Anyone read thestreet.com's option alert?

novel20 · Feb 10, 2006

Thanks for the clarification, Steve.

Have you accounted for the commissions?

Look forward to your new trades.

Thanks for responding to my inquiry.

liulala · Feb 10, 2006

why not just check out the newsletter yourself if you are so curious about the newsletter,
there is a free trial available?

To my knowledge, all thestreet.com newsletter performance accounted for the commissions. And I am a very happy subscriber.

Steve Smith is a nice and honest guy. And generously share lots of knowledge. And I have made quite a number of successful trades using his recommendation.

Quote from novel20:

Thanks for the clarification, Steve.

Have you accounted for the commissions?

Look forward to your new trades.

Thanks for responding to my inquiry.
More...

hans37 · Feb 10, 2006

Quote from steve13smith:

Rumor had it that a thread was unspooling regarding the recent poor performance of the TSCM OptionAlert model portfolio. I figured I should show up, be accountable and hopefully clarify some performance questions

Since the inception date of July 18. 2005 (call it 7 months) the model portfolio is up 4.5%- and yes that includes the recent losses. Yes, that is down from 17% just two weeks ago. So yes
the last two weeks have been terrible in terms of performance. The reason? I've simply been wrong. All positions have been of a limited risk. Anyone who has traded for any period of time will encounter some bad stretches; doesn't make it any less painful. I take the responsibility and implications of publishing investment ideas very seriously and am the first to acknowledge when I am not performing up to my own or anyones expectations.

But be clear, you mention four recent trades; that is four out of some 60 that have been suggested in the past seven months. And you don't quite have the facts straight on those four.

HAR was indeed a bust but you fail to note that I had rolled down the short $120 calls to the $115 strike. the loss was $3,900 not $6,000

ERTS was also rolled down; covered $60 calls and sold Feb. $55C. Position is still open and about $2,700 in the red not the $3,300.

AMZN was a bad trade. I'll say no more.

HRB is still open. Calls bought for 85 cents now at 65 with a five weeks remaining. Not ready to call that a big loser yet.

You also fail to acknowledge that during the last two weeks we have had profitable trades in AXP $52.50 calendar spread, long SPY $127 puts, which we took partial profit by selling some this morning's sell-off, and an open position in BZH (short Feb. $65 puts at $1.95) that is currently showing about a $700 profit. For full disclosure I just took a loss in CVH $60 calls. Which hopefully puts an end to a very trying two weeks.

This was way more then I intended to write and probably more than anyone cares to read. But felt I should put in my two cents while I still have a few of them to give

CoachPhil, thx for the nice words and hope to see you out on the playing field.

-steve
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Wow ! That was impressive. I'm not accustomed to people being straight forward on message boards.

Hybone · Feb 10, 2006

I respect honest straight shooters .... I think Steve seems honest and I will try out that newsletter shortly.

novel20 · Feb 11, 2006

liulala, read my response to DonnaV about cherry picking the suggested trades by option alert.

In short, if you are better than Steve such that you think you can cherry pick his suggested trades, then you don't need to subscribe to the option alert.

And if you are the 50/50 normal people (which I am pretty sure you are), just follow their whole porfolio in the same proportion in your account.

AAAintheBeltway · Feb 11, 2006

Finally, we have a trading guru who is not afraid to show up and take responsibility for a couple of losers. Probably a first for ET.

Steve, you've earned a lot of street cred with me.

dis · Feb 11, 2006

Unlike many other options online services and newsletters, which issue only monthly or weekly updates, TheStreet.com Options Alerts with regular email alerts constantly keeps you in the fast-moving options action.

Your alerts benefits at-a-glance

Exclusive focus on options trading.

Opportunity to learn and trade alongside a pro.

Chance to zero in on advanced trading tactics.

Quick read so you can decide fast whether to take
action or not.

Saves you endless hours of research since Steve
does it for you.
More...

The only thing missing is a performance record.

El OchoCinco · Feb 11, 2006

If you do not subscribe to his alert service than you do not have any trades to cherry pick. Many people subscribe as a source of research since many people do not have the time to scan daily but if they have a nesletter giving them a small set of 5 or 6 picks a week, then they can narrow their focus.

If you do not need the research source or trade suggestions to research further, than you do not need the newsletter. But it is meant to be a tool to use. So there is nothing wrong with taking the approach of getting a newsletter and further researching the picks and taking the trades you strongly agree with. That is what any newsletter subscriber should do. I do not think a subscriber should blindly take each pick and dump it in their portfolio. That is the trap newbies fall into when the subscribe, they think they can blindly follow the picks without any independent analysis or research.

Quote from novel20:

liulala, read my response to DonnaV about cherry picking the suggested trades by option alert.

In short, if you are better than Steve such that you think you can cherry pick his suggested trades, then you don't need to subscribe to the option alert.

And if you are the 50/50 normal people (which I am pretty sure you are), just follow their whole porfolio in the same proportion in your account.
More...

riskarb · Feb 11, 2006

You've got to have a screw-loose to recommend long calendars into an earnings release.

novel20 · Feb 11, 2006

Option coach, you still don't get my point. Look at what DonnaV and liulala wrote and you see how newbies fall into the trap of cherry picking the suggested trades, not blindly following all of them.

If Steve is as good as he seems to be, I will follow all of his suggested trades. The reason is I believe I am not as good as him, and if I try to cherry pick, I may pick the one that totally bombed at the end. But if I follow every suggested trades, I am still 4.5% up in 7 months as he claims.