Investing Adventures » BBD

Daily Recap and Crude Status – May 21, 2008

Jorge — Thu, 22 May 2008 01:29:01 +0000

As of this post, crude hit $135 a barrel. That’s right, $135. This morning, crude was hovering around $132. Since I’m in a crummy mood and enjoying my Wii Fit, I’ll keep this update short.

Trades Taken

1 x NQ
-3 x BBD June 25 Call

Profit / Loss for the Day / Open: -$135.00 / $0.00

Overall crummy day. Need to stop trading while distracted. My portfolio is now liquidated and will remain so until Tuesday. See you tomorrow!

Daily Recap – May 14, 2008

Jorge — Wed, 14 May 2008 20:08:31 +0000

Okay.. someone explain to me what the heck just happened. Here’s a 1 minute chart of the Q’s.

Around 2:30 (yes, that 2:30 reversal period), the Qs and the rest of the market went right down the toilet. I think the bears were mocking the bulls and were loading up just to give them some false sense of hope before they brought out the bombers and obliterated any rally today. Now that the carnage is over, how’d I do?

Trades Taken

2 x NQ
-1 x JASO June 25 Call
1 x LVS June 65 Put
1 x BBD June 25 Call

Profit / Loss for the Day: $132.50

Profit / Loss Currently Open: $32.50

I think something odd happened when I sold half of my JASO position. I sold one JASO contract at $2.75 for a profit of ($2.75 – $1.25) $150. However, my P/L for the day in JASO is $87.50 (JASO declined during the nasty selloff). Anywho, on the NQ front, I managed to escape with $80 on the day. I need to begin letting my NQs run a bit more. I could have easily captured another 5-10 points on the NQs had I let them run and watched my indicators. But that’s how one learns. It’s a matter of learning by experience.

Took a position against LVS near the close. LVS in the past has been very good to me so we’ll see if it cooperates with me this time around. I have a very tight leash on it with an entry near $72.20 and a stop around $72.50 + 0.5%. I also went ahead and increased my max risk level on BBD. Over the past couple of days, I’ve noticed BBD consolidating. While it’s close to violating my trendline, it’s still in play and so I increased my position to my max risk (using the initial purchase price for my BBD contracts).

Options expiry is Friday and I’m glad I’m done with my May options. Another options cycle is close to being in the books. Any thoughts on what tomorrow’s action will bring?

Daily Recap – May 12, 2008

Jorge — Mon, 12 May 2008 20:23:26 +0000

Overall, while still another loss, it wasn’t a bad day. Once again, however, tight stops on futures got the best of me. It’s a work in progress though. Once I refine my futures trading skills, I’ll be able to post more consistent profits. I did notice around lunch time trading in a zone somewhat. Remember that scene from Office Space where they head to the psychoanalyst and that funky music plays in the background as Peter’s hypnotized? Yeah, it was almost like that. Anywho…

Trades taken

2xNQs
1 June 95 V Call
2 June 25 JASO Calls
2 June 25 BBD Calls

Today’s Profit / Loss: -$25

Minor loss although off my lows for the day. Some strength near the close helped cut my NQ losses in half. Other than that, while I’m concerned I’m overly bullish, I couldn’t find many put plays today. I noticed the Option Addict boards discussing Valero (VLO), but if oil prices do begin to come down, I think VLO and other refiners benefit due to the decrease in crack spreads, making it more profitable for them to crank out the good stuff. Volume was awful as well as I’m sure others are saying. I haven’t been trading long enough to understand what the differences are between a low volume and a high volume day, but it appears there is quite the difference.