Friday, the dull day

General notes
To the margin of the SNDK trade:

SanDisk Corp. (SNDK) swung to a first-quarter loss, hurt by price cuts for flash-memory chips used in consumer electronics. SanDisk broke even on a per-share basis, compared with a profit of 17 cents a share in the year-earlier period. Sales rose 26% to $786 million, outpacing Wall Street's forecast. (CBS MarketWatch)

Watchlist additions and filtered trade candidates
DRQ - Drill Equipment
TTC-A: ESV, IBM, MRO, SNDK
GAPHV: AL, BHI, HDB, IBM, JOYG, PCAR, SNDK, TNB, RIG

Trade session notes
Nikkei...17400.41...-28.76...-0.2%.
Hang Seng...20526.50...-140.79...-0.7%.
FTSE...6438.10...-31.30...-0.5%.
DAX...7377.61...-9.41...-0.1%.

CBOE VIX

12.79

-0.42

1:25:16 PM I made a Long Strangle/Straddle market order for CTSH based on the most probable surprise factor as follows: 1 Jul 90 Call and 1 Jul 85 Put. (VIX was at 12.79 no change from last close). The stock was gently rising in eased volume. Got filled.

Open positions at market close 26 April 2007

Advanced positions - Leftover legs

.LMQEK

LRCX MAY 55 Call

$54.91

$1.4

$90.00

.SWFGI

SNDK JUL 45 Call

$45.20

$3.3

$110.00

.SWQSV

SNDK JUL 42.5 Put

$1.7

($120.00)

Thursday the hard day!

Trade session notes
Nikkei...17429.17...+193.01...+1.1%.
Hang Seng...20667.29...+130.51...+0.6%.
FTSE...6485.60...+23.70...+0.4%.
DAX...7390.37...+47.29...+0.7%.

CBOE VIX

13.59

0.38

My work day was too busy and no possible quick trades (Tuto, I meant!)

Open positions at market close 25 April 2007

Plain vanillas

.LMQEK

LRCX MAY 55 Call

$54.01

$1

($30.00)

Advanced positions - Leftover legs

.SWFGI

SNDK JUL 45 Call

$43.93

$2.85

$20.00

.SWQSV

SNDK JUL 42.5 Put

$2.15

($30.00)

Advanced Wednesday

General notes

Watchlist additions and filtered trade candidates
TTC-A: AAPL, ESV, IBM, MLM, PCP, PVH, RIG, SNDK, UNH
GAPHV: VLO

Trade session notes
Nikkei...17236.16...-215.61...-1.2%.
Hang Seng...20536.78...-36.02...-0.2%.
FTSE...6465.00...+35.50...+0.6%.
DAX...7318.90...+48.58...+0.7%.

CBOE VIX

12.71

-0.41

Was looking through the possible advanced trades for SNDK as it will report tomorrow and is it is a high surprise probability stock. Here's a sampling of my possibilities:

1. Basic Long Straddle - Buy 1 Jul 45 Call and 1 Jul 45 Put, total cost: $625
   
2. Basic Long Strangle - Buy 4 Jul 50 Call and 4 Jul 40 Put, total cost: $1000
   
3. Long Strangle 2 - Buy 2 Jul 45 Call and 2 Jul 42,5 Put, total cost: $1010
   
4. Long Straddle 2 - Buy 1 Jul 42,5 Call and 1 Jul 45 Put, total cost: $750
   
5. Tight Long Strangle 3 - Buy 2 Jul 47,5 Call and 2 Jul 42,5 Put, total cost: $820

11:08:06 AM Made a market order for 3 contracts of option 4 from above list on SNDK. SIDENOTE: Only I made it for May expiries (pure mistake of trying to be quick), also I should have made this trade earlier in the week as IV was already at around 44. Anyway, we will see what happens tomorrow. I've been in a rush, thus I shall note that trading in a rush environment is impossible! No, multi-tasking please!

11:22:25 AM Made the right orders as it is for option 4 above. I want to see the difference in real life and as I am testing my fresh knowledge I have decided to do it this double virtual way, as normally I trade with my paper trading account as I will (quite soon) with my real money at risk.

