Category: Finance

In my end of the month summary I said I planned to increase my stock exposure and thought I was going to do it yesterday.  Instead, my day was far busier at my non-financial related contract job and I only had time to make a couple of trades for clients and none for me.  I could’ve squeezed it in, but with the market barely clinging to support I thought it might be wise to wait to see how the jobs …

January was a great month for me and set me up for a great start to the year with my returns better than most stock indexes so far.  My goal for the year is to avoid stupidity.  It sounds so easy up front, but yet somehow I’m not so sure I can pass up the lure of the exciting trade every day for a full year.  I’m trying to keep most of my trades with closer month expiration dates to …

I charted the past three months of daily prices for the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU, $DJI, DJIA) after the index closed at 12,660.46 on Friday, January 27, 2012.

At the beginning of December, I charted the S&P 500 index and pointed out how the 50 and 100 day moving …

As planned I was ready to jump in this morning for more exposure, but the four main equity index ETFs I watch, DIA, SPY, MDY and IWM were all trading along their trend lines of higher highs.  I couldn’t stomach getting in at those levels, even with the risk of being left behind in the rally that continues to mystify me.  It didn’t take long and reality set in.  The markets started to sell off and I made my first …

As I mentioned yesterday, I am under-invested right now and wanted to remedy that with some more equity exposure through an index ETF.  I started with IWM this morning as it was sitting below yesterday’s close.  While IWM was trading at $78.25 I sold one IWM February $78 naked put for $1.70 and received $168.97 after commissions.  I sold out of the money slightly with the expectation that small caps are due for a step lower before going much higher. …

I was called out of my long running UCO position last week and hesitated to get back in too soon because UCO has weakened recently.  In fact, the ETF has lost more than 10% from its intraday high just two weeks ago.  That volatility can scare off many investors, but for me, it’s why I keep coming back to it with options and why I continue to profit on it each year.  This leveraged oil ETF is not for the …

This S&P 500 ($SPX) chart shows the past three months of daily prices after the index finished the week at 1,315.38 on Friday, January 20, 2012.

As I mentioned last week in my Dow Jones chart, technical analysis can be an art as much as a science when using certain technical indicators.  Three of my go-to …

If only all options expiration days went this well for me.  This month’s expiring options included a handful of index ETF LEAPS that I sold 10-13 months ago and other random naked puts and covered calls sold over the past two months.  All of my puts finished with a profit – some with a full profit, others only partially profitable.  I went one for three on my covered calls in finishing with a profit on the series of trades as …

I charted the past three months of daily prices for the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU, $DJI, DJIA) after the index closed at 12,422.06 on Friday, January 13, 2012.

You can find a trend to almost any point on a chart if you look hard enough.  This is a major risk in using trend lines exclusively …