6/29 Options Action web extra - short dated short calls $FB

excellent web extra tonight by scott nations talking about why you should not sell longer dated short options.. echoing alot of things ive been saying on twitter and this blog for months now. here is the video web extra . scott makes a recommendation about what to do with a viewer Facebook SEP covered call

 "shorter dated options erode much more quickly than longer dated ones"

thats the key i keep mentioning, too many variables on almost a weekly basis now.. EU headline news, earnings, opex's, politics.. for you to sell a covered call for Sep, Oct or longer... too many trade possibilities between now and then. Thats why for my diagonal trades im always selling the front month short calls.. get that max time decay.. the other thing ive noticed is that when i see someone sell a short call months and months away.. is that after a few days / weeks they start to get antsy and want to do something with it, as in trade around it somehow..either buy it back and do something else, or worse they somehow thing selling short calls as a strategy does not work, or blame someone for why they sold that longer dated short call...it works fine if you actually follow it. see my diagonal paper trades here as an example Paper trade model

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6/28 Fast Money Web Extra - $WMT $WTW $SLV $CNX

tonights web extra is a pops and drops featuring WMT WTW SLV CNX, heres the clip web extra



is that the mythical bieberzebra?

6/27 Fast money web extra $NKE

desk talks NKE ahead of earnings. thankfully adami stays out of it.. doc j mentions hes interested on a selloff.. dan is previously short via an options action trade, also scott nations had a long NKE trade from 107... just saying, heres the video NKE clip  . dan mentions options implying 4% move.. ive had NKE on my watch list on and off. premiums have not been good enough whenever i have looked at credit put spreads.. will revisit if it sells off hard

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CLOSING the 6/27 Fast Money Trade of the Day - $RIMM - Dan

3july - obviously this long shot did not pan out and options expired worthless. again id say you dont have to trade everything.  but, he took a shot..low premium.. on to the next trade.

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dan has the trade of the day tonight, here is the clip RIMM clip , is quite specific that this is a lotto type trade but a low premium way to take a shot. i would file this under the "you dont have to trade everything" category.. might pay off big but would rather use that lotto money elsewhere. dan also had mentioned this trade on his website. Dans on-air trades in a google docs spreadsheet

Buy the June weekly 10 calls at .15

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update to the $CMG paper trade model

27 july - the pain continues with this stock, now trading at under 300.. last weeks ratio spread went out at zero. entered an Aug 300/315 ratio spread for 1.80 to start trying to make back some losses.

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20july - stock sure got beat with the ugly stick on friday..as dan nathan said on options action..the stock lost 2billion in market cap on a 17million miss in revenue.. i think the move is overdone, regardless..now there are two options..either sell out the position because you can not take the pain or start the grind of making back the loss.. and to do that i closed the worthless ratio spread and put on next weeks 320/335 ratio spread (buy one 320, sell two 335 calls). i did that for 1.50 debit to get the 15dollar wide spread.. if stock rebounds to pin at 335 next friday, just this ratio spread profits at $1500 and its profit range is about from 320-350.. all the while the LEAP is gaining back... now you could just sell upside short calls going forward but my thesis is that the stock rebounds and i dont want a lone short call capping the rebound. see the position in a google docs spreadsheet

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2JULY - closed out the 410/425 ratio spread and moved it down to the 390/405 ratio spread.. all for zero.. the closer you get to opex the tighter the prices will get and at $15 wide ratio might be rolled to only a $10 wide.. so if you are thinking of adjusting the strikes, do it sooner rather than later

Sell to open the July 390/405 call ratio spread (buy one390, sell two 405s)

this ratio sets up for double upside leverage to 405, profit trails off till 420.. but at 420 your leap as gained.

