Notice of Termination

Unfortunately, I cannot resume these reports because I had to cancel the services I was using to monitor the NEX stocks. The reason why, is I've gone too far in debt and need to crawl back up from that debt load. So, I will no longer be writing for this blog.

It's actually an old story: I went into this venture woefully undercapitalized for what has proven to be the needs I had. In other words, the shoestring broke.

I'm not glad to shuck this off: in fact, I'm already beginning to miss it. If you're interested, what got me into a tailspin was actually a disappointing outcome of another business venture capped off by extra-generous Christmas and pre-Christmas gift-giving. I was fortunate enough to "get paid" in an arena in which this accomplishment was difficult, but doing so set off the old new-entrepreneurs' vainglory. In my case, because I let my ego get inflated by the success of that other venture, I plunged into yet another and wound up losing big. My inflated generosity was actually part of the ego trip, although I don't really regret having been so. Any stock trades I've made have, so far, been irrelevant to this outcome.

If I have any advice I'd like to pass on in my time of woe, it's this: if you "Get paid!" after a long time of struggle in a highly competitive marketplace, do yourself a favour: just spend the proceeds of the cheque on yourself. Don't bother "investing" it in your business, as you're likely to be too headstrong once you get the money in your hands. Also, don't bother being generous as if you won the lottery: such spurts don't last, and leave you with a higher "generosity base" to back down from if your "Get Paid!" experience turns out to be a mere windfall, as mine has been. Going to town on any hard-won revenue limits your spending, and keeps you from going overboard thanks to good old-fashioned prudence. I suggest that you don't "invest in your business" until your paydays from it become regular.


That being disclosed, I might as well tell you what the Barrel's Bottom Composite Index ended up at as of Dec. 31st of last year. After sinking to a little above 75, due largely to a new entrant (Winfield Resources Inc. - NEX: WWF.H) whose price fell apart once it began trading on the NEX Board, the BBCI rallied to a little above 78 due to rises in other NEX stocks - to 78.07, to be precise. The BBCI started off at 100 as of 10 AM ET, July 3rd. In the six months' following, the index dropped almost 22%.


Here is a chart of the Barrel's Bottom Composite Index from July 3rd, 2007, to Dec. 31st of that same year:

As to whether or not I'll get back into this racket, I can say that I have a domain name banked. Given what I know now about ther capital costs, though, it won't be before 2009.

Thanks for stopping by and reading what I wrote, and all the best for the year 2008.

Hiatus Announcement

This blog is going to be put on hold until the new year - specifically, until January 2nd of 2008. There are two reasons why I'm shutting it down for the rest of the year:

1. I have a data-gathering chore that's going to take about that much time for me to complete. I thought I could do it on the side, but the operation of this blog and the Stockhouse one take too much time for me to do so. Rather than let it dangle, I've decided to get the rest of it done all at once. The result won't show in any new features in either blog, but it will show in occasional research reports.

This won't mean I'll be ignoring the NEX action from Monday to the end of December, though, In part, reason #2 explains why:

2. Okay, I've opened up a brokerage account. Although I believe that I'm sufficiently habituated to the format established in both blogs to keep my objectivity, it seems better to get player-time out of the way while the blogs are on hold, especially since the task identified in reason #1 is still hanging over my head. If I still have money in the NEX-board market by January 2nd, I will disclose it.


Since I'll still be watching, there won't be any 'back from vacation' fillips in the reports once they resume. Plus, as I indicated, I'll be keeping up with the contemporaneous NEX data during the rest of this month and all of next month. A 'working vacation' it will be - I'm quite sure of it.


Note: In an earlier post, which I've deleted, I may have indicated or said that the previous hiatus will be the final one. The above explains why I've shifted course.


[Cross-posted at the Barrel's Bottom Blog over at Stockhouse, with appropriate edits.]

NEX Report for November 2, 2007

On Friday, the Barrel's Bottom Composite Index for the NEX closed at 90.31, up 0.19 points or 0.211% from its previous close of 90.12. Despite the fact that it was almost completely an up day for the BBCI, the index fell more than a tenth of a point in the first minute of trading, to below 90. A 0.5 cent/share opening decline in Sharpe Resources Corporation [NEX: SHO.H] and a 1 cent/share opening decline in the price of Stone Mountain Holdings Inc. [NEX: SMO.H] combined to put the index at 89.98 as of 9:31 AM ET, where it remained until 9:33 AM ET. This level marked the low of the day.

