterns developing on the chart. I thought that this was a good time to review what has happened since then. The stock is being recommended by a handful of newsletter writers, based primarily on the exploration success that they have had at their San Antonio project in Baja, Mexico.

There are several good sources of fundamental analysis of this company, so I will limit my comments. Suffice it to say that the chart below is a visual explanation of why I invest in the junior mining sector. It is a hit or miss game, but when a company hits big, the rewards can be staggering. I don't think Pediment is done yet. They are continuing to define the resource at San Antonio and are preparing to drill two more of their properties.

Impact Silver

The weekly chart of Impact Silver is notable for a couple of things. The recent sell off shows how easily relatively small volume can chop a considerable amount of market cap off a stock. Now the stock is right at the uptrend line and also at the 100 week EMA. This area was support for the stock during the first wave down of this consolidation in the fall of 2006.

Looking back further, the stock consolidated for several months in 2005 after moving up steadily from mid-2004 to peak well above the long-term moving averages. The consolidation we are in now is a similar shape but much larger magnitude. The increase in volume over time corresponds to higher price levels and greater price swings on run-ups and corrections.

I don't worry too much about Impact Silver. They are a real company that is producing silver today and steadily increasing production. The market's perception of the company may vary wildly from one day to the next but the professionals running the company continue moving it forward regardless.