My Stock Value Strategy Starts Now (2 Viewers)

[siffoin]

I had (key word had) a daily bias on the DOW and Sp500 as Sells. Today's up move will move these to neutral. I had the QQQQ's as neutral...they remain so.

I'm holding Puts in:

DBB $1.20 now at $1.10

DBC $1.35 now at $1.65

DIA $3.40 now at $2.00

I'm going to hold these for now.

I still hold PUI from $13.86 now at $14.03

SBB hit on the trail/stop I put on last week...not sure off hand where that triggered but made $1.84 per share. That may have happened last week or on Monday...it was a small position and I didn't really pay attention to it once the T/S was set.

I very much want to take some bearish positions right here...but will need to hold out a while longer.

Easy to see everyone bulled up. But there are a few worrisome signs.

#1: VIX moved up today...not down.

#2: OpEx week...and the general market was trading below max pain for the indexes prior to this week...in addition there is an upside bias OpEx weeks.

#3: Bradley siderograph - which is an astrological/cycle tool for predicting market turning points has had July 15...as the high for the year - this cycle makes it's predictions far far in advance like months-years. And as an example...Bradley Siderograph predicted the market dropping till mid-Feb 2009...then going up to a top now. (Note: personally I put very very very little faith in astrological stock market predictions...would never trade on it but do find it fascinating)

http://forbestadvice.com/Money/Gurus/Donal...nDates2009.html

So what am I going to do...nothing. Just wait for new confirmation one way or the other. Wishing I was anywhere besides my office.

 

[This is LJ]

CIT was halted......

I wish they would halt HEB instead.

http://www.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=NYSE:CITOOOOOOOOF. I know its halted but this is just straight gambling. Sad thing is, people put life savings on stuff like this.

 

[This is LJ]

I very much want to take some bearish positions right here...but will need to hold out a while longer.

Bingo. My sentiments exactly. Bellweathers out tomorrow. Lets see if 930 can hold. If it does, up to 950- then I'm out.

 

[siffoin]

For a lark I bought OEX 435 July Butterflys (x10) for $1.05.

 

[McBokonon]

For a lark I bought OEX 435 July Butterflys (x10) for $1.05.

Yeah, I bought some ERM 325 Praying Mantis (x15) for $1.25.

 

[guru_007]

Wow. I have 1800 PRGN at 3.42. Thinking of selling off 600 today and seeing what happens. Try to buy back at a lower price and if I can't get it, just ride the rest out until earnings.

I like this idea. I have about 600 shares at $3.65 cost average. Probably going to sell 1/3 - 1/2 if I can get about $4.15. I think this one has some legs today.

It didn't quite get there, and I got a little antsy near the end of the day, but I did sell 1/2 my position on PRGN at $4.08 today for a nice little profit.I still like the stock quite a bit, I just wanted to lessen my exposure a bit..just in case. With the way the market jitters, a 250 point gain can quickly be offset by some troubling job reports data, or earnings misses by big dow components. Plus, I have some dry powder available to me in the event I see another buying opportunity.I'll hold the rest of my PRGN and take a ride.

 

[Alias]

So, we are at the end of the week and I thought it might be kind of interesting to get into a more philosophical discussion and flesh out what our trading rules and criteria happen to be. Or just general oberservations about our pesonal trading experience. Might be a worthy exercise that may allow us to learn from others to improve our trading game.

My personal belief is that we are in a historic time economically in this country. In short, the picture isn't pretty for the USD. Any money you can invest in overseas markets or in real goods is money well invested. Even if I’m completely wrong about USD inflation risk, growth overseas relative to the USA market alone makes overseas investment a no brainier. Overseas markets need commodities to fuel growth and there are no better inflation guard then real goods.1. Get out of the USD.

2. Get into emerging markets (Most still trading at 10-15 year lows)

3. Buy commodities

Which emerging markets are better investments? Latin America? Asian emerging markets? India?

