That's exactly how I'd play it small, take the small losses, and leave the potential home runs in play. I did move things around this morning. I took off a lot of SQ Aug 65 calls after it couldn't hold $70. I was in too heavy. I also added FB Aug wk2 182.5 calls on momentum. I think FB has another 1-2 days left looking for something in the 185-187.5 only. I'm definitely late to this momentum play, so it's not a big trade. I've also just lightened up a bit on AAPL 207.5 calls taking a loss on the exit. AAPL's fighting that 208 level, and we'll see how it plays out today. On the earnings play I'm in ETSY Aug 40 calls, trying to set up the wtw call spread, and then I'll look at twlo too.
Thanks. I am learning watching you trade and I am sure the other elitetrader members have benefitted as well!
I'm completely in FB 182.5 calls now. I was able to avg into this trade at just under 2.50 this morning on that breather at 10:40-11:15am, and then it started that second leg up. I was only able to grab 20 calls on this momentum play (I was looking for 30-40 calls). On the other side, I took a -300 loss on 10 of my AAPL calls.
Looks like a 2 out of 3 play on earnings. Those twlo aug 10 65 calls and etsy aug $40 calls should be profitable tomorrow. The numbers on WTW looked good too, but there has to be something inside the report that is pushing shares lower. This one was a call spread, so the risk was lower. I have about 1500 risk on the WTW 92/100 call spread, 1500 on twlo 65 calls, and 2900 on the ETSY Aug 40 calls. Overall, today started weak (at the lows I was down -1700), but the market turned around with moves in SQ, AAPL, and FB pushing the account higher to +5.5k. I noticed BA, BIDU, and BABA down today, and that's going to keep me from going big just in case more tariff news come out. Those 3 have been my trade sensitive stocks, and they'll continue to be my canaries in the mine.
FB and SQ looking strong today. My WB went up good too. Have a small profit on my calls. Chinese companies might be affected by current disputes on tariffs. Several Chinese companies reporting sales dropping 50% or more from US customers. Do not know how it will affect BA, BIDU and BABA but, BA probably, the most insulated. BA has orders back logged into the future and pretty much drubbing Airbus order wise.
I haven't done any detailed research to see how affected all three (BIDU, BABA, and BA) are from these tariffs. I've used these three along with CAT since these trade wars started because I've noticed that they are the large cap that are the most sensitive to these tariff talks from both sides. Just about every headline that have included tariffs or trade wars have moved these stocks lower, and their recovery from those drops have also given me an indication of how serious these talks might be. Yesterday was actually one of the few times I didn't mention CAT, because it was actually up slightly. The pre-market price action looks good so far. ETSY and TWLO are jumping higher from their after hours close and WTW is holding steady between 88-90. I like what I'm seeing from AAPL and FB in pre-market too. I'm going to close out some positions today though as I don't want to be too heavy in the market. Right now, I've got 47% in play spread over 10 positions. That wasn't how I usually play it, but I've got some holdover earning trades from the previous week that I felt would come around.
TWLO, ETSY both flying. Wow! My WB up a tad which is good too. FB continuing to go up. WTW going down big on the negative. So far, great calls on these stocks again!
About 5 minutes in and I show twlo plus wtw still in price discovery mode. Options on both aren't opened yet. So I took the time to exit my ETSY position except for 1 call. I want to see how that one call plays out into expiration next week. I'll also be looking to exit AAPL 207.5 calls today too, and I might look at unloading some FB if it reaches $187. And there it is, that decrease in subscription on wtw really killed it (4.6M to 4.5M Q over Q). I'm going to also exit over half of FB here, just saw it nearly hit $188. I closed out most of FB 182.5 calls locking in +5211 so far. Also out of all AAPL 207.5 calls for a net gain of only +478 after adding this morning gains to yesterday's losses. I left one ETSY in play, but closed out the rest of ETSY Aug 40 calls for +4255, and also locked in gains on all of TWLO at just under +3200. I haven't closed out the WTW 92/100 call spread, but I expect to see it expire for a total loss of about -1500. I'm going to take a second look at DIS with that buy high sell higher theory of mine. DIS has a solid chart right now after that acquisition, and it looks like a nice cup base. Solid earnings, or more importantly, more details on the FOX acquisition could push this one into new highs.
Got out of my WB calls. Too bad it went back down. I ended up okay though. Still got a 29% profit on my 3 contracts for just 3 days.