rayman

Taking Stock of Oil

hmmm i'm long HES calls and SJT calls into summer driving season........was in and out of MCF (Contango) calls

I might pick up some XOI calls at some point.
PGE might be good too, like some of the small cap divi plays like those & WTU.....Cramer likes BPT, no position for me though, CRT is still my fave.

Monday's Options Recap

VIX.....it's the end of the world!!!!!!!!!!
AGAIN even (how many end of the worlds can we have, wow....)!

get your government cheese and gold ETFs!
hah, kinda impressed it couldn't even hit 50 when GM and bankruptcy in the same sentence today by the press (albeit exaggerated, and no we are not really sure yet anyway)....
It seems the market is starting to seperate the good from bad at least at this point.

Friday's Options Recap

longed some ACN calls myself, seems a.o.k., not getting too heavy on it though just yet......giving it time
MAY

Quick Thoughts on a Possible Red Hat, Oracle Merger

makes me think what role AMD has to play in all of this? hmmm

Thursday's Options Recap

I like these pair trades as well for quick intraday profit.
Was going to get HGG (H.H. Gregg off of BBY news, missed it)........or SYY (Sysco) off of CAG news. Too many other positions to manage today though, but missed out on the HGG short squeeze today.
Bah humbug, but Happy investing, Ray

Monday's Options Recap

i hate whatstrading.com.....lol, they are "watching" me.....Fred, just kidding awesome site, that's me on the mini FTSE calls.....btw, not listing the index here though for privacy reasons

Monday's Options Recap

long rvx puts.....still peckin away.....

Friday's Options Recap

FRED, you STINK
(being sarcastic of course)
nice day in the markets today, thanks for all your contributions, they are absolutely INVALUABLE ;)

Friday's Options Recap

ahh tried to get some MS long today with a cheap shot $21 MAR call
no dice, oh well, couldn't hold that level....
out $55.......maybe next time, felt more comfortable with that risk/reward than holding it long over the weekend if the market couldn't see any strength
teens maybe? who knows......still like MS for some strange reason. I thought about shorting MAC puts today, but not quite yet.

Tuesday's Options Recap: Risk Perceptions Fall Sharply

I need to due some more delta neutral (well - *kind of* trades. Doh, one more thing I thought of (of course). 50 shares of stock - then of course get 1 put. Same math I guess as 2 puts, but if the stock is expensive, simply keep the same ratio. If you like the stock, buy more on weakness or strength, rinse, lather repeat and if you make gains, try to use some of those gains to purchase another put. Could be really good for momentum stocks, and also very good downside protection.

Monday's Options Recap

liked the price action on RTN & LLL, starting some back month .DFX index calls......

Friday's Options Recap

Looking at the last bids on CMP, looks like the APR 50's are being sold and APR 65's are being bought, so not sure if the deal is totally dead or just delayed imminently and just a headfake.
I've been starting JUN calls on the 65 line, but very slowly.....and not too many contracts @ once, just own a couple.

Tuesday's Options Recap: Risk Perceptions Fall Sharply

The delta neutral also sounds similar as well to this method: www.theoptionsguide.co... that I like as well. Good notes, keep up the great work! Seems almost worthwhile these days to get 2 puts against a position esp. if they get cheaper.

On Mar 11 10:31 AM Frederic Ruffy wrote:

> Thank you for the comments. Sounds like the KIE calls are working
> out well for you Rayman.
>
> One clarification to the comment: "something like 80% or more of
> all block option trades are delta neutral".
>
> Delta neutral implies that a position is perfectly hedged. For example,
> 100 shares of stock, which have a delta of 1.00, can be hedged with
> two puts that have negative deltas of -.5. This results in a position
> delta of 0 or delta neutral.
>
> Over the 15+ years I have been active in the options market, including
> on an institutional trading desk, I can tell you with certainty that
> 80 percent of block options trades are not delta neutral. Options
> trades are initiated by buyers and sellers for a variety of reasons--sometimes
> to hedge, sometimes to speculate. True, a lot of the activity is
> tied to shares, but it is often on positive or negative deltas.<br/>
>
> We monitor the activity throughout the day and write about the most
> interesting and noteworthy activity. Whether or not you feel it has
> predictive value is up to you, but consider a recent example from
> Friday--a surge in call activity in Schering Plough that occurred
> before the takeover announcement Monday. This was not a coincidence.
>
>
> If you want to find out more about the tools we use and how we track
> the activity, we have a FAQ section on our web site that addresses
> many of those questions.
>
> Good trading!

Tuesday's Options Recap: Risk Perceptions Fall Sharply

lol, out KIE calls....probably saw em on your site *wink* *wink*
150% return on the squeeze Fred...held for a few days I believe, but wish I kept my IBM/UYG calls, phenomenal day

I ike the notes on Delta Neutral Fred.
I went Delta neutral on EFA (well kind of) with a 33 strike straddle on the front month today. A wee bit upside, but I might pull it at a 10% loss if things don't work out right away. Looking for 20% upside.
I might be doing some conversions soon if I can find some (shouldn't be too hard to do if some more volatality comes in).

Thursday's Options Recap

An easy way also to buy biotech is to buy the Biotech index calls, ticker .BTK. Popular names such as what is in IBB.
(disclaimer, own calls, up a wee bit today)