[Weekend Summary]
Dear Member:
Each of the major averages was up for the week and was up on Friday. The weekly volume for each was a little below average. I would like to see a bullish confirmation with a big day up on high volume and that really hasn't happened yet. Meanwhile, the indices move up. The real question is whether this is another false rally and the lack of supporting volume gives some credence to that thinking. However, I am aware that it is summer vacation time when many traders are on vacation so the lack of supportive volume may be less significant than it seems. I did make a very successful short term bullish play in Trend Trader this week and that is the first time in almost 3 weeks that I had sent an alert in that service. Trades have been fewer in Trend Trader, but 80% of the trades closed have been winners. (Only two trades are open there, one is up and the other is down a bit).
I executed a fair number of trades this week in Option Trader. Among them, I bought back the Aug 128 calls I sold on SPY as it appeared to turn up. Closing that position yielded an 80 cent per share profit before commission in just 12 days. SPY has moved up from there so my timing was "on the money" and I still own my Dec '07 120 calls.
I also got rid of the remainder of my Dec 36 puts on the Q's when it looked like the Nasdaq might be turning up. Closing my trade on the QQQQ puts resulted in a 17.9% profit before commissions in a month and a half.
I also sold some Aug 185 calls on BBH to create a spread against my January position. That brought in $1.05 a share that I get to keep as long as BBH stays below 185 to August expiration (or I make some adjustment). I also opened a bearish call spread on the Diamonds selling the Aug 112 calls and buying the Aug 113 calls as the protective leg. I got 35 cents on a $1 spread so if I can keep it, that'll be a before commission return of over 53% at August expiration. The DIA spread might require adjustment if the market breaks up through resistance, but sometimes in cases where that happens more than a couple of weeks before expiration, I can even do better than my initial play.
Sirius Satellite (SIRI) has now turned back up. I own the Jan '08 2.50 calls and have sold the Dec 5 calls against them. I may adjust by buying to close the Dec calls or by rolling the short leg up and out.
I'm still in my Conoco Phillips (COP) straddle and the long term spread on Micron (MU). I'd like to see a big move either way on COP and MU is doing just fine.
I hope you have a fantastic weekend. Thank you for subscribing.
Bill
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