Monday, December 30, 2013

Time on TV in 2013

This year I have been on TV more than ever before.  Below are 4 links where I was on TV.  One was during a local Town Hall Meeting talking about the Affordable Healthcare Act.  The other 3 times were on TMZ Live.  They needed some Skype user to give opinion on various topics.

Anthony on TMZ about James Holmes Apartment for rent
 

Anthony on TMZ about Phil Robinson of Duck Dynasty

Anthony on TMZ Live talking about Paris Hilton


Anthony at KEYE Local Town Hall Meeting about Obamacare.

Friday, October 25, 2013

Travel to Brazil for Free

Travel to Brazil can be expensive.  You need to apply for a Visa for $180 and get a plane ticket which can run $1200-$1600, but here is how to make the trip worthwhile.  Re-sell electronic goods!  

It's probably best to find a buyer ahead of time.  For the more expensive items the Brazilians may want to go on a payment plan and that isn't really practical, if you are not living within the country.  So find a friend that lives in Brazil and have them find buyers for you that can pay in cash.  When you arrive, you just plan to make the exchange and you should be set with plenty of Reals.  

Check out the below sites and the current prices in Brazilian Reals:

iMac sell for $2500:
http://compare.buscape.com.br/proc_unico?id=22&kw=imac


iPhone 3GS for $250:  http://compare.buscape.com.br/proc_unico?id=77&kw=iphone+3gs

Ebay for Brazil --> http://www.mercadolivre.com.br/

Victoria Secret items also are hot sellers.

Sunday, October 6, 2013

5 Minutes of Fame

My 5 minutes of fame:  I attended a local Town Hall Meeting on Oct. 3rd, 2013, put on by a local TV station KEYE discussing the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare . I ask a question about how ACA lowers cost and the panelist calls on a professor to help answer it.
I also got some photos take with local celebrities:

KEYE TV Anchor Deeda Payton and Moderator Mark Hyman.


Sam Cox, Austin Conservative Talk Radio DJ 

You can see the entire Town Hall Meeting here www.KEYETV.com.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Cant Short UVXY, but Can Short The Call Options!


A holiday shorten trading session today July 3rd.  The market opened lower and I wanted to buy the dip.  We have been mostly gaping up lately, so I wanted to pounce on this drop.  I was hoping to buy 1000 shares of SVXY.  Volatility has been on the decline and tends to revert to its mean.  I missed my limit price of $78 that I saw in before hours trading.  Instead of chasing, I decided to go try shorting UVXY.  The double inverse of the VIX futures.  Unfortunately, E*Trade cant borrow any shares to trade, but they do sell options on UVXY.  So I saw that the weekly $72 calls was selling at $2.05 with 2 days to go.  That means UVXY would have to move 7.8% in 2 days before I start to lose money or go above $74.  With the market closed for July 4th, we really only have 1 day left, plus the half day today.  That is a risk I was willing to take.

I nailed it.  Some one did pay me for 10 contracts at $2.05 and I received $2050 for calls.  The market recovered and volatility declined the rest of the morning.  After 2 hours the calls were worth .85 and I covered at .90.  The calls will probably expire worthless, but I don't want to be greedy and I locked in the gains.

Here is a chart of the option trading.  Very low volume, but you can still close out trades if you are willing to time your trades well.


Monday, July 1, 2013

Remembering 11 years ago this week

It was 11 years ago this week that we had a July 4th on a Thursday.  I only remember few trading days and this was one one of them in my 15+ years in trading.   We were in a slow and steady decline after the tech bubble busted and what I remember was being in Las Vegas on vacation and the DOW popping +400 points on the Friday after the July 4th!  I thought I missed the bounce, but it was only a dead cat bounce.

I cant say that history will repeat itself, but it is just one of those days you just don't forget.  It turned out to be the best time to short the market.  The DOW continued its decline for the rest of the year, dropping another 2000 points, 20 days later, before giving a longer term bounce.  The bounce went from 7500 back to the July 5th lows.  So that July 5th date served as resistance line for the rest of the year.


