mslk

Nov 28: New Home Sales Nov 29: Consumer Confidence Nov 30: ADP Employment Report Nov 30: PMI Dec 1: ISM Dec 2 : Unemployment

thanks everyone for the input ... i figure trading will get enjoyable when i start to see success. so all my effort is into making some profitable trades. do you see anything wrong with this approach? how many strategies do you have trade with? do you continue to 'go back to the well' with the same strategy over and over again? or are you looking for new ones? thanks -mslk

sorry yes you are right ... i reread the link and it looks like you can't sell 'naked puts'. too bad you should look into another broker if possible yes i do make about $2-3k but each trade is only about $200-$400 in premiums - i just have 10 trades going at one time that's all. e.g right now you can sell a Jan $24 put on INTC for $0.75. So I would sell 4 contracts and receive about $296 (400x.74). but this is 'committing' me to purchase $9600 in INTC IF i get assigned. you just have to make sure you are ok with buying 400 shares of INTC if it gets assigned. if it does get assigned, then i just collect dividends and also write covered calls on the shares until they get called away. the key is to do this with companies that have low beta, a decent dividend, and little risk of a major stock price drop. the big risk is if there is a big overall market drop and you get assigned all your puts ... you just have to make sure you are not committing to buy too much. slow and steady - don't try to risk too much each month. take a couple hundred bucks every month and before you know it you'll be taking a couple thousand each month. -mslk

hi - you are allowed to sell calls\puts with level 2 on sharebuilder. link here and yes you could sell the Dec $55 put for $1.5 ... but only do this on stocks you *want* to keep and are not too volatile. also, because you are dealing with 100 shares per option, the price of the stock matters as 1 contract for QCOM means a potential outlay of $5500 where i can sell 2 contracts on INTC (~$23) with the same potential outlay. just something to think about. i've been able to make ~$2-3k a month using this strategy. i'll post another update this friday after expiration. good luck. -mslk

i've been actively trading for 6 months now, making more losses than wins down on my account. i feel drained after everything i have learned its not working out as i hoped. some say everyone goes through this when new to trading. i am also designing my own system which is proving more difficult than i thought. what i am asking is when do you know time is up or the tide has turned? thanks -mslk

Big week for numbers! Nov 15: PPI Nov 15: Retail Sales Nov 16: CPI Nov 17: Housing Starts Nov 17: Jobless Claims Nov 19: Expiration

here is a great rebuttal of the article points from the guy at T3Live -mslk

Oct 31: PMI Nov 1: ISM Nov 1: Construction Spending Nov 2: ADP Nov 3: Jobless Claims Nov 4: Unemployment

when you say 'end of a reaction, the beginning of the next action', do you mean when the trend is in a consolidating phase? what, if any, indicators do have you found to be useful here to help identify this? thanks -mslk

i would suggest limiting the scope of your research into something manageable. its very easy to get overwhelmed with all the info out there. think about this, if you watch trades on trading floors (on tv, on the web, or even in person), you'll see that they tend to trade the same stocks or instruments daily. they don't necessarily search for something new everyday.. as an example, find 10 symbols and do all the fundamental and technical research on them all. then pick two 'peers' for each stock based on sector and industry groups. line up all major variables - things like price-to-book, price\earnings, etc; do a layover chart and see how their picks stack up against the peers. then add the market indexes (djia, sp500, etc) to the layover and see how they fare against the entire market. this should help you determine which symbols you want to trade - without getting overwhelmed. i only trade 12 or so stocks\options good luck! - mslk

looking to get into currencies but not sure which to jump into. what are the advantages of trading currency futures as opposed to foreign exchange? thanks -mslk

i would suggest limiting the scope of your research into something manageable. its very easy to get overwhelmed with all the info out there. think about this, if you watch trades on trading floors (on tv, on the web, or even in person), you'll see that they tend to trade the same stocks or instruments daily. they don't necessarily search for something new everyday.. as an example, find 10 symbols and do all the fundamental and technical research on them all. then pick two 'peers' for each stock based on sector and industry groups. line up all major variables - things like price-to-book, price\earnings, etc; do a layover chart and see how their picks stack up against the peers. then add the market indexes (djia, sp500, etc) to the layover and see how they fare against the entire market. this should help you determine which symbols you want to trade - without getting overwhelmed. i only trade 12 or so stocks\options good luck! - mslk

hi, i'm an intraday stock trader and i've never had a problem cutting my losses. but i could use a little guidance when it comes to taking more advantage from my winners. i know one option is to add on dips. do you ever add to a position if it starts working right after you buy it? would love to hear from all intraday traders, regardless of instrument. thanks - mslk

