FAS/FAZ for New Week 4/27

Discussion in 'ETFs' started by scot.mcpherson, Apr 27, 2009.

  1. Hehe, I should have gotten off at 9.30 yesterday, I got off this morning though before I got entirely killed. I lost 5%.

    Holy cow though, look at the setup for a dive....
     
    #61     Apr 29, 2009
  2. count me back in the fazzer train (standing in front of a train):eek:

    $8.41 FAZ
    And (god help me) June $10 calls on Faz
     
    #62     Apr 29, 2009
  3. #63     Apr 29, 2009
  4. June?

    I'm interested in learning about options for longer term plays to better utilize my account balance, so I'd I'd like to hear the reason why you didn't buy May calls.

    I'm personally not interested in looking that far in advance, so May seems more appropriate to me...
     
    #64     Apr 29, 2009
  5. I am just waiting for the reversal. I know the Dow has gotta go down from here, but it could go up 25-35 points more before the plunge. FAZ tends to bias downward, so I don't want that chewed away by holding too long.

    I think you gotta good price though...

    I ended up hopping on at 8.47 as I was typing this.
     
    #65     Apr 29, 2009
  6. I can take this question.

    Most of people avoid options with less than 30 days to expiry because the time decay is more during last 30 days.

    I bought my combo about 10 days before April expiry, so I picked May. June options did not have enough liquidity (OI) at that time.

    FAZ MAY 10 CALL - LONG - 2.20 Debit
    FAZ MAY 20 CALL - SHORT - 0.80 Credit
    FAZ MAY 7.5 PUT - SHORT - 1.10 Credit

    I wrote the PUT to hedge some of the time decay on my debit-spread.

    Should have sold them when I was up about 100%. Now doing damage management and hoping that May-4 report is not so good.

    I'll be ok (minimal loss) with FAZ staying above 7.5

    ### GREED is GOD ###
     
    #66     Apr 29, 2009
  7. I have no idea how options work, I have been reading about them, but I am having a hard time getting my head wrapped around them. I mean I know what they are and how they work, but I see SOOO much room for stupid error.
     
    #67     Apr 29, 2009
  8. This is a common misconception. Options are lot safer than buying stocks. You can paint your own risk-reward diagram and sleep better. Check attached risk-reward diagram for my complex position.

    I highly recommend this great book on options. Mark is author of this book and very active on ET.

    http://blog.mdwoptions.com/options_for_rookies/
     
    #68     Apr 29, 2009
  9. 1- ok, this makes sense to my limited knowledge about options. Liquidity is good. Avoiding time decay is good.

    2- this is the part I don't get about options though. I understand the protection that making both bets make - limited downside, potentially unlimited upside - but the same could be realized by just bailing out of a position if it goes against you, or just taking fewer contracts. And couldn't one just avoid time decay by not holding that long?

    But jeeze are there some big %age swings in options. The May FAS 9 call is up 33-40% this morning.

    Is it normal to hold through all these swings, or is it just used for long term?

    I ask cuz I'm a piker, and I would find it tough to NOT sell those calls if I would have bought them EOD yesterday, and take my money and run, and wait for another setup. Like I would in daytrading........
     
    #69     Apr 29, 2009
  10. Yeah, that was a perfect sell for today morning. People do short term trading with options and speculate the market with great leverage.

    But here are few hurdles with this approach

    * Equity options are also subjected to "Pattern Day Trading" limitations.
    * A huge bid/ask spread works against you.
    * You can easily lose 100% of your investment if market goes in other direction. So risk management is absolutely required.

    I'll start doing more of it when my IB account is ready (in 4 days). It is not fun to make $80 in such piking and pay $20 as commission (and $10 to market maker as bid/ask spread loss).
     
    #70     Apr 29, 2009