D. All of the above.Nobody can say in 10 years what will be the best, but I think it's fair to say that all will grow faster then the USA. My guess would be China, but I don't have a crystal ball. I'm taking the approach of investing in a EM ETF so all the bases are covered.

Here are five, like any in particular?(yields are current, but quoted stats are from Feb 14, 2009)

YTD: +62.56% * The iShares MSCI Brazil Index (EWZ) has net assets of $3.4 billion, a Price/Earnings (P/E) ratio of 7.0, and a dividend yield of 6%. Money Morning Contributing Editor Horacio Marquez recently recommended this Brazilian ETF in this weekly “Buy, Sell or Hold” series.

YTD: +53.19% * The iShares MSCI Chile investable Index (ECH) has net assets of only $112 million and a P/E of 13. However, Chile is interesting because it built up a reserve fund of $21 billion (12% of GDP) during the years when copper prices were high - it is thus not dependent on foreign-fund inflows.

YTD: +35.99% * The iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index (FXI) invests in the 25 largest Chinese companies. Net assets are $5.9 billion, its P/E ratio 10, and its yield 2.7%.

YTD: +33.73% * The iShares MSCI Taiwan Index (EWT) has net assets of $1.3 billion, a P/E of 9 and a yield of 8%. Taiwan is highly liquid, with large reserves, a high savings rate and almost no foreign debt

YTD: +34.18% * The iShares MSCI Singapore Index (EWS) has net assets of $800 million, a P/E of 9 and a yield of 8%. Like Taiwan, Singapore is highly liquid, with large foreign exchange reserves and little debt. Taiwanese and Singapore companies may indeed benefit from the liquidity crunch by finding attractive investment opportunities in regional cash-short emerging markets with high growth potential, such as Vietnam.

http://www.moneymorning.com/2009/02/14/eme...g-markets-etfs/

~1 month checkupEWT +0.69 (6.80%)

ECH +1.81 (4.03%)

EWS +0.02 (0.21%)

FXI -0.54 (-1.36%)

EWZ -3.85 (-6.75%)

 

[siffoin]

For a lark I bought OEX 435 July Butterflys (x10) for $1.05.

Yeah, I bought some ERM 325 Praying Mantis (x15) for $1.25.

You lost me at ERM. And what the hell is a Praying Mantis Spread?

 

[The Ref]

For a lark I bought OEX 435 July Butterflys (x10) for $1.05.

Yeah, I bought some ERM 325 Praying Mantis (x15) for $1.25.

You lost me at ERM. And what the hell is a Praying Mantis Spread?

I think (and I could be wrong here) is this was his cute way of saying "what the hell is a oex july butterflyx10".Now I know what that means.... but I'll let you explain it to him so that I know that you know what it means...... I need to read a book on options one of these days so I get beyond the basics.

 

[siffoin]

For a lark I bought OEX 435 July Butterflys (x10) for $1.05.

Yeah, I bought some ERM 325 Praying Mantis (x15) for $1.25.

You lost me at ERM. And what the hell is a Praying Mantis Spread?

I think (and I could be wrong here) is this was his cute way of saying "what the hell is a oex july butterflyx10".Now I know what that means.... but I'll let you explain it to him so that I know that you know what it means...... I need to read a book on options one of these days so I get beyond the basics.