11:26:01 AM ET CBOE VIX

12.93

-0.19

Open positions at market close 24 April 2007

Advanced poisitions left over legs

.LMQEK

LRCX MAY 55 Call

$53.41

$0.75

($105.00)

Tuesday, will it be a follow through day?

General notes
Has found an interesting article about the historically most volatile stocks during earnings season (for the full story go to Ticker Sense). (Side note: Also, it was interesting to see a Hungarian name behind the blog&co). It gave me the idea to make a watchlist from my optionable standard one. Here are the candidates in reverse order:

• SHLD, reporting: 18 May
• CTSH, 3 May
• SNDK, 26 April
• WFMI, 3 May
  

Watchlist additions and filtered trade candidates
SCHN - Schnitzer
TTC-A long: AAPL, JCP, MBT, MLM, PVH, RIG
GAPHV: CAT, CMI, JCP, JOYG, MLM, PCAR, TNB

Trade session notes
Nikkei...17451.77...-3.60...-0.0%.
Hang Seng...20572.80...+16.23...+0.1%
FTSE...6432.90...-46.80...-0.7%.
DAX...7281.77...-53.85...-0.7%.

CBOE VIX

13.04

0.50

9:51:14 AM ET IBM was surging up swinging my thus it was due time for a tight trailing stop (.05 points bid down from).

10:11:39 AM The trailing stop was triggered at $1.05 bringing this second leg into a profit.

11:40:44 AM Made a $8.8 limit order for 1 MLM June 140 Call contract. From a basic point of view it might be seen as a contrarian trade, but in fact it is not. I told myself, that as it was confirmed both on TTC-A and GAPHV setups it is clearly a buy, then as it was falling on easy volume I have took it as a confirmation. On the other hand in the past hour the VIX came back from 0.73 to around 0.41 that indicates a potential for the turn of the market sentiment to rather bullish. LATER THE MARKET TURNED MY WAY, JUST BEFORE HITTING MY LIMIT. THIS IS ANNOYING :(... I AM YET TO FIND A BETTER WAY TO SET IDEAL ENTRY POINTS ON TTC-A TRADES.

Open positions at market close 23 April 2007

Advanced positions - leg leftovers

.IBMET

IBM MAY 100 Call

$95.21

$0.15

($100.00)

.LMQEK

LRCX MAY 55 Call

$52.97

$0.75

($105.00)

Bleaky Monday

General notes
Got a quite mixed start for the market, thus (beside being bearish, due to the VIX being positive)

Watchlist additions and filtered trade candidates
No watchlist addition (for the past two market closes).
Did not filter for TTC-A, GAPHV, MACDV.

Trade session notes
Nikkei...17455.37...+2.75...+0.0%.
Hang Seng...20556.57...-10.02...-0.1%.
FTSE...6481.30...-5.50...-0.1%.
DAX...7326.58...-15.96...-0.2%.

CBOE VIX

12.6

0.53

RIMM and later BG was looking like a good candidate for a Tuto Put trade, but I was late to catch on both. (Quite a lot I shall work nowadays) and they have turned to the market by the time I was ready to roll.

Week in review, 21 April 2007

General notes
Saturday was a working day here. I could not arrange the eIBD yet, at least they did not get back to me with regards my re-subscription.
The week in review was pretty up and down. I made 3 Tuto trades, and 2 were loosers and only 1 was a winner, at a total $99,76 loss for the week (albeit still virtual). Also, I had not enough time to further work on advanced tactics. So, I decided I keep playing plain vanillas. Then I made another promise to my future self, as I will want to read the Windows to Wealth from dr. Stephen Cooper before I go live (probably around May 6 at the 6th month mark of my trading career).

Watchlist additions and filtered trade candidates
Made a new watchlist, after I have carefully read the Options Central Winter 2007 Newsletter and discovered the one-cent increments option pilot program. This seems a great news not only for me but for all momentum traders working with options. In fact this will make more accurate entries if using market orders. I have only deselected 3 stocks (AMD, FLEX and SUNW) as they were trading below $30.