It was a 1 cent/share opening gain in the price of Golden Hat Resources Inc. [NEX: GHA.H], again the NEX board's most active trader of the day, that pushed the BBCI up above 90 again. A 3 cent/share opening rise in the price of Monster Uranium Corp. [NEX: MU.H] as of about 9:39 AM ET, and a 3.5 cent/share gain in the price of Washmax Corp. [NEX: WMC.H] as of about 9:42 AM ET, both pushed the index up above 90.2 as of the latter time. The BBCI stayed between 90.19 and 90.25 until 10:36 AM ET, when 90.3 was broken due to a 1 cent/share recovery in the price of Stone Mountain. 90.4 was broken in the next minute because of a further 1 cent/share advance in the same stock.

After a reversal down to almost 90.3 as of 11:09 AM ET, which lasted for two minutes, the BBCI more than recovered; 90.5 was broken through as of 11:20 AM ET thanks to a 2.5 cent/share interday gain in Washmax. After sinking to just below 90.5, the index leapt up above 90.7 as of 11:59 AM ET because of a 5.5 cent/share opening leap in infrequently-traded Prism Resources [NEX: PRS.H] on its first and last trade of the day. A 2 cent/share interday decline in the price of Trilogy Metals Inc. [NEX: TRI.H] as of about 12:03 PM ET, which put TRI.H back to unchanged, lowered the BBCI from 90.77 to 90.71. This pullback proved to be a long pause, though, in preparation for the index to briefly break above 90.8 as of 12:43 PM ET and to make its daily high of 90.87 as of 12:45 PM ET. The high lasted until 12:50 PM ET, after which an afternoon drop started.

A 5 cent/share opening decline in the price of Maximum Ventures Inc. [NEX: MVI.H] on its first and last trade of the day knocked the index down to 90.53. By 1:00 PM ET, the decline had continued down below 90.4. An hour later, the BBCI was at 90.33. By 2:12 PM ET, a mid-afternoon recovery began, which took the BBCI all the way back to above 90.7 by 2:38 PM ET. This recovery failed to hold, though, despite a second attempt to rise durably above 90.7 as of 3:17 PM ET, and the BBCI found itself at 90.57 as of 3:27 PM ET. It remained at that level until a couple of last-minute declines in International Alliance Resources Inc. [NEX: ALL.H], of 2 cents/share as of about 3:57 PM ET and of a further 3.5 cents/share as of 3:58 PM, lowered the BBCI to its closing value of 90.31.


Here are the hourly values for the Barrel's Bottom Composite Index, rounded to the nearest hundredth of a point:

• 10 AM ET: 90.24
• 11 AM ET: 90.40
• 12 PM ET: 90.77
• 1 PM ET: 90.37
• 2 PM ET: 90.33
• 3 PM ET: 90.48
• 4 PM ET/Close: 90.31

This is the first part of the daily NEX report. The second part covers NEX stocks that have sent out news releases during November 1st and the third part covers NEX stocks of note for that day.


[An earlier version of this part of the report has been posted at the Barrel's Bottom Blog over at Stockhouse.]


NOTE: I am not affiliated with the TSX, nor is this blog. The Barrel's Bottom Composite index is not endorsed by the TSX.

TSX Nex Home Page

News Releases From NEX Companies For November 2nd

There was one news release from a NEX company that was picked up by Marketwire on Friday. The Endurance Fund Corporation [NEX: END.H] announced that it had received qualified approval from the TSX Venture for its Qualifying Transaction, a takeover of North American Uranium Corp., which is expected to close as of November 15th. A private placement is expected to close concurrently. Once done, Endurance plans to apply for transfer to Tier 2 of the Venture Exchange.

There were no bulletins from any NEX company at the bottom of Friday's TSX Venture Daily Bulletins, but there was one from a soon-to-be NEX issue. Everbright Capital Corporation [VSE: EBC.P] is moving to the NEX starting on Monday. As of then, its new symbol will be EBC.H. The company is currently suspended from trading; it last closed at 10 cents/share in the beginning of May. Canjex Publishing has webbed a copy of the bulletin announcing the transfer.

