I feel like I should know this, but are the options (I guess specifically through the CBOE) traded open outrcry with actual humans? It really irks me that the underlying can trade pre/after hours and options can't. If you happen to be on a swing trade you could theoretically close a position before some market moving event that happens before 9:30

It's peanuts, but had I actually had the option to close a position before the ADP release (and I would have) I could have saved some cash. It's kind of bullshit that any government statistic isn't released during market hours. It's way easier for me to put on a trailing stop/buy than to clamp the gain/loss with another position only to have to take it off when the event is over (suffering the commission on both ends).

11/3/2010 4:56:20 PM

Does anyone know how to get Google Finance to display Moving Average's in 1 day periods for anything less than a 3 month chart? Every time I change the chart to 5 day or 30 day, it adjusts the period down to 2m or 30m which gets really annoying. Even on the 3 month chart, it won't even display the 200 day SMA. I've scoured google but can't find an answer to this.

11/3/2010 6:44:07 PM

Just use http://www.freestockcharts.com

[Edited on November 3, 2010 at 7:32 PM. Reason : .]

11/3/2010 7:32:09 PM

I'm making a killing with BP options.

11/4/2010 4:14:07 PM

Everyone is making a killing.

The trick will be to avoid losing a killing when the music stops.

I flipped GLD 133s from last week at 1.55 to 3.10 today. Flipped 134s at 1.04 yesterday to 2.20 today. Rebought 133s at 2.80 and sold out at 3.80 near the close.

When the Fed tells you the move, it's pretty damn easy to make.

11/4/2010 5:28:24 PM

True, but the 12 months following a midterm election have been bullish over the past 40 years.

11/4/2010 6:14:48 PM

If you look at what the last round of QE did on the stock market then you can likely extrapolate forward from this round. As commodities rise it becomes more expensive for business to produce. This will compress their margins and lead to lower EPS and perhaps layoffs (and we know how well that works for the economy). There is also uncertainty related to the fraudclosure stuff. I have a hard time seeing the S&P higher 12 months from now.

11/4/2010 6:57:08 PM

QE2



Yuck.

11/4/2010 8:06:26 PM

so my old 401k is now rolled over to my Fidelity IRA, wad of cash sitting there. WHAT DO I BUY??? i'm tempted to simply buy an indexed retirement date fund. too lame?

also the market just rebounded... should i wait for it to drop down a bit before i buy?

[Edited on November 4, 2010 at 10:29 PM. Reason : vcvc]

11/4/2010 10:13:51 PM

The market is going to run higher for a few months. If you really don't want to manage it, just by one of those targeted funds and be done with it.

Whatever you do, don't see the market go up up up, then buy the fund only to catch the top, then when its going down down down pull it out just in time to miss the turn.

11/5/2010 7:11:23 AM

yeh. i think some of the indexed funds have a higher cost, though. so picking a few big "normal" funds giving you the same ratio of domestic, international, bonds, etc is better i hear. y ou'd only have to rebalance every couple years no biggie.

I just bought some FCNTX as half of my 66% domestic equity fund. i'll find another for the other half. then gotta find about 24% worth of an international equity. then 11% bonds. thats going by the ratios of the 2050 Fund

11/5/2010 7:53:00 AM

Yeah, I'm being boring this year and just throwing my roth money into Vanguards 2050 fund.

11/5/2010 11:05:56 AM

Quote :

"so my old 401k is now rolled over to my Fidelity IRA, wad of cash sitting there. WHAT DO I BUY??? i'm tempted to simply buy an indexed retirement date fund. too lame? also the market just rebounded... should i wait for it to drop down a bit before i buy? "

I'd buy ETF's, personally. Diversified like a mutual fund, much cheaper (expense ratios lower), and over long periods of time, very few mutual funds will outdo them.

Vanguard has a great total stock market ETF (VTI)
You could buy the S&P 500 Index / Spyder (SPY) (This is going to be more large cap, though...might want to balance with a smaller cap ETF)

I'd put 20-30% in overseas/emerging markets ETF (Something like VWO)

Do some research and split your money between 5 or more funds (ETF's, Mutual Funds, etc).

