Week In Review 8/20/07

This week was much better and all due to one very positive trade involving after hours action. The MGM announcement and related stock price jump really helped out.

Winners
MGM - $2579.94

Losers
CFC - $30.02

Weekly Review - 8/13/07

Not a great week but definitely could have been worse, Down $44.66. My big loser was a straddle on UGI that admittedly was a gamble. Learned something though and updated my method and process to reflect my education. I don't mind making mistakes as long as they result in a positive change.

Winners
Goldman Sachs $330.07
Bear Stearns $200.08
British Petroleum $195.09
Others $150.15

Losers
UGI Copr. $919.85

Avalon Bay Communities - AVB

AVB
Well, Housing starts will be announced Thursday and needless to say, I am bearish. Did some screening and elected to go with Avalon Bay Communities. Looks like it recovered today's losses in after hours which should make for bargain put options.

AVB AUG 105 Put (3 days till expiration)

UGI Corp. - UGI

Placed a straddle for UGI Aug $25. Since this expires this week its a small gamble. UGI falls within the utilities industry which as a whole is showing some strength relative to the market. This stock was up 8% on Friday alone. Ideally, those who made money on Friday will be inclined to sell off. This will provide for the best return given the underlying cost of the put option. Lets hope this makes a big move.

Order
.UGIHE UGI AUG 25 Call 1.1 BTO 7
.UGITE UGI AUG 25 Put 0 0.3 BTO 7
$1.4 x 100 x 7 = $980

Week In review

Ok, so overall a good week. I am up $2500.00+ with a couple of stupid mistakes. I mistakenly sold some positions without thinking. For some reason I thought August options were expiring last week. Don't ask me why I thought that.

Winners
All the action on Bear Stearns and Goldman contributed about $1000.00 ( in two days) to my total earnings. Chevron was the by far the best, contributing $2675.00.

Losers
My biggest losers are MLM and D, $490 and $415. :(

Merill, Bear Stearns and Goldman - MER, BSC, GS

MER
Late breaking news caused me to adjust my plan this morning. I cancelled the order for MER Sept Call contracts.

BSC, GS
Knowing that the negative news coming from europe would impact the financials I place a market put on BSC and GS. Shortly after open they both dropped which resulted in a $1000 ($500 each) gain.

Since financials are officially on offense this shouldnt hold a negative pattern. As a result I placed stop orders on both PUT positions and then placed orders for Sept. call on both(discounted). Might be able to ride this both directions.

Merrill Lynch - MER

MER
I was tempted to jump into the financial sector yesterday but elected to go with a utility because of the sector charts. MER has a great chart with a P&F price target of $98. Although I am wishing that I had jumped into the wall street stocks yesterday, I did place an order tonight that should fill first thing in the morning (8/9).

MER Sept Call 80, 5 options at market (3.2-3.8)