One news release was sent out exclusively through Canjex on Friday. It's a report about the financial troubles that Stone Mountain Holdings Inc. [NEX: SMO.H] has been having - specifically, about its trouble with paying a rather large gas bill. Stone Mountain is being sued by Access Gas Services Inc. for an unpaid bill in the amount of $110,399 for gas provided ever since March of this year. "This should surprise no one. In a press release issued a week before Access filed its lawsuit, Stone Mountain said it was shutting down its business and liquidating the assets of its operating subsidiary Re-Con Building Products Inc. Re-Con owes HSBC Bank Canada $1.4-million, and Stone Mountain will use the proceeds of the liquidation to pay the bank. Louis Clarke, the company's president, also said that while Stone Mountain was a guarantor of subsidiary's debt, it did not expect HSBC would call the guarantee. Perhaps there will be something left over for the gas bill." SMO.H closed on Friday at 2.5 cents/share, down 0.5 cents/share from Thursday's close.

In addition to the above items, there were also SEDAR-filed financial statements announced on Friday:

• Nugget Resources Inc. has filed its audited annual financial statements for FY 2007, with accompanying M D & A.

To read about the highlighted NEX stocks for Friday, you can go here.

Nugget Resources Inc. Files Audited Annual Report With SEDAR

Nugget Resources Inc. [NEX: NUG.H] has filed its audited annual financial statements with SEDAR for fiscal year 2007, ended June 30th. The financials [PDF file] got an unqualified opinion from the auditors.

There was no cash on Nugget's balance sheet for either fiscal year '07 or FY '06. Current assets increased from $1,338 in FY '06 to $3,395, but current liabilities also increased in the same time period, from $103,321 to $161,809. As a result, Nugget's working capital deficit increased from $101,983 to $158,414. Book value decreased from -0.676 cents/share to -1.05 cents/share.

Expenses went from $10,350 to $56,431, with all three expense categories going up. Transfer agent and filing fees went from $5,350 to $8,914; professional fees went from $5,000 to $16,686; and, general and administrative fees went from nil to $30,831 from FY '06 to FY '07. Since there were no other items, losses for each fiscal year equaled the expenses. In per-share terms, the FY '06 loss was 0.0686 cents and the FY '07 loss was 0.374 cents. The $21,223 used in operating activities was made up for by the same amount in advances from related parties, listed on the statement of cash flow as a financing transaction. As note 4 explains, there were two related-party debts of significance, as well as two others. The former two were: "At June 30, 2007 $47,314 (2006 - $27,676) was owed to Drillsearch Energy (Canada) Inc... for expenses paid by Drillsearch on behalf of the Company. At June 30, 2007 $31,800 (2006 - $nil) was owed to Modaven Capital Corporation... - a company controlled by a director - for consulting fees." The latter debt, as note 5 explains, is pursuant to a 2-year management contract made by Nugget with Modaven, for consulting services in exchange for $2,500/month.

The accompanying M D & A [PDF file] starts off by noting that Nugget has no assets of significance, which includes no mining properties or claims, and has no revenues. The rise in expenses is explained as necessiated by the reactivation of the company. (Nugget recently had two cease-trade orders against it revoked, as of October 18th for both of them. There are no more outstanding.) NUG.H still remains suspended by the exchange.

Highlighted NEX Stocks For November 2nd

Thirty-five NEX stocks traded on Friday. Of these, 13 advanced, 7 declined and 15 remained unchanged. There were 137 trades. The top trader in terms of raw volume, as it was on Thursday, was Golden Hat Resources Inc. [NEX: GHA.H], with 869,000 shares traded. According to the TSX Venture closing summary, the top trader in terms of value of shares traded for Friday was also Golden Hat. In addition, GHA.H traded the most frequently of any NEX-board stock, as elaborated upon below, as well as first on the top ten daily-turnover list found below. This makes Golden Hat the "stock of the day" for Friday.

Two NEX stocks traded more than ten times on Friday. The most numerous trader in terms of number of trades was, as mentioned just above, Golden Hat; it traded 29 times. The action in GHA.H's trading was much like that of Thursday's: the stock strained at the resistance level of 10 cents/share, sometimes reaching above it but then falling back down; it ended up with a slight gain on the day. As might be expected, there were presumably several large blocks in the trades, as suggested by similarities in timing and buy-side financial institution. The first ten trades, all made from about 9:34 AM ET to 10:36 AM ET, were all made through Wolverton. The first six trades all went within three-and-a-half minutes of each other, but their total volume was 162,000. Based upon the trade record, it seems that there was one block of 160,000 shares or two of 80,000 each, with a 2,000 share trade stuck in between them as the third trade, but the record wasn't definitive on this count. The first six went at 10 cents/share, and the seventh went at 9.5 cent/share. The last four of the ten left a less ambiguous record; they seemed to comprise a single block of 150,000 shares. Those four trades all went at 9.5 cents/share. There also seemed to be: a 50,000-share bought block, comprised of 2 trades both of which went at 10 cents/share, through Canaccord that made up trades twelve and thirteen; a 250,000 share bought block comprised of trades sixteen through twenty, as bought through Scotia at prices of 10, 10, 10.5, 11 and 11 cents/share for each of those trades; a 40,000 share block, composed of trades 23 and 24 as bought through an anonymous financial institution at 10.5 cents/share; and, a 40,000 share block made up of trades 26 and 27, as bought through Canaccord at 10 cents/share. As was the case yesterday, large four-figure-valued trades have seemingly been put into Golden Hat over the last two days - in a few cases, five-figure-valued. The sell-side financial institutions, as was the case yesterday, didn't cluster in a similar unambiguous way beyond (in a few cases) 2-trade clusters, none of which summed up to more than five-figure volumes. This two-day pattern suggests that GHA.H shares are moving from the holders of relatively small positions to buyers of relatively large positions.

