That was fun!
Tomorrow’s the big day so I’ll make this quick…
As I said in the morning, I would be thrilled to hold our levels. It only took 18 minutes of trading before I decided: "AAPL going well, I’m getting out of Sept DIA puts but will rebuy if we break back below -100." By 9:54 I got bullish: "GRMN, TASR, CROX, AAPL, RIMM – nasdaq is flying so I’m going with QQQQ $46s as a mo play, $2.60 with a .15 stop."
The Nasdaq was kind enough to pick up another 28 points from there in the next 90 minutes but I remained skeptical, saying just 15 minutes later: "I am not buying into this rally, just playing the motions so please note that a lot of moves I am making here are quickie trades where I’m very happy to make 10%. If I do not XXX a trade, then it is a trade I am discussing or telling you about but not a trade I think would be good for the average person and, if you are a $10KP player, then you shouldn’t be doing those either in this market."
By 10:41 we started working back into our DIA puts and I called a roll on the Qs with tight stops at 11:20, 2 minutes before the day’s high on the Nasdaq. At 11:46 I went from manic back to depressive and said: "QQQQ – now I’m squeezing the Qs with the $48 puts at .70 in a 2:1 ratio to the $48 calls if they can’t hold 2,585. Ahh, it’s the NYSE that’s bothering me. I really want to see them get positive or I’m worried." The Nasdaq pretty much gave up all of the day’s gains from that point forward.
The rest of the day was just as crazy as a strong(ish) GDP report did give the markets a boost but fear of the Fed, whether they do something, don’t do something, might do something… whatever, drove investors into fits. We just had fun scalping the indexes, causing Cramer (speaking of schizophrenic) to note how great that play is in last night’s show.
We took a few off the table and added some CVX $85 puts but we finished the day with most of our bullish positions still intact, protected by a tight but longer (1/2 October) 60:40 bearish split on the index puts. My thanks to Cap for reminding us that tomorrow is the end of month and we could expect pointless mark-ups, especially as many funds need to pretty up their virtual portfolios:
|
Description |
Basis |
Open |
Sale Price |
Sold |
Gain/Loss |
% |
| 10 SEP 135.00 AAPL CALL (APVIG) | 3,010.00 | 8/28 | 6,990.00 | 8/30 | 3,980.00 | 132% |
| 20 SEP 130.00 AAPL CALL (APVIF) | 14,010.00 | 8/29 | 13,990.00 | 8/30 | -20 | 0% |
| 20 JAN 140.00 AAPL CALL (APVAH) | 18,010.00 | 8/24 | 30,990.00 | 8/30 | 12,980.00 | 72% |
| 20 SEP 130.00 AAPL CALL (APVIF) | 14,010.00 | 8/29 | 14,990.00 | 8/30 | 980 | 7% |
| 20 SEP 130.00 AAPL CALL (APVIF) | 14,010.00 | 8/29 | 13,990.00 | 8/30 | -20 | 0% |
| 40 OCT 135.00 AAPL CALL (APVJG) | 9,410.00 | 8/1 | 44,990.00 | 8/30 | 35,580.00 | 378% |
| 40 SEP 65.00 CELG CALL (LQHIM) | 3,580.00 | 7/31 | 3,990.00 | 8/30 | 410 | 12% |
| 50 SEP 134.00 DIA CALL (DAWID) | 10,510.00 | 8/24 | 10,490.00 | 8/30 | -20 | 0% |
| 120 SEP 46.00 QQQQ CALL (QQQIT) | 32,670.00 | 8/30 | 36,510.00 | 8/30 | 3,840.00 | 12% |
| 40 SEP 52.50 SNDK CALL (SWFIX) | 9,930.00 | 8/24 | 14,510.00 | 8/30 | 4,580.00 | 46% |
| 20 OCT 62.50 TGT CALL (TGTJZ) | 5,510.00 | 8/20 | 8,530.00 | 8/30 | 3,020.00 | 55% |
| 50 SEP 85.00 XOM CALL (XOMIQ) | 6,510.00 | 8/29 | 14,490.00 | 8/30 | 7,980.00 | 123% |
