Portfolio Update

For today I had a contingency order to BTO 3 contracts of the SLV 20110122 $28 calls if SLV broke above $27.21. It was my intent to buy them at no more than $1.71 per contract share. To my disappointment, SLV opened on a gap up of $0.65, climbed up as high as $28.72 and then came crashing down to $25.85 before closing at $26.18. As a result, the option position I made the order for executed on the down move and is currently ~22% in the hole. I don't want to lose much more, so I have an order to STC my position if it drops another 3% to under $1.28 per contract share.

On the positive side, I have a paper gain of 22% on my UNG call option position that I BTO yesterday. Unfortunately it still isn't enough for my stop order to STC at a profit. I will still have to wait and see.

That is my opinion, you can take it or leave it. Disclaimer: See bottom of page. http://investorsopinion.blogspot.com

BTO - buy-to-open / bought-to-open
SLV - iShares Silver Trust ETF
STC - sell-to-close / sold-to-close
UNG - United States Natural Gas Fund ETF

Portfolio Update

With the weather starting to cool off in North America, I figure it is about time that the demand for natural gas should start to "heat up" so-to-speak. Surprising enough, on Monday, the very first day I placed the order for, UNG broke above my contingency price of $5.84 on pretty strong volume, although the price only gaped up and then climbed a little higher.

Anyway, as a result, my BTO for 5 contracts of the UNG 20110122 $6 calls was executed at the price of $0.39. Now all I am waiting to see is if it will maintain this upward move towards and above $6. If it doesn't I will have to STC at a loss of since my trailing stop on the price is well below my entry point. But still better to loose a little than to loose the entire position. That is my opinion, you can take it or leave it. Disclaimer: See bottom of page. http://investorsopinion.blogspot.com

BTO - buy-to-open / bought-to-open
STC - sell-to-close / sold-to-close
UNG - United States Natural Gas Fund ETF

Portfolio Update

Today I closed my STO put position for CPLP. With the stock value going up slowly and the month of time that has passed, the value of the 2 put options I sold at $0.30 a contract share has dropped down to my trigger price of $0.05. After commissions, this is a profit of $37.47 and I free up the $1,500 that would have been needed to purchase the 200 shares of CPLP had it dropped below $7.50 a share. Total profit on the sale is just short of 70%, but if you look at it from the perspective of the $1,500 that was frozen to secure the puts, it is only a profit of 0.025% for the past month. Sadly enough, that is still better than bank interest. That is my opinion, you can take it or leave it. Disclaimer: See bottom of page. http://investorsopinion.blogspot.com

CPLP - Capital Product Partners, LP
STO - sell-to-open/sold-to-open

Portfolio Update

I have been waiting for an opportunity like this for a long time. Tonight I get to report that I collected 100% profit on one of my positions today. AMR had a large run up two days ago on it's earnings report.

From what I have been told, it is risky to hold onto a position on the week of its earnings being reported. Although I had looked it up before I bought in, I honestly forgot that earnings for AMR was to going to be reported this week. Fortunately for me it performed the way that it did and didn't trigger my STC stop order on that day. The only other way that I know of to trade on earnings is to set up a BTO limit-stop order contingent on a set stock price followed by setting up an STC stop order after the BTO triggers. This would require more time than I have because of my normal work day demands.

Following the move up, I was astute enough to update my stop-loss order to position myself to capture some profit. The following day it traded near the stop without triggering, but then dipped below my trigger price, stopping me out for the gross 100% profit. Currently I believe AMR will be pulling back a little bit, so I might get back in. But first, I want to see it test the break out level of $6.50. There is nothing yet to report on my other positions. That is my opinion, you can take it or leave it. Disclaimer: See bottom of page. http://investorsopinion.blogspot.com

AMR - AMR Corp (American Airlines)
BTO - Buy-to-open
STC - Sell-to-close

Portfolio Update

As the market proceeded to move up for the past week, I did not enter into a put position on QQQQ. On the other hand, I also did not enter into a call position on BAC. Both of these went completely against my analysis. The choice to take advantage of contingency orders is definitely worth the time it takes to make the calculations and set the order.

It is also worth the time to reset ones stops every day. Unfortunately, I did not do that last night. As a result, the stop I updated to the night before last persisted for today's down turn in C and as a result I was stopped out at a loss of $10 on top of commissions and fees. This will result in a lost of ~21%. The good news is that this is keeps me in my 25% loss tolerance.

On other fronts, CPLP has been moving up. This means for me that the puts I sold to be assigned at $7.50 have been started to lose value after gaining value over the previous week. Although a slower strategy, selling cash-secured puts looks to be a promising revenue stream. That is my opinion, you can take it or leave it. Disclaimer: See bottom of page. http://investorsopinion.blogspot.com

BAC - Bank of America Corp.
C - Citigroup, Inc.
CPLP - Capital Product Partners, LP
QQQQ - Powershares QQQ Trust ETF

Portfolio Update

Yesterday I said I would think about a few option trades, and after careful deliberation over the list I decided to place two orders. The first was 3 AMR Nov 20 2010 $6.00 calls and the second was 3 BAC Nov 20 2010 $14.00 calls. Long-story-short, only the first one was executed. AMR decided to gap up on the open and then pull back to the highs of the previous day. The close on AMR was higher than the previous day despite pulling back from the open. As a precaution, I have my GTC stop in place at a 25% loss and will wait to see how tomorrow fares for my position.

Although I believe AMR is prepared to have a short term bullish move, I am also perceiving the possibility of a bearish move in QQQQ. Because of this prognostication, I am going to also place another order for Thursday. This order will be for 2 QQQQ Nov 20 2010 $49.00 puts at a limit of $1.58 contingent on QQQQ dropping below $48.83. That is my opinion, you can take it or leave it. Disclaimer: See bottom of page. http://investorsopinion.blogspot.com

AMR - AMR Corp.
BAC - Bank of America Corp.
GTC - good til cancelled
QQQQ - Powershares QQQ Trust ETF

Portfolio Update and Option Picks

An interesting day in my portfolio. With today's bullish performance of the indices, I was stopped out of one position, but not the one I though I would be. Instead of me being stopped out of BRKS, I was stopped out of BAC. My BAC Oct 16 2010 $15.00 put stopped out at $1.50 for a 16% lose before commissions. After the weak movement that occurred on the day I entered the position I started to suspect that this could happen. I am thinking that the trend is changing. I believe I will look into a long call position.

Other possible trades I am looking into are AMD for long puts and AMR, BRCD, and UNG for long calls. That is my opinion, you can take it or leave it. Disclaimer: See bottom of page. http://investorsopinion.blogspot.com/

AMD - Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
AMR - AMR Corp.
BAC - Bank or America Corp.
BRKS - Brooks Automation, Inc.
UNG - United States Natural Gas Fund ETF