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Post by cosmic on May 23, 2011 15:09:31 GMT -5
Kind of a doomy start to the first day of post-apocalyptic life.  No buying today, I knew this was coming and I still think more is coming, although a lot of stuff has raced to the bottom of it's channel very very quickly - the solars (I have a position in SOL) like LDK and JKS are badly bruised here. I hadn't even noticed GS was trading in the 130's again. ELON has pulled back significantly.  Things are starting to look buyish. I'm not a buyer yet.  Hopefully everyone made some money today and will do so tomorrow. Members, please post your results along with your RDA of smileys!  |
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Post by sloop on May 23, 2011 15:30:44 GMT -5
holding a little F waiting for a bit more pull back
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Post by Beau999 on May 23, 2011 15:50:23 GMT -5
Got short the FAZ a little & long the SSO a little, about mid-day
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Post by demanuel2001 on May 23, 2011 15:58:00 GMT -5
Kinda hard to make money today being long. This kind of market really kills my after tax account. That's the account on which I write checks for living expenses and also the only account that can do margin trades and write options. As a result it is by far my riskiest account and has the biggest swings. Between the dip and the check writing this account is looking kinda thin - about as thin as its been since March 2009 - which was when I funded it. The check writing since then has sucked out the original investment and the rest is profit but it's getting thin. If things don't improve soon I'll have to move money from one of my IRAs to pep it up. Down 4% today. Only trades were dumping some LVS stock and replacing with $40 and $41 calls. FWIW May is supposed to be a blockbuster month shattering all records in Macao.
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Post by brosin on May 23, 2011 15:58:36 GMT -5
Had been awhile since we had seen a version of The Chart(tm) on FAS I did a bit of a double take when opening my trading account and going to my unrealized gain/loss screen. My FAZ hold is green (yes I know that statement is pretty much an oxymoron) My S short in that account is not doing so well - I may have to look at adding to it. Took a very strong lead over the market today in the monopoly world - had been running neck in neck with it last week. Even added a long position (only one) in LNKD @ $84.75 that worked out nicely... probably should have sold it on the very large pop though, the dollar / % gain was way up there compared to what I typically hold through... like the initial days of trading YOKU, DANG, MOBI, BONA though, I'll hold an IPO longer as a trade than most since it can move so strongly. |
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Post by tajmahal9898 on May 23, 2011 16:16:16 GMT -5
shorted naked May4 VXX 22,23 and 24 calls..
b/e price 24.05
I was up ~17K at one point.. now up ~1.7K.. ~15K in time premium
I am still learning options -- will simulate short call versus long puts, day trips versus holding till expiry...
as an example, 23 and 24 puts were up 100% today -- so i could have doubled money if I had bought puts..
Day trading, with my volume, I will be unable to get the best price, let's say I lose 2 cents on buy and sell side, 1 cent on the commission, 3-5 cents on time premium.. back of the envelope calculation indicate, the option price has to increase by 10 cents for me to b/e on day trading ... as I mentioned, I am still learning ...
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Post by timber on May 23, 2011 16:27:07 GMT -5
just sitting on my nest of scam shorts now ....thinking of buying gm soon but i will wait and see how 1300 area holds  |
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Post by papasloth on May 23, 2011 16:29:52 GMT -5
I've been grabbing the daily closing option chains for 3500 stocks since mid April. Over the weekend, I wrote a piece of software that looks for box spread option arbitrage opportunities. Today, I dipped my toes in for the first time and initiated a couple of small positions.
A box spread option arbitrage is a combination of a long call and a short put at one strike combined with a short call and a long put at another strike. The result is a position that is 100% delta neutral at options expiration. That is, no matter what the underlying stock closes at, on options expiration you end up with the same amount of money and no position in the stock. It's like being both long and short a stock at the same time: no matter whether the stock goes up or down, the value of your position remains constant. Except, by creating the position by buying and selling options, it's possible in certain cases to exit with a profit. The "gotcha" is that each position, while delta neutral at options expiration, still has a positive margin requirement, so there's a limit to how large a position you can create. For some stocks, there are higher than usual margin requirements, so that plays a role as well. Also, though the position is delta neutral at options expiration, it can go up or down in value in the meantime.
Another potential "gotcha" is that you are short two options that are in the money, and long two options that are out-of-the-money. This means that one or more of your options can get assigned before expiration, which might require some scrambling around.