I wouldn't try to time the market for a retirement account. If anything, put 1/5 in now, 1/5 in 3 months, etc. When you're investing for 40+ years, no need to attempt at market timing unless you have solid reason to believe a MAJOR pullback is coming shortly


If you aren't disciplined enough to shuffle/review your investments ever 5 or so years (And shift more to money market/bonds as you get closer to retirement age) then you really can't go wrong with a target fund. That said, you'll probably do a lot better long term doing it yourself becuase the funds are cheaper (lower expense ratios) and likely more aggressive when you're young

[Edited on November 5, 2010 at 6:23 PM. Reason : ]

11/5/2010 6:18:45 PM

There are way too many freaking options.

If i just choose a bunch of random MorningStar 5 stars and call it a day what will happen? ha

11/5/2010 7:15:51 PM

I tried trading penny stocks this past week -- and I think I'd rather stick to my real job, as trading those is a full-time job in itself.

11/9/2010 7:36:27 PM

Dag, CSCO down 13% after hours.

11/10/2010 6:21:52 PM

bought some fresh new TYH @ 40.5 on the gap lower

11/11/2010 9:36:25 AM

bought TTM at $30.04 on Tuesday and sold Dec 31 calls on it for $.80.

Naturally it shot to $34+ the next day. It's down to $32.20 now so I sold Nov 32 puts on it at $.85 each.

11/11/2010 2:35:23 PM

Quote :

"Dag, CSCO down 13% after hours."

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=171859

11/11/2010 3:00:04 PM

There is only one way to make money on CSCO.

Buy the day after quarterly earnings announcements.

Sell the day before then next quarter.

Lather, rinse, and repeat.

11/11/2010 3:03:35 PM

^^ I've been subscribed to Karl for a long time. The cool thing about him is, he has been warning of a blowup of the United States...everything...for as long as I can remember.

Part of a post from Jan 16, 2009

Quote :

"This disclosure caused an immediate 5% crash in the markets in Europe which then translated over here; after the market closed we learned that both Bank of America and Citibank face similar issues and they imploded, translating the damage through to Asia, which is now down about 5%. This may cycle back through to us in the morning and there is a risk of a self-reinforcing liquidation cycle that could take the DOW down two to three thousand points over the next week if you do not step in and act now."

The market did go down another 1600 from that point, but it took nearly 8 weeks to do it.

Another from Jan 30

Quote :

"In this case the pennant prognosticates a move downward of six hundred S&P 500 points from the break, which occurs at approximately 810. That gives us a target on the S&P 500 of 210. No, that's not a misprint. I said two hundred and ten, and I meant two hundred and ten. This puts the DOW at TWO THOUSAND. Mr. President, Congress, and the rest of the fools in Washington DC, including TurboTax Timmie: You only get one shot at this and you better stop writing checks with your mouth that you cannot cash. This goes DOUBLE for Ben Bernanke."

He supposedly is a day trader, but I've never ever heard him mention his actual trading record.

11/11/2010 5:56:11 PM

picked up some AGQ, DGP, GDXJ, and FWLT

11/12/2010 3:11:54 PM

OK, another options question:

I sold 4 contracts worth of calls ("sold to open") on SSO. The strike price was $45 with an expiration date of November 10.

Well, that date has come and gone, and the ETF did briefly go above $45. However, my positions list still shows both 400 shares of SSO, as well as the call options. What's the deal?

11/13/2010 11:35:54 AM

Are you sure it wasn't Nov 2010?

The 10th was a wednesday and all options expire on fridays.

You've probably got some that expire on the 19th. Generally all options expire on the 3rd friday of the month, though some stocks have weekly options that are up on that friday.

11/13/2010 4:47:29 PM

^^ was the option -SSO101120C45?

11/15/2010 2:31:12 PM

yay F

11/15/2010 2:31:46 PM

Quote :

"picked up some AGQ, DGP, GDXJ"

Any particular reason for 3 different securities that are essentially the same play? I could understand if this was diversification among different companies and trying to minimize tail risk for a longer term trade, but swing trading and using ETFs...why?