Don't I feel like the #######.Umm. The bet went like this: +10 OEX July 430's Calls-20 OEX July 435's Calls+10 OEX July 440's CallsPaid $1.10The trade is profitable between 431.05 - 438.95. The sweet spot of this trade is to have OEX expire at 435. At 435 the fly is worth $5.00. Let's work it out.On expiration:with OEX at 435:the Long 430's are worth $5.00the short 435's or worth $0.00the Long 440's are worth $0.00So: $5.00- $1.05 = $3.95 profit.With OEX at 433:the long 430's are worth $3.00the short $435's are worth $0.00the long 440's are worth $0.00So $3.00 - $1.05 = $1.95 profitWith OEX at 437The long 430's are worth $7.00The short 435's are worth $-2.00 x2The long 440's are worth $0.00So $7.00 - $4.00 - $1.05= $1.95 profitMy thought is that tomorrow is a consolidation day or slightly down/down. I did make one MAJOR mistake on this trade. That is NEVER EVER write OEX in a spread where one wing is ITM during expiration week. I have a big risk if the guy holding the 430's wants to exercise the position tomorrow. Essentially the entire position gets screwed. When doing these kinds of spread plays you don't want American style options....rather European style...thus I should have gone for the XEO. I was bored today looking for someplace to make some bread...and just not thinking at the end of day. When you realize the mistake...you don't wait to find out if you get lucky or not...you run away.Thus my lark is going to have to get closed out on the open tomorrow. But unless there is a gap above 439...the position should be profitable due to overnight premium burn.

 

[The Ref]

Wow - looks like America isn't dead afterall. Looks like no bailout for CIT.

 

[beee]

I very much want to take some bearish positions right here...but will need to hold out a while longer.

Bingo. My sentiments exactly. Bellweathers out tomorrow. Lets see if 930 can hold. If it does, up to 950- then I'm out.

I never found any reason to act before I'm ready. Missing one day isn't important. Not taking a loss is.

 

[beee]

I'm going to be very surprised if a large decline doesn't begin tomorrow. It has to be either tomorrow or friday. This setup is so bearish right now, I'd be floored if everything is still ok after the next two days.

 

[skycriesmary]

For those of you using thinkorswim, how do you enter a trailing stop by % ?

I've looked through thier FAQ, without luck.

I thought setting a % was a standard ability with most brokers?

For example, if I wanted to put a trailing stop of 3% to lock in a set amount?

 

[This is LJ]

I very much want to take some bearish positions right here...but will need to hold out a while longer.

Bingo. My sentiments exactly. Bellweathers out tomorrow. Lets see if 930 can hold. If it does, up to 950- then I'm out.

I never found any reason to act before I'm ready. Missing one day isn't important. Not taking a loss is.

That's the point beej As for your next comment, but it just as easily could trend anywhere from 900-950 for the next few weeks. Depends on the next two days, but I'm not so sure the institutional money is going to pull out until earnings are over. The bar is just set so low. Look at JPM. Estimates are 4 cents, down from 37c from just two weeks ago. They have to blow those numbers out to maintain the financial rally, but pulling a 50+% surprise isn't going to take that much. INTC just did despite extremely an extremely bearish consumer environment. Will IBM as well?EDIT: And trending sucks for those of us who play daily levered ETF's

 

[beee]

For those who like technical analysis, the charts of silver, the HUI, GLD, crude oil, the DJIA, the S&P 500 and others all have recently completed head and shoulders topping patterns of various shapes and sizes that have been building out over the last 4 months. The HUI sits at critical support. Either the patterns complete and the HUI (and probably the entire market) goes into a hard down, or its a helluva buying opportunity.I think everything is now ready to roll over. And its not just the H&S patterns that cause me to say that.

Just wanted to add I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've seen H&S patterns on such a wide swath of indicies. I saw it develop in late 1999-early 2000. 1998 was kinda bad. I don't think I've seen it other than that.

 

[itriple]

I really dont get all the bear talk. Sure we have rallied from March lows. But why does that mean we are "due" for a drop anymore than we are due to climb to 9500 dow?

Id say say 9.500 DOW is more likely than 7,500.

 

[beee]

I really dont get all the bear talk. Sure we have rallied from March lows. But why does that mean we are "due" for a drop anymore than we are due to climb to 9500 dow?Id say say 9.500 DOW is more likely than 7,500.

Bubbles pop. The dot com bubble popped. The housing bubble popped. I guess the "hope and change" bubble is about to pop.

 

[eoMMan]

Can someone explain the cash oscillator chart to me and how to use it?

