Here's news on the Bear Stearns (BSC) bailout:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1205...s_inside_today

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/bear-stearns-goes-life-support/story.aspx?guid=%7BFB1471C5%2D8532%2D4893%2DB2A6%2 D4869733CCD98%7D


Look at this 1-year chart! From 155 last April to close at 30.00 today...:
http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/qui...mb=bsc&x=0&y=0

Here's the 20-year, looks like it's back to 1997-99 levels:
http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/qui...freq=2&time=20

BSC will be a volatile one for trading in the weeks ahead, let's follow it.

-ken

BEAR STEARNS EATEN ALIVE BY BEARS! FILM AT 11!

There's certainly potentially *huge* profits to be made if one trades LEH (and BSC) correctly... (or losses if one trades the wrong direction!)...

Let's take a look at this debacle in these stocks, and what the charts are saying.

Here's BSC's legendary gap down this morning... it'll be one to remember for years to come. I've NEVER, even during the dot com burst, seen such a huge drop in a stock in such a short timeframe, eg from 65 to 3:

Let's see BSC this morning:




And now let's look at the "sympathy play" (what occurs to stocks in the same sector when a tier-1 bellweather/main stock like BSC plunges), in LEH:




Now the "money plays" are likely to be in the volatility for LEH in the days ahead. What often happens is that some large investment bank/fund manager decides that a stock like LEH is oversold, Or decides to liquidate a losing position in it, flooding the market with new volume, in either long or short directions, respectively.

Let's talk about Bear Stearns, Lehman and this entire sector, because THIS is where trading opportunities are right now. (reminder: all of my fortunate http://www.ChartSCANS.com subscribers are getting my specific long/short triggers for LEH and others in this current market - register today if you're not a member!).

As individual traders, it's our goal to look for volume spikes accompanied by large, sustained price moves and watch time & sales like a hawk, to spot potentially successful trading opportunities.

So, what do YOU think? What are the "Big Money" plays in BSC and LEH right now, traders? How about other stocks in this sector?
(here's a list of stocks in this sector, at bigcharts.com:
http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/ind...bcind_ind=8777 )

Interesting articles too re "domino" (sector sympathy) speculation on what's happening, at:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/23671800
and
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/jp-morgan-buy-bear-stearns/story.aspx?guid=%7B9B6A846F%2DA585%2D4123%2DBB53%2 DCB3E07A3CFCE%7D re JP buyout at $2/share (what a deal!)...
and
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1205...ecial_coverage

This is the "stock story of the year" so far...

Sound off, traders!

Ken

p.s. reminder: once you post, I need to approve it manually before your post appears (so register for the forum, make your post, then wait for awhile to see it)... for directions on how to register for the forum, be sure to read all the tips I've explained at:
Registration Tips and Troubleshooting

I'm looking forward to reading what you're about to post here... let me know your thoughts, thanks!

Financial market Meltdown: BSC/LEH
On a HUGE mulitple point Gap Down when the futures are also down HUGE I like to look for a stock like LEH today to "fill the gap" from an oversold position. I'll lok first at where the stock opened and then follow T/S and volume. LEH opned at 25.38 I got in just over 27.00 and made alsmost a full 4 pts. when it started consolidating.

On a stock like BSC-even with a HUGE GAP I will check the news-for one reason only-to see if the stock is being "acquired" "bought out" or one of those "merger/acquisitions. Whether its a gap down or up RARELY have I ever seen a stock that was part of an M/A do anything but "flatline" the entire day so I won't go near it!

I'm still playing with paper money and on last Friday I caught BSC diving and made around 30% day trading it with put options.
30% meaning the entire cash balance was increased by 30%.

It was crazy and there was not enough time to put in stop orders so I just closed manually.
It got me thinking how to put in stops next time.

Great! Right re managing stops, varies by broker, the mechanics, critical to gain a working knowledge of.

-k