Not sure how things are going to go this week. The news is looking all bearish. Oil is heading towards 100 again on the Turkish invasion of northern Iraq. God I love how slow people are to read... Is it just me or did the market completely ignore this news Friday? Then we have spending and inflation data. All this leads me to believe I might get a nice little move at some point Monday. Although I still have not decided to enter at open or wait till the last hour of trading as is my habit.
Stay tuned.
***EDIT***
After much deliberation I decided to err on the side of action, so as the market opened I entered three positions.
+10 FCX 100 call @ 4.68 = $4704.95
+10 QQQQ 43 put @ .86 = $884.95
+10 GOOG 490 put @ 12.90 = $12,924.95
I entered my exits before I left, slightly more conservative than usual but with the irregularity of the trends I have observed it seemed prudent. Oddly enough, most of the market was not bearish as I stated at the top. Go figure.
-10 FCX 100 call @5.20 = $5175.05
-10 QQQQ 43 put @ 1.06 = $1035.05
-10 GOOG 490 put @ 14.00 = $13,975.05
FCX +10%
QQQQ +16%
GOOG +8%
Monday, February 25, 2008
Friday, February 22, 2008
Ship it: Part 2
So Wednesday I finally pulled the trigger on FCX. Since I have followed the stock, I have noticed that on a majority of occasions it matches swings with the price of oil. So even though it had been up for at least a week, all signs were pointing to oil hitting 100 again and possibly staying there. So I after hours I entered both my entry and exit point:
+10 FCX 100 call @ 5.15 = $5125.05
-10 FCX 100 call @ 6.30 = $6275.05
Interesting situation occurred then, I bought at close Wednesday and then Thursday FCX gapped up past my entry and sold at 6.30. For a second the newbie in me was worried, then I realized my position was sound and the stock does swing pretty good. This was followed by news that there was plenty of oil and FCX followed suit as oil moved back under 100. So basically the trade worked backwards.
FCX +22%
QQQQ +22%
RIMM +22%
AAPL +33%
GOOG (still in, with only a 9% loss so far... but I am going to stick it out a few more days) Not sure, but I think 4 out of 5 is a decent week. Have a good weekend all!
+10 FCX 100 call @ 5.15 = $5125.05
-10 FCX 100 call @ 6.30 = $6275.05
Interesting situation occurred then, I bought at close Wednesday and then Thursday FCX gapped up past my entry and sold at 6.30. For a second the newbie in me was worried, then I realized my position was sound and the stock does swing pretty good. This was followed by news that there was plenty of oil and FCX followed suit as oil moved back under 100. So basically the trade worked backwards.
FCX +22%
QQQQ +22%
RIMM +22%
AAPL +33%
GOOG (still in, with only a 9% loss so far... but I am going to stick it out a few more days) Not sure, but I think 4 out of 5 is a decent week. Have a good weekend all!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Ship it
So I decided to exit my high entry of the Q's. So before I left for work (before the market open) I sold my 1.26 position for a loss of rake X 2. I entered a buy at 1.10 (which filled at 1.08) thank you Thinkorswim, and a new sell at 1.38 as well as sells orders for all my positions. So...
+10 QQQQ 44 call @ 1.08 = $1104.95
Upon returning home I found?
-10 QQQQ 44 call @ 1.38 = $1355.05 +22%
-10 RIMM 93.375 call @ 6.60 = $6575.05 +22%
Keep in mind the rake is $24.95 per trade which I have already deducted. So ship it. With oil moving up again I am not entirely certain that I will be able to get the rest of my trades to act as favorably, but lets just wait and see.
**EDIT**
AAPL did well after hours and gapped up, and I opened up Thinkorswim to find:
-10 AAPL 125 call @ 6.72 = $6695.05 +33%
+10 QQQQ 44 call @ 1.08 = $1104.95
Upon returning home I found?
-10 QQQQ 44 call @ 1.38 = $1355.05 +22%
-10 RIMM 93.375 call @ 6.60 = $6575.05 +22%
Keep in mind the rake is $24.95 per trade which I have already deducted. So ship it. With oil moving up again I am not entirely certain that I will be able to get the rest of my trades to act as favorably, but lets just wait and see.
**EDIT**
AAPL did well after hours and gapped up, and I opened up Thinkorswim to find:
-10 AAPL 125 call @ 6.72 = $6695.05 +33%
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Holding patterns
I must admit that my 'strangle' paper trades did not show a profit. They did perform very will in that I have more questions surrounding how to successfully make such a trade. I will be making experimenting more in the future, but not currently due to the fact that I am looking for a different stock as well as a clearly defined exit.
I came upon the idea of 'contrarian investing'. Basically the premise that the crowd is almost always wrong around major turning points in the market. Warren Buffett was quoted as saying, "Be brave when others are afraid, and afraid when others are brave." This has to the be the most interesting thing I have read to date about investing. It makes no sense to be doing what everyone else is doing, if this were the case, no one would ever make any money! I understand that a man must listen to logic and reason, at the same time however, most of the accomplishments that moved mankind forward were times in which he ignored said logic and reason.
Obviously I am a complete novice at trading, and I would argue vehemently that paper trading is COMPLETELY different than trading with real money. But it here in the beginning of my market education, I notice that I have the tendency to observe market movements and 'know' that what I am seeing doesnt make sense and just 'naturally' take the other side of it. I guess that is what me posting here is all about. If I look back once 2008 is complete and see that I was not profitable then perhaps it will be time to reconsider putting real money into play. Even then that is a somewhat results driven definition of success. If I learn something about myself and the market during this year, in my humble (albeit broke) opinion , I will have achieved the success I was looking for.
