Hi all, With AAPL hitting bottom and finally moving up those of us using them will finally breath a little easier. Also GOOG took a leap forward today. Still in/on my mind is the old saying of ‘Go away in May’. Meaning that the market is usually not bullish and hard to make money. I have many of the aapl Jan calls and I am letting them lose some value but selling calls weekly and putting cash in the bank while waiting. A decent play might be the SPX. It is trading around 1370 and some great puts or spreads even Iron condors available with lots of cushion on the weeklys. If you still like aapl trading at 570, as I do, you can do spreads with 40 points of cushion or even naked puts and make 1% a week or better. Folks this is free money as good as gold. Also Goog, trading around 610. The Iron condor using the 565/570 puts and the 645/650 call will make 2% pretty safe. There is lots of money out there so pick your spot and cash in. Cushion – cushion.. the answer to good sleep and good profits

Great APPLE earnings

Well AAPL reported blow-out numbers (again) My free advice, don’t bet against this company. A lot of sellers in the last two weeks sold as they either expected a negative surprise or believed the story of slowing sales etc. Another good performer is GOOG. I am using both right now and only those two. Not always a smart decision to limit an account to only two stocks but they provide consistent rewards for those that use them. I am doing mainly Vertical (or calendar) spreads. I am buying the Jan 570 and some 580’s and selling the 610 for this week for both stocks. If the stock gets past my sold strike more than a few dollars I will close or roll out to next week for a credit and a higher strike. The idea, which is hard to stick with in times like last week, is to sell calls each week 15-20 points over the existing stock price. Try to not get distracted by the normal up and downs. Just make a deposit each week and ride the apple train to great rewards. Lots of ways to play this market now that earnings for AAPL is past. You can make a pretty easy 1% a week selling spreads both put or call. If you combine them you have an IRON CONDOR. The beauty of those is only maintenance is charged on one side. So you get a free play at the other end. You open these on a Wednesday and can stay around 30 points away from the stock price and still make 1% on one side and with an Iron Condor you get another 1%. 2% a week is darn good ROI. But these need a little more watching than a Diagonal spread. But plenty of money out there for traders that pick their spots with care..

Wow, take a few days off and I lose control of the market

Hi all, This morning I got back on line after being away for a few days and all heck breaks out. On Thursday I could see that apple was not going well. I closed my position as I knew I would be away. So I saved some with a small loss but was surprised to see the big drop yesterday. Today I re-opened some new positions.
I now have an Iron Condor with aapl for this week
550/555 puts
640/645 calls I received .21 for a 3 days 4%
I also reopened a Diagonal spread with AAPL for the Jan 570 and sold the 620 for this week.
I hope all fared ok and didn’t panic with the AAPL mess. If you look at these as a long term play all should be just fine. Using the Jan as a bought position, AAPL can go up or down but you keep making a weekly profit. Even though the stock itself moves around, try to be patient and take the weekly sold profits.
Now I have to go back and check all the posting.

Apple rules again.

Where can it end? Today AAPL received analyst upgrades to between 900 and 1,000 within a year. As Kramer says, ‘that price is not unreasonable, as divided by ten it would be 62 and is it possible it can get to 100, Yes..’ I am a believer and as many of you have also done, I am riding the AAPL train into some great returns. I see some of the regulars on the blog are doing different stocks and they seem to be working also. For a while I am sticking with AAPL and playing the Bullish spread.
I have bought the Jan 2013 580 strike and selling this weeks 625 strike. Today AAPL jumped up around 11 points to 629. So tomorrow as the Time Value leaks out some I will either close or wait until Thursday and roll the 625's into next week’s new strike. The one I choose will be determined by the current stock price when and if I roll.
Glad so see some new faces (names) on the posting. All are welcome and don't be bashful if you have an idea or question. We are always learning and willing to share the little knowledge we have.

possible new trades

Hi all, I have been on vacation for a few days. Just golfing and away from wifi. I started the week with the AAPL 550/615 call spread. When AAPL was dropping some I rolled down to the 610's. as Thursday arrived and AAPL was still a little lower I rolled down to the 605 and let them expire. Monday I will see if AAPL is still dropping some. If so I will sell a call 10-15 points over the current stock price. If rising at the opening I will wait to sell the call until I can see what is happening. Ideally I like to sell the call about 15 points over the stock price. For awhile I have been doing just AAPL but I am now looking at GOOG to see if maybe I will split my plays between GOOG and AAPL.

Some good trades out there but keep up with the world

Hi traders, I'm down in Palm Springs on a golfing trip. I will be just on lap-top trading for the next three weeks. It is sure different when I am not looking the mkt all day. I and all of the acc'ts I trade are in AAPL and that is all. This is risky but with the price target of over 700 by many brokerages, I feel pretty good. The ROI has been outrageous. I am long the 500 for Jan 2013 and short the 560's for this week. Very few times in my trading has there been a stock like this. A good PE and a projected 100+ run. I rode Dell, Msft etc in the bubble but what most traders should realize is AAPL isn't a bubble it is pure earnings. There will be a few up and down days but getting over 5% roi per week is hard to turn away from.
My goodness reading the previous postings on the blog some of you traders have a lot on your plate to check and keep up with. It sure seems like a lot of work. Pick a few (or one in my case) and make money. I have found for me that I don't have the time to guess which stock might go up and the possible percentile on possible down days, and the possible rebound and all the other 'possible'. More power to you researcher but for the new or long time traders that don't get all that tech talk, I advise just a few things..
Pick a really good stock, or several, that is/are fairly priced.
Make sure it has decent premiums.
Be cautious or at least aware that hi profits are a canary in the mine.
Make some money..
It is really that easy. Don't be turned off thinking all of the tech talked is overwhelming and you can't get it. Make it easy but not sloppy. Also don't try to project which stock has hit bottom and don't use a stock that YOU like but the mkt doesn't.
Be aware that this mid-east looming news will probably happen one day with out warnings and it will effect the mkt. In a few days the mkt will rebound but lingering oil problems will be hanging over the mkt. Good luck.

Henngiss & Taxman; Tax you took the words right out of my mouth. What to heck does all that mean? An interesting thing is to look at the same info a week from now and then decide if it told you anything of value. Monday if aapl moves 7 points, none of it is correct, if the move is up or down. Those Greeks and delta's only relate to what has happened. Oh-Oh Greece, just defaulted on it debt.. what now? Absolutely none of that helped and possibly misled you. (just an example) Many traders love to use them and I might be missing a boat?
But like you Tax. I trade three of four times at least every day for 15 years and not once has it helped or was correct. This stuff is a bidding auction. Greeks-theta, beta, Tom Cruise, Tom Selleck. etc --is it a good stock? If so it will go up and the option will make money. If junk and bad news it will go down. For me I always think of large mutual funds and the like. If it helped them a bit they would make money all the time> It is mumbo Jumbo that looks backwards..
But Dave i do like the 575's for aapl next week.
Nicky, you are a thrill seeker...lol good luck