Markets were relatively quiet this week with very little in the way of market turning news. That being said, today is the last day of the 3rd quarter and as a result I’ll provide a quarterly report on my portfolio.

Highlights of this quarter included the following:

• Jamba Juice common stock was my first trade and also became my first “win”… $0.94 of win
• Goldman Sachs common stock was my first common stock loss coming in near a net loss of $30
• XTO Energy was my first options play, purchasing September 60 calls at a cost basis of $0.30 per contract. Had I not closed the contracts out prematurely at the $0.50 price level, I would have seen XTO skyrocket, with September 60 contracts peaking at $3.00, resulting in a potential gain of $3,000.
• EMC Corp options contracts provided the bulk of my portfolio gain, bringing my portfolio from about 17% in the red to 50% in the black. EMC Corp contracts were purchased with a cost basis of $1.03 with current prices at $1.95 per contract.

This past week improved my portfolio return to over 50% of my initial deposits. Although I began investing late in the second quarter, I included the results in this quarter since this is the first quarterly update.

I’m still in a tech sector overweight mode. Once my EMC Corp contracts close within the next week, I plan on diversifying in order to protect the gains I’ve had so far this year. However, I intend on going more options heavy due to the fact that I am limited in capital and leverage has, so far, been extremely profitable.

Historically, October has not been the best month to invest (crashes in 1929 and 1987). I may adhere to the past performances and trade a bit lighter this month but the market does appear to be in full bull mode. Bad news has had very little effect on the market. Once November rolls around, trading should pick up as hedge funds and other large institutions begin to sell off stock for bookkeeping purposes for the end of year accounting.

How have you done this quarter? I’m interesting in finding out! Post your returns here and I can compile a list and post them in the next couple of weeks. If you’d like, indicate your trading style as well. Good luck tomorrow!

Here are some of the articles I’ve been reading throughout the blogosphere. Have a great last day of September!

• Taking a loss can be devastating to some traders. LuckyForex has a nice article on the psychology of finally accepting a trade that puts you in the red.
• Everyone knows the housing market is bad and credit markets aren’t doing much better. Then why would the National Association of Realtors tell everyone everything is fine and getting better? The Big Picture has a nice rant on the NAR’s assessment of the housing market.
• Speaking of the housing market and the NAR, Jim Cramer went up against the 2008 President-elect for the NAR on the Today show. The NAR, among other realty groups, were upset at Cramer’s comments regarding the housing market possibly recovering next year and that no one right now should buy a home, less they care to lose money. The videos can be found on MSNBC under their video tag.
• Stock Trading to Go has a great interview with Timothy Sykes, the author of American Hedge Fund. From STG’s site: “Timothy turned $12,000 of Bar Mitzvah gift money into $2 million trading thousands of stocks from 1999-2002, managed the #1 Short Bias Hedge Fund from 2003-2006, starred in the television documentary Wall Street Warriors, and appeared regularly on CNBC all before the age of 26.”
• The Carnival of Twenty Something Finances was hosted by How I Save Money. Great list of informational articles to read up on from your fellow bloggers.
• Some money quotes posted by My Saving Place.

Today marked the end of the 3rd quarter.  Just one more to go for 2007.  It’s amazing how fast this year’s gone.  I’ll post my quarterly and YTD results on Sunday.  Have a great weekend!

With the recent win in EMC, the sale of some EMC contracts has pushed my account over the $2,000 threshold for a margin account.  Although margin can be dangerous to play with if used recklessly, I think I have enough maturity to use it wisely if needed.  The primary reason for a margin account is the ability to execute complex options chains such as spreads and straddles.  With the subscription to Thestreet.com’s Options Alerts, I need the higher trading levels in order to test out their more exotic, and at times less risky, options chains.  I’ll let you know how it goes!

As promised, I’ve set up a new format for my portfolio progress. This time colorful graphs help illustrate my progress! So without further ado:

As you’ve probably figured out, I’m currently not diversified at all. Most of my portfolio (97%) is tech based. The issue stems from the two open calls, EMC Oct 19 and RHT Oct 20. I expect the RHT calls to close tomorrow as a result of RHT’s earnings call this afternoon.

Here’s a graphical progress chart of my portfolio. Please note that I did start off with a small amount of capital (under $2,000).

The 17% loss was a result of my EMC Oct 19 calls being cut in half when I first opened them. If you’ve been following along, EMC has broken past the $20 resistance level and is now flirting with the $21 level. The EMC Oct 19 calls have created a 60% swing in portfolio value. At this rate, EMC will singlehandedly double my initial investment. Although options can go in either direction, when they go up, so does your smile.

Let’s see how well this format holds up over the next few weeks. Let me know what you think. Good night!