CyberSource (CYBS)

Company. CyberSource "services and software designed to automate the commerce transaction process in multi-sales channel environments." (company website) They claim to specialize in "card-not-present" transactions and the detection of fraud.

Buy. I bought CYBS after it made a meteoric climb from about $3.50 to over $5.50 (57%) in just two weeks. The price increases had been on heavier than average volume. Woo-hoo!

More like boo-hoo! CYBS has given a lesson in how to recognize an "exhaustion climax" on the chart: excessive price gain in a very short time period, big gaps up (from 30-Oct to 31-Oct and from 7-Nov to 10-Nov).

The five days after I bought sent up big warning flares, which I ignored:

• 11-Nov: opened lower, tried unsuccessfully to climb, closed even lower
• 12-Nov: opened slightly up and closed just a tiny little bit higher
• 13-Nov: opened lower, traded much, much lower, and closed just below where it had opened
• 14-Nov: opened higher, closed lower, below the previous day's close, on big volume
• 17-Nov: opened lower, continued down and closed lower

After just a week, I was down 10% and hanging tight to hope that "the price could go back up." It didn't.

Sell. Freshly educated about selling, I decided to bite the bullet and dump CYBS. My resolve was sorely tested when CYBS opened today with a big jump up and continued to rise.

It might be the beginning of a recovery, said the little voice in one ear, hold on. Look, the ADX line has leveled off, buying pressure is up (green +DI line), the Chaikin oscillator has turned upward.

No, you have to stick to your guns, the voice in the other ear said. If you don't take advantage of this up-day, you'll be sorry! It will be just pathetic if only one day after formulating your selling rules you ignore them!

Shame trumped hope. I placed my sell order.