I wouldn't take a directional move until I saw the reaction to the news but for a noob today, it could be really dumb or a really clever move Or in it's perverse way, the market could go nowhere. Just remember that half of the people that you know are below average
It can make money in one day. The key is implied volatility. If you pick the right stocks where vols are somewhat squashed, any move will bust out vols in your favor. But if you pick stocks that are already busting over the top in vol, you're going to get killed. That said, your directional bets can also get killed as vols come in if you pick stocks with elevated vols.
This is kind of an odd way to look at this, but if the demo trades do real well, you might not be happy (since they were demo) and if they do real badly, you might be happy (since you avoided actually doing those trades)! As far as will the trades do well or not tomorrow - it looks like they are mostly put purchases - so if the market falls and you take profits, they could do well. If the market falls in the morning though and you don't close some positions to take profts, the market could swing upward and the positions could lose alot. JJacksET4
I'm just curious why you bought a RIMM call and an AAPL put. The news that is expected tomorrow should affect entire sectors generally the same (maybe except banks). I don't see how Geithner/Senate news tomorrow could cause apple to go one way and rimm the other... I guess in a way you could pretend that's a straddle ..but that's just my opinion .. the way things go though, tomorrow apple will crash, rimm will skyrocket and I'll be reading some nice comments on here by the end of the day.