[Weekend Summary]
Dear Member:
The bear continues to control the woods. Fortunately, my bearish plays have been doing well and I have been able to close some profitable trades again this week without having to take any losses.
Before commissions, I closed the short leg on the SPY spread for a 25 cent a share gain in 8 days; closed a put position on QQQQ for a 10.8% gain in 8 days; closed a put position on Alcan (AL) for a 3.6% gain in a single day; I closed a spread on DIA for a 41.6% return on risk in under 3 weeks and made a 20 cent gain by closing the short leg on the BBH spread.
I then entered another bearish call spread on the Diamonds (DIA) that has the potential to yield an 82% return on risk in a month if no adjustments are needed. Remember, an adjustment may not necessarily be a bad thing. Sometimes an adjustment results in an even larger gain than anticipated.
I also opened another put position on QQQQ when I bought the Dec 36 puts.
The positions in Micron (MU) and XLK (the tech ETF) are hedged and are fine at the moment. I'd like to see Conoco Phillips (COP) move sharply in either direction to put some profit in that straddle.
I am still riding the bear. I thought Thursday could be the shakeout day, but I do not see a return to the bull yet. The Dow 30 was down 366 points, the Nasdaq down 84 and the SP-500 down over 35 for the week. While that was going on, I was fortunate enough to close several profitable trades. That's one of the things that makes me love trading options.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Bill
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