For a few days the market looked destined to test its August lows, if not break below those low points. That suddenly changed this week based on news that Europe might be getting a plan together that could solidify their footing for a few years. Couple that with some end of the month “window dressing”…
S&P 500 Chart – Do or Die Moment
This S&P 500 ($SPX) chart shows the past six months of daily prices after the index finished the week at 1,136.43 on Friday, September 23, 2011. The SPX has been stuck in a trading channel for nearly two months. By the end of the week the index was trolling the bottom of this channel, but with…
Cutting Losses
Yesterday I mentioned that I didn’t think we’d get a bounce today. However, I didn’t expect such a massive sell off. If I dreamed it was going to be like this I would’ve made today’s trades a lot earlier. I started with selling lower covered calls on Aflac (AFL). I thought about just dumping the…
Closed EEM Puts Position
I held onto my EEM position far longer than I should’ve, but wanted to keep some international exposure. I got over that this afternoon when its melt lower turned into nose dive. In late December 2010 and again in late January 2011 I sold EEM naked puts at the January 2012 $50 strike. I brought…
Sold Bearish NFLX Vertical Call Spread
The good news I finally opened a short position on Netflix (NFLX). The bad news is I’ve been considering this trade for a long time. Ever since NFLX changed their pricing plan and pissed off almost all of their subscribers I could tell it was a doomed stock. I don’t know why I didn’t react…
Options Expiration – September 2011
September is a fairly light month for me on the options expiration front. I only have three options expiring – two puts and one covered call. SSO – September $45 Naked Put – I sold this put in late January when SSO was trading at $49.78. This morning while it was trading at $43.94 I…
Sold Covered Calls on UCO and SSO
It’s not time to panic yet, but I thought it wise to take some future profits in early and sold covered calls to do it. That’s how I see covered calls – they are basically an advance on future profits if they end up getting called away. If the calls expire worthless they are just…
DJIA Chart – September 9, 2011
I charted daily prices for the past two months on the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($DJIA, $INDU, $DJI) after it closed on Friday, September 9, 2011 at 10,992.13. There’s really no need in looking at a chart that goes back any further for now. All of the price action and trends that matter are caught…
S&P 500 Chart – Will Support Hold?
This S&P 500 ($SPX) chart shows the past three months of daily prices after the index finished the week at 1,173.97 on Friday, September 2, 2011. The large cap index had a great run off of its August lows, but faced resistance at the 50% retracement line from the July high to the August low….