Figures the first time I post in here this year I take a loss. Picked the wrong day to get short, and I'm not trying to hold FAS more than a day. Averaged in at $7.25, sold out at $6.30.

[Edited on February 5, 2013 at 3:16 PM. Reason : those are puts, friend.]

2/5/2013 3:15:52 PM

to be honest and completely not trying to be a dick, but if you cant stomach a little volatility, you shouldnt be buying options on crap products like FAS. I would never buy those and try to market time, the small time investor just wont win in the long run


[Edited on February 5, 2013 at 3:25 PM. Reason : i have a total hatred for the 3x long/3x short products]

2/5/2013 3:19:05 PM

oh believe me, i know. i've been doing this for 5 or so years, and typically i try to stay away from the 3Xs, but every once in a while, i try them out again. yesterday was profitable. today, not so much. my stomach for volatility clearly isn't what it used to be. i will probably stay away for a while now.

2/5/2013 4:48:22 PM

and remember when you make those kinds of trades, do it with beer money, not rent money

2/6/2013 12:11:06 AM

^good advice.

2/6/2013 12:41:19 PM

SNY declared a dividend increase to 2.77 EUR, but in their earnings realease they stayed conservative when guiding to 2013's estimates. The market should pull back a bit and it will be a great opportunity as SNY did not change their fairly aggressive 2014 and 2015 targets. Austerity in Europe also had something to with the conservative guidance.

With this beig said, the dividend yield is going to look quite large when the US market opens. I will be adding on more to my position in light of this short term news and take advantage of people with much shorter dated views. I still really like this as a buy and hold to tuck away in a portfolio for 3-5 years



[Edited on February 7, 2013 at 4:38 AM. Reason : M]

2/7/2013 4:30:10 AM

This lawsuit against aapl is interesting. Not really sure if preferred stock would unlock a lot of value, I'd like to see his pitch.

It sounds to me like he knows apple's growth model is in a world of hurt from this margin compression and their products becoming inferior and he wants a short term spike to unload his shares on.



[Edited on February 7, 2013 at 8:23 PM. Reason : a]

2/7/2013 8:17:32 PM

the 'crescendo' was supposed to be at S&P 1550 according to some talking heads i follow -- we aint hit that yet..

2/21/2013 9:16:22 AM

do you guys tweet? i sort of just started - most of mine are just replies to the folks i follow.

find me @Jamindar

2/22/2013 1:12:21 PM

No, as I am not a 13 yr old girl

2/22/2013 1:13:56 PM

^^

it's a great replacement for RSS. i'm @b0bbyd1g1tal

2/22/2013 3:12:25 PM

I love twitter, rarely tweet but follow tons of sports media, financial stuff, and world news. It's a great way to get real time news and reaction.

2/25/2013 3:10:10 PM

im going to be setting up front month calls on some combo of TNA, TECL, EDC, FAS

#operationrollingthunder #beermoney #gohardinthepaint

3/5/2013 11:52:05 PM

wish i didn't sell my BIIB when it hit 70

3/15/2013 9:39:22 PM

Loving YNDX and its option premiums.

3/15/2013 11:12:21 PM

Does anyone here mess with Mutual Funds?

3/18/2013 11:22:49 AM

^ started looking into schwab's and vanguard's offerings last weekend. Picked up Bogle's book on MFs but havent had a chance to read it yet

Cant decide if i should open a new account with vanguard just for MFs, ETFs since i already have account with Schwab

[Edited on March 18, 2013 at 2:00 PM. Reason : edit]

3/18/2013 1:54:49 PM

I am looking into a commodity MF that involves precious metals. Probably a bit more risky that normal, I guess, but if I do put any money into it I will probably put a little and wait 6-12 months before putting more into it.

3/18/2013 2:05:06 PM

^^I'd say it's worth it, but I don't like Vanguard's interface at all (had an account with them for a few weeks now). I'm used to Fidelity though so I'm kinda spoiled...

3/18/2013 5:47:54 PM

Yeah, I opened an account with vanguard just for mutual funds.

3/19/2013 11:36:21 AM

Anyone mess with DRIP funds?

3/19/2013 11:52:54 AM

i do some stuff with mutual funds through Vanguard. i have now for several years; my father set it up for me forever ago but i manage everything myself now.

i also have 6 or so DRIPs i'm invested in quite a bit. low upkeep since i have limited time to watch the daily changes. good way to "set it and forget it": put a bunch of money in and just let the dividends work for you by turning them around and buying more shares.

3/19/2013 12:02:06 PM

Which DRIPs do you own? I am looking at GE.

3/19/2013 12:03:03 PM

Do it.

3/19/2013 12:07:43 PM

I think I might buy 100 shares of Sprint and AMD just because it so cheap. Plan on 5-10 years of holding and see what happens.

3/19/2013 12:10:28 PM

Any thoughts on LULU?

