Tag Archive for 'TWM'

I did it again

Published on November 12, 2010, 8:50 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , , , .

Yes, going short last night worked out well…again…..3 days in a row! Cashed out of TWM QQQ puts and IWM puts. Although today, near the close, I went long via SPY, not much, but enough to put me in a net long position. Also long a few UUP and short XLE.

I’ll see Monday how that worked out! :mrgreen:

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What’s going on?

Published on November 11, 2010, 9:54 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , , , .

got out of CSCO put options right at the open for a mere 398% profit. Like clockwork, CSCO always goes down after a report, but never like this! It was wonderful! Oh yeah, and there were a few dollars to be made in QQQ puts as well. :mrgreen:

CSCO collapses, the markets go down, and the VIX is standing around doing nothing! What’s going on? Doesn’t all this activity warrant a bit of volatility? Crazy dollar, Korea trade collapse, too many bulls, low volume, lotsa call buying….something is about to happen! Or so it seems.

So after getting out of all those shorts in the morning, again by the close I have started short positions via TWM, QQQQ puts and IWM puts. It’s been working for two great days, I’ll try for another.

TGIF and happy trading!

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Ran the table

Published on November 10, 2010, 10:27 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , , , , , .

The markets dumped in the morning allowing me run the table and get out of all my positions within the first hour: UUP calls, QQQ puts, QID and ZSL. . . pumped me up more than a double espresso. I was a little bit hesitant thinking I might miss a bigger move down, but as it turns out I was getting out near the bottom. So I went out and had a long leisurely lunch!

When I got back, I see the markets have had a slow grind up…the Nasdaq and Russell seemed to be strongest. So as they popped into the close I thought I’d go short again via TWM the Russel inverse ETF and a few QQQQ puts, the same ones I got out of earlier. 8)

After the close, CSCO and KLIC came out with some poor earnings reports and the Qs moved down and TWM moved up. That’s the one thing I don’t like about options. While the QQQQ traded for 4 more hours, the options did not. So I’ll have to wait for the morning open before I can trade the puts.

Futures, after taking a dive on the CSCO report, are doing the slow grind up thing again. With banks closed on Thursday, along with the bond market, volume may be light.

Thank you Veterans and your families for your service and your sacrifices!

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The word of the day – “shitty”

Published on April 27, 2010, 9:46 pm in Opinions and Trading. Closed Tags: , , , , .

The question was, “What are CDOs?” And Sen. Levin continued to use that word all afternoon talking about CDOs or the GS sales force or describing Goldman’s deals! As it turns out, Mr. ”Shitty” Levin doesn’t know a thing about what he’s asking! And here’s the best joke I saw today… from Lloyd_Blankfein: “The joke’s on Levin. I had my boys put the Senator Pension Plan in Portuguese bonds this morning.” heeheehee! :mrgreen:

Here’s how the market reacted to the GS grilling: Financials (-3.4%), Materials (-3.2%), Consumer Discretionary (-2.9%), Energy (-2.8%). Of course there was more to that than just GS…we had the downgrading of Greece and Portugal debt. I’m sure that was worth a few points.

Personally, I had one of the best days of the year. The short positions via TZA, QQQQ puts and TWM calls were all golden, but I spent most of the day playing the S&P emini to the short side. The best position would have been just to short in the morning and cover in the afternoon, but I was in and out 4 different transactions….but all to the good.

Tomorrow is Fed Day with the rate announcement coming at about 2PM EDT. Before that we have today’s continuation…maybe a gap down with a bounce? A lot will depend on if we have any more downgrades like Greece and Portugal today. Play ‘em like they’re dealt!

My takeway after watching hours of Senate grilling of GS on TV: Throw away all email servers!

Never write when you can speak, never speak when you can nod, never nod when you can wink.

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The time draws near

Published on April 7, 2010, 10:33 pm in Opinions and Trading. Closed Tags: , , , .

This was an ugly day…low volume rallies and high volume breakdowns. Are we heading for a correction or a crash? I can sure ask the question, but I have no idea about the answer…I can only play ‘em one day at a time.

I’m still sticking with my bearish positions via TZA and TWM along with some QQQQ puts and VIX calls…and boy was that stance a pain today. But it worked out by the end of the session. Patience pays. It was a great 10-year auction today, but offset by an ugly consumer credit report. The credit report won…or is that lost…with all the indexes ending in the red.

The worry over PIGS is back…just in time for an ECB Monetary Policy meeting on Thursday. And back in the homeland we have Retail Sales, Initial Jobless Claims, a 30-year bond auction and last but not least, Tiger returns to the game. So if traders are not busy worrying about interest rates or growing debt, they’ll be watching TV. 8O

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Green Monday, what else is new?

Published on April 5, 2010, 9:27 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , , , , , .

It was such a low volume day I think anyone buying more than 1000 shares of a stock actually moved the market! 8)   The ES didn’t hit 1 million contracts until after the cash close. Sure Europe was closed as was about half of the Asian markets, but still, I usually look for 2 million by 3PM EST. Trading was slower than a Christmas eve!

I digress. The indexes closed in the green but it was a very boring day. I covered half of my UNG calls for 62% and half of my DRYS calls for 23%. My VIX calls are about worthless, but I still have 9 trading days to see if they perk up. TZA is looking pretty crappy but I added a few shares near the close. In keeping with my bearish bent on the markets I also added QQQ puts and TWM calls. I’ll see how far that gets me this week. Oh, and VG which I bought about a month ago, finally turned green.

It’s reading stuff like the following that gets me shaking my head and wondering “why?”
Huge 25% hike for small businesses kills New York jobs.

Office vacancy rate hits 16-year high

Tomorrow we get FOMC minutes and find out how the Treasury’s 3-year note auction behaves. Today’s auction was pretty good, with the 10-year interest rate hopping above 4% briefly, but did not cause any consternation in the equities. Let’s see if the world returns to trading on Tuesday.

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