Tag Archive for 'IWM'

Volume lagging

Published on July 26, 2011, 8:51 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: .

Another slow day. You would think with all this debt crap it would get a bit more volatile. Well, as earnings season winds down, and more and more traders take their summer vacations, it could get to be a boring time…even with all the crazy debt news.

Markets hung around even most of the day…until the latest press release or news conference. This really sucks!

I keep watching and trading very short term with small positions. I traded IWM calls today to the long side and made some small gains. Happy with that because it was positive and took only a couple trades for a few minutes. Sure, it wasn’t a home run, but enough for lunch and dinner….and a six-pack. :)

Deja Vu again

Published on May 11, 2011, 9:54 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , , , , .

Markets were under water oil all day! It was last Thursday all over again. Commodities, all of them, took another bashing all because the US Dollar looks like it may have hit bottom…or at least bouncing strong.

Today I cashed out the short hedges I made yesterday via VIX DUG and IWM. Actually they became profits rather than hedges. I also nibbled on some USO thinking oil will bounce.

Tomorrow and Friday will bring some inflation news via the PPI and CPI, along with Jobless Claims and Consumer Sentiment. This week looks to end in a wild way. I’m holding some TBT in anticipation of inflation.

Have you noticed how all the down days have a higher volume? Except for a couple hours this morning, it was still a fairly boring day. Maybe with all the eco news coming up we can get some action going. See you in the markets. :mrgreen:

Two economists are walking down the street. One sees a dollar lying on the sidewalk, and says so.
“Obviously not,” says the other. “If there were, someone would have picked it up!”

Another slow one…

Published on May 10, 2011, 9:40 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , .

Not much activity on low volume, but markets held on to their gains on Tuesday. The big news comes after the markets close with DIS showing disappointing earnings and the rare earth stocks weakening after MCP also had a bad report. And later tonight we hear about the Chinese economy with CPI PPI and retail sales, among other chinese news.

I said earlier today I started hedging my bets with a few short positions via IWM puts and VIX calls. A gap up is not out of the question, but it may be an exhaustion gap or popping of stops…..or the next leg of the bull market :)

Thanks for reading and good luck tomorrow!

Is the bull back?

Published on May 10, 2011, 1:11 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , .

After an ugly week, the markets, especially the commodities, started back up. Sure it was low volume, but isn’t that a standard Monday?

Tuesday though is still weak volume, and I started to hedge some of my longs with IWM puts, VIX calls and DUG….not a full load, just some bits and pieces. Tight stops on everything.

The Pessimist sees the glass as half empty. The Optimist sees the glass half full. The Day Trader just tops off his beer…

Beware the Ides of March

Published on March 15, 2011, 8:39 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , , .

Caeser was told many years ago to “Beware the Ides of March!” I believe many traders woke up with a knife in their backs….but buying was the thing to do. I bought calls in IWM, C, and F which got green real fast.

Futures are looking good so far. Nikkei should pop today after that over-reaction last night….and others should follow.

Looking for a gap up on Wednesday, but not too sure it will hold. May cash out the longs and just watch to see what happens. Not looking to short, but may wait for a better entry on longs.

Finally!

Published on December 15, 2010, 9:41 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , , , , .

After playing the short side for over a week, payoff finally arrived! After a small up move after the open, it was basically all downhill after that, closing near the lows of the day. I’m looking for some more downside on Thursday, but the question is if this is a correction or just some OpEx shennanigans? While I think a corection is on order, I also don’t think that this is it…yet.

After adding some today, I have a full position in QID now, along with SPY puts, YHOO puts, GLD puts and UUP calls…all in the green. My only red position is IWM puts which was the first position that I shorted last week and was probably a bit too early. But a little bit more market downside and I may at least get back to breakeven. Oh well, they aren’t all winners. :oops:

Futures are down slightly this evening but not with any enthusiasm. Housing Starts and Jobless Claims Thursday morning may set the tone for the day. Remember, options expiration is designed to take as much money from as many people as money managers can. So expect some wild gyrations!

“The tax cut deal means tax cuts for the rich and benefits for the unemployed. If you work for a living, you’re screwed.” – Jay Leno

Cut ‘n Paste

Published on December 14, 2010, 9:29 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , , .

That’s what the Fed did on the FOMC rate decision…just copied it from the last meeting. That made for the most uneventful FOMC day! Usually there is wild swings, but it just sat there. Then when traders finally realized the Fed is still saying the economy stinks, everyone started selling. But that only brought the markets back to unchanged for the day.

Shorts are still working for me…a little short SPY, a little IWM via puts, and some short on the Qs via QID. Get in and get out, back in and back out….like a revolving door. If I was really talented I would go back and forth long and short, but I’m still looking for a bigger correction than a midday selloff. Maybe that’s about to start.

Remember, after Monday and Tuesday even the calendar says W T F . . .

Breakeven?

Published on December 6, 2010, 9:35 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , .

We made new highs with one of the lowest volume days of the year! SPY had only about 100 million shares traded today, about 60% below average!

There’s not much in the way of economic news this week, except for the usual fare such as oil inventories and jobless claims. But the news that there may be a tax compromise could stir things up a bit.

During the day I added QID along with some IWM puts. By the close of the day I ended putting my portfolio in a net short position. The trick will be picking the right ones to sell first…the shorts or the longs. For now the futures are at breakeven. Hope they stay that way until the cash open 8)

Free money!

Published on December 2, 2010, 7:53 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , .

Tomorrow has the Non-Farm Payroll report so I took all the profits I could today. No matter what the number, NFP always brings volatility with it. ADP on Wednesday was good but Jobless Claims on Thursday was bad….so NFP is wavering either way.

After selling all my longs I started to nibble some shorts via SPY and IWM puts…but by the close I was under water. I’ll give it another day or two before I capitulate. 8O

We have made it back to the April highs but there’s still a little bit more to go to hit the November highs. Does that give us a double-top or do we breeze through to new highs? When there is so much printed, free money around the world, how can the bulls fail? They can’t, but boy wait until that inflation takes hold….bitch-slap!

When other people are greedy, I get fearful. When other people are fearful, I get greedy. When people are yelling, I’m selling. When people are crying, I’m buying. –Warren Buffet

Dull

Published on November 17, 2010, 8:41 pm in Opinions and Trading. Closed Tags: , .

That’s about all I can say. Went to cash yesterday and I’m holiding the same position today. I was thinking about entering some calls in the SPY or DIA or IWM near the close, but missed out. A cold or sinuses hit me like a truck today and didn’t want to commit myself not knowing if I will be at my desk tomorrow. And besides it was an irrelevant close, no direction.

There was no business news today…every channel, CNBC, FBN, Bloom all talked about tonight’s pricing of GM and tomorrow’s IPO.

Get Jobless Claims on Thursday which will probably set the tone of the day. And I’m sure all the news people will be watching the GM CEO buy the first shares….or would that be the U.S. Treasury? WhooWhoo.

Going for drugs and bed! Have a great day!