Investing: Plain and Simple

Trade Log Update

2012-02-12T20:20:00.001-05:00

FIO - bought and got stopped out for a .40 loss.

AAPL - sold the remaining half at $489.

DMND - bought at $23.40.

LKND - bought a straddle before earnings. Sold the put leg for a loss and holding the call.

Trade Log 1/26/2012 -- NFLX

2012-01-27T17:27:00.001-05:00

NFLX -- my trailing stop triggered at the open for $12.4 on the Mar 110 call leg of the straddle. Afterwards the stock moved $9 higher.

Trade Log - 1/26/2012 - JOY, NFLX

2012-01-26T22:29:00.001-05:00

JOY -- my trailing stop triggered on the Jul 77.5 call @ $20.15.

NFLX -- the earnings were great and my Mar 80/110 Strangle purchased for $10.6 is now worth $14.35. I placed a $2.00 trailing stop on the 110 Call. It is currently set to trigger at $12.70.

Trade Log 1/25/2012

2012-01-25T22:46:00.000-05:00

AAPL - still holding some.

NFLX - the earnings came out and the stock went up to $108. Looking to close the Mar 80 Put portion of the strangle tomorrow. If I do, I'll probably place a trailing stop on the Mar 110 call.

FIO - purchased today after the stock gapped down drastically to $24.20. Today's volume was the 3rd highest since the stock's IPO in June 2011.

ARMH - sold half the position at $27.98 and the other half at $27.70.

JOY - continues its massive run, up $3 today. CEO made some comments today which may have caused the run.

Trade Log

2012-01-24T22:49:00.001-05:00

APPL - sold half in after hours. Looking to see what happens over the next couple of days.

Trade Log

2012-01-24T00:49:00.001-05:00

AAPL - still holding, looking a big push with earnings report on Feb 25, 2012.

JOY - sold the previous Apr Call 82/100 spread for a $.80 loss. Recently, purchased a Jul 77.5/90 Call Spread for $4.88. I bought back the short leg (90 strike) for 7.50. Holding the 77.5 strike with a $1.40 trailing stop.

NFLX - today I purchased a Mar 80/110 strangle for $10.60. Looking for a substantial move in either direction. I had a hard time initiating this trade.

AEG - stock has moved up aggressively to the $5.10 mark; the highest level in 3 months. I sold a bit at $4.80 area. I may sell more it this run loses steam and starts to reverse.

AMT - still holding.

PLM - I should have added to position at the $1.00 mark, but I got scared.

Analysis poralysis

2012-01-23T16:13:00.001-05:00

I placed a March 110/80 Strangle on NFLX for an earnings move. It took me a long time for me to make up my mind on this trade.

I decided on the March instead of the weeklies or Feb strike to give myself more time, however it cost a bit more.

I'll know in a few days how this trade turns out.

2011-12-01T02:33:00.001-05:00

Trade Log

APPL - bought several times with an average share price of $390.00.

JOYG - bought a 82/100 Apr 2012 Call Spread. Looking for a move over 100.

AEG - bought at $4.06. Resistance at $4.71.

NFLX - I didn't sell the call leg of the straddle (Dec 115). It will expire worthless.

2011-11-04T09:53:00.001-04:00

Today, I made a stupid mistake on the LNKD trade. I was trying to close the put leg for a gain and didn't pay attention to the default limit price and sold the put for less than $2.00 of the market value. What a dumb mistake! I must pay attention to my order execution. Lesson learn, the hard way. BTW, I closed the entire position.

2011-11-03T23:35:00.001-04:00

Trade Log - LNKD dropped 8% after the earnings were reported. I plan to sell the straddle tomorrow.
Also, NFLX was up today over $8. I may sell the remaining call from last weeks straddle.

2011-11-02T22:43:00.000-04:00

Trade Log - Last week I bought the NFLX straddle and I'm still holding the Dec 11 105 call. Monday, I purchased CROX @ 18.72 for a possible fill of the gap.

Tomorrow LNKD reports earnings after the bell. I placed an order to buy the Dec 85 straddle for an earnings play. If the stock more than 15% or so I should make a profit, if not I'll close the entire position on Friday.

Trade log

2011-10-25T15:13:00.001-04:00

Yesterday a bought Dec 115 call straddle on NFLX. Today, I sold the put leg.

Trade Log - 10/21/2011

2011-10-22T00:25:00.002-04:00

Apple reported earnings a couple of days ago and the stock was down over 5% the next day. I bought few shares looking for a bounce.