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27jun - with the stock down 18ish when i looked on what seemed to be a lawsuit about their "natural" chicken, stock got down to 394 and was at 400 when i put this trade on:

Buy the jan2014 300strike call for $143 ($14300)
Buy the July 410/425 call ratio spread for zero (buy one 410, sell two 425's)

historically stocks that selloff big on some lame lawsuit or allegation rebound..MCD comes to mind. also fits the Post-it i have on my monitor "wait for a big down day before buying a Leap".. The ratio spread portion sets you up for a double upside move to 425 and is profitable from 410-440 with max profit at 425. a ratio spread gets near max profit near the opex so you have to plan on holding it to near opex. this trade in the google docs spreadsheet

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6/26 Fast Money Trade of the Day - $APOL

Simon Baker has another trade of the day, talks APOL which had good day today. heres the video clip trade of the day . cant say ive actually seen anyone talk about this stock on my twitter stream and im not interested in this space at all. herb greenberg was all up their ass a few months back.. i get the feeling that simon is not thinking to0 highly of grasso judging by the body language. simon's trades of the day in a google docs spreadsheet .. will check back in a few weeks

Buy 100 shares at 35.81

6/26 Fast Money Web extra $AMZN

good exchange tonight on web extra since guy adami was not on the desk tonight, heres the clip, web extra , its been strong since last earnings but ive been gunshy about getting in with credit put spreads, been waiting this whole time for the gap from earnings to fill. might be waiting for a while seems like

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$FB paper trade update

10aug - last friday i sold the Aug10weekly 23 short calls for .25 when the stock was near $21.50.. those will go out at full profit and reduce the cost basis of the long call LEAPs.. again this model is to show that you have a choice of actions to take instead of just selling the leaps / closing the positions.. why does pete najarian still hold the stock from IPO and its 21ish now ? the intent of buying the LEAPs is you have a long term outlook.. like stephanie link and JCP... so here im trying to lower the cost basis..granted its way underwater. so if you think you have a better trade to deploy the notional capital there is no reason you can not do that too. will look to sell another short call on monday hopefully on green tape.

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28july - stock sure has a been a turd. the weekly short call expiring at full value helps knock down the cost basis of the Leaps, will look at some type of ratio spread soon to start working on making up for the losses.

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26july - earnings today after the close so that means IV for options is huge..weekly ATM is near 230 and pricing in about a $3 move either way.. i dont know which way it will move but for this paper trade model im going to take advantage of the high premiums for earnings , with stock around 27.50, im :
Selling the July27 weekly 30 calls for .70 . if it moves up i will roll the short calls to either the weeky or Aug monthly depending where its at on friday. goal is to start chipping away at the cost basis of the 2014 leaps. still have a ways to go . position in a google docs spreadsheet

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20july - sold the July33calls on 5july for .30..letting those expire at max profit today and will look at selling short calls on monday ideally on an up day with earnings next thursday. now doing the grind of bringing in premium to knock down the cost basis. remember the thesis..that you like Facebook as a long term position. If you are indeed "long term" then look for ways to bring in income while you wait..if your thesis has changed..sell, take your lumps and move on to next one.
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30 jun - stock pulled back since early in the week with the weekly 35short calls expiring at max profit, will resell some upside short calls on first green day. remember the thesis is that you want to hold this position "long term" and bring in some weekly income as stock moves around between now and 2014. its not a day trade.

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26jun - since its now ok to not be overly negative on facebook , ill add a trade into the paper trade model. assuming you have 500shares worth of capital to put to work, or about $15000.

Buy 10 of the Jan2014 20strike calls at $15.70 = $15700debit
Sell 10 of the weekly july29 35 strike calls at .15 = $150 credit

the jan2014 has a delta of about .86 meaning that if stock moves $1 then this leap will move .86cents. With this trade i will use the strategy of trying to bring in weekly income by selling the weekly upside short calls against the Leaps, weekly rolling diagonals.. if it really rallies, no problem, can always sell both legs for profit. this trade in the paper trade model in a google docs spreadsheet


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update to 6/25 Fast Money Trade of the Day - $PCLN - Jim

26jun - jim tweeted a response to question about where his stop was:

jim iuorio ‏@jimiuorio

@CNBCTradeTrackr a settle above 668 il b out..

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25jun - Jim has the trade of the day and its a short of Priceline. heres the video clip PCLN clip . ill use the price shown in the graphic, im sure he shorted higher but he didnt mention price. said next stop is 600.. that fat crayon level is pretty close to the gap fill from few months back, hard to tell on this chart but still 3-4dollar gap.. i just missed getting a DITM leap entry when it hit 600 area few weeks ago.. will relook if it does drop back.. its a fast mover so i hope he has come call or call spreads as hedge. Jims on-air "trade of the day" trades in a google docs spreadsheet

Short 100 shares at $651.65

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6/25 Fast Money Web Extra - $CHK

karen talks about the shenangins with CHK on tonights web extra, pete adds in that it might be getting interesting.. here is the clip web extra . have to agree with pete here, sentiment is getting so lousy for this stock based on what the CEO is doing, if it gets near those lows from few weeks back it might be worth a look at some DITM calls and or like pete said some ratio spreads or short calls against it. will keep an eye on it.