TIA

 

[The Ref]

I really dont get all the bear talk. Sure we have rallied from March lows. But why does that mean we are "due" for a drop anymore than we are due to climb to 9500 dow?Id say say 9.500 DOW is more likely than 7,500.

I think?If the earnings parade continues at a 2/3 ratio of beating the street there is no way we are going down from here. If JP Morgan comes out tomorrow and lays an egg and some of the other companies follow up with poor earnings then I agree it's lookout below time. That said, I have seen little bearish news as it realtes to earnings season so far. And most of what I am reading is that mark to market rule changes alone are going to pull the financials earnings up over street expectations (at least before Goldmans report). I wouldn't be overly surprised if we had a few disappointments that lead the market lower, but oddly enough it seems like this topic has turned bearish at a point where I see "real" reasons to be bullish for the first time in quite a while.The next 5 business days are going to be a very exciting time for those amongst us that follow the market. It could go either way (or sideways), but so far so good IMHO.

 

[beee]

oddly enough it seems like this topic has turned bearish at a point where I see "real" reasons to be bullish for the first time in quite a while.

Sometimes I like to consider observed public sentiment too, but its fairly low on the factors that I consider.

 

[beee]

The interesting thing is that, in one of the setups I've been watching, the market needed to rally really hard the last couple days to set up some final last gasp high before the correction really could begin. Its like it was not allowed to just fall through support. We had to have a big rally over a couple of days first. And we got it. Yesterday should mark a high. The high set yesterday should not be broken for weeks, maybe months. Unless of course the high is actually today. But I think the high was yesterday.

 

[The Ref]

The interesting thing is that, in one of the setups I've been watching, the market needed to rally really hard the last couple days to set up some final last gasp high before the correction really could begin. Its like it was not allowed to just fall through support. We had to have a big rally over a couple of days first. And we got it. Yesterday should mark a high. The high set yesterday should not be broken for weeks, maybe months. Unless of course the high is actually today. But I think the high was yesterday.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- JPMorgan Chase & Co. posted a 36 percent jump in second-quarter profit Thursday, easily surpassing Wall Street expectations as strength in its core consumer and investment banking businesses offset a jump in credit losses.Thus...

Ahead of the opening bell, Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 4, or 0.1 percent, to 8,547. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 0.90, or 0.1 percent, to 926.30, while Nasdaq 100 index futures fell 4.00, or 0.3 percent, to 1,493.25

But....

Thursday brings even more earnings reports that could provide additional signs into how the economy is faring. Internet powerhouse Google Inc. and computer maker International Business Machines Corp. both report earnings after the market closes.

Also...

Investors will also get a weekly jobless claims report Thursday morning. The Labor Department is expected to say new unemployment insurance claims last week grew by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 575,000, according to economists polled by Thomson Reuters

 

[beee]

The interesting thing is that, in one of the setups I've been watching, the market needed to rally really hard the last couple days to set up some final last gasp high before the correction really could begin. Its like it was not allowed to just fall through support. We had to have a big rally over a couple of days first. And we got it. Yesterday should mark a high. The high set yesterday should not be broken for weeks, maybe months. Unless of course the high is actually today. But I think the high was yesterday.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- JPMorgan Chase & Co. posted a 36 percent jump in second-quarter profit Thursday, easily surpassing Wall Street expectations as strength in its core consumer and investment banking businesses offset a jump in credit losses.Thus...

Ahead of the opening bell, Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 4, or 0.1 percent, to 8,547. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 0.90, or 0.1 percent, to 926.30, while Nasdaq 100 index futures fell 4.00, or 0.3 percent, to 1,493.25

But....

Thursday brings even more earnings reports that could provide additional signs into how the economy is faring. Internet powerhouse Google Inc. and computer maker International Business Machines Corp. both report earnings after the market closes.

Also...