oct 2011 expiry update just noticed i never inputted these trades that expired so here is a summary: EXC - oct $41, $1.06 puts expired and made 13% INTC - sold oct $19, $0.87 puts expired and made 23% JNJ - sold oct $62.5, $2.23 puts expired and made 18% -mslk

new trades - oct 2011 XOM - sell, to open, jan $65 puts for at $2.45, stock is ~ $73.5 - if options expire worthless, i get 18.8% return on my margin in three months ($12.45 / (20% of $65 strike) == 18.8%) - XOM would have to drop from $73.5 all the way to $62.5 before I'm losing this trade. most recent time XOM was that low was back in oct 2010. MCD - sell, to open, jan $72.5 puts for at $1.13, stock is ~ $87 - if options expire worthless, i get 7.8% return on my margin in three months ($1.13 / (20% of $72.5 strike) == 7.8%) - MCD would have to drop from $87 all the way to $71.5 before I'm losing this trade. most recent time MCD was that low was back in aug 2010. KO - sell, to open, nov $65 puts for at $1.29, stock is ~ $67 - if options expire worthless, i get 9.9% return on my margin in *one* months ($1.29 / (20% of $65 strike) == 9.9%) and all of these trades, i would be *happy* to purchase these shares at the strike prices ... so the strategy is simple, collect put premiums until you can buy your shares at fire-sale prices - mslk

new trades - sept 2011 MSFT - sell, to open, nov $24 puts for at $1.03, stock is ~ $25 - if options expire worthless, i get 21.4% return on my margin in two months ($1.03 / (20% of $24 strike) == 21.4%) MDT - sell, to open, nov $32 puts for at $1.5, stock is ~ $33.5 - if options expire worthless, i get 23.4% return on my margin in two months ($1.5 / (20% of $32 strike) == 23.4%) **these trades are working out WELL ... why buy stocks when you can make 20% on your margin requirements every 2 months?! -mslk

sorry for the late update but happy to show most sept trades went well. please see below ... shares assigned to me at $65, collected premium of $0.87, shared now at $64.18. So i'm about break even on this trade. sold nov $65 calls for $1.66. if it goes back up to $65 and foreced to sell, i'll be profiting both my original $0.87 + my new $1.66 calls. if JNJ hangs around where it is at, i will continue to sell calls against it. this is the power of trading options against *strong* companies like JNJ expired and collected entire premium expired and collected entire premium

just starting this thread to post important events coming up for the world of options ... i'm sure there is overlap as these are probably important for futures\forex\etc. anyhow here goes: Oct 17: Industrial Production Oct 18: PPI Oct 19: CPI Oct 19: Housing Starts Oct 20: Existing Home Sales Oct 21: Expiration -mslk

it depends on what strategies you are thinking of applying ... but i would stay away from buying options if you are just beginning. try selling some options, it is a 'safer' way to extract money from the options markets. take a look at some of my trades on this thread. http://www.traderslaboratory.com/forums/options-trading-laboratory/10170-monthly-option-trade-log.html i sell puts on companies i want to own, essentially trying to buy them on discount. i can explain in more detail if you like ... just let me know. good luck! - mslk

your post made me all excited to signup for ts ... until i found out they don't accept canadians! argh! looks like multicharts or ninja now eh? haha. any opinions on metatrader? -mslk

stock back up to $64+ and trade almost back in the black stock back up to $34+ and trade almost back in the black stock back up to $25+ and trade almost back in the black yup there is risk with every trade and yes it sucks buying stock at a premium! thankfully i haven't had to yet. agreed that is one way of using options, but its not the only way. - mslk

time go back to the well on (EXC) - sell, to open, exelon (EXC) october $41 puts for at least $1.1, stock is at $42 - if options expire worthless, i get 13.4% return - if it i'm obligated to buy the stock at $41, and taking into account the $1.1 premium, i'm buying the stock at 5% discount -mslk

been looking at multicharts but i can't find anything about being able to simulate before putting real money at risk. anyone here using multicharts and know if its possible? thanks -mslk

which instruments have you traded with ib? i'm looking to start with equities and then futures. still deciding between ninja or multicharts. can you share more of your experiences about those? really appreciate any info you can provide - thanks. -mslk

better result on this trade, closed a day early (thanks SUIYA for the rec! ). bought back at $0.05 for a profit of $0.85 - a 10.4% return on the original margin. EXC is a good stock for this strategy because of its price range is relatively tight. -mslk