$SPY #Options – Day trading calls 11/01

Posted on by diogenes227

INITIAL ENTRY:

FIRST PROFITS:

FINAL PROFITS – CLOSE OF DAY TRADE

(CLICK ON CHART FOR LARGER VIEW)

$SPY #Options – day trading calls 10/15

Posted on by diogenes227

The market context for these trades is outlined in this post – #MarketTiming – the NYMO low above a low. It is in place.

ENTRY:

FIRST HALF PROFITS:

CLOSE OF TRADE:

All Twitter time stamps are Pacific time.

PLEASE NOTE: None of the entries in this blog should ever be construed as investment advice or trading recommendations. They are presented solely for entertainment and educational purposes, and to record trading activities for my own personal trading journal.

#MarketTiming – $NYSI $10K stock trades

Posted on by diogenes227

Long-term breadth (the NYSI) turned up Friday giving a buy signal for the open of the market today.

As suggested in this link #MarketTiming – the NYMO low above a low that was expected and would be necessary to have a chance for a rally. Today’s trading was sloppy sideways, probably just digesting last week’s gains, and although the NYSI did decline it stayed in positive territory.

If there is further weakness, there could be a whipsaw, but we’ll see when we see…

In the meantime, I expect more follow through to the upside.

In this link: #MarketTiming with $10,000 to trade I thought I’d sometimes address trading on limited capital — for the fun of it, for entertainment here and for anyone with limited capital.

The late great Kennedy Gammage of the Richland Report and for many years the keeper of the McClellan Oscillator flame, once wisely said: “Buy when the market tells you, sell when the stock tells you.” If I may, I would add to that “Also buy when the stock tells you.”

If one has but $10k, one needs to study up and pick stock favorites that have the ability to move with the market. Most stocks do move with the market but obviously some move better than others.

Today on Twitter I posted some Day-1 results selected by from my own bellwether stock list as examples of buying with the market as measured by the NYSI either turning up or turning down. Although, $10k readily computeS to a percentage gain or loss, I’m stating those gains in dollars gained or lost.

Clicking on the charts here will display larger chart details on Twitter.

THE WINNERS:

AND ONE LOSER TO SHOW NOTHING’S PERFECT:

#ShortStrangles on #Stocks – 10/14-10/18

Posted on by diogenes227

THIS WEEKS SHORT STRANGLES:

LAST WEEKS RESULTS:

A PERTINENT QUESTION ON TWITTER:

$SPY #Options – day trading calls 10/11

Posted on by diogenes227

These trades are based on this strategy:

#Options – Buying Calls and Puts

And this context:

#MarketTiming – the NYMO low above a low

INITIAL ENTRY:

FIRST HALF PLUS 50%:

SECOND HALF CLOSE OF THE TRADE PLUS 46%:

All Twitter timestamps are Pacific time:

#MarketTiming – the NYMO low above a low

Posted on by diogenes227

One of the signs of a true bull market is the follow through off a low-above-a-low pattern in short-term breadth (the NYMO).

The signal is displayed in the top portion of the chart below.

It is buy signal for aggressive traders looking for a rally to begin off a meaningful market bottom. In bull markets, it almost always has follow through to the upside immediately. That hasn’t quite happened in recent months, which has made everything in the current market psychology suspect. See August on the chart as an example.

But it did happen today — after triggering yesterday for today’s open, there was the immediate follow through to the upside.

Now the bulls need long-term breadth (the NYSI) to turn up in the next day or two, which is the trending signal. The NYSI is the smoothed line in the middle of the chart below. It is still falling but…

If both breadth indicators get in line, there is a good chance the market rallies strongly, possibly for several weeks, maybe back to the recent highs, maybe higher.

But, of course, as has happened all through these unstable times, it will be a rally that can be killed by a tweet.

(click on the chart for a larger view)

$SPY #Options – Day trading calls – 10/10

Posted on by diogenes227

INITIAL ENTRY:

FIRST HALF OFF:

CLOSE OF DAY TRADE

$SPY #Options – day trading puts – 10/8

Posted on by diogenes227

NOTE ON SECOND TRADE: Took profit of 50%, by habit and close to the end of the day, but sold way too soon as the market continued its selloff making the second put position worth 81% at the close.

These trades were based on this post:

#Options – Buying calls and puts

And this context:

#MarketTiming – okay, we are close to a bounce…

Note the final comment in the link immediately above: “Regardless, a bounce now will still be a bounce to sell again.”

All Twitter timestamps are Pacific Time.

FIRST TRADE:

SECOND TRADE:

#ShortStrangles on Stocks 10/07 – 10/11

Posted on by diogenes227

This week’s strangles:

Last week’s results:

(Percentage gains and losses reflect returns on cost of strangles, not margin needed for the trade.)

#Options – Buying Calls and Puts

Posted on by diogenes227

There are so many options strategies in the stock market the head spins – a straddle, a strangle, a naked and/or a covered put and/or call, a calendar, a condor, an iron condor, an iron butterfly (isn’t that a rock band?) and any combination of any of these for hedging purposes, for capital appreciation or preservation, for gambling. Mind boggling.

But buying options… Buying options, just plain buying a call or a put, everyone will say is a “fool’s game.”

Regardless of whether a trader buys calls or puts on index ETFs like SPY or QQQ or IWM, or buys options on stocks, there are only three things that can happen – the option goes the trader’s way (good), or the option goes against the trader (bad), the option goes sideways with price decay over time (also bad).

Two out of the three possibilities for the option buyer are losers. What fool would want to play that game?

But is it really a fool’s game?

Doesn’t have to be. Not for day traders.

The key, as always, is persistence, discipline, experience, and an entry signal the individual trader is comfortable taking.

Let’s consider SPY options as the prime example — very liquid across multiple strikes, tight spreads, hardly any time decay on a trade for only a day, a stop-loss is close by and immediate, and the profits, if there is a trend for the day, can be substantial, even rather astounding.

Also great for scalping on any time frame intraday.