Just seems like extra juggling and management that could be spent on other sectors, hedging, etc.

11/15/2010 6:27:01 PM

^ they behave differently. silver tracks gold by months, the GDXJ acts like a 3x, DGP is a 2x

11/16/2010 4:28:10 PM

Do you mean "trails"? Regardless, no. Silver (and GDXJ as well really) is better thought of as a liquidity indicator. During times of stress in the financial markets, Gold will hold up better than Silver as investor look for a safe alternative for their dollars. During times where inflation is starting to run hot and speculation is rampant, that money will flow out of Gold and into Silver. Just plot GLD vs SLV (or look at the gold/silver ratio, GSR) if you don't believe me. They are different plays. If you expect the metals to get hot, you move into silver. If you expect the metals in particular (and the markets in general) to hit some headwinds, move to gold.

11/16/2010 7:22:17 PM

Unlike gold, silver actually has industrial uses and can be seen as a commodities play.

11/16/2010 7:22:34 PM

Look, until Gold is invalidated as being a fiat money alternative, it makes no sense to shun it because of what CNBC tells you.

Thats before considering it too is used in industry and for jewelry.

Haven't people been saying the same thing since Gold was at 350?

11/16/2010 7:26:40 PM

yes, trails.

you do realize these are trading vehicles - note i haven't been talking about IAU or SLV (1x). in any case, i've been stopped out.

11/17/2010 12:06:19 PM

picked up a little bit of GM at 35.68

11/18/2010 9:42:19 AM

too much hype in GM right now for me. I'll wait till it comes down to $33.

11/18/2010 2:56:53 PM

^.

I've never been big into IPOs.

11/18/2010 2:58:29 PM

goddammnit north Korea

11/23/2010 3:31:55 AM

no way in hell is the stock market going upwards tomorrow.


what i don't get is how can you sell stock when the stock market is closed?

11/23/2010 3:50:12 AM

picked up some EDC

11/23/2010 12:37:11 PM

Sold EWY Dec 53 puts on 11/15 for $0.99
Bought to close on 11/19 for $0.66
Just resold Dec 53 puts at $1.75

11/23/2010 3:24:13 PM

How many

I sold 1 strike out of the money puts on GLD last week at .54 that traded at .09 the next day. Sadly...it was just one

11/23/2010 4:56:45 PM

Quote :

" what i don't get is how can you sell stock when the stock market is closed? "

it sells when the market opens, for the price that it opens at.

i hardly ever do this, because the morning tends to be a very volatile time for prices. but when i do it, i tell myself not to regret it, because i want to sell at any cost.

11/24/2010 3:28:41 AM

With the right broker, you can buy and sell stocks in the pre and after hour markets. Spreads are wider, but that may not matter if you're eager to book a profit or cut a loss.

11/24/2010 7:02:30 AM

Quote :

"Just resold Dec 53 puts at $1.75"

down to $0.87.

11/24/2010 11:50:31 AM

Quote :

"^^ was the option -SSO101120C45?"

My acct lists it as "101120C00045000", but yeah, looks like the same thing.

...and yeah, it's expired now, I still have my SSO, and I made $170-something.

11/27/2010 2:26:28 PM

101120 means 2010 November 20. I've done the same thing with weeklies.

It was a lot more confusing when it was all letters a couple of years ago.

11/27/2010 6:49:55 PM

setting trailing stops..

12/1/2010 12:15:18 PM

Quote :

"Sold EWY Dec 53 puts on 11/15 for $0.99 Bought to close on 11/19 for $0.66 Just resold Dec 53 puts at $1.75"

bought to close at $0.90
sold to open at $1.55
bought to close at $0.66

12/1/2010 1:22:47 PM

and sold off some small chunks of SWHC, YHOO, LACO, and CTDC that I'd been sitting on for years for tax purposes.

12/1/2010 2:41:35 PM

this isn't a good year to use tax harvesting, wait until next year when the cap gains rates rise...

12/4/2010 3:50:46 PM

don't worry. i've got bigger losers for next year.

12/4/2010 4:38:03 PM