Friday, June 21, 2013

Getting Back to Even

Well, that double bottom turn out to be a major head fake.  After the FOMC news, we broke through the 50 day moving average and proceeded to make new lows.  I told my self that the low volume bounce into the meeting was a sign of a 'sell-the-news' reaction and that is exactly what we got.  

I even put in a contingent sell order right before the news for my long $XIV position.  It triggered and I was totally in cash, in my personal account right after the news hit and at my all time high.  I should have left things alone.  The market actually spiked up and down after the news.  After a spike down, I figured it should go right back up. The Fed news was nothing new and my read was they would continue to provide monetary stimulus to the economy.  

The Fed news should be good for Stocks, but I guess everyone else was long too, so we proceeded to go down even further.  I decided to buy 1000 shares of $SVXY at $84.  Big mistake!  I didn't have a stop order so it ended the day at $82.89.  On Thursday the selling continued and SVXY went to $71.28.  

When volatility spikes, this ETF goes down big time.  I held out until Friday, hoping for a relief rally.  We got a gap up in the morning and SVXY started the day at $75.  It proceeded to go down to a low of $71.70.  I wanted to sell out, but decided to bite the bullet and use my margin account to double down and try to get back to even.  I bought 1000 more shares at $72.05.  It was about 5 minutes shy of the day low and SVXY proceeded to climb all the way back over $76.  I finally cashed out at $75.42.  Not quite back to even, but close enough.  Still up for the year and up for the month!



Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Technically It Does Not Getting Better Than This!

The S$P 500 is about to confirm the bottom.  It was not a V-shape bounce, but a W-shape bounce.   Usually W-shape bounces are better than V-shape bounces.  The 50 day moving average held and MACD about to cross.  It doesn't get much better than this for Longs.  

We should be able to hit 1670 without much effort, which is the top of the Bollinger Band. This just happens to coincide with a Fed Meeting tomorrow, so it could mark a top or we could continue to slowly ride the upper band.



Personal account at its highest point, up over 26%



Thursday, June 13, 2013

Riding the Momentum with SVXY

The market regain its traction today.  Was busy most of the day with work, so make a final hour trade with $SVXY for a quick $560 profit.  This ETF is short the $VIX futures contracts.  When you buy this you are betting the volatility will be lower as measured by the $VIX.  This ETF is extremely volatile with 3-5% moves in one day.  

$SVXY generally goes up when the S&P is up and even when it is flat due to the contango nature of the VIX futures contracts.  The ETF will short the 1st and 2nd months VIX future contracts and generally the fund increases in value as the future prices decay to the spot price, which is generally lower in value.


Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Double Take on MLNX!

Terrible day in the market today.  The DOW open up over 100 points and then proceed to close down 126 points for a 200 point swing.  This is a change in character for the markets.  It was a nice bull run for the first 5 months of the year.  Buy and hold was the best way to profit. Now we seem to be correcting from that amazing run.  We should be shorting every spike and covering every dip.  It should be a good time to trade the extremes, versus just riding the trend.

I sold my $SPXL long into the early morning spike for a small loss.  Holding onto my $XIV long position, since this should eventually revert to its mean and I should be able to profit from.  I saw $MLNX in play.  It dropped over $1.50 in the first 30 minutes and started a fast run higher.  I recognize the pattern of short covering and this one has a high short interest.  

I made an initial purchase at $47.15.  33 minutes later it spiked over $1 and I cashed out at $48.17.   MLNX proceeded to go up another $2 from where I sold it.  Damm, but a profit is a profit, so I'm not complaining.  After reaching a high of $50.98 it came back down to $49.50.  I decided to make a 2nd play and bought at $50.02.  In 23 minutes, it went over $50.60 and I cashed out.

It was a nice double take scalped and good thing I got in and out as I did.  The stock proceeded to drop back down for only a .69 gain, for the day after being up over $3.  I should have shorted it in the later afternoon, but did not want to be greedy on one stock.


Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Strange Movement in the VIX Futures


I noticed something odd this morning with the $VIX and the VIX Futures.  The VIX (Volatility index) was down, which usually means that the VIX Futures should also be down, as tracked by the VXX or UVXY, but they were actually up.  When I actually looked at the VIX futures, yes, they were trading up, while the VIX was trading down.



So I got to thinking, why would VIX Future people be buying the VIX Futures, when the spot VIX is actually trading down.  My only conclusion was that if I were a large Mutual Fund or Hedge fund that was going to sell a large amount of S&P stock and I knew I would move the market, then what would I do to hedge myself?  Well, if I knew I could push the market down with my selling, then I would buy puts or buy VIX futures knowing that volatility would increase dramatically and I could profit from my selling.

Sure enough after 1:20PM EST, the selling started in the SPY and the VIX Futures spiked up.  This might become a good indicator of a pending sell off in the market.  I will keep watch eye to see if this theory holds up.

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Another Job Offer in the Works


Been working another new opportunity with a company called Apriso.  They do MES software, just like my current company.  They serve more industries than just Electronics.  The position is for a Solutions Consultant.  I would learn their software tool and configure the software for various clients.

I have interviewed with the hiring Manager, Architect, and two Program Managers.  The job was on Monster.com.  Someone from Monster emailed me and I just disregarded the initial email the first time, seeing that the position was in Long Beach, CA.  After the 2nd email I decided to reply since I noticed it was actually a remote position.  I just need to be near an airport and they would fly me out to customer sites.

After an initial screening with the Monster rep I was sent to HR at Apriso.  After the HR interview I had a couple video conference interviews, a phone interview and one face to face interview.  All went well.  On July 11th, they flew me out to Long Beach for a final run of interviews.  The very next day, the HR manager made me a verbal offer.  It was more money than my current job and more benefits.  I would start contributing to a 401k plan again and all the other typical big company benefits.

I wanted to say that I beat the odds with this job.  This job was posted on Monster.com and I have been looking for about a year now.  They say that only 2-3 percent of people actually find a job on the major online job boards.  That is because for most jobs they have over 100-500 people applying.  This puts the odds of you getting a job online, very low.  Does it happen? sure and now say that it happen for me, but keep in mind that the odds are still low and most people usually find jobs by referral or networking and many times the job is never posted online.

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Cheap DVR Alternative

I got rid of AT&T U-verse this month.  It was just to expensive.  I went back to Time Warner Cable, month to month, until I decide what to go with next.  I really miss my DVR, since I like to skip past commercials.  So I was looking at cheap alternatives and I found one.

You can use Windows Media Center to record any TV shows.  You just need a computer with Media Center installed like Windows 7 and a Cable tuner like the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-950Q














Then you can watch TV on your computer, Schedule recordings and playback recordings.  To playback on your TV you can connect your PC to your TV or use Xbox360 to "Extend" your PC to your TV.  I also have a Google TV, the Logitech Revue that can display the recorded videos to my PC.

In addition, you can display your recorded shows on any web browser or mobile device by installing a Remote Potato Server. After configuring my home router to port forward the port and setting up dynamic DNS, I was able to view my PC media Center shows on any computer on the Internet!


Thursday, April 11, 2013

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Trading volatility is Volatile!

Incredible day.. I went long volatility yesterday by buying $UVXY at the close.  I sold today after a 10% spike up. I went short volatility, by buying $VIX in the last 30mins and just closed that out for a quick profit.  Trading volatility is really volatile!


