Summary – Thursday, 2008.III.06

It’s a bit grim out there, to say the least.  Yet we’re still holding 12,000.  Should we break that tomorrow (on the heels of non-farm payroll [25-30k expected] & unemployment rate [5.0% expected] data), than the real fireworks shall begin. 

I’m not 100% convinced that we’re going down tomorrow, even if the data sucks…mostly because almost every stock on my screen is oversold!  Of course, that may not matter a bit.  Instead of picking a direction, I will be looking to use some neutral/bi-directional strategies, taking advantage of the wild swing that is sure to occur.  I would be very surprised if we don’t see another triple-digit day up or down.

DP Buys:

• Saw some success yesterday with long calls (more on _that_ later), so I went long [[CTRP]] calls at $55.  Several percentage points lower, the uptrend is still holding…barely, if I squint just right.
• [[PBR]] – was watching this in the morning and bought some Apr 115. Puts when it failed to break through $118.  This was a rare trade in that it was neither limit/stop nor at open/close, since I had the time this morning to actually watch the price action.
• Took the [[GME]] bear put spread trade highlighted last night.  Bought Apr 45. Puts and sold Apr 35 Puts as GME dropped past $45.  Straight puts were the more profitable option, in retrospect, but I still held my false belief here that calls were generally a good idea.

DP Sells:

• [[BIDU]] puts and [[DRYS]] calls were both stopped out on the -30% trailing stop.  Both are worth getting back into under the right circumstance, especially BIDU.  DRYS support is also still holding…
• Sold [[ALK]] calls when they dipped below yesterday’s low.  Slight loss.