Investors will also get a weekly jobless claims report Thursday morning. The Labor Department is expected to say new unemployment insurance claims last week grew by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 575,000, according to economists polled by Thomson Reuters

I've always found that every day has good news and bad news. If the market drops, economic reporters talk about the bad news. If it rises, economic reporters talk about the good news. For example, when oil was enjoying a huge rally a couple years ago, people would talk about broken pipelines and refineries that were shut down for maintenance. Of course, in the 1990s, you had broken pipelines and refineries getting shut down for maintenance too. Its just that the price of oil was falling, so it wasn't reported.

 

[itriple]

Holy crap are you kidding Check out the BDI today: This has gone up close to 20% in the last 3 days. PRGN is gonna be $4.50 today

Baltic Dry 3,501 (+5.32%)

Baltic Capesize 5,916 (+6.61%)

Baltic Panamax 3,255 (+3.63%)

Baltic Supramax 2,016 (+3.23%)

Baltic Handysize 835 (+1.58%)

 

[David Dodds]

Holy crap are you kidding Check out the BDI today: This has gone up close to 20% in the last 3 days. PRGN is gonna be $4.50 todayBaltic Dry 3,501 (+5.32%) Baltic Capesize 5,916 (+6.61%) Baltic Panamax 3,255 (+3.63%) Baltic Supramax 2,016 (+3.23%) Baltic Handysize 835 (+1.58%)

I agree this thing is headed up. The market itself is teetering a tad, but I think the BDI and JP Morgan numbers push the market higher and the Shippers launch.

 

[Random]

Holy crap are you kidding Check out the BDI today: This has gone up close to 20% in the last 3 days. PRGN is gonna be $4.50 todayBaltic Dry 3,501 (+5.32%) Baltic Capesize 5,916 (+6.61%) Baltic Panamax 3,255 (+3.63%) Baltic Supramax 2,016 (+3.23%) Baltic Handysize 835 (+1.58%)

If it hits 4.50, I won't be attending the earning party.

 

[Mose]

Holy crap are you kidding Check out the BDI today: This has gone up close to 20% in the last 3 days. PRGN is gonna be $4.50 todayBaltic Dry 3,501 (+5.32%) Baltic Capesize 5,916 (+6.61%) Baltic Panamax 3,255 (+3.63%) Baltic Supramax 2,016 (+3.23%) Baltic Handysize 835 (+1.58%)

If it hits 4.50, I won't be attending the earning party.

hahah, be neither. I'll be in all cash after selling!

 

[Otis]

Holy crap are you kidding Check out the BDI today: This has gone up close to 20% in the last 3 days. PRGN is gonna be $4.50 todayBaltic Dry 3,501 (+5.32%) Baltic Capesize 5,916 (+6.61%) Baltic Panamax 3,255 (+3.63%) Baltic Supramax 2,016 (+3.23%) Baltic Handysize 835 (+1.58%)

zomg

 

[lod01]

Holy crap are you kidding Check out the BDI today: This has gone up close to 20% in the last 3 days. PRGN is gonna be $4.50 todayBaltic Dry 3,501 (+5.32%) Baltic Capesize 5,916 (+6.61%) Baltic Panamax 3,255 (+3.63%) Baltic Supramax 2,016 (+3.23%) Baltic Handysize 835 (+1.58%)

zomg

BUY PRGN ASAP!!!!!!

 

[Mose]

and PRGN is down 11 cents. I hate the stock market.

 

[siffoin]

For a lark I bought OEX 435 July Butterflys (x10) for $1.05.

Yeah, I bought some ERM 325 Praying Mantis (x15) for $1.25.

You lost me at ERM. And what the hell is a Praying Mantis Spread?

I think (and I could be wrong here) is this was his cute way of saying "what the hell is a oex july butterflyx10".Now I know what that means.... but I'll let you explain it to him so that I know that you know what it means......



I need to read a book on options one of these days so I get beyond the basics.

Don't I feel like the #######.Umm. The bet went like this:

+10 OEX July 430's Calls

-20 OEX July 435's Calls

+10 OEX July 440's Calls

Paid $1.10

The trade is profitable between 431.05 - 438.95. The sweet spot of this trade is to have OEX expire at 435. At 435 the fly is worth $5.00. Let's work it out.