Check out Term Structure.  When in Contago buy XIV, when in backwardation buy VXX or UVXY.
http://www.tradingvolatility.net/p/datasourceurldocs.html

$UVXY tracks the S&P500 SHORT TERM FUTURES INDEX ^SPVXSP

The implied value can be checked with ^UVXY-IV

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Town Hall Meeting with Congress Man

My Congressman Bill Flores is having a Town Hall Meeting this week.  I have been thinking of issues that are most important to me on a Federal Government Level.  Here is my list:

- Escalating cost of Higher Education
- Escalating cost of Heath Care
- Next Financial Crisis due to Federal Deficit and Debt Spending 

The cost of College Education has dramatically increased since I graduated in 1996.  My final college tuition was $12.5K per year in 1996 (it actually started at $9.5K/year in 1992) and now is $40K per year, 17 years later.  That is a 400% increase in tuition.  My engineering salary in 1996 was $42K.  My current salary has only increased by a little more the 2X.  Why has tuition cost gone up exponentially and salaries have stagnated?  How can anyone graduating ever afford to pay for their schooling.

It is generally recommended not to borrow more than you can pay back using 10% of your monthly income. When planning to afford college, you need to carefully consider if it will be realistic to make the post graduation loan payments based on your expected salary. Using these parameters, a post graduation salary of $161,600.40 is recommended to afford the $1,346.67 monthly payment. This assumes a loan payback over 10 years.   Even an Engineering degree wont give you a $161K salary straight out of college.

Lowering Health care costs has to be another top priority. Unfortunately, Obamacare only increases the costs by requiring more elective procedures and requiring insurance plans to do more. If we want to really lower costs we need to: 

1. Have more competition in the Heath care system. The government can promote more kids to become doctors and nurses.   
2. Promote health care tourism. You can get Heart bypass surgery in Thailand for 20% of the cost in the USA. 
3. Limit malpractice lawsuits against Health care professions.

If history repeats itself again, we are due of another financial crisis.  This tends to happen every 10 years and a severe depression every 70-100 years.  

2008 - The last financial crisis, caused by a credit bubble in the Real Estate market.  
2000 - Dot-com bubble crashed, caused by speculators in the Nasdaq and Y2K fears 
1997-  We had the Asian Financial Crisis.  
1987 -  Black Monday - 20% drop in the stock market caused by the Savings and loan crisis.  
1929 - The last Great depression.

If the USA keeps borrowing money to pay for all its spending we will eventually collapse our currency.   The US dollar is being propped up now, since we are the reserve currency of the world.  If the world decides to dump the US dollar as the reserve currency, then things will get even worst.   This happen with England in the 1970s and there Sterling got crushed and the people suffered for many years.

Saturday, March 30, 2013

The Next Financial Crisis

This video below is a bit long and they are selling something at the end, but it is very informative and if you want to protect your assets and your future, I suggest you give it a listen. Here is a summary:

 The author suggests that we are on the verge of another financial crisis. This crisis will be caused by a massive devaluation of the US dollar as the reserve currency of the world. This will be devastating to anyone holding US dollars. He suggest moving our cash out of the USA and buying gold and silver. His arguments are sound and we should all take caution. I don't like how he wants to sell his newsletter and the end, but besides that I cant find any flaws in his main arguments.


If you think the government can do something, it cant.  The path has been set and there isn't much Congress can do. They can only continue to borrow money to pay for more spending. As the author said, even if they double tax rates, it still would not be enough to cover our plan spending. So printing money is the only option. 

Keep in mind, the government cant really print money. So they have to borrow money with bonds from the Federal Reserve Bank and the Federal Reserve 'prints the money' for any bonds that cant be sold off. Well, the foreign countries that have been buying our bonds, are scaling back because they see the long term risks. 

Would you want to buy bonds from any country that is running huge debts and devaluing its currency. Of course not, it means that your investment would be worth less in the long run. You only want to invest in bonds where the currency is stable and still has purchasing power in the future. 

The only reason that our currency has not collapsed yet, is because it is still the reserve currency of the world. Once countries decide to not use the US dollar as the reserve currency, then the downward spiral will begin. The government will deny this, but it has already happen in England. Britain's Sterling was the reserve currency of the world until 1970s. Then when England issued to much debt and spent to much on its people, the world went the the US dollar. It was bad times in England during the 70s and its about to happen to the USA.

Monday, March 18, 2013

XIV an easy play?

