If people haven't been paying attention - Ranger is one of the better traders on this thread. Go back and read through his movements and you will quickly agree.

I sold JD wayyyy too early.

clobby said:

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I sold JD wayyyy too early.

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Wow that thing really bounced off the resistance line

S&P going to rocket straight to 2800 resistance?

By rocket, I mean by the end of the week with a small wobble or two...

OA1, what do you make of the current pull back in the o&g stocks due to increased output levels? Long term still good or do you take some profits and let this all pan out?

They will slowly trend upwards. You always get a pretty good pop once a bottom is put in and they mostly got that, so now they've been conslidating the gains and will resume a trend higher - likely not as quick but all entries are safe.

Drug stocks are where I'm focused after tech and energy. GILD broke out...BMRN has been on a good trend and is close to breaking out again. I've even added some of the bottom dwellers like the BMPX. Trump's right to try EO combined with some better clarity on intent for healthcare is giving the sector a long needed run.

CRON......entered just now

Also sold $7.50 Puts at $.40 for a $7.10 entry OR reduce share holdings by 40 cents if premium absorbed.

Just curious OA - I would typically wait for a 50% retrace on the Fib for something like CRON. Do you think it's going to rocket beyond it's current value (i.e. no retrace), or is the volume spike causing you to purchase now.

Based entry off continued volume with chart pattern.

aggiehunter3 said:

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aggiehunter3 said:

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aggiehunter3 said:

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aggiehunter3 said:

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oldarmy1 said:

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AggiePeeps06 said:

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Couldn't you just sell calls against the holding instead of selling the actual holding?

I'd hate to sell 50% and miss out on a continued rally

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Depends on the number of shares you planned to carry longer term. If you have 300 shares then you wouldn't do a thing. If you owned 10k shares you might sell a covered call against 25%-50% of your holdings. When you accumulated 145k shares with a goal of holding 50k longer term you do any of the above, including straight selling, up to 95k shares.

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What would be your strategy on LEAP calls? I started trading options in February, so still pretty new. I've mainly bought only weeklies or a couple weeks out so far. My basic strategy for exiting is to sell 50% at a double + commission in order to take all risk off. The tricky thing for me is determining my sells for the other half of the positions. I've caught some big runners in recent weeks (baba, aapl, bidu, chk), but have had a tendency to sell a little early.

Here's an example with CHK: last month - I made a small bet 100 contracts $4 strike 7/20 expiration .10 premium when the stock was trading around $3. Earlier this week I sold 50 contracts at .24, I sold another 20 contracts at .53, so now I have 30 contracts remaining. Even if these expire worthless I'll net $1k gain off the trade. Of course I'm sitting here kicking myself now for selling the first half so soon, as I missed out on ~$2k on the spike to .7 this morning.

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Remaining calls are now .84 from my .1 entry with 2 months until expiration. I love options.

My other open option positions:
1. 1/18/19 EPD $30 calls .80 premium (large call sweepers in these calls- 25k open interest following "smart" money)
2. 6/15 CL $65 .35 premium (looking for an oversold bounce)
3. 7/20 LPSN $20 .5 premium (overbought chart but in breakout mode - looking for continued momo into next q earnings)
4. 5/25 XLI $77 .1 premium - sold half today at .25 chart busted through lower high resistAnce

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Update on positions:
1. EPD hammered with oil this morning and calls down 25%, not too worried, since they're leaps
2. CL upgraded this morning PT $72 calls are sitting .65 with 3 weeks til expiration
3. LPSN - these calls are getting no volume, so sitting breakeven
4. XLI - sold the other half breakeven
5. Entered into 6/15 AAPL 190s $2.05 premium - chart still looks great and calls up 30%
6. Entered into 6/15 EA 135s $1.30 premium - chart flagging very similar to aapl and been range bound with 135 resistance and tons of support at 130. Looking for it to break out of the box

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Update on positions:
1. EPD nice bounce back and calls now up 20% plan to hold this position LT
2. Sold half CL today +110% all risk is off so will hold through exp
3. LPSN up 25% still no volume
4. AAPL bs downgrade today held it down. Super tight bull flag, so I still think they pay by exp
5. Sold EA -10% yesterday on the market tank

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Update on positions to keep myself accountable:
1. EPD same rationale as above
2. CL has sold off and most likely will break even with remainder of position expiring worthless
3. LPSN has ripped this week. Entry was 0.5, so sold half at 1.3 and another 30% at 2 - which booked 220% of profit. Ask is 2.60 at the moment with a month left until expiration.
4. Sold all my AAPL calls earlier in the week for total return of 115% - still holding commons from $165
5. Entered BAC $30 calls earlier for 6/15 expiration at .32 - they closed up 24%

No one talking about the trend continuing today from the pivot point 2 months back? We hit a new trend high.

Here's why I posted that buy on BPMX at under 24 cents. It was a pure double bottom back to yesterdays low. Volume flooded in and I added to that volume with four 25k share buys.

A rare penny stock trade up a whopping $1200 on 100k shares. Ha! I want a net free holding in the stock since they received clearance for staying listed.