The price changes in GHA.H indicate such, although there is still some resistance to a clean break over 10 cents/share. As indicated above, the opening price of Golden Hat shares was 10 cents/share; it stayed at that price for 6 trades. The next five saw a dip to 9.5 cents/share, which went back to 10 cents/share by trade twelve. The next trade went at 10.5 cents/share, but this nudge above 10 cents/share didn't last: the next three went at 10 cents/share. The eighteenth, though, put the price at 10.5 cents/share again, and the following two went at 11 cents/share. This second attempt didn't last either; the next four trades went at 10 cents/share. The one after those four, the last trade of the day, went at 9.5 cents/share; its price equaled the day's low that was set by trades seven to eleven. So, Golden Hat closed at 9.5 cents/share, at its daily low, but nevertheless up 0.5 cents/share on the day. 176,000 shares, or $16,720 worth, traded at 9.5 cents/share; 439,000 shares, or $43,900 worth, traded at 10 cents/share; 160,000 shares, or $16,800 worth, traded at 10.5 cents/share; and, 94,000 shares, or $10,340 worth, traded at 11 cents/share.

Second-highest in number of trades on Friday was still-frequent-trader Trilogy Metals Inc. [NEX: TRI.H], with fourteen of them. The price action in Trilogy was relatively sedate, with the stock opening up unchanged at 90 cents/share. The next five, not including an odd-lot-sized trade of 300 shares at 87 cents/share, went at 92 cents/share; that odd-lotter was the third of the day. The rest of them, though, went at 90 cents/share. So, Trilogy closed at 90 cents/share, unchanged on the day, on daily volume of 40,300 shares - relatively light with respect to the rest of the week.

The top percentage gainer in Friday's trading was Global Tree Technologies Inc. [NEX: GTT.H], which closed at 2 cents/share for a gain of 0.5 cents/share, or 33.33%, on the day. A single trade, of 10,000 shares as of about 3:16 PM ET, set the closing price that put Global Tree at the top of this category.

The top percentage decliner for Friday was International Alliance Resources Inc. [NEX: ALL.H], which closed at 12 cents/share for a decline of 5.5 cents/share or 31.43%. There were only two trades of ALL.H, one of 11,000 shares at 15.5 cents/share and the other of 14,000 shares at 12 cents/share. Both were sold through Canaccord, and both went within seventy seconds of each other, suggesting that a sold block of 25,000 shares depressed the price. The first of the two trades went at about 3:56 PM ET.

Finally, here is the above-mentioned list of yesterday's top ten traders, as measured by % of total outstanding shares or daily turnover (all prices in per-share terms):

1. Golden Hat Resources Inc. [NEX: GHA.H], closed at 9.5 cents for a gain of 0.5 cents - 2.52% of total shares outstanding;
2. BHR Buffalo Head Resources Ltd. [NEX: BHR.H], closed at 22 cents for a gain of 3 cents - 1.38% of TSO;
3. Stone Mountains Holdings Inc. [NEX: SMO.H], closed at 2.5 cents for a loss of 0.5 cents - 0.716% of TSO;
4. Electrohome Limited class 'Y' non-voting [NEX: ELL.K], closed at 15 cents unchanged - 0.451% of TSO;
5. Monster Uranium Corp. [NEX: MU.H], closed at 50 cents for a gain of 6 cents - 0.443% of TSO;
6. Electrohome Limited class 'X' voting [NEX: ELL.H], closed at 12 cents unchanged - 0.389% of TSO;
7. Magnate Ventures Inc. [NEX: MGV.H], closed at 32 cents for a gain of 1.5 cents - 0.324% of TSO;
8. Gtech International Resources Limited [NEX: GCH.H], closed at 32 cents for a loss of 3 cents - 0.290% of TSO;
9. Trilogy Metals Inc. [NEX: TRI.H], closed at 90 cents unchanged - 0.273% of TSO;
10. Washmax Corp. [NEX: WMX.H], closed at 23 cents for a gain of 5.5 cents - 0.273% of TSO [slightly less than #9s, but equalized due to rounding off].