Scalped some XIV $22.37 to $22.62 in 25 minutes.  Going to try some new plays with just volatility movements.   We have been experiencing very low volatility.  This is typical in bull markets. Volatility is measured with the VIX index.  While you can't buy or sell the VIX,  there are other  ETNs and ETFs that attempt to replicate the changes in the VIX.  

As the VIX is decreasing you can go long the $XIV.  The XIV goes up as volatility goes down.  VXX  goes up, as volatility goes up, at exponential rates.  XIV is probably a good long term play, since as the markets climb higher the XIV will move higher. The XIV can move 10X faster then the overall markets, but in reverse.  So a .5% move in the SPY lower means a 5% move lower in the XIV.

VXX should only be played as the markets hit a high point.  The VXX is said to be in constant contango,  which means that it converges to its mean.  It can be jumpy, but is constantly heading lower.  VXX has many reverse splits, so be careful.  The market only needs to move down .5% and the VXX will move up 5%!

Just trade in and out, but know that the VXX will go lower in time.  Only buy the VXX before the market is crashing, since it will always move back down. UVXY is also similar to VXX but is a 2X ETF.  So when the VXX is up 5%, the UVXM will be up 10%.  Keep in mind that the SPY just needs to move down .5% for these to move up huge!

Check out Term Structure.  When in Contago buy XIV, when in backwardation buy VXX or UVXY.
http://www.tradingvolatility.net/p/datasourceurldocs.html

Tax on Deposits, are they serious?

The proposed tax on deposits in Cyprus is really telling of the the European's refusal to print more Euros.  In America, we are just printing our way out of our debt crisis.  Yet, Europe refuses to print, in fear of inflation.  Anyone betting that the Euro will inflate has been dead wrong, since they continue to resist the easy temptation to print money.  Germany remembers, all to well, the lesson they learn after WWI and they printed way to many Germany Marks to pay for the War.  Now that lesson, means tight controls on the Euro.  Eventually, they will realize that they will have no choice, but to start the Euro printing presses.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

The DOW is at an All time High!









The DOW Jones industrial average is at an all time high.  It just closed at 14353.  It was last at this level 6 years ago.  So basically the average is back to even after 6 years.  So the question is do we go higher?  I like to look at the SP500 average.  It is represents 500 stocks so a better view of the overall markets.










The SP500 index is also back to 2007 levels.  This is actually the 3rd time it has is this level.  In 2000 and 2007, it has hit the 1540 levels.  In 2007, it proceeded to fall about 50%.  Technically this was called a double top.  Now we are at a triple top level.  Well, triple tops are very rare in the market.  So I fully expect that we break thru this time and continue to march higher.

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Let's go MAKO!

Closed out $MAKO for a 2 day trade.  I bought yesterday 1000@$12.30 and sold today for $12.75 after seeing a tweet.  There is good amount of short interest in this stock and they covered even after a disappointing earnings news.  The volume and price action made this a good momentum play.

Got stuck long some $DECK two weeks ago, sold some covered calls against the stock  Luckily earnings was not bad today. After the bell and the stock has jumped almost 8%.   This one has around 40% short interest and should continue to run.  I should make money on the calls and the stock.  This should bring my personal portfolio back to my 2013 high.

















Took a short position in PHM, Pulte is a low end home builder.  Home builders had a great 2012, but the stock has started trending down.  Usually, last year winners turn into the loser for the current year.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Headlamp Repair on RX 400h


My passenger side headlamp has been out on my 2008 Lexus RX400h. Its been like that for a few months now. I was pulled over by the Pflugerville Police and they gave me a warning. I guess it is illegal to drive without a headlamp in Texas.

The headlamp also had allot of condensation inside. The water seem to clear up during the winter months. I took the RX400h to the Lexus dealer and they said that the entire assembly, ballast and bulb would need to be replaced. Total cost $1900! The cost break down was $1000 for the headlamp assembly $500 for the ballast, $200 for the bulb and $200 for labor.

I called Lexus Customer Care telling them that it seem widely expensive for one headlamp. They agreed to help by taking 10% off. I did have to wait 2 days for there answer. I decided not to get the work done at the Dealership. 

