Arthur626 Options Trading.... - Page 34

Well today looks like news of the unemloyment benefits extension gave us a nice pop on what was looking like a range bound day with a slight loss. I was feeling kinda down this morning after getting stopped out on my shorts yesterday and losing that possible profit but it turned out to be very lucky.

Started the day by buying 3 IBM aug 25 calls at 2.10 and then buying 2 aapl aug 250 calls at 8.75 and one more at 8.45 for an average of 8.65 on the 3 calls.

IBM did as I suspected and popped up off the lows... Sold the 25 calls at 2.70 from 2.10. Aapl on the other hand never looked back. Kept moving my stop up all day chasing it finally exited the 3 calls before close at 12.70.

Decided to take a little gamble on STX earnings which appears to have been a bad idea. Bought 5 Aug 15's at .45 as sort of a lotto play. Well they missed on pps and revs so not good. Also in light of the votes on the unemployment extention which looks like it will pass Senate tonight I bought some Aug WMT 52.50 calls at .28 .

07/20/10 3:51 PM EDT Sell 3 AAPL Aug 21 '10 $250 Call Executed @ $12.7 Details | Edit
07/20/10 3:15 PM EDT Buy 10 WMT Aug 21 '10 $52.50 Call Executed @ $0.28 Details | Edit
07/20/10 2:55 PM EDT Buy 1 STX Aug 21 '10 $15 Call Executed @ $0.45 Details | Edit
07/20/10 2:55 PM EDT Buy 2 STX Aug 21 '10 $15 Call Executed @ $0.45 Details | Edit
07/20/10 2:55 PM EDT Buy 2 STX Aug 21 '10 $15 Call Executed @ $0.45 Details | Edit
07/20/10 11:15 AM EDT Sell 3 IBM Aug 21 '10 $125 Call Executed @ $2.7 Details | Edit
07/20/10 9:48 AM EDT Buy 1 AAPL Aug 21 '10 $250 Call Executed @ $8.45 Details | Edit
07/20/10 9:46 AM EDT Buy 2 AAPL Aug 21 '10 $250 Call Executed @ $8.75 Details | Edit
07/20/10 9:31 AM EDT Buy 3 IBM Aug 21 '10 $125 Call Executed @ $2.1 Details | Edit

Copy and paste of trades... So account balance today starting was 4,436.25 closing balance of 5,773.58 Of course gonna take a loss probably on stx in the am but still not bad

Well not a very good day today for me... Took my loss on STX as expected. Had to dump the WMT calls also. Took out a trade on BIDU thinking we would get a run up today pre earnings but that got taken out when Ben talked and the market went down...
Sold the BIDU calls eod didn't want to gamble on their earnings.

So bottom line today started at 5.778.57 account balance at close all cash 5,468.81.
Not terrible using money management to contain the loses... Just today unfortunately they were all losses... Tomorrow is a new day though still bearish on my market outlook.

I usually use a 10% stop on most trades. Today for example bought BIDU at 4.39 average set stop at 4.00. I don't mind getting stopped out and sometimes I will rebuy the same option or reverse my position. On smaller value options I will use a 20% stop.
On the flip side I will trail the stop to let it run and make max profits usually setting the stop just below support or resistance areas. Once it has achieved a 30% profit I bring the stop in tight around 5%. If it keeps going past that I back it off to the 20% area of the current value.
I don't go all in either which is important to note... 25 to 30% max position size except on trades I am very confident about I may go 50%.

Today was a decent day for me on Wed, Thurs, Fri I'm not able to trade til 10:00am PST. So usually only take one trade in the afternoon on these days. My pick going into today was AMZN the trade was to play the earnings run up prior to close. Entered the trade in 3 different buys for a total of 7 calls at 5.51 average price. The trade worked out well as AMZN went over the 120 level trailed my stop and got stopped out at 6.30 when the market started to sell off a bit in the afternoon. Finally broke my little losing streak from yesterday so feeling better

Overall still bearish on the market look to enter some short positions probably on Monday of next week. Don't want to hold over the weekend on them.

Account balance yesterday 5,468.79 todays close 5,800.40.

Well got home around 10 am pst and was surprised to see us break the 1100 mark pretty good for the bulls!! Just took two trades at that level today one was long FAZ at .95 aug 15 calls X 30. Also opened a long position in CF just 3 contracts at 3.70 Aug 80s' Was suppose to report earnings Monday on CF after hours but they changed the time to Aug 5th after the market closed today so... Probably get out of this position on Monday.
Anyways FAZ went up some before close and I closed the position for a 214 profit.

