Portfolio Progress – Week of October 1, 2007

September 30, 2007 | Posted by Jorge

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!

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