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watching stocks today

heres me watching stocks today. not seeing any setups yet

(give it a few seconds to load)

Selecting Strikes for Diagonal Spreads

some common questions on strike selections for diagonals, there are no hard and fast rules but it evolves into what you are comfortable with and what has worked and what hasnt worked. using AAPL as example

Leap strikes - based mainly on how much cash you have available to put towards this position. having $20k might will give you a wider range of strikes vs having 15k. you also dont have to go all in , you can get 1-2 Leaps now, see how it works for you then add to them as market moves back and forth. You can also select a delta level to target, say 70delta..(as in Leap moves .70 as stock moves $1.00). nothing magical about 70, just an example. you can do either , neither, or both. i like nice round numbers, keeps the math easy in my head.. like the 500 strike is easy to remember vs the 490 or the 510. combining all that together and assuming you have 15k to put to work leads you to the Jan2014 AAPL 500call... 71delta, nice round number, about $142 to buy.

Short strikes - again, depends on you, lots of possibilities,, you can pick a delta level that you want to consistently sell against, like the 25. or you can pick a dollar amount you want to take in for short call premium. you can do weeklies or monthlies, or a combination to work around earnings. such as if you know earnings are before an opex, selling a monthly will not give you much time decay as the IV rise into earnings will offset the time decay, so a series of weekly short calls might be more beneficial. Perhaps there is a resistence level on the chart that you have identified to base your short strikes on. lots of variables, its going to depend on what your thesis is for the market and for the stock both fundamental and technical. for instance, if you think market/stock will pull back, you may sell an at the money short call, or even an in the money short call to get greater protection. on that thought, there is nothing saying you can not put on collars either. at time of this posting, you could sell a no cost put spread collar.. sell the july 585 call, buy the 580/550 put spread for zero..give you lots of hedging there. so long story short, no hard and fast rule, i have used all of the above when selecting the short strikes.

6/22 - 90seconds with Art Cashin

on todays Art Cashin hit he mentions ECB, egypt, pakistan, financials, rating agencies, and the Russel Rebalancing which is happening today.. guy know something about everything seems like, heres the clip Cashin clip

Art Cashin CNBC video -6/21

of all the guys cnbc brings on air i think art cashin gets the most respect, mainly for general market knowledge, not necessarily on stock picking, heres today video todays video . talks china numbers, german numbers, pin action.

$MA call credit spreads expiring at max profit

20july - finally out of Mastercard with the Iron Condor at 395/400 (rolled from previous month) for the puts and the 455/460 for calls expiring at max profit today.. will now watch for what happens with earnings before getting back in.
Sold the july455/460 credit call spreads at .75
expiring today at zero for $750 profit on 10 lot

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21 june - after watching this level all week, have been looking for opportunity to add some credit call spreads to condor up the existing credit put spreads at 395/400 for july.. was looking for stock to have hard time breaking thru 430ish resistence but also
needing decent premium to make it worth my while..since i am already committing buying power to the credit put spreads, no additional buying power is needed to add call spreads if you keep the same size or less than your puts.. would have liked to get at least at the all time high level but premiums were not good enough and wide bid asks on the spreads werent helping. so i came down a bit on the levels and settled on the 455/460

Sold the july455/460 credit call spreads at .75

almost top ticked it but never know if i could have gotten better price with the spreads being that wide. trademonster shows this spread to be at 85% probability of max profit at time of entry. unconfirmed earnings look to be on 2aug

6/20 Fast Money Trade of the Day - $MELI - Tim

good job by Tim on tonights trade of the day, heres the video MELI clip .. he lays out the fundamentals, mentions a stop area.. wish all their "trades" were this clear. tim's Fast Money Trades of the Day in google docs spreadsheet

Buy 100 shares at 70.67

6/20 Fast Money Web Extra - JPM

everyone loves JPM again all of a sudden, just 2 weeks ago it was dog crap.. BK and Karen discuss JPM tonight, thankfully adami stays out of it. here the video the video

Closing the $AAPL credit put spread entry

3july - score one for my gut, with the stock up 16points and some time decay added in, im taking profits on this credit put spread, closing the spread at .14 today for a 75%gain of max profit. stock has had strong last couple days. still have time in July opex to reinitiate this spread if it pulls back because of EU or jobs report.

