FYI, Off to Colorado.... from Michigan, to meet up with VAIL. Hope to bump into Donna Friday with deep discount ski passes. She'll be unavailbe for comment on Tuesday.... as we plan to carve the hill all day long. Donna, we should be passing exit 250? probably sometime between 9am-noon Friday, weather permitting. We'll give you a shout as we focus in on the mountain backdrop. chat soon, Murray
I know some of you do trades on individual stocks. Without going offtopic, is anyone willing to share what other positions they have open? I am just curious.
I was just in Vail last week, I should have bugged you guys for cheap tickets! 81/pp was a little steep, but the spring skiing was amazing, 50deg, no hat or gloves. We ate at Campo Fiora or something, amazing Italian food, and listened to the piano guy at the Inn at Vail...really fun. Have fun, I'll stay in rainy San fran. sd
I know what you mean. I think the SPX is perfect for consistently bringing in money month after month or growing a portfolio. SPX spread selling is all i do in my conservative portfolio + interest on cash balance, which used to be in treasuries but is now in pure cash. Yea i read a part of your vertical spreads journal. i think its funny when people jump on board and start criticizing people's methods implying they will eventually fail cuz of this or that their risk is too much cuz of this and that. It never fails.
During the last year or so, I've allotted much more of my account to SPX trades. The biggest factor for me is that we are talking about 5 point spreads on a 1300 point issue. I mean, it's the equivalent of 0.10 - 0.30 spreads on most equities. I just allows for a lot more creativity. But, given my aggressive nature, I do still like to keep an occasional 40% gain month within the realms of possibility. Yeah, I think many people join discussion boards like this for a different reason than I do. For me, it helps to simulate a trading firm in which I would have co-traders to compare notes with. Not that I take most of the tips that are thrown my way. But sometimes someone will mention a ticker and I will like it for a completely different trade. Beats having to search them out on my own. I'm also not ok with status quo. Even when people are discussing what I consider to be losing strategies, it helps to get the creative juices flowing. During the last 5 years or so I've gotten a lot of questions about required capital for starting into options, and what is the best strategy for beginners. I've heard a lot of bad advice to beginners. Being that I once had a $10,000 account, I thought it would be fun to lay out some of my vertical spreads and sort of put my money where my mouth is. Inevitably you get a few guys that just took an options class in college who think there is only one right way to trade. Sometimes I think their posts warrant a response. Other times they don't. Thanks for your comments though. If you come across any good setups in individual equities, let me know.
well, with risk to sound like the people we just mentioned, whats good for me probably won't be good for you ...but i will post some of my future positions as i get into them. My option trading on individual issues is strictly wrapped around high R/R trades with lower probability of success(the exact opposite of coach's credit spreads ) with occasional short term directional play. I usually do 7/1s to 10/1s. Callendar calls and FLYS are my favorite trades.