rayman

iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures: Another Terrible Volatility ETF

This is *EXACTLY* why I trade options. You buy VXX, then buy .VIX puts ;) hold for a month, works perfectly! I think I did a 100 VXX to 5 .VIX ITM puts last time....

Four ETFs with Great Apple Exposure

IWF

Thursday's Options Recap

I'm long a JUL MA Butterfly call spread @200 strike.....we shall see....
Longed V LEAPs before earns day before earns

Thursday Options Recap

any thoughts on the .VIX options Fred? It seems like it's stabalized now and I'm thinking strangles being put on farther out?

Understanding How the Dow Jones Is Calculated

URL for the sheet didn't work for me for some reason, using Excel 2003 sp3 here (maybe that's part of the problem lol).
Anyway, great idea, the same for Excel also works if you create a Yahoo Finance portfolio and export it too Excel, it works really well even for quotes.

3x ETFs Are Wealth Destroyers

nevermind, dis-regard prior post, I think Philip Davis on SeekingAlpha already commented on a not so bad options strategy for FAS!
seekingalpha.com/autho...
How convenient!
(that is if you believe in it)
either way, I guess you can sell naked puts on both FAS/FAZ and end up with one or the other (unless they go to zero! lol)

3x ETFs Are Wealth Destroyers

If you guys think the ETFs are "wealth destroyers", than I have an options strategy:
Just short 2 OTM call spreads on both of them (FAS/FAZ DO have options), of course, just as the article states, the risk is if one or the other becomes directional and is not "flat".
Then you are simply out at zero cost I would think or close to it.

3x ETFs Are Wealth Destroyers

So, speaking of wealth destroyers, it's just plain truth that financials are a mess, but let's look at another Direxion example:
Look at EDC (another direxion fun YTD)
It actually hasn't lost it!..........the chart mimicked EEM pretty well
Now if you run the 3 month chart on Yahoo and compare it DIRECTLY to EEM, you will see that EDC is up 60%, EEM is up 20%.
The leveraged ETFs actually lose their value as well based on volatility I would imagine like those silly ultra ETFs (UYG, etc.).
Whilst, us option players face the same risk with theta, but of course, we can hedge our risk as well.
I was short a put spread on FAS at one time, and actually got assigned at 7.5, believe it or not!!! (and sold my 2.5 puts for profit)! Figured it should go up to 10 sometime or another....but nice rebound in March.

New Direxion 3x ETFs Offer Investors 'Bonds on Crack'

I owned the TBT, the Direxions don't even have dividend yields like TBT/TLT. If it's risk you want, why don't you just buy the TNX index call or put options off of the yield index directly?
If there is a way to hedge your risk exposure or just buy options directly though, it could be interesting for those one off government referee events in the playing field, but Direxion didn't release options for a while on the last ones.

General Growth Properties' Bankruptcy: Where's the Silver Lining?

Mark, bloomberg article:
"Mall owners Simon Property Group Inc., Macerich Co., Vornado Realty Trust and Taubman Centers Inc. rallied yesterday on speculation the biggest real estate bankruptcy in the U.S. will allow competitors to buy General Growth’s assets at a discount. "
www.bloomberg.com/apps...
just fyi, an explanation on the whackiness of the market, but why the other reits rallied the way they did (fails to mention analyst upgrades as well though)

Friday's Options Recap

What a disappointment.
Play money paper trade....worked........
GOOG
04/17/2009 O BTC .GOPDT - GOOG APR 400 Call 2 $3.10 $14.95 ($634.95)
04/14/2009 O STO .GOPDT - GOOG APR 400 Call 1 $5.40 $14.95 $525.03
04/13/2009 O STO .GOPDT - GOOG APR 400 Call 1 $3.90 $14.95 $375.03 265.11
04/17/2009 O STC .GOPFT - GOOG JUN 400 Call 2 $25.50 $14.95 $5,084.91
04/14/2009 O BTO .GOPFT - GOOG JUN 400 Call 1 $18.70 $14.95 ($1,884.95)
04/13/2009 O BTO .GOPFT - GOOG JUN 400 Call 1 $17.00 $14.95 ($1,714.95) 1,485.01
Total Realized Gain/Loss for GOOG $1,750.12

General Growth Properties' Bankruptcy: Where's the Silver Lining?

These are the U.S. analysts as well.
The foreign REITs already seemed to be doing absolutely fine and retail sales actually have been edging up.
Check volume on some of the ishares X-US REITs lol and the big boy blocks in early March.

General Growth Properties' Bankruptcy: Where's the Silver Lining?

"I am sure I can find a way to twist the 2nd largest mall REIT going bankrupt into a "positive" for the rest of the sector."
Different sector but................BBY & HGG both went up post Circuit City's filing and did absolutely fine. They had stellar earnings quarter over quarter as well. Hmmm...wonder who's getting GGP's biz?

Monday Options Recap

Hey Fred, did you see the prints on this guy buying the .SIN index? hmmmm......no interest here, but weird....maybe MGM news
lost on MGM calls last month, but still interesting to me i suppose for some reason
ok, maybe i need a preacher!
get it?
.SIN index of course...

Friday's Options Recap

bought the rimm 55 APR straddle Fri......