Trade Log

2011-10-21T23:47:00.002-04:00

I sold the BAC straddle for $.30 loss. In hindsight, I should have bought the next month, however, the breakeven price may have been too far away.

Trade Log

2011-10-17T22:46:00.001-04:00

I bought a Oct 11 Straddle on BAC for .54. Earnings are due out tomorrow. This position suggest a 5% move is needed for this trade to be profitable. After putting the trade on, I felt a bit of buyer remorse. I probably should have purchased the Nov expiration instead. We'll see what happens tomorrow....

Trade log - 10/14/11

2011-10-14T18:37:00.001-04:00

Yesterday, I sold a credit spread for .70 on NFLX. It expired worthless, one day later. P/L= .70

Today, I bought ARUN @ 24.12, based on triangle breakout. Initial stop at 23.87. I then moved it up to breakeven and got stopped out. P/L=0

Stock Investment – Invest in Stocks to obtain Debt Relief

2011-04-06T21:59:00.004-04:00

Due to the credit crunch; a resultant of the recession of 2007, cost of daily living has increased so much so that the people are finding it difficult to manage their finances. As a result, most of the people are knee deep in debt. This is more so because of the loss of jobs and thus reduced source of money. However, investments can help you in improving your income and this can act as one of your debt relief options. There are various kinds of investment options but stock is quite popular among the investors because of huge profits that can be drawn from it.

Invest in Stock to Pay off Debt

So, if you too are having problems with debt and if your finances are low, you can think of investing in stocks. However, you should always know that stock investment is quite a risky investment option. You can even lose thousands of dollars in it and so you need to be aware of the ins and outs and the market trends of the stock market. Otherwise, rather than achieving debt relief, your debt problems will aggravate all the more.

So, how should you get started with stock investment? First of all, it is important for you to get educated on the type of stocks and the trends of the stock market. After acquiring the required knowledge, it is important for you to develop a financial goal and then again research on the individual stocks by reading through the annual reports.

You should invest in only those stocks which you know will work for you and you can also follow the market trends. However, you should also avoid investing your money in only one or two stocks. But don’t go on investing on all of the stocks available for you. The stock market always goes through a roller coaster ride and so it is better to weigh the risks in investing in numerous stocks at the same time.

If you are able to get good return on your investment in stocks, you will be able to use that money to pay off your debts and obtain debt relief. Even if you are going to consolidate your debts or settle your bills, you can use the money from your investment to make the payments.

However, it is always essential for you to remember that you will have to invest wisely in stocks in order to get that required profit.

Long Term Investing

2011-01-13T00:03:00.000-05:00

I've been primarily thinking about trading for the past couple of years and have failed to observe long term investing. I used to be a fundamental investor and now I feel a need to return to this approach. I plan on using both approaches (technical and fundamental).

I need to look for investment ideas based on observation. Where can I find ideas? I remember,
Peter Lynch used to observe trends by watching his family shop. I could start by looking at trends. How about looking at the manufacturers of products that I use?

Hmmm.... Here are some questions and statements to think about to focus my attention:

What products are the kids using?
What technology is everyone using?
What trends are happening globally?
Where are we in the economic cycle?
Are we in the midst of a revolutionary shift (Agricultural->Industrial->Technological->Informational)?
What about natural resource consumption? Are specific resources in abundance or scarce?
Look at the news?
Have any new laws affecting specific industries?
What commercials are being shown in heavy rotation?
Don't under estimate a business because I don't believe in the product or service (Chipotle, Crocs, Lululemon). Investigate. Look at sales, earnings, eps, debt, and cash flow (use better-investing).

LVS

2010-12-29T09:19:00.000-05:00

2.60 - stop
4.60 - limit
1.92 ATR * .53 Delta = $1.01

3.60 ask for Feb 11 Strike 45
look for reversal signal

Next Week 12/20/2010

2010-12-20T12:05:00.000-05:00

Looking at ANR, strong support at 50.68 - 51.00. It held as support last week. Look for an entry using the RSI and DMI.

ATI looks like want to breakout. Keep an eye on this one.

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Crazy IPO's This Week

2010-12-11T00:07:00.000-05:00

Two Chinese Initial Public Offering came to market this week. Youku.com (YOUK) is the leading video sharing site in China. DangDang is touted as being the Amazon of China. The stocks started trading on Wednesday with a bang ended the week up 42% for Youko and DangDang 31%.