I purchased a ballast on Ebay for $127. I sealed the edges with some clear silicone sealant for $5. I went to my neighbor mechanic and had them removed the bumper and replaced the ballast. Everything worked fine. I think the original bulb worked fine too, but we replaced it with the $12 bulb I got on Amazon. The labor was $200 for 2 hours of work! The mechanic said there was allot of corrosion around the ballast, probably due to water damage, so hopefully my sealant will help water proof the ballast for a few years.



Monday, February 25, 2013

Job Offer Trading For a Living

I got a job offer to trade for a living with Mavrick Trading.  Mavrick Trading is a Proprietary or Prop trading firm.   I had my interview last Thursday and they let me know tonight, Monday, that I could trade with them.  I would work from home.  There is a two month training period and Demo period where I have to demonstrate what I can do for them.  Then I would start with $25K and start working my way up.  I would have to sign the following Member Agreement.

What’s making me question them a bit, is that they make you pay $5K upfront for training and then a $199/month desk fee, then another $5K as risk capital.  I would keep 70-75% of my profits and they would take the rest.   Trading is thru Interactive Brokers and commissions look to be the lowest in the industry.
















At the end. I decided to decline the offer.  It is a job where you have to pay them to work and they take a 30% cut of your profits and you still have to pay income tax on that.  So you would only net 50%.  I have my own capital and better off just risking my only money and keeping 100% of the profits.

Scalped some $DDD!

Scalped some $DDD from $35 to $36 in 30 mins! 3D printing is such the rage these days. I first saw these machines in 1996 when I worked in a Tool & Die shop! It has taken this long to develop and prefect the technology. You can even find bit torrents files of some 3D print files.


Thursday, February 14, 2013

Technical Trumps Fundamentals in ENOC

ENOC popped today after negative Earnings.  How can that be?  This company had a net loss was $25.8 million, or $0.76 per share.  I sold in the morning pop after holding for a few days.  I saw the consolidation run and felt that it could pop after earnings news.  Looking at the chart it had pop one month ago and has been consolidating until today!  It was classic technical action, even though the fundamentals stink, it really doesn't matter when people want to own the stock or want to cover a short position.  When looking for a stock to buy, it best to look for this classic chart pattern.  The collapsing Bollinger bands is also another great indicator of a big moving is about to happen.






















YY finally popped today after consolidating for a few months.  This was one of my first stocks I purchased on Jan 3rd.  I had to wait longer than I wanted to, but it was worth it.  I sold for a nice gain.  It could have been more, but I'm not complaining, since any profit is better than a loss.


















I scalped a short trade with GNRC.  It was already bottoming out, so took some quick profits.  Should have waited until the end of the session, since it sank even further, but again any gain is better than a loss.

Still holding 17.50 SCTY puts.  The stock popped back up over $18.50, so the options should expire worthless for a nice gain for 3 days of insuring a stock!

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Scalped A Couple Trades Today.


I knocked out a couple quick trades today.  $AKAM had spiked down on Earnings news a few days ago.  I was waiting for a bounce and the setup materialized today.  I bought at $35.77 and sold at $36.48.  It was a few hours trade.  When it works, it just works.. Lesson "Go with the Flow, Don't fight momentum"



















I also tried $MLNX again.  It has lots of shorts, but after buying at $52.35, it began to drop to around  $52.00.  I didn't feel good about it and the 5-day chart looked to be down trending,  so when it spike back up, I sold at $52.48  Good thing I did sell, it ended the day at $51.88, but I still made a small profit of $45!  Lesson: When a trade doesn't work out as plan, cut your losses and try to minimize losses as much as possible.

















Decided to make an option play.  Sold some 17.50 puts on $SCTY.  Its a solar play and hoping that the stock stays above $17.50 for the week.  It has broken out of a range and looks to have some solid support.  If it breaks below my strike, then I will have to buy at $17.50, but since I got .45 for the puts that would make my buy-in just 17.05.