So, I took two positions: one which expires on June options expiration, based on a stock that has a 70% margin requirement, and one which expires on July options expiration, based on a stock with "normal" margin requirements. For the June position, I tied up around $3K in margin requirement for a locked-in profit of $400 minus $54.96 commissions, and probably another $39.98 in commissions on options expiration. For the July position, I tied up around $3K in margin requirement for a locked-in profit of $1300 minus the same commissions.
I would be more specific about exactly what options I'm trading here, but I want to make sure this doesn't blow up in my face before I drag anyone else in. I think this is risk free, with the exception of the "gotchas" I listed above, but there's always the possibility that something I don't currently know about or expect will happen.
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Post by papasloth on May 23, 2011 16:38:35 GMT -5
Here's an example, which I am NOT invested in, and don't recommend anyone else try until it's adequately play tested. I know some people here follow SOMX. There's a box spread arbitrage opportunity here:
Buy Aug 2 puts - Ask is 0.35
Sell Aug 2 calls - Bid is 0.50
Buy Aug 4 calls - Ask is 0.05
Sell Aug 4 puts - Bid is 1.95
Net cash change is .50+1.95-.35-.05=$2.05. At options expiration, you will owe exactly $2.00 no matter what SOMX is trading at, meaning you get to keep the 0.05/sh as profit (less commissions).
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Post by maxi on May 23, 2011 16:53:41 GMT -5
No trades. No sleep. No brain. Missed the lows. Have the tiniest amount of HAL and AVL still......
For the chasers PWRD and SOLR
My husbands pick that I mentioned long ago KKD Krispy Kreme up 27%
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Post by theMIST on May 23, 2011 17:12:50 GMT -5
HELLOOOO FASTOPIA from up here in Heaven!! You guys should see this place. There are many mansions and the streets are paved with GOLD! I'm in the middle of a wedding banquet and the music is loud and the party is going strong! No Trades in that earthly Scottrade Account! Still holding TNA, some SOXL from Friday.  |
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Post by cosmic on May 23, 2011 17:39:02 GMT -5
Welcome back of course  |
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Post by davetherave on May 23, 2011 18:37:59 GMT -5
Portfolio down 4.5%....Hurt by DAC and ERX....Added to BOX at 18. |
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Post by benvestor on May 23, 2011 19:00:01 GMT -5
Lost no money today, because I don't have any in the market.. wow i feel free.. free and broke!
Gl guys.
I still like CSTR long term if it goes online to rival NFLX.. or maybe its going to get bought out?
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Post by kbk3ck on May 23, 2011 19:32:18 GMT -5
Didn't do squat. Waiting for bottom. Got REAL itchy fingered at 1313. Patiently waiting.
;D
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Post by kbk3ck on May 23, 2011 19:35:10 GMT -5
Hell, may buy some TZA tomorrow. Lol
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Post by kbk3ck on May 23, 2011 19:36:04 GMT -5
BEN!!!!! whatsup?!?!?!
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Post by puurfectten on May 23, 2011 20:22:46 GMT -5
held my vxx 23 calls..was up nice but didn't take it...one more push and they'll be done cookin... .. |
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Post by benvestor on May 23, 2011 20:40:07 GMT -5
exalt for kbk.. Hey i took a one week hiatus to reno and found myself, it was awesome being broke and gambling with barely anything.. met and old buddy there and just chilled..
How goes it Joe?
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Post by jack on May 23, 2011 20:48:09 GMT -5
exalt for kbk.. Hey i took a one week hiatus to reno and found myself, it was awesome being broke and gambling with barely anything.. met and old buddy there and just chilled.. How goes it Joe? Re: "...find(ing) yourself..." Next time just look in the mirror Ben. |
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Post by maxi on May 23, 2011 21:03:23 GMT -5
exalt for kbk.. Hey i took a one week hiatus to reno and found myself, it was awesome being broke and gambling with barely anything.. met and old buddy there and just chilled.. How goes it Joe? Re: "...find(ing) yourself..." Next time just look in the mirror Ben. What jack is trying to say is........... Where ever you go .........There you are! |
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Post by ppppp3571113 on May 23, 2011 21:10:04 GMT -5
still 90% cash and gold waiting for market to bottom and silver to confirm a bottom. no trades in 6 days, even though I have been lurking on PPDT religiously. A real gem of a thread.
my only equities arent really worth mentioning. I have short of STX holding for 16, and long ERX holding for crude 120/bbl
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Post by ppppp3571113 on May 23, 2011 21:35:17 GMT -5
Didn't do squat. Waiting for bottom. Got REAL itchy fingered at 1313. Patiently waiting. ;D most excellent un-trade there joe  |
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