Ka-ching!y make.

Suh-weet! Alright, so I had the August 111 Calls of the Diamonds. Cost of $1.75. I bought em' around last Monday, I think. Anyway, I was feeling pretty optomistic about a bullish week cuz' of Q2 earnings being reported. Not only were earnings good for the most part, but GDP numbers suggested that the economy was slowing down; this happened just yesterday. Ssooooo, I took advantage of yesterday's trajectory north and made some cash. $-) I sold at $2.30! Please remember that you have to buy these in chunks of 100 shares.

Freakin' I needed this!!!! This has restored my confidence cuz' when I lost 50%, that really bruised my ego. I should have just held on to those contracts cuz' had I did, it would have been profitable for me, but I just had a hard time going to expiration. It was a very expensive lesson for me.

Anyway, I dunno' if I am going to take any positions next week. Might take it easy and see what happens on August 7th when the Feds get together again for another rate hike or a pause.

At any rate, I'll be anxiously be waiting with my money ready to profit from whatever decision they make.

Cheers!

Damn.

Man, isn't this one hell of a volatile market or what? I just snagged up some of the Aug 111 Calls of the DIA's. I bought them right after a rather substantial rally. CRAP!! Stupid me. Guess I'm just desparately seeking to redeem an already bruised ego.

Who knows what this week's gonna' look like, ya' know? Hundreds of companies are gonna' state their Q2 earnings, and you also got this awful situation in the middle East, so who knows what's gonna' happen.

AMD wants to buy ATI, a graphics chip maker. I gather this will be good news for the Nasdaq. However, doesn't really matter to me because 1) I don't have any QQQQ options and 2) this really IS good news for the Nasdaq but with the escalating crisis between Israel and Lebanon, who the heck really knows what will carry more weight???

Ugh, I need a cigarette. Haha. I dunno', I'll see what the Nasdaq futures look like tomorrow morning, then I'll obsverve the momentum of the market for the first 15-20 minutes of the trading day, and then just play it buy ear. Who knows, I just may have to buy some QQQQ puts, for good time's sake, huh? Wouldn't that just be too funny, if I actually freakin' made some money!

And just by the way, last Thursday's rally was just bogus.

Goooooooooooooaaal!!!

Alright! The first time in a coupla' weeks or so that I freakin' finally made some money, and I learned something, too. So I was reading all the news bulletins about the escalating conflict between Israel and Lebanon, reading the financial news of the US markets and really couldn't find anything positive about the markets, save for crude oil going up and that's only good news if you trade it. I kinda' had a feeling today would be another day in the toilet for US markets, and I was right.

Before the markets opened, I placed two limit orders: 1) four contracts of the 36 July Puts of the Q's; 2) two contracts for the 134 July Puts of the Spyders. Also would like to note that this was my first time trading the Spyders; I have had TERRIBLE luck with the DOW Diamonds as my orders just never seem to execute. I badly wanted to get into the 110 July puts, and had I did, I would have closed at a near 200% profit. Cha-ching! But, after I placed my limit, I cancelled it because I didn't want to sit around all day waiting for the thing to execute. I knew I had a good chance getting my Spys and QQQQs as they trade at a much, much higher volume than the DIA's.

Anyway, within 10 minutes of the market's open, my orders execute. And the NASDAQ AND S & P kept going down. Down, down, down. My QQQQ's hit 35.79. At that market price, my puts were at $0.70 a share. The SPY's also pummeled down $1.20 or so, which placed my puts at $1.95. I was sitting in front of my PC, and I thought about selling to close, but I didn't. I ended up closing my SPY's at $1.65, still not a bad profit as my cost was $1.25 per. But, $1.95 would have been sweet. As for my Q's, well, I still have them and am breaking even. I really wanted to get rid of both today. Oh well. My lesson learned? DON'T BE A HOG!

So, I embark on my journey to carry these puts into the last week before expiration. I have the 39 July calls which are at $0.00. OUCH. Yeah. Dunno' what I was thinking when I got into those... Good lord. Should listen to my gut instincts, let me tell ya'.