On expiration:

with OEX at 435:

the Long 430's are worth $5.00

the short 435's or worth $0.00

the Long 440's are worth $0.00

So: $5.00- $1.05 = $3.95 profit.

With OEX at 433:

the long 430's are worth $3.00

the short $435's are worth $0.00

the long 440's are worth $0.00

So $3.00 - $1.05 = $1.95 profit

With OEX at 437

The long 430's are worth $7.00

The short 435's are worth $-2.00 x2

The long 440's are worth $0.00

So $7.00 - $4.00 - $1.05= $1.95 profit

My thought is that tomorrow is a consolidation day or slightly down/down. I did make one MAJOR mistake on this trade. That is NEVER EVER write OEX in a spread where one wing is ITM during expiration week. I have a big risk if the guy holding the 430's wants to exercise the position tomorrow. Essentially the entire position gets screwed. When doing these kinds of spread plays you don't want American style options....rather European style...thus I should have gone for the XEO. I was bored today looking for someplace to make some bread...and just not thinking at the end of day. When you realize the mistake...you don't wait to find out if you get lucky or not...you run away.

Thus my lark is going to have to get closed out on the open tomorrow. But unless there is a gap above 439...the position should be profitable due to overnight premium burn.

For disclosure: Sold it for $1.50...$.40 profit.

 

[David Dodds]

dumped EEV at 19.87. JP Morgan numbers, jobless report best in 6 months has me spooked a bit here. I still think the market is headed down, but don't see it happening today.

 

[BassNBrew]

Sold 500 CENX for a proft of about $500

Sold 500 FEED for a profit of about $100

Accumulating cash.

 

[optionmaven]

30 second rant please. Optionmaven???? Optionmaven???? More like OptionIdiot. Why do i feel like frikkin Charlie Brown here. Knowing BIDU was a buy at 275 or under and not pulling the trigger........Somebody slap me through the keyboard or monitor, maybe it will knock some sense into my wishy-washy, stunada butt. I wouldn't have liked a 50 click gain in a week anyway. Would have been out of my element. I'm done now, thanks for pulling the ball out again LUCY.

 

[Buckna]

Back in 1,000 FSIN @ $7.37

Sold at $7.91 - gain of $539.79

 

[bmetz]

Holy crap are you kidding Check out the BDI today: This has gone up close to 20% in the last 3 days. PRGN is gonna be $4.50 todayBaltic Dry 3,501 (+5.32%) Baltic Capesize 5,916 (+6.61%) Baltic Panamax 3,255 (+3.63%) Baltic Supramax 2,016 (+3.23%) Baltic Handysize 835 (+1.58%)

I sold half of my stake (granted, a small one in comparison to most of you) last night in AH @ 4.12After seeing the BDI this morning, I was regretting it...

 

[Sheriff Bart]

I'm just biding my time on UNG. Keep dropping muther, keep dropping.

Dang, almost up 5% today.

 

[This is LJ]

Bullish post on shippers from iHub.

 

[Buckna]

Back in 1,000 FSIN @ $7.37

Sold at $7.91 - gain of $539.79

Dang, pulled the trigger too early, popped up to the $8.20's before pulling back.

 

[Mark Davis]

I'm just biding my time on UNG. Keep dropping muther, keep dropping.

Dang, almost up 5% today.

You'll probably get another shot. I covered my Jul 13 put and looks like the Jul 12 one will expire. I also wrote an Aug 11 one. This thing is all over the map though.

 

[This is LJ]

So, what are people playing today?

Anyone playing the bank earnings tomorrow? Also DDSS with heavy volume today. Whats the take here? You all buying this dip?

Also looking at UAUA, AGQ (ultra silver), DXO. Can't pull the trigger on anything though with this weak volume.

 

[bigfishboy]

So, what are people playing today? Anyone playing the bank earnings tomorrow?

