At Collective2 my new futures-traded systems have begun to gain traction (and yes we've had to evolve to this point) using my same <b>Market Direction</b> calls you've seen exhaustively chronicled in this thread (newsletter postings, etc.): Have a good rest of the weekend, Gilbert aka Paysense
OK So it is Monday and some of our stocks we are holding do not have call options short sold against them (due to OTM April calls expiring last Friday). We take a look and well ok, decide to retain 100 shares of CLWR in our account and sell the May ITM (12.5) call option contract: Monday, April 21, 2008 11:50 am EST Sold (1) CLWR May 12.5 (QCWEV) call option contract at $1.95 (bid). ...BTW lowers our "breakeven" or stop loss target: Stop Loss: $11.35 The Model Portfolio will be updated at the end of the day with closing market prices. Additionally we will look for opportunities to (very soon) sell May calls against our stock in XMSR, IOC and SOLF - provided these won't be reporting earnings anytime soon. gA
Adding more covered call positions: Monday, April 21, 2008 12:20 pm EST Bought 100 shares of CSIQ (Canadian Solar, Inc.) at $26.35 (ask). Sold (1) CSIQ May 25 (GQAEE) call option contract at $2.90 (bid). Stop Loss: $23.45 Bought 400 shares of SPF (Standard Pacific Corporation) at $5.45 (ask). Sold (4) SPF May 5 (SPFEA) call option contracts at $0.80 (bid). Stop Loss: $4.65 p $
A bit more of a jump in call option premiums - that we hope can once again be held as gains as we look toward May expiry. Latching onto the gains is the easy part as well researched stocks can provide about 6% a month - during months that progress with an uptrending (or flat) stock market. We are still looking to sell the calls against our stock in IOC, XMSR and SOLF. pS
Adding EXM - doesn't report until June and recent institutional accumulation has been off the charts. A bit over-allocated for our tastes in this account (4k/20k) but analysts are expecting a 200% EPS surge in Q2. <b>Wednesday, April 23, 2008 2:05 pm EST Bought 100 shares of EXM (Excel Maritime Carriers, Ltd.) at $43.90 (ask). Sold (1) EXM May 45 (EXMEI) call option contract at $2.70 (bid). Stop Loss: $41.20</b> pS ...timely enuf of a post, and will update "mp" (Model Portfolio) at the close. pS
Weakness in SOLF and IOC are somewhat being offset by XMSR which is forging a bit up to where we can add more premium from the sale of the call option contract. With weakness in the market of late - and with how illiquid and fundamentally weak IOC and XMSR are - I think they are actually holding up pretty well. Again this is a 20k learning account that can develop a valued skill-set toward our goals. (To be leveraged into a much larger account with more institutionally sound holdings). Going ITM with some of the other issues looks pretty sound at this juncture, but I still expect more ramp to the averages than one may think. Ok enuf said, the mp: pS Ga :eek:
Ongoing update Trading History (showing recent trades and cash balance). Previous '08 trades attached in earlier posts. pS :eek:
Thus far my <b>20-Mar-2008</b> market "bottom" call is proving correct - <b>JUST 3 TRADING DAYS AFTER THE NASDAQ FORGED ITS LOWEST POINT OF ITS 23% CORRECTION.</b> Man, I didn't realize it was so close this time! Anyways, here is a snapshot of my Collective2.com futures-traded systems (actual names omitted per ET policy). So far so good after about 8 weeks. These are low margin ventures into using my Market Direction calls to catch large "swings" from the indexes. Cheers, GilB
Now we get another bump up in XMSR so we are going to sell the May call: <b>Thursday, April 24, 2008 11:40 am EST Sold (1) XMSR May 12 (QSYEN) call option contract at $0.70 (bid). Stop Loss: $10.05</b> Not happy about weakness in IOC and RZ - but with these issues we are going to have to be patient. GA awaiting: mp attachment
I hope I am not adding positions too fast. I like to go about every (4) trading days to let the market prove itself through my positions (which are generally market leading/high growth issues that go up first and down first, lol...a bit of a forward looking indicator). But here you are - seems the market is on track quickly moving back toward the highs with plenty of buying interest. Not to mention how juicy these option premiums are and the market headwinds we are experiencing! CLWR does not report within the May expiration period and our other 100 shares have been acting well. Option premiums are stellar - I think because the stock is nearing a cup-with-handle breakout, so people are paying up (but I don't know). Hey anyone notice how easy it has been to manage the type of growth we are expecting from this covered call fund? Just a thought. <b>Thursday, April 24, 2008 12:20 pm EST Bought 100 shares of CLWR (Clearwire Corporation) at $14.75 (ask). Sold (1) XMSR May 15 (QCWEC) call option contract at $1.40 (bid). Stop Loss: $13.35</b> Also anyone notice how these postings may not be exact in timing but are easy to imitate my performance without all the tick-by-tick anxiety? Yeah well that was by design, since I was a 9-5 engineer and had others similar in mind ( I know many here do but who, after all, really wants to watch each tick all day every day of their stocks?) Just some things to keep in mind. paysen$e