07/23/10 3:50 PM EDT Sell 30 FAZ Aug 21 '10 $15 Call Executed @ $1.05 Details | Edit
07/23/10 2:16 PM EDT Buy 10 FAZ Aug 21 '10 $15 Call Executed @ $0.94 Details | Edit
07/23/10 2:07 PM EDT Buy 3 FAZ Aug 21 '10 $15 Call Executed @ $0.95 Details | Edit
07/23/10 2:07 PM EDT Buy 7 FAZ Aug 21 '10 $15 Call Executed @ $0.95 Details | Edit
07/23/10 1:31 PM EDT Buy 10 FAZ Aug 21 '10 $15 Call Executed @ $0.96 Details | Edit
07/23/10 1:09 PM EDT Buy 1 CF Aug 21 '10 $80 Call Executed @ $3.7 Details | Edit
07/23/10 1:09 PM EDT Buy 2 CF Aug 21 '10 $80 Call Executed @ $3.7 Details | Edit

Account balance start of day 5800.39 Balance at close 5997.75 So my first 5 weeks back since my break from trading almost got to the 100% mark from my starting balance of 3k. Stakes are getting higher so gonna have to be on top of my game heading forward... Shooting for another 100% on current balance in the next 5 weeks.

As for the market well I am surprised it made it over 1100 on the S&P... Next resistance 200 ma. I will be watching and trading that level next... Still bearish on the market. But as always just trading day to day.....

Hey Charulz - I use this as more of a trade journal now... As you know I call my plays in chat during the day. Nice to be able to look back and see what I did wrong or right and to see how my view changes on the markets. GL to you also....

Well the CF trade worked out very poorly... dumped them early on at 3.20 for a loss =/ My bad I know I shouldn't be holding over the weekend in this market. Took one trade on FAZ Aug 14 calls at .99 average X 15. At what looked like heavy resistance. FAZ popped up to the 13.90 area and I exited the positions at 1.13. Pretty much a break even day. Starting balance 5997.75 Ending balance 5997.33 There seems to be allot of resistance in my account at the 6k mark

We came right up to the 200 MA area today... Faster than I expected but good to get there. Tomorrow will be interesting to see if we can break 1120 and extend this rally. Looks like momentum is on the bulls side for now.. Still very cautious and bearish on the market. All cash eod...

Well finally broke out over 6k today!!! Never thought I would get there... Pretty stiff resistance
Todays trade was FAZ again I was watching xlf this morning for a break of 15.00 which it wasn't able to complete. Entered FAZ Aug 13 calls at 1.12 this morning and exited in the afternoon at 1.32. Also took a JPM trade as I saw some weakness there bought the Aug 41 puts at 1.14 and exited shortly after at 1.30.

Bought some V calls toward the eod for an earnings play. V reports after hours tomorrow. Bought 3 V Aug 75 calls at 3.30. The plan is to exit this trade before tomorrows close.

Today we hit resistance and it held exactly where I thought 1120 S&P and 15.00 on the XLF. The bears had a good opportunity today with the negative news to bring this down but it didn't happen. Bulls seem to be in control for now. I look for us to break those resistance points tomorrow. 1140 S&P here we come?

Account balance eod (minus fees for my trading platform ) 6138.66

I think this one will pay very nicely for us danchoi welcome aboard

Oh one last note danchoi stop is set at the 200 sma on the 5 min chart at 76.05 just incase on V... Never know and I won't be able to be around tomorrow to watch it til afternoon so better safe than sorry... IMO as always

Yeah stop got taken out this morning while I was gone... Took a 200.00 loss today. Funny thing was by time I got home the trade was green again. Oh well thats what stops are for. Nothing else really going on took a small position in JBL Aug 15 calls at .65 told myself if this one hits 15 I would start a position at that point good company IMO.
As for V looks flat they reported decent earnings just lost on investment income. Which comes as no surprise in this market We'll see what happens....
Wierd can't explain it but I am bullish on the market at the moment I think it will break up soon. Could go either way of course but I think we may see a bit more sideways trading then head up. IMO as always...

Well again took a loss by holding something over night... You would think I would learn Semi's despite reporting good earnings this past quarter are seeing allot of selling pressure... Anyways stopped out on jbl will have to wait for a bottom here.
Watching for China's PMI numbers for a direction this week... Over 50 will be a bullish indicator. I think it will be over that easily. This number should determine the direction of commodities in the coming week.
Still bullish on this market think we will see a test again of the current resistance areas if it fails a third time I will have to start loading up on the shorts... IMO as always


One last thing what are those scales by name??

Current positions -

Goog calls X2 510 Aug at - 2.90
XOM calls X5 60 Aug at - .99
BP puts X5 40 Aug at - 1.93

Stop at 1.72 XOM
Stop at 1.94 BP

Goog no stop lotto play.....

Looking good so far =)

Update - keep trailing the stop on XOM at 1.85 now

Well stopped out of BP which is just as well no telling what will happen tomorrow! Holding XOM and GOOG calls. Still bullish heading into tomorrow...