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Andre1969 · 01-25-2013, 07:04 AM

I put in a limit order to buy some Apple early in the morning yesterday, because I was not going to have any computer access for the whole day. My limit was $450. As luck would have it, it closed at $450.50.

Oh well, I'm going to see what it does, and maybe buy a few shares first thing this morning.

Apple used to be about 20-25% of my whole portfolio with Scottrade, but I started selling some off. Now I try to keep it at roughly 1/12th of the portfolio (8.3%), and then just buy more or sell off, if it gets too out of whack.

grasshopper · 01-25-2013, 07:30 AM

Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF has AAPL as its #1 holding. VTI lagged the market by by a lot on Thursday.

mpeirce · 01-25-2013, 08:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grasshopper

Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF has AAPL as its #1 holding. VTI lagged the market by by a lot on Thursday.

What do you mean by "the market"? I've always used the "total market" indexes* as my proxy for "the market".

Maybe you are comparing this to the Dow Jones Industrial Average? Which doesn't include Apple. I've always though the Dow was a pretty poor index to follow - it's only popular because the Wall Street Journal pushes it (Charles Dow and Edward Jones started the Journal).

*VTI/VSAX tracks the MSCI US Broad Market Index, which represents approximately 99.5% or more of the total market capitalization of all the U.S. common stocks regularly traded on the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq.

NW-Bound · 01-25-2013, 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NYEXPAT

...I am a trader as opposed to investor and only trade a few times a year now. The last stock I owned for more than a few day's was Nokia last summer. That being said, I only bought yesterday as the volume suggested capitulation and I thought there was a quick 15-20 points at the open. So far (based on pre-market) I am wrong and it looks like I will be out with only a small gain!

I am too chicken to place a bet as big as that, whether for quick trade or as a long term investment. I am not rich and it represents too big a percentage of my portfolio.

Your post about capitulation made me curious, and I looked back at the past trade volume. It was even higher when the price was coming down from the top of $700. The volume was highest at around $620. Either sellers wanted to lock in their profits, or they knew something was coming down the pipeline. Or perhaps selling simply begets more selling. Of course there was an equal number of buyers who made the opposite bet.

Investing, not just trading, is an exciting game. One plays for keep, with big money compared to what people take to Las Vegas. And some people think they can avoid risks all together with fixed-income assets. I know I can run, but I cannot hide, so may as well face the problem squarely and deal with it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andre1969

I put in a limit order to buy some Apple early in the morning yesterday, because I was not going to have any computer access for the whole day. My limit was $450. As luck would have it, it closed at $450.50.

Oh well, I'm going to see what it does, and maybe buy a few shares first thing this morning...

I have missed a few trades like that, both on selling and buying, and hated myself for that. Well, there might be times when it worked out in my favor, that I was better off for missing the trade. However, one tends to remember better the missed opportunity than the averted potential loss.

I tend to do more market-order trades now, but then it is because I have the time to watch it in real-time and pull the trigger when I think the timing is right.

audreyh1 · 01-25-2013, 10:12 AM

Andre didn't miss, he lucked out. Today he is getting another chance at an even better price!

NW-Bound · 01-25-2013, 10:19 AM

Funny thing is when I myself lucked out like that, I would tell myself "Whoa", and waited for an even lower price.

There's something about investor's psychology that a successful trader knows how to read. I think there's some merit about technical analysis, but my problem is that I am not good at it. It's certainly an art rather than a science.

**braumeister** · 01-25-2013, 10:40 AM

When it gets below 400, I'll become interested again. The last time I bought Apple, it was around 360.

M Paquette · 01-25-2013, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound

First, they tried to make them small. Now they make them bigger, and how long before there's one as large as an iPad? Where's the limit where consumers stop wanting them bigger? One to haul on a shoulder like the boombox of yore?

http://www.gizmag.com/panasonic-20-i...let-ces/25727/

No word on whether it will include a cellphone...

REWahoo · 01-25-2013, 04:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by M Paquette

No word on whether it will include a cellphone...

Availabe as an accessory...

