How are you positioning for the eventual Market top?

[Ghost of Cutten]

Quote from Debaser82:

What where your longs in 08 and how did they perform vs the indexes they belong to, GoC? Thanks.

I basically had almost no stock longs (apart from occasional short/medium-term trades) in 2008 until October, as I was nervous about a potential bear market. The difficulty of timing direction during that period is partly what prompted me to shift to more of a market-neutral long/short approach.

I did start buying some stocks in Oct 08 but just outright purchases, I did not hedge with shorts. I was buying stuff like AAPL, CMG, IBKR, RSX, EWZ, GDX, and OIH from Oct-Dec 08 - some went up, some down, and I lost a few % overall as I was more long in the stuff that went down than the stuff that went up.

 

[DrEvil]

Quote from DrEvil:

I shorted FTSE and went long NIKKIE proportioned with a small gearing to the downside. This is working out well so far and I hope that I will be clever enough to add to the trade if it continues to run in my favour. A very fast and large move in my direction will prompt me to take a good chunk off the table before things settle down.

If anyone is interested. This trade is working out very well indeed (so far). See, it is possible to be a bear in this market and make money.

 

[Sean McLaughlin]

Good to see a sudden turn in the market reviving interest in this thread...

I've been managing a straddle that was put on about three weeks ago. The increase in vol has certainly helped.