I sold my MBI $15 call options for .90 this morning. A 70% profit. Thinking of picking up some Apple put options, I think we may have a pull back in the works and Apple has had a sizeable run up since its earnings release.
The Official Trading Thread
- Thread starter mGrunin
- Start date
Picked up Apple $470 weekly call options for $1.25, looking for the stock to run up prior to ex-div, possible buy back of share before ex-div
Let us take a look for today. To get straight to the point, I took a 2.7% loss on my portfolio today. Completely because I decided to be a greedy son of a bitch.
For those that have been following my trades, I had Apple calls overnight. Low and behold, Apple opens up +$4.50. Surprise Surprise. I knowledgeably knew that the 100 sma level will be a big resistance, but I felt the need to hold my position and see a bigger move up. That didn't happen because that resistance was too much for Apple today.
In less than one hour I went from being up 80%+ on my positions to seeing them going into the red. I finally cut, and even then I cut them too late. I was honesty caught off guard, didn't expect for it to sell off that easily when the markets weren't retreating. When everyone was said and done, I was down 9.2% on my portfolio for the day. Strictly because of poor risk management. Fortunately I did not led that get me down and I looked for another opportunity.
At about 10:20 am or so, the rapid sell-off came to a stop and there was some consolidation forming. I hopped one some calls and waited eagerly. That was a great play because it helped me reduce my loses for the day by 66%. I sold the positions in the very last 4 seconds of the day (no bullshit) and am still happy to say that I am as of this moment still in the green for the week.
What are my current liabilities? Well..I am still holding on to that short vertical put from yesterday. Obviously it also led to my account picking up loses, as a matter of fact if I remove that spread from my daily P/L, I only went down 1.4% on my daytrading. I need AAPL to stay above $453.00 by Friday close. We are at $458.65 right now. With three days left, and the stock as volatile as ever, I obviously do not have much cushion.
If Apple does decide to go higher tomorrow, fantastic. That creates more cushion for me and it allows for my spread to pick up gains - so I wouldn't feel left out on any premarket pop. If Apple decides to move lower tomorrow, I will be aggressively trading puts as a hedge. If it comes to be that the short puts I sold go into the money, I want to make up the loses with my own naked puts. If I do lose on my naked puts, that means the stock went up, which also means I have more cushion on my spread. At the end of the day all I would do is reduce my gain on my short puts. That sounds much better than losing any money.
Onto the chart!
That should give you an idea as to what happened intraday.
This is my sentiment moving forward:
Apple still looks relatively strong here. I am nowhere near as bullish as I was last week, but I do believe it is comfortable at these levels without a significant bullback. If you are looking to get in though, wait longer.
For those that have been following my trades, I had Apple calls overnight. Low and behold, Apple opens up +$4.50. Surprise Surprise. I knowledgeably knew that the 100 sma level will be a big resistance, but I felt the need to hold my position and see a bigger move up. That didn't happen because that resistance was too much for Apple today.
In less than one hour I went from being up 80%+ on my positions to seeing them going into the red. I finally cut, and even then I cut them too late. I was honesty caught off guard, didn't expect for it to sell off that easily when the markets weren't retreating. When everyone was said and done, I was down 9.2% on my portfolio for the day. Strictly because of poor risk management. Fortunately I did not led that get me down and I looked for another opportunity.
At about 10:20 am or so, the rapid sell-off came to a stop and there was some consolidation forming. I hopped one some calls and waited eagerly. That was a great play because it helped me reduce my loses for the day by 66%. I sold the positions in the very last 4 seconds of the day (no bullshit) and am still happy to say that I am as of this moment still in the green for the week.
What are my current liabilities? Well..I am still holding on to that short vertical put from yesterday. Obviously it also led to my account picking up loses, as a matter of fact if I remove that spread from my daily P/L, I only went down 1.4% on my daytrading. I need AAPL to stay above $453.00 by Friday close. We are at $458.65 right now. With three days left, and the stock as volatile as ever, I obviously do not have much cushion.
If Apple does decide to go higher tomorrow, fantastic. That creates more cushion for me and it allows for my spread to pick up gains - so I wouldn't feel left out on any premarket pop. If Apple decides to move lower tomorrow, I will be aggressively trading puts as a hedge. If it comes to be that the short puts I sold go into the money, I want to make up the loses with my own naked puts. If I do lose on my naked puts, that means the stock went up, which also means I have more cushion on my spread. At the end of the day all I would do is reduce my gain on my short puts. That sounds much better than losing any money.
Onto the chart!
That should give you an idea as to what happened intraday.
This is my sentiment moving forward:
Apple still looks relatively strong here. I am nowhere near as bullish as I was last week, but I do believe it is comfortable at these levels without a significant bullback. If you are looking to get in though, wait longer.