Trade session notes
Generally I had really little time as work pressure kept growing. Thus, I returned to one of my silliest mistakes and I have bought an expiry one month earlier than I wanted (obviously making a loss on the trade).
Also, I have made some experimenting with trailing stops and used BID as a trigger. It was closing tighter off course. Maybe the last, can be the real version (also it might be the default).

Open positions at market close 20 April 2007

Plain vanillas

(nil)

Advanced positions and legs leftover

.IBMET

IBM MAY 100 Call

$94.58

$0.1

($110.00)

.LMQEK

LRCX MAY 55 Call

$52.77

$0.85

($75.00)

Venus, earnings season day 8

General notes
Got to renew my eIBD subscription later today, as I did not have cash on my fancy bank account.

Watchlist additions and filtered trade candidates
TTC-A, GAPHV & MACDV: (nil)

Trade session notes
Was closed out of my AAPL plain vanilla put that was a small winner as the stock opened gap up to the close. Maybe it would be a good idea to close out winner short term positions (a few days) before close when markets are so zigzagging.
Than later I wanted to lock in some profit on my IBM Put leg (did, but less than $11). Now, I have to wait for the Call leg to move $.5 to make the whole deal break even - or $6 for the stock itself quite a tought job for the month ahead :(...

Open positions at market close 19 April 2007

Plain vanillas

.QAAQR

AAPL MAY 90 Put

$90.27

$3.2

$60.00

Advanced positions and legs

.IBMET

IBM MAY 100 Call

$94.29

$0.1

($110.00)

.IBMQS

IBM MAY 95 Put

$1.9

$10.00

.LMQEK

LRCX MAY 55 Call

$52.89

$1

($30.00)

.RFYDK

RIMM APR 155 Call

$132.49

2

$2.20

$440.00

0

$0.00

($440.00)

Magic Thursday, earnings season day 7

General notes
Was not in my best trading shape yesterday, I was in a hurry to make a Tuto counter trade on GMRN and I have chosen a wrong expiry (April instead of May). That silly mistake (would have) resulted in a $144 loss in a matter of hours.
Also, markets stay in a mixed trend thus still the Tuto momentum trades shall be played, only with better care for expiry and such.

Watchlist additions and filtered trade candidates
TTC-A long & GAPHV: (nil)
MACDV: CAT
Tuto: (nil)

Trade session notes
Nikkei...17371.97...-295.36...-1.7%.
Hang Seng...20299.71...-477.38...-2.3%
FTSE...6405.50...-43.90...-0.7%.
DAX...7187.44...-94.90...-1.3%.

CBOE VIX

12.42

0.28

11:48:32 AM Got a 3 contracts Tuto Put order filled for AAPL May 90. Then made a trailing stop at bid down by 0.2 points from $2.9, to see how I could make better use of the lazy stop.

Open positions at market close 18 April 2007

Plain vanillas

(NIL)

Advanced positions & legs

.IBMET

IBM MAY 100 Call

$94.8

$0.2

($90.00)

.IBMQS

IBM MAY 95 Put

$1.6

($50.00)

.LMQEK

LRCX MAY 55 Call

$52.68

$0.9

($60.00)

.RFYDK

RIMM APR 155 Call

$134.37

$0.00

($440.00)

A sexier Wednesday, Earnings season day 6

General notes
Getting a few learning points from my earnings reports season neutral plays. In fact it seems that it is not a great strategy at all, as it is quite hard to gauge if the market reaction will be overly sensitive (thus making the stock more volatile) or it will stay in the middle range, thus not making a dime of profit.
Further open questions are:

• if there is a winner leg it shall be closed to lock some profit in? if yes then fully or partially?
• In fact if the other leg stays open and the stock moves the wrong way it might kill the trade fully. (e.g. any stop order will be filled way too low).
  

Watchlist additions and filtered trade candidates
No watchlist additions.


Trade session notes
Put a default triggered 5% down trailing stop on the NYX 95 May Call, pre market.
Nikkei...17667.33...+139.88...+0.8%.
Hang Seng...20777.09...-11.52...-0.1%.
FTSE...6471.40...-26.40...-0.4%.
DAX...7307.88...-40.95...-0.6%.

