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One of my worst trades was my very last equity trade...maybe 15 years ago now. I bought Royal Ahold (a dutch grocery store) underlying at close to $30. The financials looked solid and the PE was probably 4 with a dividend. My thinking was that in the heat of all the tech/biotech stuff I'm...

It's still nothing more than a negotiating tactic. Canada and Mexico will be exempt on the NAFTA rework and the others need to bring something to the table. He's not really looking for 25 and 10, but if he starts there and looks pretty hard ass about it, he'll get a lot more than if he went...

Today was a good example of "freezing the dice". I dropped a (one day) 10 delta strangle on the SP early this morning (2625P & 2695C) for $5 with the futures sitting at 2665. I could have closed it for $2.50 late morning, but I wanted some more out of it. I off loaded the put for .25 a bit...

Jesse Livermore never traded spreads.

It's a mathematical construct. If you think of the index average as largely brownian - in that it's movement is generally random in terms of direction for any given time frame - yet your theta decay rate is known and quite predictable. If you have half your max profit, then as Tom wrote you...

"B"? Is Atticus back?

Mark Haines was on CNBC some years ago and they kept showing a photo like this after a big down day. Haines kept laughing and someone finally asked him why. He said "I know that guy. They took that picture like a month ago after his wife yelled at him for forgetting to pick up some milk or...

Black swan? What was yesterday, like 4%? Nothing changed yesterday except some rebalancing of trader/investor views of the market. In other words, some people learned that the market also goes down - and it can happen swiftly. Fundamentally everything is the same as it was two weeks ago. We...

The answer is yes. My broker, my fellow traders and those on the other side of my trades have become fabulously rich over the years via my charitable trading practices. Fortunately for you people, I still have more money to give away.

There are studies out there that suggest that nearly 90% of the homeless have significant mental health and/or substance abuse issues. I've met lots of these folks and heard their stories and I would say this is likely true. Like a lot of things in this country, the problem looks quite simple -...

I had this problem many years back, then I added options to the equation and it solved my issue. If that's something you are interested in...

This is an awesome story. Who will play you in the movie? Congrats on the great run and the book!

It really has that freight train feeling. I was out for a while but I'm going to start throwing a few spreads out there soon. Having contracts that effectively expire every other day gives us a lot more flexibility. I still find the numbers staggering - the S&P at 2850.

It is strange how some can go along for many years just printing money and then the market "changes". By the time the new pattern is discerned and we acquiesce to it, it changes yet again - perhaps to the prior pattern or maybe something new altogether. I went through the same situation. There...

No. The rep on the first call had my correct address. Hope it will arrive soon for you!

I've had similar experiences. Sometimes the quote will be very wide and then tighten once I enter the combo in Option Trader and create the line. Other times it stays wide and only tightens when I send an order - usually at the favorable end of the limit on my side. I think it's always a...

US office of IB. I received a notice at first as I had an older device, then responded by upgrading via chat and online in Acct Mgmt - was told device would be en route in a few days. A few weeks later I get another email saying lockout would occur soon if no action from me. Chat verified...

I was told it would be shipped the following week. It arrived about 7 weeks later.

Thanks for the efforts, but that wasn't it. Somewhere in the IB system, they know what device you have. That selection in their internal system was still pointing to my old device, despite my having activated the new one. Once the guy on the phone (chat wasn't working today) flipped the...

I activated the card a few days ago...still getting the old string today. I have to log in using the old device and then try to get them on chat. It's frustrating. Every single step of this process has not worked until I've called or gotten them on chat. This is why I never like to upgrade...