NW-Bound · 01-25-2013, 04:55 PM

I have not gotten around to read this 40-yr old book, but its philosophy appears to be very obsolete, and has no appeal left whatsoever.

FIREd · 01-25-2013, 04:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo

Availabe as an accessory...

You know, I saw someone use one of those on the street the other day.

imoldernu · 01-25-2013, 05:37 PM

What happened 1/25/2013 in the last 2 minutes of trade.
$439.88
Apple's Flash Dump In The Last Second Of Trading Caught On Tape | Zero Hedge

Quote:

And just so they know what to expect, here is what happened to Apple stock in the last second of regular trading today, courtesy of Nanex. Unlike traditional flash crashes where the trade is an HFT error, or a few shares traded through the entire bid or offer stack, in this case it looks like a very premeditated unloading of some 800K shares (some $350 million worth) of AAPL in the last second, with the full knowledge it was shake the market. Why anyone would want (or wait until the very last second) to do that, while covering the offsetting ES short in the pair trade, to ramp the market into the close, is anyone's guess.

Did someone here do this?

Is David Einhorn here on ER?

http://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/th...selloff-44632/

audreyh1 · 01-25-2013, 08:59 PM

Hmmm - that might explain why my limit order didn't execute even though the bottom of the range was shown as $435 - a number that hadn't been reached earlier in the day.

AndrewJackson · 01-25-2013, 11:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndrewJackson

I find apple pretty funny because it is so big that it literally is its own asset class. Seriously, the market cap is like .5 trillion. Anyway, if you are going to make me pick a monster company, I would much rather have Exxon mobile. Over the next 100 years, I see energy as a much more valuable than the latest I gadget.

But hey there is a lot of cash on the appl balance sheet and the pe is getting low.

lol...Today Exxon overtook aapl as the biggest company.

target2019 · 01-26-2013, 06:28 AM

Apple has had a great run. My own history with them goes back to the original Apple Mac and Laserwriter, and has continued through the present. For this company, the recipe is high-priced products you can't live without, and future vision provided by Steve Jobs. In the early eighties Apple released video on VHS that depicted the future. User walks into room and speaks to a screen embedded in a desk top. It makes his appointments and calls Mom. It was Siri and iPad, but 30 years ago. So that's vision.

Recently purchased an all-in-one iMac for someone, and there are only two models in local Apple store. Nothing else in view except for iPads, MacBooks, and iPhones. Obviously a lot of people are interested in those products, but the traditional PC/Mac hardware is quickly falling out of favor. That affects companies like Apple, Dell, MS, HP, etc.

What does Apple have in development that will propel it ahead of competition? Is there a key executive or scientist who is getting ready for products to be delivered 30 years from now?

NW-Bound · 01-26-2013, 09:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndrewJackson

lol...Today Exxon overtook aapl as the biggest company.

I remember when Cisco had the largest market cap in 2000, at around $500B. People were talking about how Cisco was on the way to be the first "trillion dollar" company. OMG!

To be fair, one must recognize that Cisco had a P/E of greater than 100 then. Apple P/E is 1/10 of that at this point. Still, it shows how investors could get so irrational at times.

And I did not do a "sell all" and "get all out" in 2000. I was not too smart either, although I did not invest solely in Cisco then. I held other tech companies, and thought that their P/E of 30 or so looked pretty cheap compared to Cisco.

Hamlet · 01-26-2013, 10:26 AM

Yeah, I think the valuation is a huge difference between Apple today and Cisco in 2000. In 2000, Cisco was priced like it would grow forever.

Today, Apple is priced like their earnings will get cut in half very soon.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound

I remember when Cisco had the largest market cap in 2000, at around $500B. People were talking about how Cisco was on the way to be the first "trillion dollar" company. OMG!

To be fair, one must recognize that Cisco had a P/E of greater than 100 then. Apple P/E is 1/10 of that at this point. Still, it shows how investors could get so irrational at times.

And I did not do a "sell all" and "get all out" in 2000. I was not too smart either, although I did not invest solely in Cisco then. I held other tech companies, and thought that their P/E of 30 or so looked pretty cheap compared to Cisco.