Showing posts with label The Options Trader. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Options Trader. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Never learn my lesson ( 9 of 50)

Note:If you dont follow US options Trading...Reading this would be a waste of time..
You may look at the labels on the right side and choose what is of interest to you!

My tally so far!

Total Trades-9
Wins -7(+13+21+21+18+28+19+28)
Loss-2(-32-77)
So net=39$

Today was a bad day for my trading...as usual lack of discipline....The Gurus say Traders goes through three phases in the 3 D's Disappointment/Discipline/Domination

Trading Summary for the day!



093336 DAV RF DIA Jun '09 @ 84.00 PUT 1.000 -290.96
094505 DAV RF DIA Jun '09 @ 84.00 PUT 1.000 -285.96
104259 DAV FI DIA Jun '09 @ 87.00 CALL 1.000 -124.96
114934 DAV FI DIA Jun '09 @ 87.00 CALL -1.000 124.03
155627 DAV RF DIA Jun '09 @ 84.00 PUT -1.000 214.03

The CALL transactions can be ignored so then then you are left with buy at 290.96 and sell at 214.03....thats a loss of 77 dollars ! OUCH ! that hurts...I am holding onto the other option as I am still hopeful that market will cool down this week...
Why I didnt hold on both ? Because I do not know for sure ...I need to trade by what I see and not what I think alone.

Economic News of the week!

May 19 8:30 AM Building Permits Apr
May 19 8:30 AM Housing Starts Apr
May 20 10:30 AM Crude Inventories
May 20 2:00 PM FOMC Minutes
May 21 8:30 AM Initial Claims
May 21 10:00 AM Leading Indicators
May 21 10:00 AM Philadelphia Fed

As all these economic news is in the next 4 days there will be high volatility and opportunities to trade! So I decided to hold one option since I was not disciplined to sell it at a small loss....was that the best thing to do ? Hell No! Should have taken a 40 dollar loss on 2 options and closed the trade within an hour of trading..as this time the sentiment took over the reality....so
I lost....the only lifeline here was discipline which I failed miserably!

Now if there was more money that I was trading with then the previous profits I would not have been wiped out ..thats where the concept of money management would have come in...You go to trade only less that 50% profits you made..or you always take away 50% of the profit you make...this is not possible with such little capital..Thats one way to looks at it....

The other way to argue is if you can't be disciplined with 500 USD can you be with 50000 USD....one of my mentors always said...if you cant double 1000 USD there is no way you can double 100000....well I can't prove otherwise yet....though I am not convinced...

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Discipline ...Discipline! ( 8 of 50)

Note:If you dont follow US options Trading...Reading this would be a waste of time..
You may look at the labels on the right side and choose what is of interest to you!


My tally so far!

Total Trades-8
Wins -7(+13+21+21+18+28+19+28)
Loss-1(-32)
So net=116$ ( I always keep myself motivated thinking this figure times 100 (LOL $11600 in 8 days)

My trading summary for the day = 28$( after commission)

Time Symbol Event Message Qty. Filled
09:32:08 +DAVRF Executed Bought 1 +DAVRF at 3.28
09:32:50 +DAVRF Executed Bought 1 +DAVRF at 3.20
12:19:51 +DAVRF Executed Sold 1 +DAVRF at 3.40
12:47:15 +DAVRF Executed Sold 1 +DAVRF at 3.40



The vertical red line indicates the time I entered the trade and exited!

Today was options expiring Friday...normally market tend to be a lot more volatile than normal Fridays!...
I did check out the economic news...but in my excitement to get into a trade and get out I missed the Michigan Sentiment Index...although I must admit I did realise after I entered the trade at 9:32...well as they say it was too late...and by about 3:10 PM UK time I was making a loss of 74$...Thats all my profit for all the trading days..

The Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index rose unexpectedly....and markets were reacting positively...well I am not a super economist to have guessed that..so the options I had was NOT to trade for the day or get out before the announcement...