NOTE: I am not affiliated with the TSX, nor is this blog. The Barrel's Bottom Composite index is not endorsed by the TSX.

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NEX Report for November 1, 2007

On Thursday, the Barrel's Bottom Composite Index for the NEX closed at 90.12, up 0.73 points or 0.817% from its previous close of 89.39. Unlike on Wednesday, there was only one mover in the first minute of trading to change the BBCI from its previous closing value. SMC Ventures Inc. [NEX: SMV.H] opened down 0.5 cents/share from its previous closing price on its first trade of the day; the other NEX stocks that traded in the first minute either traded in odd lots or opened unchanged. Thus, the index barely moved in the first minute of trading, from 89.39 to 89.38.

This quiescence didn't last long. After an abortive attempt to rise that was mostly neutralized in the next minute, the BBCI jumped above 89.5 thanks to a 1.5 cent/share interday rise in Golden Hat Resources Inc. [NEX: GHA.H]. Golden Hat was quite active in the first half-hour of trading: by 10 AM ET, it had traded 500,000 shares, more than three-quarters of its daily volume of 665,000 shares. By 9:39 AM ET, the BBCI was just below 89.6, thanks to a 0.5 cent/share opening rise in Toba Industries Ltd. [NEX: TBG.H] in the previous minute's period and a 1 cent/share interday gain in Trilogy Metals Inc. [NEX: TRI.H]. A further 0.5 cent/share interday rise in GHA.H put the index well above 89.6 as of 9:48 AM ET.

The BBCI than took somewhat of a dive, to below 89.4 as of 10:15 AM ET. It had recovered to above 89.5 by 10:20 AM ET, thanks to a 6.5 cent/share opening rise in Becker Gold Mines Ltd. [NEX: BGD.H], and was above 89.6 by 10:38 AM ET. A further 3.5 cent/share interday rise in Becker put the BBCI above 89.7 as of 10:46 AM ET. 89.8 was briefly broken through as of 11:10 AM ET, but this rise lasted only for seven minutes. A more durable rise above that level had to wait until 11:44 AM ET, as prompted by a 1 cent/share interday gain in the price of Rocher Deboule Minerals Corp. [NEX: RD.H]. A slight backtrack was followed by a jump above 89.9 at 11:54 AM ET, which was partially erased a minute later, and another one at about 11:57 AM ET. This latter jump, prompted by a 3 cent/share interday rise in The Silver Recycling Company Inc. [NEX: TSR.H] lasted for 13 minutes. The BBCI didn't durably rise above 89.9 until 12:32 PM ET.

After spending more than an hour and fifty minutes trending between 89.9 and 89.99, the BBCI made a successful run at the 90 level at 2:26 PM ET. It was put at 90.05 by a 5 cent/share interday rise in Becker Gold Mines, which put the stock itself at a 14.5 cent/share gain for the day and equal to its closing value. [As reported in Tuesday's news releases section, Jeffrey Becker resigned from the presidency of the company and was replaced by Gary Freeman ] After hovering just above 90, the index jumped above 90.1 as of 3:36 PM ET. Put there by another 1 cent/share rise in Rocher, the BBCI didn't change at all for the rest of the day, making that level the closing value of 90.12. Unusually, the first minute's value was equal to the day's low, and the closing value was equal to the day's high.


Here are the hourly values for the Barrel's Bottom Composite Index, rounded to the nearest hundredth of a point:

• 10 AM ET: 89.59
• 11 AM ET: 89.71
• 12 PM ET: 89.95
• 1 PM ET: 89.93
• 2 PM ET: 89.96
• 3 PM ET: 90.03
• 4 PM ET/Close: 90.12

This is the first part of the daily NEX report. The second part covers NEX stocks that have sent out news releases during November 1st and the third part covers NEX stocks of note for that day.


[An earlier version of this part of the report has been posted at the Barrel's Bottom Blog over at Stockhouse.]


NOTE: I am not affiliated with the TSX, nor is this blog. The Barrel's Bottom Composite index is not endorsed by the TSX.

TSX Nex Home Page