My Options Play

cnms2 · Nov 29, 2005

Lawrence McMillans's "Options as a Strategic Investment"

I suggest to start with the first chapter, then go through some of the strategies you already use, move to the volatility section, then to the "greeks". Go through the list of contents and pick up and read whatever you find interesting. You'll use this book for long time: you'll come back to sections you've already read, or stop on new sections and get familiar with them.

Quote from Rob on Business:

To CNMS2 - I bought that options "bible" and what a book! It just arrived in the mail and now I see why it cost $105. It'll be a while before I finish it if I don't skip all over the place in it. Thanks for the rec.

hajimow · Nov 29, 2005

To CNMS2 - I bought that options "bible" and what a book! It just arrived in the mail and now I see why it cost $105. It'll be a while before I finish it if I don't skip all over the place in it. Thanks for the rec.

If you bought the book that cnm2 recommended, it should be under $50. I think you really don't need any more books for option trading other than that.

cnms2 · Nov 29, 2005

This sounds about right.

Quote from hajimow:

If you bought the book that cnm2 recommended, it should be under $50. I think you really don't need any more books for option trading other than that.

Rob on Business · Nov 29, 2005

Quote from hajimow:

If you bought the book that cnm2 recommended, it should be under $50. I think you really don't need any more books for option trading other than that.

I'm guessing you guys are both stateside. That said, Canadian purchases are generally 1+1/2 times to double what they are stateside.

hajimow · Nov 29, 2005

I'm guessing you guys are both stateside. That said, Canadian purchases are generally 1+1/2 times to double what they are stateside.
Even if we consider 1.3 as the exchange ratio, You should have bought the book at 47*1.3=61 range. I guess you paid a big shipping and you were also charged tax at the custom if it was shipped from USA. The same story happened to me when I was in Canada and I bought a book through Amazon about 8 years ago.

iceman1 · Nov 29, 2005

Quote from iceman1:

I did get filled on AAPL Jan06 70 Puts on my GTC order @ 4.20 - this looks to be a decent fill - then I sold some Jan 65p when AAPL pulled back near lows - still long the Jan 62.50p also -

AAPL has got to crack- IMHO - so I recommend keeping it on the radar screen for a short entry - if you missed the recent move higher--- (like I did) at least we can salvage something by trying to catch the top -- :eek: :eek: :eek: and riding it back to the

40s

(sort of facetious about the "top")

Ice

AAPL

what's that saying

"looking god Billy Ray... feeling GOOD Louis" !!

I thunk I nailed it-- filled my Jan 70p at contract lows -

BBY

looks like the DEC 50c "may" be toast - but- with triple witching and year-end trading- it's hard to know for sure this far ahead of expiry.

MNX

I bought three (3) of the MNX XO (Dec 175 puts) @ 5.50 - sold for 6.7-6.80 -- tried to buy more to open when market was up - but I got too cute -

then I immediately tried to buy MNX LV below the market- i.e. Dec 162.50 calls -- but no fill

this is the 2nd time I have traded a small # on this contract-- gonna get into some size after getting a better read on market direction over next few days. NDX could easily still re-test 1700 levels.

VLO

disappointed so far on VLO trade- scratched my long Dec 100c for a +.5 gain - but still long some Dec 100 calls @2.35 in another account -

this one has me confounded.

Anyone get a read on VLO over next 2 weeks?

p.s. I sold four (4) APPLE Dec 65 puts for HOD = 1.40

still long 14 AAPL Jan 62.50 puts - sold my AAPL Dec 70p at 5.40 = +1.20 per (a little too early- darn@@&&#)

cnms2 · Nov 29, 2005

You're correct. Anyway the price you paid is still a small investment for the amount of knowledge you'll get from it. I'm sure that you'll soon start feeling it.

Quote from Rob on Business:

I'm guessing you guys are both stateside. That said, Canadian purchases are generally 1+1/2 times to double what they are stateside.

hajimow · Nov 29, 2005

Ready for a Monthly Competition?

Everyone of us has a strategy and trade based on that. What I consider free money you guys consider it super risky and vice versa. Lets start a monthly competition starting from 1st of December till the end of the year. Write down your account value on end of November and see what percentage gain or loss you will have by the end of the month. Your account can have cash, mutual funds, stocks, options,...... Just send an message saying that " I am in" and at the end of the month tell us what was your gain percentage wise like "7.5%" . No prize will be given and we assume all of us are honest. You have to claim that you are in at the first few days of the month. I will not care about "Mrwalkerby" !! coming at the end of the month saying that his account was up 500%. I think it will be a good competition to compare yourself with the other investors. We can do it every month to see who is consistantly winning. By the way, I am in

Boy Plunger · Nov 29, 2005

I'm sorry to say that the competition for me is getting regularly fed with what the market is offering. At this point in time i cannot break bread here for some pseudo forum competition. Who cares if someone i know nothing about does well or not and if they see my results. It means shit. I can't talk about the option strategies anyway

but i will gladly talk about some of my stock trades as they happen. Mostly the losers. Have fun.

hajimow · Nov 29, 2005

I'm sorry to say that the competition for me is getting regularly fed with what the market is offering. At this point in time i cannot break bread here for some pseudo forum competition. Who cares if someone i know nothing about does well or not and if they see my results. It means shit. I can't talk about the option strategies anyway but i will gladly talk about some of my stock trades as they happen. Mostly the losers. Have fun.

Don't worry about losing. Everyone loses. Maybe it is better to change the name from "Competition" to "Comparison". It is just for learning purposes. You might get an experince that someone was getting into risky trades and eventually lost all his asset. Or someone is getting constantly 4% each month and the other one got 3000% in the first month and lost everything next month.
Or you might think that you are not doing good, but when you compare yourself with the others, you will see that you are not doing that bad.