Waves, Patterns & Projections (2003)

This market will top out when all the shorters have given up hope. I note the 'despair' in your post, pkv - use this as a signal to open up your short again NOW, before the market can get the better of you. I closed my NDX shorts earlier in the week (at 1417), but have been nibbling today at NDX, DOW and SPX shorts - nothing huge, but just trying to get a modest position on board at or near the top.

By the way, ref your 'substantial loss' - I invariably use a stop loss for my positions, placing it at a point where 'if it goes through here I'm on the wrong track' - stop losses do not elimnate a loss, but at least minimise the damage.

The other thing I do is to keep a note of exactly when and where I closed out my position - so that if the market then moves back to that range I can reinstate the position. The last thing I want is to close out, say, NDX at 1417, watch the bloody thing go up, then down again, and have to reinstate my short below the point where I covered. So I initiated a small NDX short today at 1447.

If the DOW is now trading above the point where you closed your short, perhaps you should think long and hard about reinstating it at this higher level - it gives you the chance to make a profit AND regain your earlier loss.

Excuse me if I sound like I'm giving advice - I'm just rattling on really.