Was reading a google options thread just now, and it reminded me of something: there's a few trades out there that would really satisfy my ego and make me feel like the man. Getting 20 or 30 points out of Apple long would be one. Shorting google from current levels down a few hundred points would give me a thrill. Too bad the company has strong fundamentals; not a great trade. A bidu short might work a little better, but again, too much momentum right now. Too many companies with billions in market cap and nil revenues. Also would like to go long on a ten day limit up move on some soft grains... And capturing a $7.00 move in natural gas as hurricanes struck would've been quite a feat. one last one: short jpy this past entire year while using leveraged usd $$ to buy something high yield that appreciated. One can dream, can't he? The idea partially comes out of revenge for failed trades in the past, too. some are trades and opportunities that originally infatuated me with trading.
Sure. I dream of being a trader one day Being stuck with just making great calls is no fun. Ok, i lied, its great fun.
Emotion and ego get in the way of our work. You need to treat this like a business and a real job. If you treat it like a playground, then your setting yourself up for failure. Its nice to enjoy what you do, but this isnt a place to satisfy your ego or get emotional.
I wasn't asking for advice, nor was I implying this is how I trade (or how I think trading should be done). I just look for small bites. Just was looking to start a little discussion about some of those great 'idealistic' trades that some of us would've loved to make. By the way, I didn't give you a hard time with your amateurish views on your wizards of wallstreet thread. When you're a talking head on bloomberg I'll take heed to your wisdom.
I wasn't criticizing. You wouldn't beleive some of my calls over time, neither did anyone else-its like i was giving away free money, people just turn their nose up. The coffee bull in 95, three days off the base, goog at listing for an easy twelve month double, metalstorm at listing, any number of commodity rippers over the years, often on the exact reversal bar. Hey, no reason they should have listened to me by any means, but it makes you wonder. Im not in a position to take advantage of these things, and nobody (i know) seems to care, so i do it for fun , because i enjoy it, for boo-yan'ess if you like. And you know, eagle488 is right, but if your great calls are part and parcel of cold, concise "system" anyway, whats the problem?
I was responding to mr eagle, not you. you are good by me. post those calls. take a look at long jpyusd ... might be the beginning of something big.
Lol http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=53597&perpage=6&pagenumber=10 Ego? what ego? You can see why i have trouble organising stuff though.
I actually kept a couple of notes on this, just to remind myself that i was right, and "they" werent, and that being an amateur, or papertrader ,doesnt necessarily mean your clueless. Ive included some of the responses to, you might recognise some of them, for amusement. -the coffee spike 95, right on the money-the crops that year stank, wiped out a lot of the plants, everything went sour for the latte, disease, weather, you name it. I guess that would have been the ride of a lifetime. Response;"its to much effort to get into, my broker says its not worth it" -Pfizer, any where below $10 on the strength of viagra trials. Price topped $40+ in around 41/2 years, not so bad. -Recommended selling $AU at 82c the end of 97, i beleived it was a macro high, right on the money. I think that trend ended up at a low of i think high 40c range? -The metal storm call, i recall i was devestated i had no way of getting in, my rec was buy listing/anywhere under 5$. Ended up hitting $15 , dont recall the time frame, havent looked at it recently. -And of course, goog. My rec at the time was get in, 10-15%stop loss for an easy 12 month double. I think it only took 6-7 months to do that, though. Response"But its so risky". I guess these are my favourites, (my only HUGE calls actually)because i didnt have my trusty charts at the time, just gut instincts and a newspaper, and not being a stockie. I guess anyone would have loved to have had those, and im sure some of these guys did. Now that's some boo-yahness. There was also gold at $420, and crude at $38ish years ago, i did have the charts for that but seem to have lost them over time. Sorry for hijacking your thread
I was wrong about quite a bit... before I knew anything about valuation (i'm relatively new to trading), I wanted to short google down to 0. I had this whackball theory that since the float was so small and share sales were restricted until Feb 05, I would make a killing going short right before that... Well good I didn't have the will to stay in -- I was short at 170 levels.. mostly out by 190s... Silly how I was so excited just because the stock price was high and shares were relatively undiluted. In fact, nowadays in my period of (relative) wisdom , I don't get what why so many traders are so preoccupied with google. Especially option traders -- its implied volatility isn't that high, and since share price is high, it forces a small trader to take on an unreasonable amount of leverage doing any quantity. (ie more than 1 option). the premium really isn't that great. Much rather would trade SLB, AAPL, JOYG, and SNDK options. Much more bang for the buck. If google did a 10:1 split, I wonder if it still would excite people so much more than yahoo, ebay, or any related and similar sector company. you're not hijackthing the thread. wonder if some other people here have any trades that perhaps sparked an early affinity with trading... From the sound of it, you do not trade at all right? May I ask why?
Im a disability pensioner. My brain doesnt work quite how i would like, and makes most practical endeavours next to impossible. Apart from posting stuff on ET