CBOE VIX

12.14

+0.16

9:35:16 AM Got filled on my trailing stop for NYX 95 Call May at $4.7.
11:33:54 AM Got filled on a new 10 contract of GRMN 55 Puts at $.6 as it was confirmed with Tuto on light volume as it is needed. Will have to set a relatively larger hard or trailing stop.
11:46:12 AM Made a 5% down trailing stop order for the GRMN Puts as it started to move my way.

Open positions at market close 17 April 2007

Plain vanillas

.NYXES

NYX MAY 95 Call

$96.15

$5.3

$260.00

Advanced positions & legs

.IBMET

IBM MAY 100 Call

$97.12

$1.1

$90.00

.IBMQS

IBM MAY 95 Put

$1.34

($102.00)

.LMQEK

LRCX MAY 55 Call

$51.88

$0.75

($105.00)

.RFYDK

RIMM APR 155 Call

$131.27

$0.00

($440.00)

Ta-daam, April 2007, earnings season, day 5

General notes
A few minutes I had received a phone call from my optionsxpress.com Europe friends to confirm that I have a live account. Not it's only me to transfer funds and I can go live. Great!

Watchlist and trade candidates
TTC-A: DECK, PVH
GAPHV: GLDN, HYDL, NEM, VOLV
MACDV: AXE, GS, VOLV, WCC
Tuto Call: NYX
ERP: (nil)

Trade session notes
Before the market open I made tight hard stop orders for my IBM long strangle's both legs, then I cancelled them because the earnings report will only come out after the close.
Nikkei...17527.45...-100.85...-0.6%.
Hang Seng...20788.61...+31.08...+0.2%.
FTSE...6472.30...-43.90...-0.7%.
DAX...7310.32...-27.74...-0.4%.

CBOE VIX

11.98

-0.22

Internationals slightly downward, while VIX as well. This means no clear indication, before market opens.
9:41:02 AM Has bought 2 NYX 95 May Calls based on my Tuto trade set up, at market $4. Largely due to the still unsure market conditions I have chosen to trade it over the longer time frame set-ups (e.g. TTC-A or GAPHV, MACDV). Later I put on a hard stop at $3.5.

Open position at market close 16 April 2007

Advanced positions and left overs

.RFYDK

RIMM APR 155 Call

$132.55

$0.00

($440.00)

.LMQEK

LRCX MAY 55 Call

$52.39

$0.9

($60.00)

.IBMET

IBM MAY 100 Call

$96.18

$0.7

$10.00

.IBMQS

IBM MAY 95 Put

$1.63

($44.00)

Earnings season real start, day 4

General notes
I will not rewrite the whole story I put here on how I want to alter my earnings season option trading strategy, as in the meantime I have found a really good article that gives a good insight in what was a key difference between my RIMM Long Strangle and my LRCX Assym Strangle. The key was probably hidden in the VIX figures, read this article to understand why.
My learning points and alterations to my earnings report play (ERP) templates thus are as follows:

1. VIX shall be going down or simply low readings (say under its 20 day SMA),
2. Stock has to have a high beta (above 1.5 or so),
3. Stock needs to trade above $75 at least.
   

Watchlist and trade candidates filtered
TTC-A: AZN, DECK, FMC, LVS,
GAPHV: ANF, IPS
MACDV: DRIV, JOYG, TNB
Possible earnings plays: IBM - fair value per Morningstar; STLD - fairly overvalued as per Morningstar reports.

Trade session notes
Nikkei...17628.30...+264.35...+1.5%.
Hang Seng...20757.53...+416.56...+2.0%.
DAX...7265.25...+53.18...+0.7%.
FTSE...6496.40...+34.00...+0.5%.

CBOE VIX

11.54

-0.66

10:37:51 AM Made an IBM ERP trade (2 legged long strangle - May 100 Call & May 95 Put). Shall put in stop orders for the wrong sides quite tight before market open the next day.

