iBankCoin
The first hit is always on the house.
Joined Aug 2, 2009
1,847 Blog Posts

Hands are Tied

I’ve committed capital to ideas. Ideas take time. Plans are in tact.

Therefore, I am tied to my trades unless something does not go according to plan.

What moves in today’s tape is more important than the market itself, but then again, we spoke of that yesterday.

OA

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73 comments

  1. bchu

    first!

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  2. matt_bear

    i’m troubled by the action in CZR and GRPN, but the rest are what they are. until the chart patterns are busted you gotta ride it out….the MM’s want you to suffer.

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  3. Good Shepherd

    do you think the sell off in solar is a trap? holding some FSLR nov wk5 calls. i really dont want to sell into this dip, but trying to be proactive about avoiding a total loss. gracias jeff

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  4. lanforce

    These kind of days are always the toughest – it’s simply not in our nature to “do nothing”. However, OA was good enough to prime us for this market today – and it really shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.

    I’m confident in my positions, nothing is screaming “broken” (although if the trader Gods would allow a small spike in FSLR I’d be grateful), and anything I do today besides set liberal stops is gonna lose me money.

    So, it’s $GLF for me this morning before the rain bearing clouds arrive in Socal tonight. Make yourself an awesome sandwich, take a walk/nap, surprise your SO with a “nooner”.

    All of these are more productive than screen staring today….

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  5. autumnalcity

    Some say my hands are idle because they’re “tied,”
    I prefer to call them “otherwise applied.”

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  6. Hideous fibs

    Patience

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  7. bchu

    wow. worst day i’ve had all year. $ONVO and $YGE killing me

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  8. matt_bear

    as long as you’re not deep into leverage and worrying about that 3pm call…..don’t even bother logging on today.

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  9. jj

    “ideas take time”…interesting thing to say when you buy out of the money front month options. using that strategy, time is the one thing you don’t have.

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    • Option Addict

      How many times have we been here?

      You are telling me that my ideas have no shot at being right in the next 31 days? Are you kidding?

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      • jj

        never said no shot, just saying very risky trades you’re taking and time isn’t a luxury one has when using front month otm options. as a strategy it’s very risky …if you have a comment as to why time is on your side or why they aren’t risky i’d love to hear it. nothing personal just buying otm front month lottery tickets is risky for the very reason that it needs to pay out soon and it’s out of the money. better strategy is using the same $ premium you use for the otm’s and buy 60ish delta calls or puts. at least you give yourself a chance that way. also it removes the “lottery ticket” fallacy of having nothing to lose so you’ll manager your risk better if it goes against you

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        • Option Addict

          Do you watch me time these explosive movements in stocks? You must be new here.

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          • jj

            I’ve seen you have some huge winners, yes, which proves nothing. buying 5 or 10 delta options is a loser’s bet long term

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          • Option Addict

            Not if you are a good stock picker.

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          • jj

            you’re missing my point..not attacking your stock ideas but your vehicle of choice to reflect it. if you’re such a good stock picker, one would think you’d want to buy ITM options to fully leverage your edge as they have a much higher probability of paying off

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          • Option Addict

            Bro, I have been at this for 15 years. Don’t say a word to me. You don’t think I know what you say, but prove you wrong on a daily basis? I’m after an inexpensive way to produce big percentages on my analysis. After I get a move started, I get gamma. I know all this. You aren’t changing my mind. In fact, I have no idea why I am having this conversation with you.

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          • mrboulders

            JJ – With OA it’s DY-NO-MITE!
            So quit being such a negatron and go have some Good Times

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          • lemony_steve

            Never question the ninja’s technique. Be grateful he’s willing to share it with you.

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          • lol

            lol the same dollar amount on ITM would be lower return but smaller losses when wrong. he can accomplish the same thing by controlling position size.

            I think what jj doesn’t realize is that you are NOT using the same dollar amount, but strategically risking around 1-2% of the capital per option while a large part of you portfolio is steadily accumulating cash with stocks. That handles the portfolio volatility problem that makes OTM not work for those who would take the same trades. Yes if you have a compulsion to buy $5000 of options, buying more premium might reduce risk of losing it all but it’s not apples to apples.

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          • jj

            doesn’t matter how long you’ve been at it, your edge/success is determined differently….buying 20 or 30 delta options, you have to be right and outperform the premium more than 70% of the time. i leave it to your followers to monitor your success ratio

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          • Option Addict

            Yep, I respect your differing opinion, but don’t care to hear it. I do just fine. Thanks though.

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      • jj

        not to mention the fslr calls you bought were way expensive in IV terms but again, nothing personal, just giving my two cents.

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      • jj

        my first boss used to say “sack up and spend some premium if you have an opinion” …the more premium you spend, the less risk you are taking, seems counterintuitive but it’s true. you get more gamma closer to atm therfore you get more leverage for your ideas. otm options are for people with inside information.

