[Weekend Summary]
Dear Member:
The bear keeps trudging forward. The major markets were down 4 of the last 5 days. Today, the Dow Industrials, Nasdaq, and SP-500 were all down. Oh, yeah, and it's August, too. August and September often fulfill expectations that they are bearish months so overall things aren't too exciting for the bulls. Geopolitical events and threats continue to cause concern and so far the market hasn't begun to climb the proverbial "wall of worry." Several of the Option Trader trades are doing well as a result of the general bearishness, but good bullish trades for Trend Trader and $10 and Under are hard to find.
The bear call credit spreads on DIA and IJR are chugging along and have reached the paper profit level with a week to go before expiration.
I was able to buy back the short leg (Aug 129 calls) on my SPY diagonalized calendar spread for a 45 cent a share profit in 10 days. Over the past 30 days, I have realized a before commission gain of $1.25 a share by selling shorter term calls on SPY and then buying them back for less than I sold them. Each time I do that successfully, I am bringing in income and reducing my risk in the Dec '07 120 calls I am long.
On Monday, I sold the Sept 185 calls on BBH for $1.30. Again, this move created a diagonalized calendar spread against my Jan 200 calls. The short leg was up 60 cents a share as of close Friday. When BBH turns back up, I'll try to do the same thing I did with SPY and buy to close the short leg for a profit.
Sirius Satellite (SIRI) is back at a support and I am waiting for a bounce to sell some calls against my Jan '08 2.50 calls. Conoco Phillips (COP) is doing nothing helpful to advance the value of the puts that remain from my original straddle.
XLK that tracks the techs has been bumping against a resistance and it may be time to sell some calls against my LEAPS position there as well.
Bearish trades continue to be more attractive to me than bullish.
Have a super weekend.
Bill
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