3/19/2013 12:12:16 PM

the DRIPs i'm in are Duke Energy, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer, Verizon, The Southern Company, Conoco-Phillips and Phillips 66.

I've been in TSC the longest and P66 the shortest. All my time horizons are a long way out so that's 1 big reason i went for DRIPs.

3/19/2013 12:14:23 PM

Talk about not keeping your eggs in one basket haha.

3/19/2013 12:33:10 PM

diversification man, that's what its all about. just ask Cramer on Mad Money

3/19/2013 12:37:19 PM

You mess with precious metals as well?

3/19/2013 12:40:48 PM

Quote :

"Any thoughts on LULU?"

Stay away. They've made their bones selling high end yoga wear with most of the ability to do so coming because of perceived superior quality. The issue they are having with quality means that they've lost their only real edge in a market that is flooded by other company's selling the same product for less. Why would you pay $100 for yoga pants by Lululemon when you can get a pair by Nike or pick a company for $50?

This quality issue for them means that they will probably never trade at the kind of P/E ratio they were at. Maybe, maybe you see a short term bounce back up in 3 months, but I don't think it will trade near what it was.

3/19/2013 12:49:12 PM

i thought about getting into silver but after looking at the numbers and the market i decided it was too much of a risk for me. gold i'm staying away from too; at some point it's going to go back to normal pricing levels and with my luck that'll happen when i bought it lol.

i know with precious metals, there is a huge stake in Afghanistan for the rights to mine. there is estimated to be billions of dollars in precious metals there which could really sway the market. there's been no resolution as to who will mine and where the revenue will go since the regions are contested.

regarding LULU, i'm 100% in agreement with Kurtis636. they are too niche of a product/manufacturer. besides, they just had a massive recall on their pants being too sheer. stock took a HUGE hit. not a good pick.

[Edited on March 19, 2013 at 12:54 PM. Reason : .]

3/19/2013 12:49:35 PM

Silver is probably a decent buy now, but gold maybe not so, unless there is an intrinsic numismatic value (if you are buying it in coins).

3/19/2013 12:52:35 PM

Cool. Thanks for the insight.

3/19/2013 1:04:51 PM

If anyone here decides to open a new account with Scottrade online or at a branch office use this code YEHM0718 and we both get 3 free trades. $21 value.

3/21/2013 9:36:09 AM

Closed my third synthetic long on BAC last Wednesday buying to close puts for $.09 and selling to close calls for $5.92.
I'd opened the position on 3/1/12 by selling 30 puts at $1.45 and buying 25 calls at $2.66.

I am happy with my 622% return.

3/25/2013 3:34:46 PM

Silly question on options -

Since each contract is worth 100 shares, does this mean that 100 shares of the underlying stock must be delivered?

If so, wouldn't this make options for high priced stocks, like AAPL, extremely expensive? In this case, what happens if you do not have enough cash/margin to execute the trade?

For example, suppose I am in all cash with $10,000. I believe AAPL will continue to go down and buy 1x 4/13 Put for $12.35 at strike $445. I pay $1235 in premium. Come 4/13, AAPL's slide continues and is down to $420. I exercise the option, spending all my cash to buy 23 shares of AAPL, and then sell it immediately at strike, yielding a net 23 x (445 - 420) - 1235 = -$660.

In this example, the other 77 contracts are worthless and simply expire. Correct?

3/28/2013 2:25:43 PM

Dude, you sell the option on the 3rd fri of the month thus not exercising it unless you want to own 100 shares of the stock

3/28/2013 4:31:15 PM

If Apple is at $420 at expiration your puts will be worth $25. You just sell to close.

BTW, they rolled out mini option contracts a few weeks ago just because of stocks like Apple. They let you do 10 shares per contract.

3/28/2013 5:18:38 PM

Thanks.

Something else. As an option writer, if the buyer pre-maturely sells his/her options before expiration, are you immediately notified of being relieved of your obligations? Or is there some type of settlement/clearing period?

3/28/2013 7:21:46 PM

You're not relieved. Your obligation is to whoever holds the contract.

3/28/2013 8:09:01 PM

BIIB shot up again today

3/29/2013 12:48:25 AM

Rough week for Auric Goldfinger.

4/15/2013 10:03:35 AM

just picked up some FAS

4/15/2013 3:33:54 PM

Face - still bullish on gold?

4/15/2013 7:31:36 PM

Face is always bullish on gold.

4/15/2013 8:28:35 PM

something about shaking monkeys out of trees and such nonsense and then maybe some song lyrics

4/15/2013 8:32:36 PM

I had two guesses: #1 - he sold at the peak. #2 - something about holding physical gold and this is temporary trough before a massive spike.

4/15/2013 8:40:55 PM

Does anyone have any advice for where to open a retirement account? Time to start saving.

4/18/2013 7:26:32 PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SEP_IRA
https://investor.vanguard.com/what-we-offer/small-business/sep-ira?WT.srch=1

4/18/2013 7:45:46 PM