I originally took out 5 contracts on each and then when it got high enough, I sold 1 to cover my initial investment. Now on AAPL and BIDU I'm playing with house money. I'm not quite there on GOOG though. 2.5 is excellent. IMO C is a great long-term investment. I am holding off a little because I think it may sink a small amount more (I'm a limit shopper) but it's already within about 1.5% of what I'm looking for.
Can I call 'em or what! Now if I could just get better at knowing what to do about it. What strategies do people here use, other than shorting your entire portfolio on days you think the market is going down? Right now I am seeing some of my limit buy orders being executed so even if today is a bad day, hopefully I am setting myself up for good days in the future!
Couldn't you use one of the "short symbols" (I don't know what they're actually called) to hedge against this by shorting the major indexes? I'm thinking specifically of DOG and QID, but I'm sure that there are others. Wouldn't that be easier than shorting your actual portfolio? As for my strategy for days like today. I'm not trading at work, so I pretty much have to place any of my orders in the evening. By the time they'd be executed, it would after the market opened, and I'd lose any advantage that I'd have. I don't trade that much anyway.
My portfolio doesn't seem to perform anything like any of the indices, but that's a great idea. I'm tech-heavy, especially with the performance of the calls. I suppose one possibility would be to have the corresponding put and sell it when I thought we were near a bottom. Has anyone ever tried this and if so, what kind of results did you get? I was a little tongue in cheek yesterday. I don't trade at work either, although I do monitor what's going on every few hours (about 10:30, 1 and right before the close) so I can't really "trade" on a daily basis. I use limit orders to buy when things (like ANAD yesterday) drop way below there longer term value. Using them as an example, I chose way back in August to buy ANAD when it dropped to 14.98, which was about 10% above it's 52 week low. They had been trading up around 19-20 range but had a flat 4th qtr forecast and got hammered all the way down to the point where my limit order was activated. In the long term, I still think this is a good stock and I get it at a bargain price. It closed around 15.60. So to some extent, I have found out that this is good psychologically. On down days for the market, as long as I keep some cash in the account and stay out of my margin, I am bargain hunting. This makes my Scottish ancestors happy. On up days, it's just not too hard to be happy about watching your stocks go up! Ultimately I have stops after stocks have dropped a certain percentage off their highs as well, but only on stocks that I am "trading" (buy for a few months with short-term expectations). For stocks that I consider long-term holds I don't put a stop loss on. Sorry that's so long.
^ That is similar to what I do. It is hard to hold on to those limit buys & wait for the right price, but that is how a little guy can make a profit. I am gloating because I picked up fallen angel FLML at 9.01 & it is rebounding very nicely.
How are you determining your entry points relative to the 52 week high? In theory, it think it is a good concept. You are buying strong stocks on pullbacks, which is a solid idea. How are you avoiding catching the proverbial "falling knife?" (a stock entering on heavy volume reversal) I suggest you look into differentiating pullbacks from reversals. Are you studying volume at all?
Right now it is pretty unsophisticated. I pick a point between 5 and 10% above the low and then go a few cents above or below the local "price point" (my term). So if a stocks 52 wk high to low is 50 to 25, I would pick a price between 25*(1.05) and 25*(1.1) or 26.25 and 27.5. In this case, I'd probably use something like 26.78, which is about halfway between and slightly above the 26.75 price point. I am still learning how to factor volume into the equation. If you have any ideas or good sources I'm very interested.
This is part of why I don't keep limit orders open. I always worry that some event will happen that will adversely effect the company's business environment, which would then trigger the order. See the action of WCG this week for an example of this. I know that's extreme, but even a smaller instance of that could have a pretty big effect on my portfolio.
This article is a basic explanation of how how volume works. It gets more complicated than this to truely analyze the price/volume relationship, but understanding the basics helps.. I will try to add more soon. http://www.cybertrader.com/cybertraderreview/v5i7/features.htm?id=email_prospect (the artcile begins with a lot of fluff and anologies, but you get the point. the chart examples are most informative)
So, um, this didn't work out. I'll be out of the stock on Monday after they can his ass. Almost 15% lower in less than a month. Ouch.
What did you pick it up at? I'm hanging on to NCT and TMA for now. I have stops set if they really fall off the table, but right now the dividend on NCT is keeping me holding on and I think TMA has seen the worst of it's problems. And it doesn't hurt that +BDUAZ went over $100 today. With the performance of my options, I can stand a little more variability in the stock portfolio
A little over $46. Didn't have a stop loss in either. I'm not sure that it would have made much of a difference, as it would have been triggered early this morning, and I still would have lost a ton.
Yeah, those overnight moves can kill you! I had that happen earlier this month with PUDC! Down even worse than C! These things seem like such an over reaction to me, most of the time. If it helps any, C is up 0.25 in the aftermarket! Hope it goes up more overnight.
MSFT up 25% in the past month: http://finance.google.com/finance?c...&chdet=1194033600000&chddm=8993&q=NASDAQ:MSFT
I've just added Verizon (VZ) to my watch list. I think FIOS could be huge, but I am not quite ready to commit. What do the rest of you think?
It most certainly did not go up. Good Grief. TTM down big as well. I'm holding both as long term investments, but ugh, bad day. Again.
Google don't big today, hit my stop order this morning. Out at 703. So my holdings now (in order): TTM UNH C ED
I dropped that pretty soon after I bought it. It was more of a takeover play (although it's a pretty good business). When deals started to fall through, I decided to get out in a hurry. I looked pretty smart initially, although now it's clear I should have held on. Not a total loss though. After commissions are factored in, I made a profit on the trade of $2.10.
If I had some more cash in my account, I'd pick up Dell right now for a quick trade, or I would have on Friday afternoon. That was a bit of an overreaction to that quarter.
I played it the other way. I just had a feeling that they wouldn't make their numbers, so I shorted it just before the close for a quick 3.50 a share gain! I think you are right about the over reaction, but I think it may take a while for it to recover.