OA Buys

I bought April calls in CRM and WDAY, while taking a position in shares of YOD.

More later,

OA

I picked up KNDI shares near $17, because it suits my tastes.

Have a good weekend.

OA

It’s funny how many experts come out of the closet after days such as yesterday. It’s not very becoming for one to root against the financial destruction of others, but I’ve created a list of traders, who’s financial funeral I will attend once defeat has been declared.

You might not know this about me, but I used to run a blog many years ago, when blogging was moderately cool, but was losing value with all the new market “experts” being born. I used to have a significant amount of internet traffic that went my way, equal to or greater than many of your current favorite bloggers. I turned the blog into a community, where we’d have hundreds of comments on each of the multiple entries I would write per day. The point was to educate, help others, and always respect the opinions of those trying to find their way in this bitch of a career we call “trading.”

Look, I’ve tried to create a spot here that’s not behind a password to share ideas. From where I started, I’ve managed to get folks to interact in a positive atmosphere. I quickly shed the riff-raff, and do what I can to help others and promote mutual respect. This is what gets people comfortable enough to put themselves out there and interact. I don’t care about what types of ideas you have. You can be a bull or a bear, cool. I respect an opinion that gives opposition to an idea I have; awesome. But don’t be “Mr. Show Up for the Win” and be an asshole. Nobody cares about your call. Don’t come here to throw off my qi. If you have a point to make, or want to show up for the win and rub it in an arrogant fashion, take your ideas and start a blog. All the cool kids are doing it.

Going forward, let’s focus on opportunity as opposed to right or wrong. I have a new watchlist we’ll review after the bell. I like our odds heading into next week.

OA

I finally did it. I took a 12% position in TZA earlier this afternoon and just booted about a half a dozen option positions in order to get small.

As witnessed lately, the market is using surges in strength to sell into, which is what you ought to do as well.

I’ve spent three of my worst months in years going from up big, to flat, to down, to up big, back to flat. I’m not ready to give back any more from here.

Call it an adjustment or capitulation, but I had to make a change.

The goal will be smaller number of positions, balanced with longs and shorts. I’m not bearish, but there is obviously more opportunity trading both sides here than there has been in the past.

OA

Interesting to see bear trap style movements in momentum stocks today. There’s much better breadth to this price action today, despite the fact that the averages might suggest a dull day in stocks.

This far, I’ve bought shares of CTIC and BIOF today, and am contemplating adding to TWTR, SINA, and GME call positions.

More later,

OA

Fast and choppy market conditions mixed with options is the worst part of trading options. You are constantly being penalized for leveraging stocks on days when they don’t move.

I’ve been slowly transitioning to April dated expiry’s in some low beta stocks. I’m hoping this adjustment will help to smooth portfolio gyrations in this environment.

We’ve had great results on straight stock positions YTD, and the options have been mixed. The time decay in non directional markets has been death by a thousand paper cuts lately, which is why I am taking measures to roll positions earlier than I normally do. I’ve also booked several stock positions lately to make room for more runners.

Aside from the fact that the market isn’t really going anywhere, take note of which groups, industries, and stock types are doing underneath the surface. Momentum stocks are getting cheaper, and leadership appears to be shifting.

If you haven’t already, time to make adjustments.