Getting Ahead for the Little Guy
I had a vertical credit spread order execute today, because it hit my target. My timing was right, my direction was right. I had a sell order all set and triggered to fire when the underlying equity hit my target.
There was one problem. I had an order to sell the option spread at market price [...]
Selling covered calls is a way to increase your return on stocks that you own, and help preserve the value of your portfolio in downturns. And I’ve now seen it done as a trading strategy, making purely short-term gains that are quite impressive. It is not a way to make “slam dunks” or hit home [...]
Wow. Shares of Microsoft plunged down to almost $17 / share today, crashing through November lows and hitting record lows since… uh… several share-splits ago. Years.
Houses in some markets have dropped 50% in price. Many banks are very willing to short-sell and modify loans. Anything to turn non-performing loans or potential toxic assets into positive [...]
The Simple Dollar explains why the advertised “growth” rates of the market may be misleading – and how positive annual growth may actually mean a loss of money in your mutual fund:
Personal Finance 101: How Much Money Is That Investment REALLY Earning Each Year?
The principle to remember here is that a 20% gain does NOT [...]
Direxion Shares has some more 3x leveraged ETFs that they have recently made available. These are only a little over a month old, and are therefore relatively unproven. Because they are leveraged, they allow you to make (and… uh, lose) money more quickly. Yay!
The bull ETFs go up when their respective companies in their index [...]
So economic times get tight, and people are reluctant to buy new cars.
Our “Big Three” automakers rush to the government looking for handouts because they just can’t do business under this pressure.
What does Hyundai do? They figure out how to sell cars in adverse economic conditions:
I hope this pays off for them in spades. Free [...]
My portfolio today is looking a little on the crappy side (but not alarmingly so), but it is offset somewhat by a some puts I bought on Citigroup ( C ) yesterday. I wish I’d bought a lot more – they are up over 50% in value, while Citigroup is down a little over 20%. [...]
What a year for PowerShares to introduce a new product! While they can victoriously claim that their S&P 500 “BuyWrite” ETF outperformed the S&P by 7%, is it really a victory when you still lose 30% of your value? However, I am still intrigued.
The S&P 500 BuyWrite ETF (NYSE ticker symbol PBP) recently crossed the [...]
I’m definitely feeling a “micro” version of the credit crunch these days.
I am owed money. From several quarters.
In some cases, the people who owe me money are themselves owed money. I wouldn’t be surprised if the people who owed THEM are themselves owed money. It’s a big ol’ financial deadlock, like a game of musical [...]
The news today was about Ameritrade buying out ThinkOrSwim.
For most ThinkOrSwim customers (including myself), this was not welcome news. It was kinda like hearing that your favorite locally-owned burger shop – the cool, atmospheric one with the extremely friendly staff that were happy to handle orders that aren’t even on the menu – was just [...]