Meta-Trader - AAPL New Highs

Welcome back Meta-Traders.

As you know I am a big fan of Trend Following. I like it because its pretty easy all things considered. You don't have to be particularly clever, or hard working, you just need the simple power of observation. And the stock that has made me more money than any other stock is - your guessed it - Apple Computer!!

Apple staged a major breakout this week by eclipsing the prior all-time high at $644 set back on April 10th. This move corresponds with 4-year highs in the SP 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average.  I didn't take as full advantage of this move as prior trades - using options - but I was (and still am) holding some AAPL shares in anticipation of more new highs.  

Last quarter's earnings in AAPL were a bit of a disappointment with earnings come in lighter than expected.  That accounted for the sell-off we see on the left hand side of the chart.  The word on those earnings is that sales of the iPhone were light because users are holding out for the introduction of the iPhone 5 - which is expected in the first few weeks of September.  There's also talk of another, smaller iPad and a new version of Apple TV!   If AAPL can do for the TV what they did for the cell phone, they could have a major hit on their hands.  Bottom line is APPL is coming into the fat part of their product cycle, and the fat time selling season (back to school and 4th Quarter) which are traditionally their strongest.   And with a 5-year earnings growth rate of 60% and a PE of 15, the stock is still absurdly cheap.  Next stop is $700 a share and beyond with an ultimate price target of at least $1000.   Don't bet the farm, but don't miss out either, this one is obvious.

And speaking of the obvious, Forex is going the other way with new equity lows in 3 of the 4 systems I am trading.  Let's review the damage.

Atinalla #1 is the only account still holding into gains and actually had a small gain for the week. While its down about -5.61 year to date, its still up about 23% since starting it back in November of 2010.

Atipaq Full Portfolio continued its losing ways, and is now down nearly 42% for the year and -12.46% since start up back in January of 2011.

Atinalla #3 is now down -22.84% for the year and -22.5% since start up back in January of 2011.

Finally, Atinalla Custom is down -26.49% for the year and a down as nasty -42.28% since start up back in November of 20.10%

No action in COATL H1 and Sunqu Live which are stopped.

Totaling the damage, I'm down just over $3000 on a $20,000 investment which is minus about -15%. 

Overall, its not as bad as the individual performance numbers would suggest. I'm going to continue to let the systems run since I recall at times in 10-year back tests, systems go into draw down that looks so nasty, I wouldn't have been able to stand it. If these systems are truly long-term profitable, then they should eventually assert themselves to the upside, right? We'll see, but in the meantime, I'm not committing any more money to Automated Forex Trading.

That's all for now. Go buy some AAPL, even its just 10 shares.  It will soothe the pain of money lost in Automated Forex Trading.   And have a great week.