Onto More Important Matters…

For most of you on this here red-blooded USandA website tomorrow will just be another day.  You’ll wake up as usual, go to your office/trading/home desk, slog through your day (using iBC to keep you sane & wealthy), come home, rinse & repeat.

 

However, for a few of us, tomorrow is a SPECIAL day as it is the Final of the Champions League, which, for the first time in its 53-year history, will pit two English teams against each other:  Chelsea v. Manchester United.

I’ve been a huge Chelsea fan for the better part of my life and with this being the first time they’ve made it to the Final (having failed in the semis the previous 3 years), it’s been quite a nerve-wracking week.

Yet tomorrow will exceed all that.  Having just lost the domestic title to ManU by the closest of margins, we’re out for revenge and vindication.  And if nothing else, let’s hope we at least kick that pussy-boy Ronaldo off the pitch.  So here’s to a Chelsea Victory, to give him something to truly cry about.

Come on you Blues!!!

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MxHAUJEcQw 450 300]

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Elevator down, here we go! 

A lot of action for me in the morning, after which I just let the account sit.  Took a slight loss on the day, but I feel I’m poised to take advantage of the market regardless of whether it continues this down or bounces back up tomorrow.

DP Sells:

• Took profits on [[STP]] calls in the morning.  They were nicely in the money; no reason to risk that on a broad-market sell-off.  Plus, this way I’m back to being up 10%+ for the month.
  • Will get back in for an earnings straddle tomorrow morning.
• Sold the call-legs of the [[CSUN]], [[MVIS]], [[VMW]] straddles/strangles.  CSUN earnings reaction went right along with the market, while MVIS & VMW look ready to head lower.

DP Buys:

• Earnings plays in [[PVH]] & [[SOLF]].
• Positioning myself for the down-leg with puts in [[MER]], [[NIHD]], [[YGE]].
• Calls in [[TRLG]].  Holding support @ $22.  Just a small position, due to market conditions.

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An egregiously busy day, first at work, then with a full slate of ‘programming’ at night.

Time for a quick summary of a crazy day in the markets…action like today does not fit well with my set-it-in-the-morning-check-back-later-type of trading that I prescribe to.  Such wild swings tend to result in top- & bottom-ticking the price action and getting stopped out before positions have a chance to hold on to their gains…

I felt highly undecided about the market this morning, so limit orders were set on both calls & puts.  This is in contrast with most days where I pick a direction I’m comfortable with and set orders in just that direction (+ straddles/strangles).

DP Buys:

• Straddle on [[CSUN]] for earnings.  A poster boy for the schizo market action, CSUN went from +10% to -10% in the space of minutes, getting a healthy boost in volatility.  They report tomorrow morning.
• Managed to bottom-tick some [[MGM]] puts.  Literally.  True story.  Printed a doji for the day & the downtrend holds.
• [[CTRP]] calls near-top-ticked today’s action.  Uptrend is holding.
• [[CALM]] puts filled just before the close.  These are actually in the green, probably due to the trading day running out of time to flip direction one more time.  CALM chart showing resistance @ $35 as well as an ascending triangle:

DP Sells:

• [[XL]] puts stopped out as the market ripped higher.  These have been dying a slow death since last week.  Will look to get back in (under $35) if the general market turns south.

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The daily summary is going to be late in coming today.  Until then…talk to ’em, Busta:

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24mnoniIFAs 450 300]

The intro to the above song is about a minute from another Busta song, arguably just as great.  Sadly, no full video was ever produced for it:

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHtSLhfhUi4 450 300]

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Some thoughts/notes/conundrums/pedantic matters for the upcoming week.

• I LOVE the new WordPress editor interface (v.2.5.1).  Nice & ‘flash’-y; it no longer feels like I’m stuck in the dark ages of 2006.
• The new Indiana Jones movie comes out this Thursday.  You should be excited.
  • Spent the majority of the day watching the Indiana Jones marathon on Sci-Fi.  A perfect way to spend a relaxing Sunday, especially when it’s 100+ outside.  Pretty sure ‘Last Crusade’ is my favorite…which one’s yours?
  • (How the hell do I add a poll?)
• This will be my last ‘full’ week ‘banking coin’ for a while.  I will be on vacation in North Carolina next week, after which I’ll be going on a work/play assignment in Italy & Central Europe. 
  • During the ‘work’ portion of that I do plan on getting back to the market (at least in some limited capacity).
  • As far as this blog, unless you guys want vacation updates, we probably should get a guest ‘King’ for the last week of May.  As long as it’s not the one called ‘ducati’.  His brand of negativity is not welcome in my palace.

As far as trading ideas…despite the upcoming hiatus, I will probably look to enter my normal slate of positions, although profits may taken even quicker than usual.  Any position left open at the end of the week will get a (trailing) stop as well as a limit sell.

• Some earnings to keep an eye on:  [[CSUN]]-(Tues AM), [[PVH]] & [[SOLF]]-(Tues PM/Wed AM), [[GME]] & [[STP]]-(Thur PM).  More at RC’s page.  Full list at briefing.com.

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My bullish outlook on the day got smacked down pretty quick with some terrible economic data.  The fact that both the market & account ended flat on the day means to me that we’re ready to explode past 13,000 next week.  Si?

DP Sells:

• Managed to sell [[AMAT]] & [[CTRP]] May puts near the day-lows, closing out the earnings straddle & strangle, respectively.  Even so, neither one ended in profits, although CTRP came close. 
  • In retrospect, the AMAT earnings play was about as ill advised as the CSCO one.  Neither can exactly be described as highly volatile.
• [[ALEX]] calls were stopped out for a tiny profit.
• [[NVDA]] & [[PALM]] puts expired worthless, but the overall earnings plays each ended in ~10% profit.

DP Buys:

• Placed mostly bullish limit orders, half of which got filled:  calls in [[CMED]], [[DVN]], [[JWN]], [[LUFK]].  All small positions, where my max. allowable loss equals the full position.
• Straddles in [[CAKE]] & [[VMW]], as detailed in the previous post.
• Strangle in [[SJM]] as it hovers around resistance @ $52.  Looking for it to fail & break back down, but with this crazy bullishness around, I wanted to go with the ‘safer’ play.

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