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another gut trade entry for AAPL today, meaning there was no technical trigger for entering the trade. earnings still unconfirmed but last date from briefing.com was 24th., selecting strikes using probabilities and delta.. have mild support at 550ish so want to stay below that, best level of below 520 is too far away to pay decent enough premium.. trademonster analysis tab shows this spread to be at 88% probability of max profit at time of entry:

Sell the July535/540 credit put spreads at .55

$GLD chart for entry

had a winner last month for gold and am looking at same levels. will get interested in new credit put spreads if GLD gets back near the support line around 150, will set alert at 151 to get it on the radar. will price out spreads then

Naked Put / Calls and Black Swans

seeing some of the traders i follow selling some naked puts and or calls recently so figured id throw my 2cents in the ring.

Selling puts is a valid and profitable strategy when used correctly. its easier to explain by how not to do it, how you can crush your account. i think the biggest mistake is oversizing your position...just making up some numbers here.. lets say AAPL 500 puts are going for $5.00, a cash secured put would require you to set aside $50000 per contract in case you actually got "put the stock" if it closes below 500 on opex. depending on your broker, in a margin account you may not have to put up that much buying power, lets say its only 30% of that..so you might only be required to post $15k of buying power for that put sale. now thats fine, but heres how you get in trouble, if you think of that remaining $35K as free money somehow to be invested elsewhere or worse you sell even more puts , adding 15K per contract of buying power to set aside. if the free 35K is committed elsewhere and AAPL starts dropping you will have to start setting aside more and more buying power, it might come to the point of having to sell other positions or depositing more money. starts turning into a death spiral of sorts.

a common comment is "i only sell puts on stocks im comfortable owning". again thats fine, but the second half of that is to not get shaken out of your position when it moves against you. as in not using stops. if AAPL drops 15bucks in a day then again the next day that put for $5 might now be at $7.50 (paper loss of $2.50).. so your ususal risk managment might say to exit position with a 50% loss...ok sweet, you now have to pay $250 more to close the position..but what happened to the "im comfortable owning this stock" thoughts you had when you entered this trade..you cant just say that if the stock moves up. i would argue that you let it ride to opex, let that time decay work for you, and if necessary get put the stock, then start selling covered calls or ratio spreads to make up any loss...remember you said you are comfortable owning the stock? this is the reason i dont use stops on naked puts or credit put spreads, 90% + of the times i got stopped out, the stock closed above the short strike anyway (meaning if i would have held it would have been a profit at opex). there will always be losers but the winners far exceed them.

My suggestions if you are thinking of selling naked puts:
1. Consider each put sale to be a cash secured put.. do not use margin even if you have the bankroll for it
2. Choose stocks to do this that you are comfortable buying lower if it drops.. and actually mean it, cant have it both ways, like it one day, then not the next.. if you are on the fence, dont do it.
3. Consider earnings dates in the timing of put sales, since the IV rise ahead of earnings will negate any time decay.. i said "consider" not "avoid"

as far as black swans, they dont seem to be as rare as they are made out to be.. it will not be a company specific event that does you in, the black swan event will hit your entire account at some time. so if your thinking your blue chip Philip Morris's will be untouched during a crisis, i wouldnt bet on it.. your entire portfolio will get hit along with the margin you think you had as padding.

6/19 Fast Money Trade of the Day - $AMAT - brian kelly

brian kelly has the trade of the day, video here trade of the day .. making it a solar play on japan demand. its a space that seems dead money at best to me, might get a quick trade but im not interested in stocks that move in a 3-4 point range for the last year. will check back in a few weeks.