If you are still reading, good for you. Today there was a (in my mind) huge sell off that seemed to based off oil going over 100. Good for oil. But for the first time this year, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to be speculating towards the upside. Without further ado:
+10 AAPL 125 call @ 5.00 = $5024.95
+10 RIMM 93.375 call @ 5.35 = $5374.95
+10 QQQQ 44 call @ 1.26 = $1284.95
christmas wish list:
+10 GOOG 510 call @ 20.40 = $20,424.95
+10 BIDU 250 call @ 17.80 = $17,724.95
All of these came within 15 minutes of close. I should also point out the first time I looked at the Q's 10 minutes before I bought the price was 1.11 so I would have made a nice 22% swing in that 10 minute window. I am also watching FCX like a hawk again, for reasons I cant quite figure out I love this stock.
In poker news, after months of an overall lack of direction from the team, I finally started acting like the leader I supposedly am. Everyone has been put on a 10 day hiatus with no poker whatsoever. After this we will meet up and I will outline the plan of action for the following 30 days. It will be interesting to see how we all adjust to a bit more structure.
That is all for now, everyone be well.
I came upon the idea of 'contrarian investing'. Basically the premise that the crowd is almost always wrong around major turning points in the market. Warren Buffett was quoted as saying, "Be brave when others are afraid, and afraid when others are brave." This has to the be the most interesting thing I have read to date about investing. It makes no sense to be doing what everyone else is doing, if this were the case, no one would ever make any money! I understand that a man must listen to logic and reason, at the same time however, most of the accomplishments that moved mankind forward were times in which he ignored said logic and reason.
Obviously I am a complete novice at trading, and I would argue vehemently that paper trading is COMPLETELY different than trading with real money. But it here in the beginning of my market education, I notice that I have the tendency to observe market movements and 'know' that what I am seeing doesnt make sense and just 'naturally' take the other side of it. I guess that is what me posting here is all about. If I look back once 2008 is complete and see that I was not profitable then perhaps it will be time to reconsider putting real money into play. Even then that is a somewhat results driven definition of success. If I learn something about myself and the market during this year, in my humble (albeit broke) opinion , I will have achieved the success I was looking for.
If you are still reading, good for you. Today there was a (in my mind) huge sell off that seemed to based off oil going over 100. Good for oil. But for the first time this year, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to be speculating towards the upside. Without further ado:
+10 AAPL 125 call @ 5.00 = $5024.95
+10 RIMM 93.375 call @ 5.35 = $5374.95
+10 QQQQ 44 call @ 1.26 = $1284.95
christmas wish list:
+10 GOOG 510 call @ 20.40 = $20,424.95
+10 BIDU 250 call @ 17.80 = $17,724.95
All of these came within 15 minutes of close. I should also point out the first time I looked at the Q's 10 minutes before I bought the price was 1.11 so I would have made a nice 22% swing in that 10 minute window. I am also watching FCX like a hawk again, for reasons I cant quite figure out I love this stock.
In poker news, after months of an overall lack of direction from the team, I finally started acting like the leader I supposedly am. Everyone has been put on a 10 day hiatus with no poker whatsoever. After this we will meet up and I will outline the plan of action for the following 30 days. It will be interesting to see how we all adjust to a bit more structure.
That is all for now, everyone be well.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Options without intelligence
Well after holding my puts for roughly a week I began to get panicky. I still have not learned to enter a sell order for the exit I want and walk away. So on Feb. 5th (Tuesday) I sold most of my positions at break even prices. The one shining performer was YHOO that I had dumped a few days earlier for a nice profit.
On 1/31/08 I picked up 2 extra positions:
+10 RIMM 90 put @ 3.85 = $3850 + 24.95 = $3874.95
+10 QQQQ 44 put @ .79 = $790 + 24.95 = $814.95
And sold:
-10 YHOO 20 put @ 1.50 =$1500 - 24.95 = $1475.05
(wwweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Then on 2/05/08 I exited my 4 remaining positions:
-20 RIMM 90 put @ 4.35 = $8700 - 39.95 = $8660.05
(my combined position was $8249.9 so I profited $410.15 bleh)
-10 QQQQ 44 put @ 1.05 = $1005 - 24.95 = $980.05
-10 QQQQ 44 put @ 1.20 = $1200 - 24.95 = $1175.05
(my combined position was $2039.90 so I profited $115.20 bleh)
So if you are still reading the score on my positional trades read something like:
RIMM +4%
QQQQ +5%
YHOO +47%
As of 10:35 central time, the market took a huge swing down today so I may be able to exit my 'long strangle' positions soon. This is enough writing for now, I will update on my poker experiments soon. Be well everyone.
On 1/31/08 I picked up 2 extra positions:
+10 RIMM 90 put @ 3.85 = $3850 + 24.95 = $3874.95
+10 QQQQ 44 put @ .79 = $790 + 24.95 = $814.95
And sold:
-10 YHOO 20 put @ 1.50 =$1500 - 24.95 = $1475.05
(wwweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Then on 2/05/08 I exited my 4 remaining positions:
-20 RIMM 90 put @ 4.35 = $8700 - 39.95 = $8660.05
(my combined position was $8249.9 so I profited $410.15 bleh)
-10 QQQQ 44 put @ 1.05 = $1005 - 24.95 = $980.05
-10 QQQQ 44 put @ 1.20 = $1200 - 24.95 = $1175.05
(my combined position was $2039.90 so I profited $115.20 bleh)
So if you are still reading the score on my positional trades read something like:
RIMM +4%
QQQQ +5%
YHOO +47%
As of 10:35 central time, the market took a huge swing down today so I may be able to exit my 'long strangle' positions soon. This is enough writing for now, I will update on my poker experiments soon. Be well everyone.
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