Monday, February 11, 2013

Selling Naked Puts Is Not So Risky

I love to sell naked puts.  It is basically selling insurance on a stock.  You are paid to protect a stock from falling below a certain price.  If the stock does fall below that price, than you have to buy the stock at the strike price.  If the stock stays above the strike price, than you keep the premium for having to insure the stock.  This methodology has limited up side potential, but has a high probability of success.   Where if you are the buyer of a put, you have unlimited up side potential, but high probability of losing everything.  

In percentage terms, I would say that 80% of the time you win when selling puts.  20% of the time you lose or the person buying the put wins 20% of the time.  Selling puts is a slow and steady way to make income.  Buying puts is a gamblers bet, hoping that a stock will move in a define period of time.  I rather take the high probability play, than the low probability play.

This is just like poker.  Pocket Aces win 80% of the time in a heads-up situation.  Sure you can play your low pocket pair, but you are hoping to hit a set, which will only happen 12% of the the time on the flop!  Better to have consistent gains then just gamble away your winnings...

Just one thing to remember, never sell more puts than you can actually cover.  You can easily over extend your margin if you sell to many puts and the stock craters.  Basically, be prepared to always have enough capital to cover the entire position, in case the worst happens.  In this way, you would be no worst than just buying the stock at the market.  Actually, if you plan to buy any stock, you are better off selling puts instead and hope the stock gets put to you.  In this way, you get the stock at a cheap price and if the stock does go up, you still made money on the time premium.   In many ways, selling puts is actually safer than buying a stock.

Example:  I sold 2 AAPL 480 puts 3 weeks ago before earnings news.  I got $5/share or $1000 for the puts.  The stock was trading around $515.  Well, AAPL sold off after the news, down over 10% to around $460.  Now my puts went from $5 to $20!.  AAPL traded as low as $445 days afterwards and the puts went as high as $35.  Expiration came and I was forced to buy 200 shares at $480.  Good bye $96K..  I was prepared to buy it.  Heck I was buying a $515 stock for $480, who knew it could drop by $70.  But now Im long the stock.  I held my ground and AAPL has bounced back 3 weeks later to $479 today and now Im actually making a profit!  I also sold some weekly calls against my stock, to further decrease my buy-in.

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Apple is on a tear and watching for a squeeze play.


Im glad I covered those 465 AAPL calls.  Because they went from $.95 to over $10 after AAPL when up over $15.  It blasted thru my strike price by $10!  I did sell the 480 calls for .75 and they expired worthless on Firday as AAPL was pinned to $475.  With the hedge removed, I can reap the benefits of any further gains.

















  I did try to make a day trade of $ROSG.  Its an Israeli biotech company with 71% short interest.  It looks to have form a solid base between $4.5 and $5.  I was hoping for a quick spike above $5.  I purchased at $5, but it never really made a move until the final minutes.  I sold early at $5.07  Ill keep watching,   The last squeeze play was in May 2012 where it went from $2 to over $25!


Thursday, February 7, 2013

Active Morning Today


It was an active morning today.  I closed my DECK trade from yesterday.  It had a nice pop in the morning. I purchased 1000 shares at $41.50, held overnight and sold for$42.02.  A $500 profit after commissions.  I think it has room to run, but am not going to be greedy. 

I covered my two AAPL $465 calls that I sold.  I would have had to sell my AAPL stock for $465, if the stock was above this price after Friday's close.  I feel AAPL has room to run.  It went ex-dividend today but did not trade lower by the dividend amount.  I should be getting a nice $2.65 dividend next week or about $530.

I also covered my FB short from yesterday.  I shorted 1000 shares at $28.90 and covered at $28.45  There are to many insiders selling and I feel the stock is over-hyped.  It traded wildly after earnings, but clearly trading down.  It's probably heading to $20.

I put on a quick trade with GMCR.  Lots of shorts in this stock and they usually cover on any big down day like today.  I purchased at $45.60 and it quickly spiked to $46.25 in less then 5 minutes.  I closed the trade out 11 minutes after wards for $46.20

All told, closed about $1700 in profits!


Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Roller Coaster Ride

Monday the markets suffered its biggest decline for 2013.  The major indexes were all down over 1% and my portfolio took a hit.  I did close out PPHM for a nice gain, but nothing else was working.  I tried a play at FB, but got stopped out for a small loss.  I got into UNXL and that didn't work either.  I decided to hold overnight and today was a complete reversal.  All the losses from Monday disappeared and Im back to my all to time.  I close UNXL for a nice gain and held on to my AAPL shares and 1 naked put.  We went from my worst losing day to my biggest gaining day of the year!

Lesson: "The Trend is your Friend..."


Sunday, February 3, 2013

Great Start to 2013

Its been a great start to 2013.  My portfolio is up more in one month, than what I made for all of 2012.   The market is in bull market mode.  There are plenty of reason to be bearish now, but we continue to march higher.   The mainstream media cant explain it.   The economy is shrinking and unemployment is still stubbornly high.  We are "climbing the wall of worry," despite the fundamentals being weak.  This is the best time to be momentum trader, despite all the warning signs.

Here is my reasons why the markets continue to march higher.  After Obama got re-elected, many traders got short.  The market drop almost 1000 points.  The media said it was worry about the 'fiscal cliff', and when that didn't happen, market participants shorted even more stocks.  After we got a fiscal cliff, the shorts had to cover and the market spiked up.  The shorts have been covering ever since and have even remounted with more shares shorted, fueling the fire.

We wont go up forever, but my theory would be any dips will be bought quickly, as professional money mangers try to get ahead of the markets.  Below are all my closed trades for Jan. 2013.  I did not take any losses until the final days for January.  No body is perfect and I had to use my own advice and minimize my losses to keep my gains.



Friday, February 1, 2013

Take Easy Profits When You Have Them

I took profits in DECK after a $.55 gain in about an hour.  The stock did proceed to climb another .35, but after hitting a high of $40.61 it started a downtrend ending the data at $39.92.  If had had held, my profit of .55 would have ended with a gain of only $ .22 and emotionally, I would have felt bad for not taking the gains when I had them.

Two Lessons here:
1. Follow the Trend, don't anticipate the trend.  The Long term and short term trend in DECK was up.  After bottoming around $39.41, it spiked to $39.80.  This was my trigger for a reversal to the main trend.  I waited to for it to dip back to $39.70 and held for 1 hr for a quick .55 gain.

2. Bulls make money, Bears make money, Pigs get slaughter.  Dont be greedy in trading stocks.  Take gains when you have them, not when you have too.  There is always tomorrow for another trade.



Scalped some $DECK

There it is! just traded  for a .55 gain in about an hour. Now, I got lunch money & its still getting squeezed. 

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Scalped some $DDD

Scalped some  for a $1k profit in 34mins.. Probably has room to run even more today.. 


Thursday, January 17, 2013

Back in the Markets!

I decided to get back in the Stock Market.  I guess I never left, but I haven't been very active, like I used to be.  I took my Christmas break time off and decided to start looking at picking stocks again.  I have followed RealMoney.com for years and always like Rev. Shark commentary, but never acted on any of his stock pics.

I would describe James "Rev Shark" Deporre as a momentum trader.  He goes with the flow, long or short.  This style of trading requires constant attention on your stocks and you need to be willing to do allot of flipping. He breaks all the traditional rules of buy and hold.  He believes that as a small investor, our best edge is that we can be nibble and and get in and out of Stocks very quickly.  He does not mind selling and sees selling as our edge over the big institutional investors.

He has a paid service that you could sign up for where he gives more stock picking advice.  It is free for 30 days, so I decided to sign up during my vacation and if I made money I would pay the $80/month service.

Well, one month later and I and up over $9000!  Needless to say, his picks have worked out great!

Below is all my closed trades to date!  I haven't closed a losing trade yet!













Below is an interview with Rev. Shark, where get goes over some of his ideologies.