Entries Tagged as 'Trading'

Monday Recap

Longs:

Position Price Paid All time high Stop Rule
C Jan’10 30 Call 8.65 7.9 9.05 7.24 80%
PCP Jan’9 140 Call 35.5 29.7 35.5 28.4 80%
MRVL May 12.5 Call 3.6 3.57 3.7 2.96 80%
IMCL Jan’8 40 C 5.8 5.82 6.03 5.42 90%

Shorts:

Position Price Paid All time low Stop
PCP Jan’8 145 Caller 13.1 7.7 9.7 11.64
PCP Jan’8 150 Caller 10.05 9.9 9.9 11.88

New Position

PCP took off a bunch today, towards the high end (150+) of my trading range for them (150+). So I sold the second half of the PCP position in Jan’8 150 calls to protect those gains.  I may forgo some future gains because of this, but the two callers together have paid for 29% of my PCP position.

NOTE: PCP’s earnings are Jan 21.  I generally wouldn’t want to be 100% covered in a stock I like at earnings.

Commentary

My first PCP caller has exceeded the stop. I should have sold it by now, but can’t thanks to my employer’s rules. It’s not entirely bad though, as this is a hedged position against long PCP leaps and at the worst case, I can roll it to a Feb caller after the 30 days have expired.

Tags: Trading by Peter
No Comments »

Friday finally..

Longs:

Position Price Paid All time high Stop
C Jan’10 30 Call 8.40 7.9 9.05 7.24
PCP Jan’9 140 Call 32.90 29.7 34.0 27.2
MRVL May 12.5 Call 3.5 3.57 3.7 2.96
IMCL Jan’8 40 C 5.7 5.82 5.7 5.13

Shorts:

Position Price Paid All time low Stop
PCP Jan’8 145 Caller 10.70 7.7 9.7 11.64

New position

Not new per se, but new to this blog. IMCL Jan8 40 calls. Bought a few months ago, on fundamental basis that IMCL was short term undervalued. It’s since been down 20-30% and up as much as 20%. Will keep a tight stop on it going forward. I’ve had it over 30 days, so I can sell it at any time.

Commentary

C popped up a bit today, and I need to consider selling the January’s before my window runs out. (normal folks would sell the Decembers)

Apple’s up as well, but after being severely burned in the run up between 150 and 180 by being over covered, I’m inclined to leave Apple no more than 1/2 covered throughout their best season.

Tags: Trading by Peter
No Comments »

Flatline thursday

Compared to yesterday, today was a breeze.. so much so that I didn’t trade anything..

Position Recap:

Position Price Paid All time high close Stop
C Jan’10 30 Call 8.125 7.9 8.475 6.78
PCP Jan’9 140 Call 32.25 29.7 34 27.2
PCP Jan’8 145 Caller 10.15 7.7 10.15 12.18
MRVL May 12.5 Call 3.7 3.57 3.7 2.96

Have a good night..

Tags: Trading by Peter
No Comments »

Wahoo Wednesday

Position Recap for Nov 28:

C - Jan10 30 Call (@8.475) - Up 7%

PCP - Jan9 140 Call (@34) - Up 14% ( $450/per)
PCP - Jan8 145 Caller (@11.3) - Down 48% ($368/per)

Initiated new position:

MRVL May 12.5 call @ 3.57, currently at 3.5 - Down 3%

Commentary

The PCP caller is down somewhat significantly today, but that’s in percentage terms.  Joined with the long call though, I’m still ahead.  In a more perfect world, I would have timed it better, and perhaps sold it for 10-11 range, had that dip not happened this morning.

Tags: Trading by Peter
No Comments »

Precision Castparts (PCP)

I already have a position with Jan9 140 calls.. Have had it for a little over a month, and last month sold 100% against it with Dec 155s. They returned 86% when I closed out the caller, leaving me naked long until today.

A pretty substantial pop this morning, and I decided to cover somewhere around the 143.5 level. The stock was up 4 or so, and it looked like the whole market might pull back. I also felt that PCP could go higher, so I decided to cover only 1/2 of my long position

PCP did pull back about 2, but has since gone to 147+.

So I’m in with the following:

-1/2 Jan8 145 C @ 7.7

(1/2 being half the number of contracts I’m long)

This is intended to protect my gains, at the cost of potentially more gains.

Exit Strategy

I have to hold for a month.. So 30 days from now I’ll evaluate where PCP has gone, and either buy this caller back, or let it ride through expiration.

I may also sell the other 1/2 if I feel that PCP has more fully topped off it’s trading range.

Tags: Trading by Peter
No Comments »

Citigroup (C)

Citigroup:

  1. Beaten up lately, for good reason.. 48 -> 30 in the last 6 weeks
  2. Dividend still holds, though possibly not forever
  3. $200+ per share in assets
  4. It’s a huge bank, huge enough to survive it’s problems, even if they’re billion dollar problems
  5. 7.5 billion $ investment
  6. Layoffs

So I bought some Jan’10 30 calls for roughly 8. If I had a little more time to babysit the order, 7.5 would have been a better target.

Exit Strategy:

I have to hold for at least a month. But anyone following this can sell Dec or Jan calls against it to provide downside protection. I’d recommend the Dec 32.5’s right now, and the Jan’s of the same if we’re at this level post expiry. 30s should also be considered if we drop below 30.

Other than protection, this is a long term holding. I’d expect to make ~1 per month on average selling calls against it, while accumulating some longer term slow gains on the leaps. If the implied volatility dropped to such a level where I couldn’t sell calls for ~1.5 a month (expecting to lose a few, so ~1 on average for income) and the stock had recovered to a level fitting of it’s business, then I’d consider closing the position.

It’s also possible that C will drop further. If I can roll these options down to Jan10 25’s, for less than 1.75, then I’d do that as well ($5 improvement in strike for $1.75)

I expect to have this position through the end of 2008.

Tags: Trading by Peter
No Comments »