For Directional traders

If you guys would like to see something move, track ECA these days. Trading clear outside of the upper Bolinger band (it's never done that before) and still up substantially after hours. I am learning my own lessons - namely how to take courage, stick to the rules despite fears and greed - in short, how to stay on this geyser without keeping falling off. Since Aug.18, it's gone from $50 - $58, so you can imagine the option performance! No doubt Katrina is largely responsible for the last 3 day breakout, and as damage assessment keeps developing in the Gulf, it should continue to climb, everything else remaining equal, so I read in the news.

From someone who's never kept any money from this game...
 
Quote from Chagi:

I wouldn't worry too much considering that you either made a small amount of money or hopefully broke even after commissions, chalk it up as a learning experience.

The above said, I think that techs are looking ripe for an upwards move. I mentioned on another ET thread that I'm calling for QQQQs to hit about $42 by early October, if I could trade options right now I would probably be looking at the October $40 & $41 calls.

As for my own position, LOUD rallied a bit today, I added to my position at $1.04, still not quite sure whether this one has legs, though things appear to be looking good.
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Yea, i shouldn't worry about it as the next play is always ahead of me. gotta focus on that.

hmmnn... you know, i agree with you on that Qubes hitting 42 by Oct. that 40 resistance is like a wall of bricks just beating up on the Q's, though. it's done it twice, so maybe on the 3rd try the Qubes will crash through it and rocket up! if i don't see a better play out there, i might just pick up some Dec calls on the Q's. certainly liquid enough that the spread is minimal. thanks for your heads-up.

Good Luk on your LOUD play...
 
Quote from Rob on Business:

If you guys would like to see something move, track ECA these days. Trading clear outside of the upper Bolinger band (it's never done that before) and still up substantially after hours. I am learning my own lessons - namely how to take courage, stick to the rules despite fears and greed - in short, how to stay on this geyser without keeping falling off. Since Aug.18, it's gone from $50 - $58, so you can imagine the option performance! No doubt Katrina is largely responsible for the last 3 day breakout, and as damage assessment keeps developing in the Gulf, it should continue to climb, everything else remaining equal, so I read in the news.

From someone who's never kept any money from this game...
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ECA is an animal! that one takes courage to sit-and-hold, though. Oil is quite volatile and eventhough i think it's still going up, the short-term takes nerves of steel to ride through.

Good Luck and I hope you keep a lot of money from this game...
 
mini-update 9/2/2005:

closed the AMZN-put position.

AMZN 40 Jan put - closed at 2.15 each. profit of $825


wanna be as flat as possible going into the labor day weekend...

peace.
 
Just an fyi, I won't be posting trades and PNL's on this thread anymore but will be more than happy to reply to options-related discussions.

the thread is quite long now, and many of the posts are trades and PNL's, which are still within the scope of the subject, but they really belong in a journal

thanks for everyone's interests, comments, and suggestions!

i'll be starting a journal thread with just trades and brief descriptions and weekly PNL results (from Friday to Friday figures).

Good Trading. Peace.
 
Quote from toby:

Looking forward for your journal...please keep the good works!:)
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Thanks, Toby. Good Trading to you.

i already started it over on the "Journals" forum and posted the results for this week. this week was a very good week for me, but i stopped trading on wednesday. i just couldn't see any good opportunities worth taking a risk on. it was very choppy, but the range were not that wide for thursday and friday on the things i watch.

going forward after labor day, i'm pretty much on the bullish side, but i'd like to see a dip that i could buy into or some confirmation from other markets (confirming my bullishness i.e. in the currencies with $ getting stronger, foreign markets going up hang seng, dax, oil not going higher, etc.)

it won't take much for me to put a call-position on something i like as i'm already bullish on the market, overall.

a big part of the reason i'm bullish is that i haven't seen the commercial traders have this low of a short position on the S$P 500 contracts (both the big contracts and the minis combined) in 2 years (i think). although i seem to remember them cutting down on the open interests around this time of the year. this year, the open intersts are way up there for the big contracts and the minis.

i hope that my journal doesn't bore you too much, as i'm a swing-trader and not going to make that many trades (at least in my thinking for now).

Good Luck.
 
Yes, thanks also from me - for your candidness in trading and ready experienced counsel (what are PNL's?). Where will you publish your journal? Looking forward to lots more rapport...

I'm currently holding puts on ECA-TC since the dive started on Fri. I couldn't believe the spread when I went to sell my calls Fri. at market open - $1.70 x $2.05 - ouch!
 
Thanks from me as well, I'll be sure to keep an eye on your journal, and I'm sure that nobody here minds you posting about your trading in this thread, I know that I don't.
 
Thanks, guys!

i'm not going anywhere, though :) i'd love to keep this thread going for the exchange of options ideas & opportunities. my previous post showing that i'm on the bullish side is even more fuel for my intention of putting a sizable position on some Dec QQQQ call options. "sizable" is relative, though. maybe double my usual trade-size of 15 contracts.

whether win or lose, i didn't get to thinking about that until Chagi pointed it out. so, many thanks for that.

there's lots of ways to play a bullish opinion, but the Q's offer a tech-centered approach, while offering diversification (vs picking one stock like EBay or QCOM), plus the spreads are quite small on the options. i'm waiting for a good entry point. maybe a little more pullback in the markets, so i'll have the added cushion of buying on the low-end of the trading range.

Rob, sorry to hear about the high spreads on the ECA options. i think the spreads are generally higher on the 1st hour or two of trading. if you can afford to have a minute or two when you put the sell order, try to put it in the middle of the spread and let it sit there for a minute. i've done this many times and i've gotten filled many times. i don't know the reason for this. maybe there are hidden orders that are not showing on the quotes.

best wishes on your puts. that's a pretty gutsy move as oil could resume its uptrend any day. i, for one, would very much like it to continue on a downtrend that'll take it to, oh around $40/barrel :D i know you look at the charts and you see something there on ECA, and i do wish for you to be right.

PNL's = Profits and Losses

here's the link to my journal:
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=54838

Chiguy, our options forum moderator, is very nice and don't mind that i continue with the current postings on this thread. i just felt that maybe the trades were out of place for this forum and i wanna follow the format of ET's website.

again, let's continue having discussions and share ideas that could help us all.

Good Trading to All...
 
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