I did neither...that comes back to Discipline...Discipline and more Discipline...which I struggle with in my trading mission...
I held on keeping to the view by afternoon...reality will drive the markets than sentiment and I closed the trade with a small profit...Not always will the market follow my logic..if it did I wouldnt be blogging...I was plain lucky....
Happy weekend to all ..And see you all on Monday!

Friday, May 15, 2009

This is pure luck day! ( 7 of 50)

My tally so far!

Total Trades-7
Wins -6(+13+21+21+18+28+19)
Loss-1(-32)
So net=88$ ( I always keep myself motivated thinking this figure times 100 (LOL $8800 in 7 days)!Smells Good! Yum Yum!

My trading summary for the day = 19$

Time Symbol Event Message Qty. Filled
09:33:19 +DAVRE Executed Bought 1 +DAVRE at 3.07
09:36:21 +DAVRE Executed Bought 1 +DAVRE at 2.95
09:54:07 +DAVRE Executed Sold 1 +DAVRE at 3.10
09:54:52 +DAVRE Executed Sold 1 +DAVRE at 3.15

I was determined to take a PUT although the market showed a very narrow trading range in the furtures itself!...
One of those days one should be thankful not to have made loss!

Thursday, May 14, 2009

I would like to have this as a normal trading day! ( 6 of 50)

My tally so far!

Total Trades-6
Wins -5(+13+21+21+18+28)
Loss-1(-32)
So net=69$ ( I always keep myself motivated thinking this figure times 100 (LOL $6900 in 6 days)!

My trading summary for the day = 28$

Time Symbol Event Message Qty. Filled

09:30:25 +DAVRF Executed Bought 1 +DAVRF at 3.38
09:31:36 +DAVRE Executed Bought 1 +DAVRE at 2.95
11:02:01 +DAVRF Executed Sold 1 +DAVRF at 3.55
11:39:46 +DAVRE Executed Sold 1 +DAVRE at 3.10


Today was one of those days where the market will go only one way...down....It was evident in premarket numbers itself...So the only thing that you need to keep an eye on can you enter the trade at a reasonable price...but could only get 15cents on each contract....

Why two types of contract ...( I had no money to buy the same contract so took a calculated risk to buy slightly out of the money).....As you can notice I always buy only "in the money" contracts...


And what is my target! ( Well the immediate goal is to double the money)....so to make 600$ on an average of say 10 dollars a day....thats 60 trading days (12 weeks...)add another 2 weeks...as u can see there will be loss days..it is inevitable! so in 14 weeks ...its my aim to double the money! So my account should have 1200$ balance!

And here is a thought... How many times do you need to double your money if have $1200 in your hand to make a million dollars?

P.S.Thanks Niall so much for reading and your comments....All praises to you for reading it....if someone had to write on a subject I am unfamiliar with it is very unlikely I will read it...Thanks for your encouragement!

And regards tutorials its always there in my plan of things!.Your comment makes me want to do asap...possibly after the NaBloPoMo....

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Shall I say a Good Job to myself ?(5 of 50)

Note: Read only if you understand US Market - Options Trading

My tally so far!

Total Trades-5
Wins -4(+13+21+21+18)
Loss-1(-32)
So net=41$ ( I always keep myself motivated thinking ths figure times 100 (LOL $4100 in 5 days)!

No time for analysis I had a friend over but was determined to trade and a PUT.


Time Symbol Event Message Qty. Filled
09:35:06 +DAVRG Executed Bought 1 +DAVRG at 3.30
09:40:57 +DAVRG Executed Sold 1 +DAVRG at 3.50


I held the trade for about 5 minutes and made $18....and I called it a day.

Though ony 5% return I love such days...

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Watching Paint Dry ( 4 of 50)

Note: Read only if you understand US Market - Options Trading

My tally so far!