See the charts below.

http://www.google.com/finance?chdnp=1&chdd=1&chds=1&chdv=1&chvs=maximized&chdeh=0&chfdeh=0&chdet=1292043951836&chddm=1172&chls=IntervalBasedLine&q=NYSE:DANG&ntsp=0

http://www.google.com/finance?chdnp=1&chdd=1&chds=1&chdv=1&chvs=maximized&chdeh=0&chfdeh=0&chdet=1292044017177&chddm=1172&chls=IntervalBasedLine&q=NYSE:YOKU&ntsp=0

DRYS

2008-12-13T01:16:00.000-05:00

DRYS reached a low of $7.28. I didn't have a limit order in place to catch this price. I put one in later this evening. Maybe I can get it around this price in the near future.

Now I feel different about the Bailout of Wall Street

2008-10-01T01:24:00.001-04:00

A couple of days ago, I was really unsure about the Bailout plan. However, I’ve had a change in perspective. Here in Metro Atlanta, we are experiencing disruptions to our gasoline supply. There are many days that we can’t get gas. So, when you do see a station that has petro, you would be wise to fill up.

Case in point, two days ago, my wife called me at 6:15am to come and some gas from the station about a mile from the house. I arrived only to see at least 30 or more cars waiting in line. I got in line and after about 10 minutes of waiting, a vehicle pulled into an empty gas stall with a red bag over the pump. Some lady walks over to the vehicle and started telling the person they can’t pull into the stall because she and other have been waiting for 30 minutes. She was right; however, her approach was all wrong. She started yelling and the vehicle pulled off. She got into another altercation with another customer. She told the other customer, who was from the Middle East, that she should go back to her country. She also shouted, ‘Why are you over here (America) anyway?’ That was not cool at all and I told her so.

Later on in the day, the House of Representatives did not pass the Bailout Plan and the stock market declined 777 points. This got me thinking about, if we were to suffer an economic collapse, how the average person would respond to the inability to get cash or pay with a debit card. What if grocery stores were unable to stock food because they don’t have enough cash on hand to purchase inventory and their credit lines have been frozen? What would happen then?

I don’t know, but I don’t really want to find out. Let’s not forget Washington Mutual is out of business and Wachovia’s banking assets have been purchased by Citigroup, Inc. All of things have caused me to change my position over the last few days. Maybe, just maybe, something really bad could happen if things get much worse. So, the Bailout may not be just about Wall Street, it could soon be about My Street.

The Bailout of 2008

2008-09-23T02:51:00.001-04:00

All weekend I listened to the proposed $700 Billion bailout by the Government. Many financial experts on TV declare that this must be done and done quickly. This may be true; however, there is one thing that doesn't seem right. This plan states that the Courts will not have the ability to review actions taken under it, as noted in a Bloomberg article. Why? Also, there is an urgency to get the plan signed within a week. I've heard the reason for such hastiness is to instill confidence in the market to stabilize it. But does that justify signing a blank check, tomorrow?

This seems a bit fishy to me. It's virtually impossible for an individual to acquire a home loan to be underwritten, approved, and closed within a few days. So why would lawmakers possibly think of signing off on a loan of this size within a few days? Another point worth mentioning is that I've heard the plan doesn't contain many details. The summary is reported to be only three pages long. In exchange for $700 Billion, the details should be spelled out reasonably well.

Is the American Taxpayer on the brink of being duped again? Is the current administration pulling another fast one on us? I don't know, but it sure feels like it.

September 19, 2008, What a week!

2008-09-20T02:02:00.002-04:00

My wife and I was on vacation this past week and we had a great time. However, the market had one of the worst weeks in a very long time. There was blood in the streets. Fear and anxiety was the prevailing mood on the street. A week earlier, I added to several of my positions, but now I was feeling the pain from the steep and rapid decline. My resolve was being tested, but I held on to my conviction and added to all but one of my positions again on Wednesday.

At the end of the week, talk of an RTC solution along with a restriction on short selling made my recent trades look pretty smart. However, it was fortunate timing more than anything else; possibly a blessing. It is definitely too soon to tell. The positions I added to are ICO, AAPL, PBR, DRYS, and PLM. I don't know what will happen next week but, it seem like the US dollar has reversed its recent uptrend and commodities look to have put in a bottom. With the treasury putting up billions of dollars for bailouts and the financial system breaking right in front our eyes, many may be flocking back to hard assets for fear the US dollar can't hold its value. I don't know if this is the case, but it might be valid.

I'll be watching closely next week and to see what happens. I'm reminded of the bear market of 2000 and how a great deal of money was made after we recovered from the Internet Bubble. If history repeats itself then we will be much better off in 5 years.