That wasn’t really so bad…
If you read this you should know I could care less about the Dow, other than the fact that everyone else seems to care about it so we have to. The Nasdaq asserted some leadership, which is just what I always wanted and the S&P held 1,300. The NYSE was up a nice 22 pts too but you’ll never hear a word about it even though it’s a better indicator than the other 3.
I did not pack it in but I am ready to. Most of my stuff worked today but I am very scared of Monday and I don’t know if I can bring myself to leave money in the market this weekend.
Oil is through the roof so of course the Dow is down (they are industrials you know) and gold is through the roof of the house built on top of the roof that oil went through. That means inflation concerns which means more Fed tightening and tigers and bears oh my!
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Another Dow downer was GM which was only saved by the 5% rule today. Those $20 puts we picked up for .40 are now $1.25 (up 300%) so take that Google! What a surprise that wasn’t for us right?
Again, go to the comments for Google news, I feel silly rehashing it but I am out except for the far out calls ($460-$480) which won’t lose much value in a drop and represent about 40% of the profits from the lower ladder trades (we started at $420 way back on Monday!). Today’s finish made me too nervous after yesterday’s flush but that may be just what THEY want us to think. I just can’t see how that many people can hold off buying if tomorrow is going to be such a great day so I have to assume I’m wrong.
I hit MSM’s action on the head, it topped out at $55.50 and dove down to finish at $53.16. If you didn’t take 5% and run when it flattened out, be smarter tomorrow!
In comments I called GE May $35s for .45 around 10am. They finished at .65 (up 40%) as this one finally woke up! This is the kind of stuff I’d like to be able to do (intra day alerts) if I ever get a proper site…
At 11 I made the following high risk oil calls:
BP $65 puts @ .15
BTU $47.50 puts @ .80
COP $60 puts @ .20
XOM $60 puts @ .40
SLB $115 puts @ .65
SUN $75 puts @ .70
Of the group, only the SUN (up 20%) and XOM (up 20%) have really moved so far. I was too busy with Google to buy round 2 this afternoon so I will look to pick up my next 25% in the morning.
MOT had a great morning but got slammed down after lunch. Still the $22.50s finished at $1.05 (up 15%). If there is no upgrade tomorrow I would just get out of this one (but remember I am just getting out of everything tomorrow so you need to set your own level of pessimism).
NAK ran up to $6.45 (up 3%) but this stock was at $7 when gold was “just” $575 around 2/1.
ABX $27.50s were a big winner, finishing at .85 (up 125%) but ABX was at $32 on 2/1 so I’m going to go for double or nothing before halfing out (I know, greedy).
NEM May $55s ran to $2 (up 50%). NEM was at $62 on 2/1. See, my logic isn’t that complicated – I like these stocks fundamentally (well not NEM but the others) and they usually track gold pretty closely so I figured it was a good time to buy them. That’s all there is to it!
BVN actually opened way up and dropped $1 the rest of the day. I have no idea why but I took the May $25s off the table for $1.80 (up 80%) as there were plenty of gold plays that were going better.
*** Note to readers *** This is why we cash out positions. Is it worth tying up a 400% profit in Google and not being able to take advantage of this opportunity? We didn’t know last night what would come up today but something usually does and you should always have cash available to take advantage of things like this.
NVS was odd. It gapped up but the $55s opened at $1.40, so I didn’t trade it but it ended at $1.70 even though the stock really flattened out.
GLW got rejected off $28 in a most painful manner! I would not bet it can recover from that, especially into this weekend.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=GLW&t=1d
EK, on the other hand, refused to go below $28.65 in much the same manner.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=EK&t=5d&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=
Fess up, who bought MRKL without a limit order? The stock jumped up to .025 in the morning on 2M shares but finished the day back at .021. You have to be patient when buying these little things! I’m also mad that you now outvote me but perhaps we can start putting a block together and cut Tarini’s salary…
BIDU was a great example of flushing out the stops before taking the stock higher. After gapping up to $57.50 on Google rumors, it dropped to $55 but took another big run in the afternoon where the Sept $50s finished at $14.70 (up 90%) and don’t even talk to me if you didn’t take my advice to buy out the caller! After opening at $4, they dipped to $3 before going back up and closing at $5.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=BIDU&t=1d
Another great intraday trade was the sale on RIMM $75 puts at 12:30 for .55. See my logic in the comments but they finished at .70 and I’m going to buy some more if they go back to .60!
I apologize to anyone who took my advice and halfed out on PD with a measly double! The $75s we bought for $2.25 are now $7.80 (up 350%). Hey, we still have half… (kick, kick).
I’m out of the EBAY puts, keeping the calls. Whether or not the Supreme Court rules in their favor (and they will) MercExchange will have to settle for a very small sum as their patent has been invalidated! So far the May $40s are $1.85 (up 10%) while the Apr $37.50 puts are .75 (down 20%).
Remember tomorrow is the wildest day of the year so far! End of quarter, anything can happen and we are going to have to be quick on our feet with Google and oil so stay tuned!
