Oh crap.. had to lighten up and stand aside.. bulls are excited again.

Anyway, bulls win this round. Going to stay cautious here. Just another 1% away from top again.

You know, I still don't believe this.. DT always BS first or make small things looks good on surface.

Aiyo... this week market all melt up.

Nothing else to buy here except to sell the lower side options for thing to expire.
Pocket money while wait for bears to get stronger.

Yeah.. that's what I have to do.. Sell the options. 1 more day.. all expire worthless.
Pocket small change. Better than nothing.

Last day.. time to sell sell sell.. Come mon bears.. let's take it back down.

Last weekend. pocket some change after options expired.

I think same pattern this week... still hanging around the top level unless suddenly bad news.
Selling options again to wait and see. Reset back to 5 days to go.

It's mid week.. market still melting up, although we got a small pullback from
yesterday, still slightly higher than Friday.

Dow is weaker than SP500. Nasdaq remains neutral with Zuckerberg testifying.
NFLX fathers after earnings while AAPL remains a golden star (52 weeks high), holding up the market.


Going to continue to sell the downside options here and let it melt off.

Two more days to go..

Another bull week... record closed yesterday. Tomorrow, Powell expected to announce rate cut again. This market is
being pumped up by the Fed. DT not talking much today after record closed yesterday.

Continue to sell the options here.

A new week, new month.. Bulls still strong.. darn.
Selling PUTs options again.

Week #3.. .darn. .bulls got too much money. Dips are being bought again.
Continue to sell more PUTs here till it works.

This post has been edited by danmooncake: Nov 11 2019, 11:39 PM

Don't do it... Thanos will snap fingers turn bulls into bears.

Week #3.. collected the premium again for 3rd week but didn't get any stock assignments.
Going for week #4 next.

US market now is on sugar high...and it is creeping higher and higher.

Looking at SP500, last breakout level was 3000, now at 3120, approx 4% higher.

Supported by monetary ease by Fed of course... since July, 75bps cut in anticipation of slow down and tariff and possible recession, inverted yield curve. Now, those worries seem to be gone but a lot of anticipation that the trade deal will come out good by year end.
52 weeks high on most major indexes..

Yet, this is a much hated rally..

I agree with yok70 strategy. Don't put all in yet but leave enough cash for a pullback buy. It will come.
Leave the rest just continue to ride up with the wave. Can always re-balance portfolio a bit when it gets too high in certain sector.

I think there's a black swan to this 'coz the Hindenburg stock signal is here again.

This post has been edited by danmooncake: Nov 17 2019, 03:16 AM

No problem.

UPRO - 3x of SPY (SP500)
TQQQ - 3x of QQQ (Nasdaq)

Be careful, these are 3x leverage vehicles. So, if the market moves in the other directions and drops fast,
it can exacerbate the downside moves really quick. Playing options with these are like juggling
dynamites.. so I don't hold close to the money or long enough but make sure they're a distance away (price wise) and
time is short enough (3-4 days).

I usually sell Monday or prior Friday.. if they're like 2-3% away, they're likely to expire worthless.
There were only 2-3 assignments for me in Aug and Oct but they were at the price that I was
willing to buy. Own it for a week, the following week, sell the higher price calls.. still can make money.
Bear in mind, I'm NOT recommending anyone the above two ETFs for long term holding. They're just trading vehicles.

The not-so-volatile types: I also trade the normal SPY, QQQ and DIA for long term holding accounts. Those are the ones I will keep much more longer (kinda like buy/hold). Hold the common stocks, sell the upside calls. Keep collecting the premiums. If get taken away, rebuy back or sell the downside strike price on PUT the following week.

Good luck!

This post has been edited by danmooncake: Nov 19 2019, 06:51 AM

Yes.. 1 call or 1 put is 100 shrs equivalent. If you not willing to own it, just make sure you discard them and don't exercise during expiration.

There used to be mini-options (10 shrs) for SPY or DIA but they discontinued that.

100 shrs could also mean a lot of money to put up as collateral especially if you trade high dollar stock like AMZN or GOOG.

Options and leverage ETF are no joke..so don't just buy and forget. Not for novice traders.

It varies from week-to-week. I try to go for 1%-2% per week.
If prices stay the same or goes higher/lower but as long it is out-of-the money (means won't hit that strike price by expiration)
The premium will melt off (goes to zero). You keep that money.

For Options sellers: time is your friend.. the shorter the time, the better.
For Options buyers: time is your enemy but (correct) momentum is your friend.. the more assured momentum direction it is, you can really profit a lot. But if you are wrong, you can lose it all.

Sometimes don't even have to wait till expire because if the market is volatile, it can kick back and the premium can just reverse.
So, better close the trade and keep the money whenever possible and try not to be greedy.

I prefer to be on the seller side because that's what the market makers are doing and it has higher probability of
success and profit than just buying options.

This post has been edited by danmooncake: Nov 21 2019, 12:04 AM

First sign of bears popping in. 3118 high.. they're decided to sell.

Thursday November 21, 2019

SPY 310, UPRO 62
1 more day to go.
If SPY can stay above 308 and UPRO 60 by Friday closing, then can collect full premium again.


One thing to note: Sometimes, if the ^VIX (aka fear index) is low, it is also worth to BUY options as "insurance" against
the long common stocks you already hold. This is when the PUT option price is cheap.
If the bears come attacking, your PUT option price will rise (as hedge) against the common stock you already own.
If the common stock price went below the strike price during expiration, you get to sell it at the strike price, therefore
it is safeguard against when market went against everybody else during the bear raid.

But if bears didn't come, the put option price will decay till zero on expiration.

Yes, it is like an insurance. If no accident till policy expire, then you can't file any claim.

Amazing... week number 3. The bulls still going.
Collected another week of premium.

This market seems to have no fear for now.

Welcome aboard..

Feel free to share your ideas. IMO, there's no right or wrong way as long everyone's can be a winner in this market.

It's week #4, shortern training week. General market continues to edge higher, scoring another record high yesterday
with Fed stating everything in place monetary wise.

IMO, bulls are near complacency here and stocks are at overbought level. It may continue to be at this level
for sometime until all bulls are in, then big money will try to wipe everyone chips off the table.

This post has been edited by danmooncake: Nov 27 2019, 01:23 AM

I like Andrew Yang.. it's a very long shot. Average Americans just don't understand him well enough but his
ideas are the best.

Finally, bears are here this week.Just in time too.
They're waiting for a bad news and Trump said possible delay trade deal until after election (Nov 2020).

I would like to see move down SP500 2900 level over the next few weeks...if possible.