Total Trades-4
Wins -3
Loss-1


The title aptly describes how my trading DAY went....

This week is the worst for day trading( the reason being I cant trade the option that expires this week.-Its too risky and the losses will be huge if the trade doesn't go my way!And the June option that expires on June 19th will not have enough volatility to trade)

Anyways since DOW futures were showing opening negative 100 points...it didnt make any sense to trade a PUT...although DOW ended 155 points down at the end of day...
Had I known that...buying a PUT was better!

So I decided on 84 CALL +DAVFF....It altogether had a range od 50 cents for the day. which was not bad....you could scrape 20 cents off that.

Like I said...CALL options seems to hardly work for me...also I think I should aim for only 10 cents per option ....this week...

Transactions for the day!

Time Symbol Event Message Qty. Filled

09:39:21 +DAVFF Executed Bought 1 +DAVFF at 3.40
13:01:08 +DAVFF Executed Bought 1 +DAVFF at 3.20
15:54:43 +DAVFF Executed Sold 1 +DAVFF at 3.20
16:00:24 +DAVFF Executed Sold 1 +DAVFF at 3.12

I bought and sold one contract at the same price ( will still lose $2 on commission)
The other I decided to take a loss ( 3.4-3.12=30 (28+2).and closed the trade...it doesn't harm to hold it since you still 5 weeks to expiry..I still wanted to discpline myself and said" tomorrow may provide a better opportunity and also I should stick to my 30 to 40 minute trading day than watching the market for 8 hrs...what a waste! watching a option like that is watching paint dry!"




Saturday, May 09, 2009

Just saved my skin!( 3 of 50)

My tally so far!

Total Trades-3
Wins -3
Loss-0




Today is a hard day to trade …I am not sure which way will it go…Last day to trade May options ..( Rule : never trade in the expiring week.)


Premarket …very strong upward trend….all the economic news really didn’t show anything positive…it just said things are not getting worse!yet the momentum was strong upward!

Dow is expected to open 100 points up….so I may be better off trading 86 PUT….but I cannot hold …..Beyond my 3PM deadline!...so…well broke some rules yet saved my skin with a meager profit of 21

Now what did I do

Time Event Message
9:34:24 Executed Bought 1 +DAVQH at 1.92
9:42:23 Executed Bought 1 +DAVQH at 1.85
9:53:43 Executed Bought 1 +DAVQH at 1.70
10:03:03 Executed Sold 2 +DAVQH at 1.87
10:12:27 Executed Sold 1 +DAVQH at 2.00

As you may notice I had to hold till 3:12 PM to sell …I had to sell before I go to school to pick up the kids especially on a Friday! The option went upto 2.29 and went back to a low 1.67…but I was happy with what I could manage!

Managed to get out with a $21 profit….

Glad its weekend no trading for two days!

Thursday, May 07, 2009

Two times Lucky (2 of 50)

My tally so far!

Total Trades-2
Wins -2
Loss-0


Well my 607.26 is now is 620.33. That’s USD 13.07 I made …no matter how you look at it is 2.2% return in 10 minutes….

So here I do my usual homework….S&P Futures at +8 …all positive news…but the skeptic I am couldn’t figure out why the market should be going up….

So I decided to buy my PUT option of the day

DIA 86 PUT at 1.67 at 2:34 PM……and said let me make at the least 20 dollars for the time I need to watch it…( Greed for money!) and I was closed out at 2:47 PM at 1.90.
That’s a profit of 21 ( less 2 for Commission) That’s 12.5% return….

And by the time I was home after picking up the girls at 4PM I saw that option was 2.67 at 4PM So I lost out on 60 dollars at least but as I said it could have been a loss too.
So 10 % is the profit I need to be happy with …it’s the act of taking loss I struggle with…

I hear you why are you not buying 3 contracts and only 1….It take guts to gamble even with knowledge…and I don’t want to lose all my capital….

