Today was one of the most frustrating days of the year. After reading Mark Douglas' book, Trading in the Zone, I realized I had a lot of work to do with the mental aspect of trading. I wrote down several of his suggestions and have been following them religiously for about a month now. One of them is to repeat : I am a consitently, successful trader. I say this twice before I go to bed and twice when I wake up in the morning. The key is to get into your subconscious and make your brain automatically believe this. A lot like autosuggestion. The idea is that your thoughts are things and you will attract this to you, i.e. the law of attraction. Well, today was extremely frustrating. RTP broke out and gapped up this morning. I looked at the chart last night and calculated the buy point to be $518.01. The stock opened in the $530's. I kept watching as it moved from 535 to 537 to 540. Finally I told myself that I had better buy here before it goes up any further. The stock was up about 4% at the time and I remember Jesse Livermore saying that you want to buy within 5% of the breakout to avoid getting caught in a correction. I placed a buy order at $539.15. This turned out to be right at the high. Just my luck. Right after I bought, the stock goes down and closes at $525. Very Frustrating! I do all this research and mental work only to see the stock go down. The market is not for the weak or faint of heart. I am determined to be a success and will ultimately profit from trading stocks. Its just times like these that are frustrating.

Industry Group Snapshot - Shippers

TBS International (TBS)

Kirby (KEX)

Genco (GNK)

Eagle Bulk Shipping (EGLE)

Diana Shipping (DSX)

DryShips (DRYS)

This industry group has moved from no. 141 to no. 40 in the past 3 weeks

Today's Trade: Rio Tinto (RTP)

I had originally planned on buying shares at $518.01 but the stock gapped up this morning and blew past this buy point. Added shares at $539.15.

Industry Group Snapshot - Metal Ores

Rio Tinto (RTP)

Companhia Vale Do Rio Doce (RIO)

Freeport McMoran (FCX)

BHP Billiton PLC (BBL)

BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP)

These are the top 5 companies in the metal-ores industry group.

Charts

True Religion (TRLG)-right at support, looks like a good buy point.

Teco Energy (TE) - extremely over-extended, needs to cool off.

Systemax (SYX) - very nice cup, approaching resistance

Fuel Systems (FSYS) - broke out today after announcing a phenomenal earnings report

Flowserve (FLS) - broke downward trend line, weak volume

It's All In Your Mind

Excellent post by Chris Perruna: http://www.chrisperruna.com/2008/05/12/focus-on-you/

Today's Trade: Gafisa (GFA)

GFA - started out down this morning then worked its way back up to close at $42.89, near the day's high of $43.37. Yesterdays down day was on very low volume which poses a good sign. Today's session and last Thursday's session were both on above average volume which is another positive sign.

Country Focus - Brazil

Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (SID) - Brazilain steel company. Testing resistance as it attempts to break-out of a cup.

Banco Bradesco (BBD) - provides life insurance and banking services to Brazilians. Nice break-out on huge volume.

iShares MSCI Brazil Index (EWZ) - tracks the performance of publicly traded securities in the Brazilian market. Broke through resistance on excellent volume, look for a pullback to add shares.

Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR) - a Brazil-based holding company engaged in the exploration, production, refinement and distribution of oil and gas. Nice cup w/handle. Volume looks to be increasing as its testing resistance.

Companhia Vale Do Rio Doce (RIO) - Brazilian metals & mining company, looks like its about to break-out of its cup, nearing resistance.

Gafisa (GFA) - a Brazilian Home-builder. Excellent break-out on great volume.

Not only do they produce beautiful supermodels and soccer superstars; its also where you can find some pretty decent stocks.

Recently the Chicago Mercantile Exchange signed a non-binding cross-investment letter of intent with the Brazilian Mercantile & Futures Exchange. The BM & F is the fourth-largest exchange in the world, and the largest in Latin America. See more details here:

http://cmegroup.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=642

S&P raised Brazil's credit rating to investment grade Wednesday, causing the IBOVESPA to pop 5% this morning. See more here:

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/02/business/LA-FIN-Brazil-Stock-Market.php

Charts to Watch

UltraShort Oil & Gas Proshares (DUG) - if you think the oil & gas bull run is over then check out DUG. The fund is twice the inverse (200%) of the daily performance of the Dow Jones Oil & Gas Index. Recently broke its downward trend-line on huge volume.

Hess Corp. (HES) - recent break-out that has pulled back. See chart

Rex Energy Corp. (REXX) - breaks out today on very low volume.

Amedisys (AMED) - breaks out on excellent volume. Looking to add shares on a pullback.

Google (GOOG) - looks like Google's back. Nice break-out from a flag pattern.

Apple (AAPL) - very nice cup w/handle. Would like to see volume pick up.

Visa (V) Trade

Yesterday I sold my shares in Visa:

5/1/08 Sold 20 shares of V @ $84.12

Purchase price $70.09

Cost = $1401.80- $7 commision = $1394.8

Sold Total = $1682.4 - $7 commision = $1675.4

Profit = $280.6 / 20%

I think shares are a bit oversold here. I'm going to wait for a pullback to the $79 range and then add more shares.