Open positions at market close 13 April 2007:

Advanced trade positions - "leftover legs

.LMQEK

LRCX MAY 55 Call

$51.86

$0.85

($75.00)

.RFYDK

RIMM APR 155 Call

$132.74

$0.00

($440.00)

Moksa, earnings season, day 3

Watchlist additions and trade candidates
HYDL - Hydril, SPWR - SunPower.
TTC-A: DECK
MACDV: FLR

Trade session notes
Nikkei...1736.95...-176.47...-1.0%.
Hang Seng...20340.97...-39.24...-0.2%.
FTSE...6427.90...+11.50...+0.2%.
DAX...7165.58...+22.63...+0.3%.
10:07:09 AM Closed out the put leg of my LRCX May Long Strangle @ $1.7. Think, there will be way for the 55 Call (albeit it is quite south now).

Open positions at market close 12 April 2007:

Advanced plays

.RFYDK

RIMM APR 155 Call

$134.10

$0.00

($440.00)

.LMQEK	LRCX MAY 55 Call	$50.98				$1.05		($15.00)
.LMQQJ	LRCX MAY 50 Put					2		$0.00

San kalpa, earnings season day 2

General notes
Today, I will see how I can handle my first advanced trade. I was really unsure on how to get out of the trade that seems to turn to a winner, because of the fact that after hours RIMM got low to a hefty $136 (7% chute from where it was), thus my 2 Put contracts are in-the-money by $4. But I made a bit of googling through the maze and found some supportive notes:

a) Long Strangles can be either exited at the same time (provided that the volatility - or price movement - becomes violent enough to get the profit. I was making a quick run on the pricer and has found that theoretically the RIMM 155 Calls will be $.02 while the RIMM 140 Puts will be $5.5. Thus the total value of the position will be $5.52 against the $4.7 entry - which means a $.82 profit on the half of the position or roughly $160.

b) or the profitable position can be exited (with either target, manual or trailing stop exit) and the loosing position can be left open until the end of the trading time (max. days or weeks to be spent in the trade, that shall be decided on before entering the position). To profit from eventual market turns. In my case this will mean exiting the loosing position no later than 3 days prior expiry (17 April market close).

Watchlist additions & filtered candidates
Sunpower - SPWR
MACDV: COP, LUFK,

Trade session notes
First, I cancelled the stop losses for both positions (see reasoning in General Notes above).
9:50:23 A.M. The RIMM Apr Put trailing stop (tight, 5% down from $7.8) was triggered at $7.3 that brought me a 55% profit (not counting a few more bucks from the Call contracts, less the transaction costs). Put a 5% down trailing stop on the practically worthless Call contracts.
10:03:50 AM I have exited half of the BG Apr Put position @ $.85. And set a trailing stop on the rest (5% down from $.8).
10:28:59 AM The trailing stop was triggered at $.65.

Learning point from the BG trade, don't exit in two parts, if there is no clear uptrend. Especially, with a tight trailing stop on a tight range issue. Should I exit in one lot I would have saved $14.95 on the trade transaction cost at least.

2:40:41 PM Put an order for 3 contracts Long Strangle (May Call 55, May Put 50) for LRCX, that is supposed to report after the market close today. The stock was raising over the past two weeks and the suggested EPS for 2006 4Q is $1.06, while the same figure was $.6 a year before. from these I feel the stock a bit overvalued (=good news in the price already). Albeit I did not wanted to make it so risky, thus the May call instead of yesterday's April calls. Also, I wanted a straddle first, but figured it costs too much, and the bid ask for the legs were too big for my taste, thus I moved the upper leg a bit out-of-the-money. Will see tomorrow morning! The order was filled at $3.1 (combined).

Open positions at market close 11 April 2007:

Plain Vanillas

.BGPO

BG APR 75 Put

$77.00

$0.75

$0.00

Advanced plays - Long Strangle

.RFYDK	RIMM APR 155 Call	$146.02				$1.9		($60.00)
.RFYPH	RIMM APR 140 Put					$2.45		($10.00)

Can I focus on longer runs now?

General notes
After Monday's double loosing - remember no market exit at open as planned for AAPL calls and CME call closed out on stop - I am not so busy in deed to get back in trading, but discipline is discipline. Thus, I am still thinking on the right answer for the title question.

