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)

Duke Energy - DUK

DUK
Oops, I sent a stop order on 8/7 at $19.40 and intraday it dipped down an triggered the stop. I set this because the utility sector, although on an uptrend, wasn't really being confirmed by the bullish percent. The good news is that I didn't lose any money but the bad news is that I only made a net $18.00.

Dominion - D

Stock demonstrates four of four technical signals and strong short term technicals within the sector.

D - Sept. Call 95, 10 contracts at $1.4

Originally put in order for Sept. Call 90, 6 contracts at $2.5 limmit but didnt take. Looks like im better off going with a market order so I can take advantage of the morining momentum.

PTR, MLM Update

PTR
PetroChina continued on its downtrend as expected although there were a few times today when it looked like it was trying to finish higher. Although it finished lower, the Oil and Oil services sector finshed higher and look to be reversing the downtrend. As a result, I will pass on this one.

MLM
Yesterday I placed a stop on MLM at 3.00 and the contracts sold today at 2.5 ... arrgg! I am officially posting a loss of $490.00. Guess I should have sold this baby on Monday. Fortunately I did well on CVX.

Finance & Utilities

The finance bullish percent chart reversed from bear to bull with a 14 percent move to the upside. This is interesting to me because its the only BP chart that has made a move strong enough to reverse.

Utilities are also attempting to rebound. The XLU and UTY show very strong signs. Although the BP has yet to reverse up. I like the short term technicals and plan to find a solid option play on a good looking utility.

PetroChina - PTR, MartinMariettaMaterials - MLM

PTR
Stockscreen reveals PTR gave a P&F sell signal. Looks good right now and I would like to purchase a naked put. Unfortunately, I am planning on holding my trades due to the Fed interest rate meeting Tuesday.

MLM
Set a stop order at 3.00 per contract.

CVX - Chevron, BSC - Bear Stearns

CVX
Updated my stop order from 1.6 to 2.0 since CVX continued on its wonderful downtrend. This will protect an additional $1000.00 in earnings for this mornings trend.

CVX Close
My stop order filled at 2.0 and my mid-day gains were protected. Im glad I set this stop order. CVX was actually up to 2.7 per option contract at one point mid morning.

Total Realized Gain (2 days) for CVX $2,674.92


BSC
Wow! How often does an opportunity like this come along? Bear Stearns already coming off bad news makes a Sunday announcement and ....WHAM! What an opportunity I missed here. BSC opened and immediately fell by $3 a share and as of 11 EST it is down $8.

BSC close
Sounds like a few folks decided to call in a favor or two. News late in the trading day cause the market to rally and specifically comments supporting Bear Stearns liquidity position. Note to self: Set stop orders intra-day in volatile market trading (did that on CVX).

BSC - Bear Stearns

After reading about the Bear Stearns conference call and now the COO resigning I decided to take a look at the Broker Index.

Its definitely setup for the naked PUT and with today's news about the Bear Stearns COO, its even more attractive.

Unfortunately my money is all tied up, so I guess I'll miss out on this one. This does bring up the notion that I need to find a slightly better sector and stock screening method.

CVX Stop Order

Although I believe that Chevron (CVX) is still on its way down, I have decided to protect my position (up 90%+) and placed a stop order at 1.6 for 25 (see previous post for details). This translates into about a 10% dip or .20 per contract.

Who knows what will happen Monday. If this stock continues on its downward trend then I'll be in great shape and if not, then I will have protected a very nice gain.

I am going to let DUK and MLM ride out the day and perhaps the week but that depends on what Monday brings. If MLM reacts the way the technicals are forcasting, then it should have room to grow.

DUK is a different story. I'm half tempted to sell and just hold onto the PUT option that is in place. I dont think I am ready to make a move since it was essentially flat on Friday. If only I knew what Monday would bring......

100% Gain on Options

Well, at the end of the trading day and my selections are looking good. I currently appear to be correct on 2 of 3 selections. My selections were:

MLM AUG PUT 130 , 2 Contracts at $4.80
Investment $960, Current Value $1260 Gain $300.0o

CVX AUG 80 PUT, 25 Contracts at $0.90
Investment $2250, Current Value $4500 Gain $2250.00

DUK 100 Shares @$17.92
Investment $1792.00, Current Value $1711.00 Loss ($81.00)
DUK SEP 15 PUT, 10 Contracts at $.10
Investment $100, Current Value$0.00 Loss ($100.00)

Net gain after day one: $2389.00

MLM - Martin Marietta Materials

Scanned some of my option lists and found MLM. Checked the sector and found that it is really hurting. Technicals on MLM show four of four on a sell signal.

Ordered 3 options for Aug put (130).
Order failed.

MLM fell in the premarket. Had to set a market order for 2 options (damn!) because I couldnt afford 3.

CVX - Chevron

Energy sector took a good hit today and a few strong downtrends are in play. The XLE SPDR shows a a good downtrend and bullish percent is definitely in support of this downtrend. Selected CVX with four of four technical indicators and bullish percent on our side.

Purchased 25 Sep put ($80) options.

DUK - Utilities

Followed my method/process for stock/option selection. Utilities reversed up today, not bullish reverse but a technical reverse. Utilities SPDR shows a good reversal. Candle glance shows DUK to be on a good uptick with four of my four indicators positive.

Purchased 100 DUK@Market ($17.92)and 5 options Sep put ($15) to hedge. Hope to see one to five days of a growth.
Put a stop order DUK 100 in at $15.