Buy 100 shares at 11.18

6/19 Fast Money web extra - steel

tim does a good segment on steel in the web extra, talks X AKS NUE STLD MT . he stays on message since adami is not there tonight, heres the clip web extra

update to the $EOG Paper Trade

20july - impressive rebound.. now 15bucks off the lows and blasting right thru the short covered calls.. so on friday opex day i rolled the short 92.50 call to the Aug 95 call for about .10 debit.. earnings are coming up but no way to avoid that.. short calls are ITM a bit but thats ok since there is some time premium in them too.. stock essentially moves lockstep with oil. couldnt tell you which way its going but with the ITM short calls im positioned for some decent downside protection if stock pulls back either on oil drop or earnings.. start the grind of making back the losses.. good example of how to manage getting whipsawed down and up in same opex cycle. in hindsight it would have worked out perfectly if i stayed put in the short 100calls but rolling down a short call is a good way to bring in a bit more premium if stock is not expected to rebound that quick. see the trade in a google docs spreadsheet

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27 jun - going to sell another upside short call to start working on getting some money back..long oil will be a good trade one day but not yet.
Sell the July2012 92.50 short calls x4 for .90 each = $360 credit

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21 jun - EOG getting crushed today, might have been early on this entry, but thats gonna happen. so with stock down $5+ i will take profits on the July short calls. will not make a move just yet on anything new, could move up $5 just as easy tomorrow

Sell the July2012 100calls x4 for $2.00 each=$800credit
Buy to close today at .40 for $640 profit on this short call

this trade and other in the Paper Trade Portfolio in google docs spreadsheet

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19jun - adding some energy exposure to the paper trade portfolio since everyone is on one side of the boat on oil. assuming you have $10k to commit to this segment of your portfolio:

Buy the Jan2014 85 calls x 4 for $24.00 each=$9600
Sell the July2012 100calls x4 for $2.00 each=$800credit

standard long term diagonal spread again. this trade and others in a google docs spreadsheet .. see what i did there.. with stock at 96ish you could only buy 100shares, but if you buy ITM Leaps you can buy four...and sell four short calls for $800 in monthly income. check back at july opex

Doc J on diagonal spreads in his book

still getting some questions about diagonal spreads as if i invented them. Doc J wrote an options book in 2001.. a bit dated but info is still valid.. In chapter 4 he talks about diagonal spreads, he calls them Time Spreads... so you can read all about it from him.  you can get the book for free via pdf download from the Traders Library link ive posted previously or you can download from my google drive via pdf at How I trade options by Jon Najarian if you do download , please leave me a "comment" below, want to see what type of responses im getting and if its worth my time to keep doing this type of stuff


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Fast Money Trade of the Day - $GOOG -simon

just when i thought i was finished adding tabs to my spreadsheet they pull out simon baker for the trade of the day, here is the video, the video .. i like how he clowns the show by calling out the stupid and overly loud theme music going in background. will add this trade to the spreadsheet, trade of the day spreadsheet then check back in a few weeks. price is pretty steep so id enter via DITM calls.. but then again i dont have clarity on the stock split thats upcoming.. seems to not get talked about anymore so im avoiding this stock till then.

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6/18 Fast money web extra $SBUX $DNKN $SJM $PEET

fast money desk talks coffee futures and SBUX DNKN SJM and PEET.. that is until guy adami has to be the clown. cant they just mute his mike during web extra.. i dont follow any of these but will look at starbucks tomorrow..maybe a diagonal spread there. heres the video web extra

$CF setup

got CF on my watchlist again, working within a range now, cleared the 200 day today, levels im looking at is to keep short strikes for a new credit put spread below the low from few weeks ago. so would be at the 145/150 would be the highest id go for credit put spreads..still watching

6/15 Options Action Web Extra - $FCX

scott answers a viewer question about how to get some money back from a losing FCX position.heres the web extraweb extra, maybe this viewer saw the clip with mike khouw recommending FCX in early may, heres that clip that clip . i like scotts trade idea..i love those ratio spreads, especially if you can get them for free, this one costs just 10cents. as usual, a bit overdramatic about what happens if the stock rebounds and is above the higher strike at opex...technically true but all that he says is IF YOU DO NOTHING. you can just close the ratio spread for a profit on opex friday or you can do nothing and let broker call away your shares like he says. just be aware that the ratio will not see its max profit till the day prior or day of opex so you will have to wait that long to see the gain.