Wish I would've caught this one

I entered AMD today on that technical.

oldarmy1 said:

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I entered AMD today on that technical.

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So does it make more sense to enter in when a stock breaks out (like AMD) or when it's sitting at a low resistance level, but then could end up going sideways for months?

gougler08 said:

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oldarmy1 said:

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I entered AMD today on that technical.

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So does it make more sense to enter in when a stock breaks out (like AMD) or when it's sitting at a low resistance level, but then could end up going sideways for months?

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If trading - the breakout alerts are great. If a stock you are wanting to accumulate and use trading to lower your net holding cost (or like I do work to net free holding) then I buy shares at the bottom of the box Ranger posted and sell excess as we approach top of box. If I haven't managed to completey accumulate desired holdings I'll sell covered calls versus selling the shares. That way if the box continues I'm accomplishing my net reduction in price and if it breaks out the premium covers either buying more shares or buying some call options out 10% or so higher to make sure the breakout gets volume confirmation for a large move.

SWN approaching recent highs

AMD just filled the gap back to yesterday. Now its time

Lrcx down on some analyst note. I never understand reactions like that

Brought AMAT down with it.

AMAT is getting hammered by other stocks and still hasn't recovered.

tailgatetimer10 said:

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Brought AMAT down with it.

AMAT is getting hammered by other stocks and still hasn't recovered.

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Hope it doesn't screw with my CSCO trade

CHK breakout

At what % gain do you take your money and run (10, 20, 30+%)? I am not playing with the dollar values as some of you on here. I maybe have $2k invested into any given stock, but just curious what the most used strategy is. I know there are probably several factors that go into the decision, like you should never complain about profits and for a company like AMZN. Even though you are up 50% you are probably not going to cash out as it will seemingly continue to rise.

tailgatetimer10 said:

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CHK breakout

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Not yet but its right on previous high resistance just like SWN. Either we are about to see another run breakout or the box will continue.

tramaro1 said:

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At what % gain do you take your money and run (10, 20, 30+%)? I am not playing with the dollar values as some of you on here. I maybe have $2k invested into any given stock, but just curious what the most used strategy is. I know there are probably several factors that go into the decision, like you should never complain about profits and for a company like AMZN. Even though you are up 50% you are probably not going to cash out as it will seemingly continue to rise.

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On core holdings, like an AMZN, I hardly ever use covered calls because it easily could run and you lose your core holdings. Instead I will buy a Put option during times of sideways movement as it approaches the box resistance. That has made me more money than all of the other strategies during this period because of the big swings.

Taking your money and run is a trader approach, so we are talking two entirely different universes.

Old army, what kind of platform or organizational system do you use to keep an eye or watchlist on all of these stocks and potential entry points and strategies?

oldarmy1 said:

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SWN approaching recent highs

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Need it to keep running, my second foray into options was a $5 call expiring tomorrow. Been a good learning experience to just watch and use the foundation you've set on this thread. If this hits again, like those BAC options did two weeks ago, I'll patiently wait for you to fund that that trading account for me!

leoj said:

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Old army, what kind of platform or organizational system do you use to keep an eye or watchlist on all of these stocks and potential entry points and strategies?

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I have multiple platforms. Lightspeed, Cobra and recently been checking out ThinkOrSwim. I use Level II for entry/exit but not for evaluation of trades. People get lost in the weeds on Level II platforms if they don't have a very specific strategy.

My systems setup are nearly identical to this one. I also have a T1 direct line.

clobby said:

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I sold JD wayyyy too early.

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Want to extend your remarks?

I need to learn to be more patient.

Is SN going to break out or head back down?

jtmoney03 said:

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oldarmy1 said:

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SWN approaching recent highs

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Need it to keep running, my second foray into options was a $5 call expiring tomorrow. Been a good learning experience to just watch and use the foundation you've set on this thread. If this hits again, like those BAC options did two weeks ago, I'll patiently wait for you to fund that that trading account for me!

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Here is the issue with buying options.

You purchased a call option, so paid out money. That option had only extrinsic value because it was way out of the money. As time marches on your extrinsic value is decaying. The option is losing value simply because today happened after yesterday and tomorrow is yet another day closer to expiration. If tomorrow the stock end still out of the money then your call option expires worthless, all of the extrinsic value goes away. You probably paid a small amount and are thinking, well it wasn't much money and it didn't work this time. And what if it did? The "win" is akin to buying a winning scratch off ticket. it isn't consistent, it isn't probable, it was luck.

Suppose the stock does surpass the $5 mark, maybe by even 10 pennies. You really will not be able to sell that option as the implied volatility has likely dropped significantly, ie; there isn't anyone on the market wanting to buy this contract from you. So, do you take assignment? you don't have to call the shares away. Now you purchase the stock outright, which you could have done instead when you bought the call and be up all of those points plus have a much lower cost basis.

Unless you expect the implied volatility to jump dramatically in the first few days or week, in attempt to flip the contracts for a quick profit, buying options is a losing proposition. It is a very low PoP trade.