Interview With Stock Trader Andy Fernandez
New to our stock blog here at the Falkin Investing Organization, I am going to start interviewing traders of all experience levels from across the globe. As the blog continues to grow in readership, I think it is a great way to give some exposure to you the readers! If you would like to be considered for a interview, please email me or better yet private message me on our stock forum with some simple information about yourself and your trading abilities. Remember experience is irrelevant, I will interview hedge fund managers to new traders. Below is the first conducted interview with young trader Andy Fernandez out of the United States:
Q: How about some basic information (name, age, current residence, education)?
A: “My name is Andy Fernandez and I live in the best city in the world, sunny Miami Florida. I’m 21 years old and am finishing up my last year studying Finance at Florida International University (the guys who got in a brawl with Univeristy of Miami’s football team).“
Q: How long have you been an FIO Member for?�
A: “I think I was one of the original new members. I remember back when I joined it wasn’t even known as the FIO, around a year ago.”
Q: How long have you been trading stocks actively for? What made you get started?
A: “I started learning about stocks in 2004 but I didn’t actually make a trade until November 2005. During Hurricane Wilma I lost power for a week and with nothing to do I re-read William O’Neil’s “How to Make Money in Stocks.” This got me pumped up again and it just so happened we were in the start of a fresh baby bull market. So the weekend I got power back I started researching some stocks and placed my first few trades that following Monday. They were Ceradyne, ATI Technologies, and Mastec. After that first week I was hooked.“
Q: How did those first trades work out for you? Any lessons learned from them?
A: “They worked out pretty well. I ended going up around 15% in Ceradyne (CRDN) pretty fast but I had bought on an overextended base. So during its price correction I lost a lot of gains and ended up panicking and sold for a small profit. Maybe 5-6%.
I learned not to buy when a stock is overextended from its last breakout. It is always better to wait for it to find a support level during the next correction and make your position there. Sure you might lose a little potential profit, but it is always better to limit your risk.”
Q: It seems you have a pretty strong interest in the market, what do you love most about it?
A: Man it is extemely tought to pick what I love the most. If I have to choose I guess it would be the thrill of the trade, the ups and downs you go through as you sit behind the computer watching your stock ralley. Those countless days you wait as it trades sideways, but you know its due for a breakout. Then just as you predicted out of no where you are up big on huge volume. Thats gotta be what I love most, haha I’m getting excited just talking about it. No other job can give you that thrill.
Q: (from before the interview) You said you just recently had a successful trade in CTRN. Can you tell us a little about that?
A: “In late September, as gas prices were at a relative low, I came to be bullish on retail. After using my custom growth screener I narrowed it down to about 50 stocks with the fundamentals I like. One of the retail stocks was an affordable urban clothing store called Citi Trends (CTRN).� Looking at the charts it had gapped down from 42-38 in early July because it missed its Same Store Sales estimates. After bottoming in the low 30s it had made a run to 38 were I found it. The old me would’ve bought that exact moment expecting it to fill the gap to 42 the next day. But using my new rules I decided to wait it out and calculated it would correct to at least 35 before moving again. It was way too far off the base to buy at the moment.� I used the Fibonacci Ratios to come up with that conclusion. The next few days it started trading lower. It hit 35 and found some support but I wasn’t sure if it was done moving. After going up the next day it once again sold down to 35 and I made my position.
September Same Store Sales came out and it broke the 38 resistance it needed to break in order to fill the gap to 42. When it failed to fill the gap I started to get worried. After trading under 38 for about a week it all of a sudden lost around 4-5% one day. This was the ultimate low for me. October SSS was coming out the next day and I was almost positive the selloff was because people new it would be bad. I had my finger on the sell button, about to pull the trigger but I decided to be confident in my pick and that I had to be right. I made a deal with myself that once it had lowered to the point where I broke even I would sell.� I woke up the next morning expecting to be in the house of pain when the opening bell rang. But to my suprise they had beat SSS estimated and that exact moment, almost instantly it filled the gap to 44!
The criteria for my trade was met, so I happily sold my shares and made a profit of 25% overall and about 20% for that day alone. It was a great moment and ended up turning my fortunes around.
Q: Wow, sounds like a roller coaster ride! Congratulations on your success! Anything else you would like to add here before we conlcude the interview?
A: “yea man, and ive been meaning to thank you by the way. All of u guys helped me out tremendously. I’d still be lost if it wasnt for FIO.”
Q: Thank you, we appreciate the support! What are some easy ways to contact you if other members would like to get in touch?��
A: “The best way to contact me is definately through AIM. My screen name and FIO forum username are both Anfern057. Don’t hesitate to ask me any questions or I.M. me to talk stocks. I can talk stocks all day long.”
END INTERVIEW.
I’d like to thank Andy for taking the time to be interviewed, and I wish all of our readers success with their future trades! Thanks for reading and always,
Happy Hunting.