And yet another perspective …Had I invested say USD 1670 instead of USD 167 it would have been USD 210 for the day…(tempting! Right?!)That’s why I don’t give up even with all the huge losses…. And if I was the rich one I would have put in 16700 and made USD 2100 in 13 minutes….( wonder then Why should I be looking for a job?)…….well as I said..the losses are big in options so beware!

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Options Trading ( 1 of 50)


If you dont understand stock markets reading further will be a waste of time:


Well my trading account has a balance of USD 607.26 to be precise and accurate...
And I am on my mission to resume trading after a long break...

Now that we are in a different time zone...I can begin trading only at 2:30 PM and I need to be out by 3:00 PM to pick up the kids....so its a lot harder to trade.....

Nevertheless...I have to try and see if it works...I realised the US market open only at 2:30 PM just today...always thought they opened at 1:30 PM UK time....

So I did my wee litle bit essential Home work.

I trade only DIA....

Which month option to buy...well checked that May options expire on May 15th so I can safely trade till this Friday....

Buy May Option

World Markets have gone up...but there is significant news before the markets open...

So PUT or CALL...somehow I always feel comfortable buying PUT options and also since there is a mixed bag of news I thought let me go the PUT way.

I identified the option as +DAVQG ( May 85 PUT option closed at 2.15)

So I was all set Futures were up which means markets will open significantly open up ..but I was convinced there will be a pull back...

So as expected the option opened at 1.64 ....I placed an order for one contract and finally bought it at 1.65 at 2:31 PM (UK Time) I place a sell order for 1:80 following my thumb rule of max 10% profit....and I was filled at 2:40 PM...

So in a nutshell :

Bought+DAVQG at 165 Sold at 180.Profit of 15 less commission 2 = NET 13....
Day over...a return of 7.5 per cent in 10 minutes(sound too good to be true!)
Needless to say the option continued to go up as the markets for the day fluctuated upto 2.10 ( I sold at 1.80)...Now keep reading and you will read about the big loss days too...

I was happy I posted to my blog both for the "31 posts for 31 days" and my trading summary.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Options Trading

It has been one of my goals to get back to some options trading in 2008.
Like I said I have spent almost a year studying about it and trying out lots of things...and finally taking a very long break.....

So started this week with a pitiable (in my opinion )capital of $250.

IF you are not an options trader any further reading will bore you to death...It will sound like some silly garble so I suggest you can move on without reading alternatively if you are a regular options trader or aspire to be one this might give some pointers over a period of time.

I did one trade every day from Wednesday... and I am focusing on trading Diamonds - Intraday!

Date Time Name of Contract Amount Profit/Loss
2/6/2008 95410 DAW BS-DIA Feb 123.00 CALL 201.00
2/6/2008 100301 DAW BS-DIA Feb'123.00 CALL -218.99 17.99
2/7/2008 95256 DAW BQ-DIA Feb 121.00 CALL 231.00
2/7/2008 100349 DAW BQ-DIA Feb 121.00 CALL -248.99 17.99
2/8/2008 93906 DAW BR-DIA Feb 122.00 CALL 191.00
2/8/2008 104405 DAW BR-DIA Feb 122.00 CALL -193.99 2.99
Profit 38.97


as shown I was able to grow my capital of $250 to $288.97 by the end of the week.
Thats $40 a week may sound a pittance but you need to keep in mind I am doing it from home after all have gone to bed for the day....spending about an hour.
Also see that if it was an investment of $2500 or $25000 then it would have been 400 and 4000 dollars a week...I am sure that sounds good!....Well thats a dream right now at .At this point I want to grow my little $250 to $ 1000.At the rate I am moving I should be able to do that in less than 20 weeks ....now you see its going to be a very slow and steady process....
Interestingly one pointer just after 3 trades was to enter only after 9: 50 AM ...the trade is faster to close then and the returns are better...my first target is not to make any loss ....and profit is about 10%....in one hour....