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        • autumnalcity

          Okay, guys, let’s play a game. Let’s try and guess what stock position is causing JJ’s bad mood. I’m going to guess he’s long a bunch of ONVO.

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          • jj

            why would you think i’m in a bad mood? just was doing some recon as I was looking to maybe sign up for the service and had some comments on what I read, that’s all. thought it was the comment section, not the commiserating backslapping section

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          • mattdc

            Be careful..if you have a heart condition
            when in play sex and options !

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          • lol

            If you’re looking to sign up but have a problem with his strike price selection, go ahead and take an ITM option of the same ticker. The picks he makes often make very big moves and it does so enough for it to work for him, provided you are strict about money management. I realize the style certainly isn’t for everyone. Usually he is right on price more so than time, so more premium via buying more time than you need might also be an alternative. The stock may not have delta, but when it starts moving it can go from very little to a lot quickly.

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        • gatorsun

          jj…do some background checking over the years regarding option addict(jeff k) you are very lost in your comments…shit dude,,,FSLR ..Jeff was in it when people were calling it dead,and predicting this exact move months ago

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  10. j

    extremely valid point.

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  11. Good Shepherd

    so this is what discouragement feels like

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    • Good Shepherd

      im having to remind myself that the 10% pop on a short squeeze will put this at 72.00

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  12. delgotit99

    I said I would buy back ONVO on pullback. I wasn’t expecting this kind of pull back, but buying a starter position here.

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  13. twinkies

    @lanforce – I took your advice, and i got an “awesome sandwich”. After a few bites, I noticed my mood was only improving by negligible increments.

    Filled with rage over today’s market action, i grabbed my sandwich and spiked it on the ground exploding it into hundreds of tiny sandwich pieces. This caused instant gratification, and i have much better feeling about today as a whole. thanks again.

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    • hwhaowu

      lol, “throw a sandwich”

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    • Winescale

      This comment made me laugh

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    • lanforce

      At the risk of posting TMI, I cut out of my golf game after 9 holes (crappy weather here right on the coast) and went home for the “nooner”.

      Glad to hear the sandwich prescription was useful, however off label your application of it.

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      • twinkies

        i had considered the “nooner” as an alternative option to the “spiking of the sandwich”. But my odds are low right now, as the wife is preggo.

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        • mrboulders

          congrats bud! Good luck with the future lil’ Twinkie.
          FWIW, my wife and I found this to be one of the best times for a little somethin somethin. Can’t get pregnanter (sic) and IMO, pregnant women are beautiful (my wife certainly was both times around)!

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  14. kdog

    Illegitimi non carborundum

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  15. Winescale

    Will either be down 50% or up 300% by Christmas. Giving the ideas time

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  16. lanforce

    For those of the “when life gives you lemons” mindset – XONE is having a fire sale today. Dec 65’s for a bit over 1.00 – picked up 10 of em. If nothing else, I can use them as stocking stuffers.

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  17. Winescale

    What is amazing is that I can look at my account balance and tell you where the $RUT is, within a poitn or two.
    I know OA – turn off the account balance, focus on the stocks. I am making great progress in that area but not there yet.

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    • bchu

      i can look at my % move in my account and divide that by 5 and that is what the RUT has moved. fuck today

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  18. Adah

    Is SOL moving down further?

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  19. gatorsun

    we need to add a new seniment phase “shitty cry baby phase” lots of bitching and moaning going on

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  20. chub

    That’s because followers of this site are prob down much more than the rest of market participants because solar and internet stocks have been crushed lately….and the markets are near all time highs

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    • gatorsun

      you obviously didn’t get on the LNKD 1000% up trade…or FSLR trade from 30’s,or ONVO from 5’s…or Bidu 90’s…etc etc etc

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    • Option Addict

      Of course you would single out a loss, and forget all the money made riding these stocks to highs. We’re good though. I have nothing more to prove.

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  21. janri7

    S&P 500 (SPX) February 2014 1,975 calls unusually active w/ sizable opening buys at $1.65, more than 35,000 contracts trading. Seems like one buyer bought them up @ around 10 am for 1.65 … around 5.75 million in premium. Thoughts anyone?

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    • Monte Burns

      Could be a bullish play, could be a hedge for a large investor who is bearish after this move down. I wouldn’t read too much into it, could mean anything.

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  22. matt_bear

    man what a grumpy chain of responses today.

    I’m afraid to see what it’d be like on real down day. Like 30+ handles on spx

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  23. purdy

    JJ, i disagree with your old boss about buying in the money. I use options to define risk and I want to define it down as much as possible. OA does a good job at finding stocks that have a good shot at moving through the strike.

    I do, however, sometimes like to buy more time – as time premium deteriorates at an accelerating rate during the last 6 weeks before expiration.

    Finally, I agree with your observation that this is not a place for such discussions – – lots of cheer-leading – “OA is God”

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  24. gatorsun

    let’s stay positive today…!

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