Simply writing out your thoughts on your account can do a lot to clarify what you need to do with your next trades. At least that’s how it worked for me today. By the time I finished writing today’s month-end summary for January, I knew I needed to take on some more risk. I had…
Author: Alex Fotopoulos
End of Month Summary – January 2013
This was my best January since 2007. I finished that year with better than 26% gain. January 2004 was even better, but I finished that year down some. I mention those two years to point out that the “January effect” is not a guarantee of big gains for the year. January often precedes great years…
More Profit Taking
I had another profit taking day today. I did this a few weeks ago and saw the need to remove some risk today again since my upside on these puts was very limited. It’s not that I think we’re about to see a major sell off (probably some selling, but not beyond 4-5%), but that…
Dow Jones – 10 Year Chart
I charted the monthly prices for the past 10 years on the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($DJIA, $INDU, $DJI, the Dow) after the index closed at 13,895.98 on Friday, January 25, 2013. The media has been talking about the Dow’s proximity to its all time high with every tick higher. I thought this deserved a chart…
Sold MDY Feb Put Spreads
I’ve enjoyed 2013’s opening rally so much that I’ve just sat back and watched my account balance climb without adjusting much over the past three weeks. I don’t have an exciting portfolio right now, but I don’t invest for excitement. I invest to make money and that’s what I’ve been doing. I came into this…
Options Expiration – January 2013
I started this year completely different than last year. I was under invested coming into January in 2012. This year, I came in with some margin risk at play. I worked it right this time. Stocks have had a nice run up and I’m profiting from it, so far. I had already cleaned up a…
My Trader’s Journal 2012 – Now an eBook
I am a published author as of last night. (Well, at least a self-published eBook author.) Thanks to the ease of publishing through Amazon ($AMZN), I turned all of my trade details from 2012 into an eBook. Most of you who have been reading my blog for years won’t gain anything new from reading it…
Sold March SPY Naked Put
I realized last week that I was beyond fully invested and didn’t have a lot of upside left in my positions. Technically, I still have almost $50k in cash, but that could be used quickly if my naked puts were assigned. That led me to take profits on a handful of positions early in the…
NASDAQ 100 Chart – January 11, 2013
This NASDAQ 100 ($NDX) chart shows the past year of daily prices after the index finished the week at 2,748.26 on Friday, January 11, 2013. However, a drop that much would push the tech-heavy index below its 20 and 50 day moving averages (dma). The 200 dma would be challenged and would have to be the extra…