Not sure what Monday is going to bring. I can only hope for some news to keep these markets southward, at least long enough for me to make a profit. Well, kind of sucks that the increasing tensions in the middle east is what is driving the markets down and making me some money. The escalating conflict only brings more blood-shed. Unfortunately, there's been either one conflict or another there, and Israel and Palestine have been at it for ages.

Bye.
M

My Experience as an Options Day Trader

Howdy. I've been dabbling in options trading now for about two or three months. My interest in options trading sparked as I was reading Jim Cramer's autobiography "Confessions of a Street Addict," which by the way is a fanastic, education and humorous read. He had mentioned that trading options is a great way to get started since options sell at a much cheaper price than its underlying stock. So, that was it. That's how I got interested in options. From then on, I studied up on options for about two months before I acheived a basic understanding of how options work and how they can make me money. And just in case you're wondering what website I found the most informative, it was http://www.888options.com. So, once I got comfortable with em', I opened up a trading account.

Gotta' admit, you have GOT to have a high, HIGH risk tolerance, and I will tell you why in a moment. At any rate, the great thing about equities is that you can make money as the market goes up, and you can also make money on as the market goes down. My very first trade, I made 50%. Second trade, I lost 50 bucks. Third trade, I freakin' made 80%. And, had I waited just fifteen minutes and placed a limit order of just twenty cents higher, I woulda' freakin' doubled my money.

Sound good? Well, here's where the high tolerance for risk is critical. Market had been tanking. And because I had made money on the market going down and I had just recently made 80%, I felt an overwhelming urge to jump back into the market to make money "going against the tide." So, I did. Executed an order with a cost basis of 90 cents per.

The market had just taken a trip to the head the previous day. I saw the price of the underlying stock go lower and lower and lower. At the same time, I saw the price of the puts go up and up and I said to myself, "uh oh, I'm gonna' miss this bus if I don't hop on it." The markets closed shop for the night and I was already up marginally, like maybe 10-15% or so. "Suh-weeeeeeeeeeeet!" I thought to myself. The following day, I opened up my trading account to anxiously watch yet another down day. Markets opened and as I licked my lips as a dog does when it sees a piece of steak, I prepared myself to laugh all the way to the bank. I was wrong. BUH-BUH-BUH-BOUNCE. A big one. Like a 100-meter sprinter out of the blocks, I saw the Nasdaq sky rocket. For the next TWO weeks, I saw the markets rise. And sure, there were down days, days where I made back some of the losses, but all in all, at the worst, I was down $520. AND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The whole reason why I wanted to jump back into the puts is that Uncle Ben was going to announce another 25-basis point hike in the interest rates, and normally the markets head south as interest rates head north. Not this time. The markets went north along with the interest rates. : ( When the Fed raised rates I lost $200 in a single day. Mmhmm. And for the next two weeks I saw my account display red. I never did break even. I sold for a 50% loss, and I was thankful. And just thought it would be worth mentioning that the trade where I lost 50 bucks??? I FREAKIN' COULDA' MADE ANOTHER 50% GAIN had I stayed in just five days until expiration. You see, I was nearing expiration Friday and was starting to get real nervous, even though I was about 12-14 days out.

This 50% loss was a good learning experience. I had jumped in way too quickly. I bought puts when the Nasdaq had continued to get flushed down the toilet for like two weeks straight--a rebound was inevitable, and it was just a matter of time. What was the lessoned learned??? Don't buy puts when the market has been tanking for a few. Wait for a good rebound, THEN buy puts. Conversely, if you want to buy calls, wait for the markets to collapse, then buy calls.

Right now, I'm in a call position. Losing like 75% but I still have like ten days or so until expiration. And, this morning, all morning actually, the markets took a nose dive, so I lost money. But..... Around an hour prior to market close, the markets, headed north and closed in positive territory.

More next time. I'm hoping that the optimisim that was evident in the last hour of trading spills into tomorrow. Cuz' all I need is a good 25 point jump in the Nasdaq to just break-even. But, will it happen is the next question. Cheers.