This market is insane, but the fundamentals justify the upside ]. Interest rates..those are never going up again. Oh, and exports & consumer spenidng blowout. Valuations very cheap. Huge buybacks, M&A. DJIA Up 350 pts in just 4 days. 16000 soon. S&p 1700. There's no excuse to not get rich in this market.
^ lol thats a funny comment. using fundamentals or technical analysis does not make you a fortune teller. . . I think mgrunin's previous post proves that. He knows enough of the technical side (or appears to at least) and still lost money. If he does that three or four more times it will take a big chunk of his profit. . .
mgrunin that wasn't a shot at you just that last post was a good example as to why their is no reason why you should get rich in this market.
My account was up 40% YTD about 3 weeks ago now its down to about 8%. . .mistakes hurt.
mgrunin that wasn't a shot at you just that last post was a good example as to why their is no reason why you should get rich in this market.
My account was up 40% YTD about 3 weeks ago now its down to about 8%. . .mistakes hurt.
No one will ever be 100% right in the market, but its about following a discipline and limiting your losses while trying to maximize your gains. Its not easy that's for sure
^ easier said than done. If the markets were as easy as you make it sound we would all be millionaires, but sadly it's a lot harder than it looks.
How long did it take you to learn this? I'm a pretty smart guy, but this looks like hieroglyphics to me.
it's mostly just triangles and lines drawn at inflection points to represent support and resistance levels
That is the big with trading, it requires for you to be perfect. You have to pick great entries and great exits. My biggest problem is exiting the trade. Most of the time I set my mental stops properly and I do not get too greedy. Then are the times when I allow myself to slip and the trade goes way too south.
In your case, losing that much gains for the year simply means you took too large of a position in a single trade. It was completely your fault (no offense intended), because we all know that we will be wrong on trades here and there. If you followed the right discipline you would typically do on your other trades, you would have taken a small hit. But those odd times we decide to "risk" it, we fuck ourselves over.
Lots of people believe that trading is impossible and is totally against the retail investors, but truth be said, what fucks up the retailers the most is their own lack of discipline. Such as mine, allowing a profitable trade turn unprofitable.
Exactly. The number one thing when it comes to trading is discipline. Never let yourself become bias on a direction just because you have a position.
People laugh when I tell them I have only been doing this for one year. The thing is I have been doing if fulltime and studying like a madman.
True, that plus chart patterns.
My favorite, nails trading psychology:
Reminiscences of a Stock Operator - Reminiscences of a Stock Operator - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This book was written in 1923 and is still widely read and quoted on Wall Street. One bank (Lazard, I think) has been giving it to new hires for 40 years now.
"tips are for waiters"
Mgrunin - where do you trade from, I know in New York there are firms where they lease trade desk, do you trade at one of those place or do you trade from home?
I trade from my home. I have a pretty good setup.
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Today has looked pretty good. Apple is rallying so the spread that I wrote is picking up solid gains. I took a few calls on the way up that I sold already. I am annoyed that I missed the Google run up. Was looking at calls when it was +$5 but got too busy looking at Apple. Now it is +$14.
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Today has looked pretty good. Apple is rallying so the spread that I wrote is picking up solid gains. I took a few calls on the way up that I sold already. I am annoyed that I missed the Google run up. Was looking at calls when it was +$5 but got too busy looking at Apple. Now it is +$14.
I sold my Apple calls for 28% profit today. I picked up some CLF $24 may call options, the stock has a huge short position, if it rallies more today I may sell the May $25 call options just incase the stock is down tomorrow.
Are there any passive investors in this thread, or am I the only one? Over the long haul, the majority of active investors can't beat passive index funds.
I'm up almost 10% in 2.5 months and I haven't even lifted a finger. I have a shitload invested so that basically works out to a new car if I were to cash out.
I can see why active trading is attractive for a small percent of your portfolio, i.e. "fun money", but I certainly wouldn't want to do it with major stakes at risk.
If you buy into a low-cost index fund like Vanguard's "VTI" ETF (expense ratio of 0.05%), you're already balling and will beat 75% of investors.
Wall Street doesn't want you to invest in index funds because they will rape you with their 1-2% AUM fees instead.
I'm up almost 10% in 2.5 months and I haven't even lifted a finger. I have a shitload invested so that basically works out to a new car if I were to cash out.
I can see why active trading is attractive for a small percent of your portfolio, i.e. "fun money", but I certainly wouldn't want to do it with major stakes at risk.
If you buy into a low-cost index fund like Vanguard's "VTI" ETF (expense ratio of 0.05%), you're already balling and will beat 75% of investors.
Wall Street doesn't want you to invest in index funds because they will rape you with their 1-2% AUM fees instead.