Filtered trade candidates
TTC-A: (nil)
GAPHV: TRN
MACDV: TRN

Trade session notes
While international markets where mainly up. US markets started lower.
Thus, I had to go for Tuto Puts, from scratch. By the afternoon there was only 2 candidates BG and FMD.
1:36:00 PM Placed a market order for 6 contracts of BG Apr 75 Puts and got filled at $.75. Then in a short time I have installed a hard stop at $.55.
2:06:59 PM I have placed my first ever advanced trade. It was a RIMM (when it was standing at $146.23) Long Strangle as follows:

2 contracts .RFYDK APR 155 Call @ $2.2 each
2 contracts .RFYPH APR 140 Put @ $2.5 each

Why I was doing so? Because RIMM is going to report after the close. Albeit it seems it's growing at a good rate, probably investors are already have the 'good news' rooted in the present price. Thus, I can see two scenarios: a) report is meeting expectations and prices comes down a bit or goes up somewhat, b) report misses markets expectations and then the price of RIMM crashes. I expect to get closed out on one of the stops (put at $100 risk) at market open tomorrow and the get a tight (5%) trailing stop on the remaining position. Will, see how this will work out, but I had to start to look at this one as this is the time of the year when it can be learnt.

Cross yer fingers!

Tat tvam asi

Watchlist additions and filtered candidates
None
TTC-A long & MACDV: (nil)
GAPHV: RIMM

Trade session notes
Nikkei...17664.69...-79.07...-0.5%.
Hang Seng...20347.87...+138.16...+0.7%.
DAX...7142.76...+42.85...+0.6%.
FTSE...6418.40...+21.10...+0.3%.
No possible Tuto trade today. Especially, after yesterday's fiascos.

Open positions at market close 9 April 2007
(Nil)

Easter Monday

Watchlist additions filtered trades
Had done it Saturday already.

Trade session notes
Should have a trailing stop on the position, but I was quite not prepared for an Easter Monday trading session to be honest. I was rather after going out in the nice sunny weather and relax. I did some, but apparently I was back on track a bit late. Gosh, my AAPL call was returning from $1.9 thus as it is standing now, I have turned a winner to a looser :(... at least for the time being.
CME and BOT (in order of interest) where on a Tuto Call - counter momentum - play list. CME was looking the nicest, lowest volume fall while reasonable delta (.50) and lower Implied than Historic Volatility.
12:33:43 PM Had launched a market order for 1 CME Apr 550 Call. And naturally get filled at $9.7.
1:07:50 PM Put a hard stop (already trailed) at $10 and a target at $10.7 ($100 up) on the CME Call.
1:21:50 PM Put a trailing stop on AAPL, not to loose another opportunity to exit the position as a winner. Did it for the whole lot (7 contracts). As I will have a strong working day on Tuesday with meetings in the afternoon (when trading starts on the East Coast).
That was it for the day!

Open positions at market close 6 April 2007

.QAADS

AAPL APR 95 Call

$94.68

$1.6

($105.00)

150 days in options trading

General notes
US Markets are not open today.
Had left a nice, week behind me. With a few winning trades. It seems upward I am more confident, then downward. This might have something to do with my Birth Chart and my stellar disposition :)...
Yesterday was the 150th (calendar) day of my options trading career and I have celebrated it with a winning exits on a multi-week long position.

Here's my Dashboard for a Happy Easter!










Watchlist additions

UVV - Universal (tobacco).
TTC-A long: ESRX, UNH
GAPHV: CTRP, LRCX
MACDV: SEIC

Open positions at market close 5 April 2007

.QAADS

AAPL APR 95 Call

$94.68

$1.65

$140.00

Thursday growth

Watchlist additions and filtered trade candidates
No additions to my watchlist.
TTC-A long: ESRX, UNH, WCG
GAPHV: ALB, BNI, CELG, CVH, INFY, FMCN, MER, PCU
MACDV: AL, ANF, AYI, BTU, BUCY, CELG, CRDN, ENR, PCP, TS, TSO

Trade session notes
Nikkei...17491.42...-52.67...-0.3%.
Hang Seng...20209.71...+207.01...+1.0%.
FTSE...6357.30...-7.40...-0.1%.
DAX...7073.17...-0.74...-0.0%.
Flat will be the day, will it not? - was the question that echoed behind my muted lips.

