mini-update 9/15/2005: opened a call-position NFLX NFLX Dec 22.5 calls (qnqlx) - 15 calls @ 265/ea. risk-capital $3975 Peace.
mini-update 9/15/2005: opened a put-position SNDK SNDK Jan06 40 puts (swqmh) - 13 puts @ 2.70/ea. risk-capital $3510 Peace.
mini-update 9/15/2005: closed a put-position SNDK SNDK Jan06 40 puts (swqmh) - 13 puts @ 2.10/ea. loss of $780. news came out near the close yesterday of a significant announcement on the 27th of this month. i should reverse and buy calls as sndk may probably run up for a few points (or more) until the announcement. i'll stay out for now... Peace.
update for the week ending 9/16/2005: loss of about $1250 for the week. current positions mark-to-market: DWA Dec 30 calls - showing a loss of $840 since inception on 7/1/05 EBay Jan06 42.5 calls - showing a loss of $1625 (on 15 calls) GOOG March06 puts - showing a gain of $350 NFLX Dec 22.5 calls - showing a gain of $525 activities for the week: 9/12 Opened a position on GOOG - 7 puts 9/15 Opened a position on NFLX - 15 calls 9/15 Opened a position on SNDK - 13 puts 9/16 Closed the position on SNDK - 13 puts Not a good week... it felt like every position was losing money. last week, 2 days after the ebay call-position was opened, they get news that they're buying skype and the stock went down and has been drifting down since. this week, after 2 hours of opening the put-position on sndk, they issue a news-release saying that they're going to announce something revolutionary on the mobile entertainment industry and i think i'm pretty lucky to have gotten out with only $780 loss. that was probably about 4 hours time (market time - from yesterday afternoon to this morning) i've had a good run the past few weeks, so this setback is part of the game. i gotta be more conservative on these picks, though, i think. ebay has closed to my stop-loss area but i will give it a few days next week. this week is expiration week and i have a feeling that ebay may get a bounce next week. if it doesn't, i'll just have to close the position and take my losses. Good Trading.
forgot to add the SNDK position closing figures: SNDK Jan06 40 puts - closed position for a loss of $780
Kinda interesting whats going on in your portfolio week to week... looks like you are going back and forth week to week... this is normal given your discretionary trading style... The beauty is that as long as you keep your bets pretty small and continue to take losses as they come... you will eventually nail a windfall profit on some play that will make your year... That is the beauty of being long option.. is that you can never blow up because your risk is always defined... however you can die from a thousand cuts if non your play ever does really materialize.. --MIKE
Thanks, Mike. you pretty much summed up what's happened to me this year. i started with 1k and have built it up to 22k as of right now. the past few years, i always dedicate about 3-4k per year for options trading and they've always ended up zero and i take the losses on my taxes. if the account goes down to around 17k, i'll probably just quit for the year. i wanna be able to say to myself that i can have an up year and all the heartache the past 4 years were not for nothing this is a discretionary all-speculative account as i do have a full-time job. this week's setback is bad, but i'm trying real hard to focus ahead. the problem is that i'm beginning to feel a little complacent in picking my positions. i don't want to die of a thousand cuts, and i think one way to to avoid this is to be very, very selective on the positions i take. if it doesn't look like almost a sure thing, don't put it on (no matter how big the perceived rewards may be). focus on the high-probability bets first, and the money will come in on its own. Good Trading to you... -jerry
mini-update 9/19/2005: opened a call-position on SPY SPY Nov 125 Calls (spyku) - 18 calls @ 1.70/each. risk-capital $3060 peace.
actually for the past 5 months... mark to market at this moment, it is only $20,300 now. taking a beating today. 3/5 positions going against me and 2 positions almost flat. Cluseau, most of the gains can be attributed to 2 separate plays on the same underlying - CME. purchased 7 CME sept 260 calls on 4/28/2005 @ 1.4/ea ($980 risk capital) sold 7 CME sept 260 calls on 6/9/2005 @ 11.4/ea ($7980) - have always thought this was higher.... oh well, this is what i see on record. purchased 7 CME aug 320 calls on 6/29/2005 @ 2.25 each ($1575 risk capital) sold 7 CME aug 320 calls on 6/30 @ 15.5/ea ($10,850) just took a quick look on real-time quotes. another ~$300 loss additional. this may be the week i quit trading for a while (very likely for the rest of the year). it's been fun, but gotta back off for now, and admit there's been a lot of luck the past 5 months..