AMZN - Amazon stock

[Modee]

This is quite an interesting company. Hasn't earned a nickel and yet the stock keeps going up. How may any company survive in the long term with a negative -EPS?

I owned this stock back in 1999 and sold it all in December 1999 at, what I recall was the high at the time, I believe $100. or something like that.

Since then I have not owned it long term - traded only.

Yesterday it announced earnings and skyrocketed, and up a little more today. I went both long and short on it today for some points on each trade. Long three times at 438 in the pre-market (scared me a little because it plummeted to about 434 after I entered the position, and with a 1000 shares that's a lot of money to be down in seconds), but went back up nicely after that), then 445 and 447 in the regular market, and shorted it twice at 450 including the last time it hit that price towards the end. All trades made easy money.

This stock moves quickly and scarily at times, worse even than NFLX, but it is those fast moves that make for profitable trading.

I think AMZN is a B.S. company but I don't care, I just trade it. May any business survive without turning a profit?

[Modee]

AMZN due to report this Thursday; could be the one that makes it - the others, GOOGL, NFLX, AAPL, CMG - have all failed.

[Modee]

Bought 1000 @ 603 just before the bell. AMZN roared to 670+, now THAT helped. I mean seriously, I NEEDED THAT.

[Modee]

Had an unpleasant AMZN experience today. All's well that ends well, but still, not fun.

In the pre-market AMZN was as high as 713. It seemed like it might dip a little, but looked strong. I entered an order to buy 500 shares at 712, then cancelled it and entered a new order at about 6:14am PST, with a lowered limit of 711. This was a regular market order - meaning that it was queued for the opening of the regular market at 6:30 am PST, inactive until then. About three minutes before the bell I decided eh, this doesn't look that great, I think I'll cancel, wait until AMZN opens and dips some, and then buy after I know which way the wind is blowing. So I clicked to cancel it. Two to three minutes to go, figured plenty of time. This was with Options House (OH)
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As soon as I entered the cancel order, the order status changed to "open cancel" which means pending cancel. In this electronic age, 2 - 3 minutes is an eternity, especially for a trader (fortunes are made and lost in as much time), so I figured No Problemo, I'll be out and contemplating a different trade even before the bell.

Right after the bell not only did my order fill, but it filled at the high for the stock that morning. AMZN opened at 710.13 and I was filled at 710.73 The market makers
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must have figured, get a load of this guy, he enters a limit order at HIGHER than the open, let's stick it to him. And they did. But this was an order that should have cancelled. It should never have been routed.

Anyway, first thing I did is enter an order to sell at 711. I was hoping for a bounce. No such luck. AMZN opened and went straight down. I was pounding my fist on a glass table and saying, I didn't even WANT this trade. This is a short
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not a long. It should have cancelled out!

By the time I had OH on the phone, it was at 708. After being on hold a very long time as the broker talked to his order desk, the broker confirmed that yes, I had cancelled the order a few minutes before the bell, but that they had reverted to the "old Nasdaq rules" which were that orders placed within the first five minutes before the opening bell were locked and would not necessarily cancel no matter what. They might cancel. They might not. No guarantees. The broker went so far as to tell me that all bets were off for the five minutes before the closing bell as well. His final words, "Those shares are yours."

Now, I've been trading long enough to know this is nonsense. Even back in the end of the 1990s when I started trading as a teen orders were supposed to be routed and executed instantly. At least routed. And cancelled instantly. I myself got five grand out of DATEK (a now defunct online broker) back then on an order that they let sit on their desk for 22 minutes, during which time a stock's price changed so much that I lost five grand when I should have made money. DATEK accepted their mistake, and compensated me.

At least today I hung tough. AMZN went all the way down to 700 or so, putting me five grand or more in the hole. I didn't care (well, I did, but I wasn't going to get tricked into selling at the bottom). I held on. I was prepared to hold all week! Dammit. They weren't going to get me! Eventually, to my amazement AMZN gradually rallied to where it was pushing and then broke through 710. Still it wavered for a while, but eventually, on a run to 711.09, my order filled. And so, I ended up making about $150. where if I had panicked I could have lost over $5K.

Ironically, after going back to 708, AMZN came back up again, to a high of 713, although it closed the day more like 710 and change. That is one strong stock these days - even when it drops, hard, the buyers swoop in. Now if only this trading error hadn't happened, I would have bought much lower, and still held, for a real gain. Ah, the life of a trader.

[Modee]

AMZN up and down today, but by no means weak. Holding its own.

[Modee]

Do technicals apply to AMZN?

Technicals do apply to any stock, sure. But what technical applies to a stock that is at a new high? other than "it's gotta go down!" Because it might not go down, it might break out and keep going up.

I've lost money before placing short entry prices at where I think the stock should top out, based on that day's action or the stock's charts. A better rule just seems to be that when a stock like AMZN is going up, it tends to keep going up, and when it is going down, it tends to keep going down. But still the over all action is up, and no matter how far down this sucker has been kicked, it has come back higher than ever, so far.

Today's fed news was disappointing (for today's longs) but all considering AMZN didn't do badly and ended the day up. I continue to believe that between now and earnings AMZN will hit new highs. The psychology of the marker is that peeps will not wish to be left out. If you examine a stock just before earnings, if that stock tanked the time before, it will tend to sell off before earnings. If it roared at last earnings, it will tend to go up as we approach the next earnings. Well, AMZN roared mightily last earnings so expect AT LEAST the 750s to hit sometime before next earnings. People are greedy and vant to buy. What else you gonna buy? Gold?

[Modee]

I feel that AMZN will hit the 750s before next earnings, notwithstanding ups and downs before then.

[Modee]

Bought back in at 759, still holding that trade. Was going to let it go a dozen times, but now I'm just holding. Looks like this sucker really will make 1000 before GOOGL does.

[Modee]

Briefly today, Jeff Bezos was declared the world's richest man, when AMZN hit 1083.5 I actually tried to SHORT it at that price against the box but didn't get a fill.

Bezos no longer richest man since AMZN went down so much in the AH (aftermarket). Earnings miss - expected 1.40 came in at .40 In fact, AMZN lost money on all the stuff it sells - can’t be profitable on that - real problem. It made money on cloud services (AWS).

Why sell everything under the sun if you can’t even make money on it?

AMZN is very customer friendly tho, tell them your item arrived an hour late. No problem! They eat the shipping cost. Tell them you never got it. No problem! They send a new one without even verifying. That sort of business practice loses them money.

I still believe in AMZN dominance and have held some shares very long term, but today was a disappointment. I did a side quick trade bought 1000 @ 1011 in the AH sold quickly at 1024.

[Modee]

Been trading AMZN successfully buying on dips, but selling each day for a quick profit. Over all trend, DOWN, right now.