10:22:03 AM A bit late, as I was back late in the office, I made a Tuto Long trade on AAPL (vs GS) as the tech sector was doing better. Albeit volume was a bit higher (still 3% of its average) in AAPL. .QAADS AAPL APR 95 Call 7 contracts at $1.45 (10 seconds earlier I would have got it at $1.4 each that is -$35 for the whole trade or two trade worth roughly @ $14.95 each). Note to self: got to be quicker on these shorter term trades or shall not enter. Right after the 30 min bar print shall be the mark!!!

10:58:11 AM My ACL May calls started to run up quite a bit and I have decided to put a standard tight (5% down, default - bid/last) trailing stop to lock in some profit. We are only two weeks from the time close (1 months before expiry on this type of trades) anyway, thus I do not want this winner turn to a looser.

1:24:03 PM I have seen a bit of divergence on the higher highs but volume getting lower and lower every half an hour on ACL. Thus, I cancelled the trailing stop and sold the 2 contracts at $6.2 . Straight exit, profit taken care of and now I am free to do other important things. Eg. finish my account application job. A minute after me closing the position the volume spiked higher than in the last 30 min bar and the premium edged $.1 higher. But I am still happy that I locked in a good amount of profit.

Open positions at market close 4 April 2007

ACLEG

ACL MAY 135 Call

$133.86

$4

($40.00)

No virtual platform, Wednesday

General notes
Have to finish with my application paperwork with Optionsxpress.com since they closed me off of my - now only virtual - account. I have realized that within 1 or 2 weeks I will go live anyway + I'm totally hooked on the convenience of optionsxpress.com. I will make that 1 day without it, I hope. Later in the day I could access my Optionsxpress.com account again. Thanks, guys!

Watchlist additions and trade candidates filtered
No additions.
TTC-A: ESRX, UNH, WCG.
GAPHV: BWLD.
MACDV: ALB, APH, CVH, POT, QQQQ, RAI.


Trade session notes
Nikkei...17544.09...+300.04...+1.7%.
Hang Seng...20209.71...+207.01...+1.0%.
FTSE...6361.60...-4.50...-0.1%.
DAX...7069.08...+23.52...+0.3%.
I managed to get onto myCBOE where I can trade on the same virtual trading platform that at optionsxpress.com.
10:14:49 AM My SNDK APR 42,5 Call reached (past) my first target and closed out 3 positions at $2,55 each. Then I swiftly put a tight (5% down from $2.6) trailing stop on the two remaining contracts.
11:53:07 AM The two last contract was exited automatically at $2.7 (Trailing stop on .SWQDV down by 5% from $2.9 (GTC). Order sent at 4/4/2007 11:52:19 AM ET with .SWQDV @ $2.75)

Open positions at market close 3 April 2007

.ACLEG

ACL MAY 135 Call

$133.37

2

$4

($40.00)

.SWQDV

SNDK APR 42.5 Call

$43.91

5

$2.05

($25.00)

Tired - but happy - Tuesday

Watchlist additions and filtered trade candidates
No watchlist addition today.
TTC-A, GAPHV: (nil)
MACDV: KCI

Trade session notes
Nikkei...17244.05...+215.64...+1.3%.
Hang Seng...20002.70...+193.00...+1.0%.
FTSE...6347.40...+31.90...+0.5%.
DAX...7001.50...+64.33...+0.9%.
9:48:04 AM Have exited half of my positions in .GPYDB ( contracts) @ $2,75 each and set a 5% down default triggered trailing stop from $2.8. Great, that I could stay in this trade yesterday, after a less than ideal entry timing (a bit late).
10:04:09 AM AS SanDisk was already suspected to bump back from below 2-3 SD BB range, I looked at it after the first 30 min bar was printed. In fact a bit late, as I had other (work) duties in the meantime. Anyway I got five SNDK APR 42.5 Call contracts @ $2.1. Set the hard stop first at $1.9

Open positions at 2 April 2007 market close

.ACLEG

ACL MAY 135 Call

$132.74

2

$4.1

($20.00)

.GPYDB

GS APR 210 Call

$205.65

4

$2.4

$80.00