I got stopped out of FAS this morning, which surprised me with JPM's report. I think the financials reports had been priced in with this weeks runup, and I don't look for another big move in FAS. Maybe a bit of a retreat, though it is currently ahead of where I sold.Playing the individual stocks that report tomorrow may work out, but I am not confident enough in that to do it myself.

 

[Mark Davis]

Seeing as I've had such a cold hand lately I wanted to tip everyone off of one going up because I just sold my 500 RF @ $4.20. Made a small gain mostly on the covered calls I had written for the past couple of months. When the profits from the options were figured in I cleared about $116.

 

[optionmaven]

So, what are people playing today? Anyone playing the bank earnings tomorrow? Also DDSS with heavy volume today. Whats the take here? You all buying this dip?Also looking at UAUA, AGQ (ultra silver), DXO. Can't pull the trigger on anything though with this weak volume.

I played them a while back, but i'm still in on bac and C. BAC August 10 calls, 8 legs at an average of 2.25. Showing a 58% gain as we speak.C September 3 calls, 20 legs at .20. Showing a 32% gain.I've also been noting good signs on my LVS plays. Good volume on the calls and excellent call/put ratios. Liking this spot alot. Bought September 10 calls at .55, 10 legs, now worth .95. Also have September 12.50 calls at .20. 20 legs, now worth .40. Plus the one i already cashed on but held a few legs. September 2.50 calls bought at 2.30. Now selling at 6.20.

 

[Mark Davis]

I'm just biding my time on UNG. Keep dropping muther, keep dropping.

Dang, almost up 5% today.

UNG really pouring it on as we move later in the day.

 

[The Ref]

Market finally decided it was OK to go up this afternoon after all the good news.

I'll say this to you bears, the market seems like it does not "want" to go up from here. Jp Morgan and "better" job report numbers would have sent the market up higher then this over the past few months. Here is to Google and IBM!

 

[siffoin]

So, what are people playing today?

Anyone playing the bank earnings tomorrow? Also DDSS with heavy volume today. Whats the take here? You all buying this dip?

Also looking at UAUA, AGQ (ultra silver), DXO. Can't pull the trigger on anything though with this weak volume.

I played them a while back, but i'm still in on bac and C. BAC August 10 calls, 8 legs at an average of 2.25. Showing a 58% gain as we speak.

C September 3 calls, 20 legs at .20. Showing a 32% gain.

I've also been noting good signs on my LVS plays. Good volume on the calls and excellent call/put ratios. Liking this spot alot. Bought September 10 calls at .55, 10 legs, now worth .95. Also have September 12.50 calls at .20. 20 legs, now worth .40. Plus the one i already cashed on but held a few legs. September 2.50 calls bought at 2.30. Now selling at 6.20.

If you don't mind me saying. NEVER EVER Buy calls on stock less than $5.00.Instead write. So you are bullish on C. It's trading at $3.08...$.08 ITM with the Sept Call going for $.32. You are basically paying 10% of the underlying for a couple of months option.

At the same time the Sept 3 Put is going for $.58...and it is $.08 AWAY from being ITM. By Far the better play here is writing that put option and collecting 20% off the underlyings value.

Odds of success from writing an option are much much higher than buying an option. So if bullish write puts...if bearish write calls.

 

[optionmaven]

Never mind you saying siff. I agree and pretty much everybody and anybody says its a bad idea to use options on stocks at 5 bucks or less. I've done it a few times and have had mixed results. As a rule of thumb, its a good one. I should be more cautious and less cheap....lol. I still want to get in at think or swim (so i can write)but have put it off in the short term here until i feel a little more comfortable doing it. With fake money, i've been going up and down with plays, but i see the significance of writing. It's important to utilize them and any other "tools" out there to our advantage.

 

[Otis]

Why is PRGN down when the BDI went batty again and the NASDAQ and overall market are way up?

StockMarket> plzdiekthx