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6/14 Fast Money Trade of the Day - $TOT - tim

tim gets the trade of the day segment on fast money tonight, here is the video the video . makes a good case until the clown show starts. i will had this trade to the tracking spreadsheet

Buy 100 shares at $43.39

update to the $JPM Paper Trade

23july - with JPM green on bad tape and stock at 34.11, im selling the Aug 36 calls for .35 to get the position back into a diagonal spread:
long the Jan2014 25calls
short the aug2012 36calls

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20 July - stock closed down about 30cents since putting on this diagonal spread.. the July 36 calls will expire at max profit.. subtracting that amount from the cost basis brings this position to about a $90 paper loss after one month.. will look to sell an upside call soon to get back into a diagonal spread for Aug.. remember the thesis on diagonals.. that you have a long term bullish outlook, as in you want to hold this position for a while.. so diagonals bring in monthly income and allow for some upside appreciation along the way. this position in a google docs spreadsheet

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14Jun - Assuming you have about $15000 to put to work, which is reasonable for a new trader. not going to regurgitate the fundamentals on JPM since its been getting huge amount of air time on cnbc. consensus seems to be negative on JPM and financials.. everyone on one side of the boat seems like. with stock at 34.10

Buy the Jan2014 25 calls x10
Sell the July2012 36 calls x10
total for about $10.30 per lot. so total $10300 for the 10lot

using the trademonster analyse tab, this diagonal spread is still profitable if stock rallys all the way up to 47 by july opex

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Paper trade portfolio in a google docs spreadsheet

rolling the $aapl short call

been yapping about milking the June 575 short calls ive had on AAPL...now that next weeks options are on the board you have some other choices. here is the thought process i used to decide on next weeks. July opex has 5 weeks in it instead of the usual 4.. Prices as i was thinking this up:

June 575 - $200
next weeks 575 - $800
July 575 - $1850

im going to assume that stock bounces around a range till july opex..could be right could be wrong. so quick math you can see that closing this weeks call and selling next weeks call nets me $600 in credit. if i rolled to July then it would be $1650 credit..but since its 5 weeks till july opex i can possibly roll week to week for $600 which would exceed the $1650 from just the roll to july.. thats the perfect scenario of course if stock stays range bound.. will see how it turns out after a few weeks.. if stock takes off i will probably just roll the weekly to the July for a credit.. win / win

remember with diagonal spreads the movement of the stock (LEAP) is irrelevant since its a jan2014 leap..just focusing on the capturing as much of the premium as possible on the front month/ weekly options.

6/13 Fast Money Trade of the Day - $M - Karen

karen has the trade of the day for M today, heres the video, video , will enter price shown in video into spreadsheet. since karen is not on twitter i will not expect to see an update to this but will keep track anyway.

Buy 100 shares at 35.06

karens Trade of the Day picks in a google docs spreadsheet

6/13 Fast Money Web extra $FB

actually a decent web extra with dan nathan talking about the huge jan2013 put purchases in facebook today as noted by several on my stream, video facebook video . they almost made it all the way thru a web extra without someone acting the clown but seymour chimes in at the end to fill in for adami.

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6/13 - $CF setup for new entry

CF working within a channel last few weeks. will be watching for a test to the low from few weeks ago near 154ish..if that holds will price out some credit put spreads for july.. no good levels to shoot against so will be looking at the deltas. set your alert

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That "free options book" being offered for new account

Broker is offering this book for "free"if you open new account:

you can get the book for free also via a pdf file that i have on my google drive. its not at that traders library link ive shared previously. its a massive book, 1000 pages and 115MB and retails for $50 at amazon. click here -->> Options as a strategic investment . click download button since no preview pops up..maybe because of the huge size. i have not read it yet but downloaded it to 2 computers to browse thru in my leisure time.

What to do with a worthless Ratio Spread $FFIV

in the Paper Trade Portfolio trade for FFIV FFIV trade i have a Leap and a Jun105/110 call ratio spread..the ratio spread is worth essentially zero and you might wonder what to do with it with stock at 101ish. with 2days to go till opex, again..just this ratio profit range is from 105-115.

so right now the ratio spread is worth about zero, the same as it would be on opex if stock stays below 105, so you would not be losing any money by holding. but on the flip side, we have all seen some crazy 1-2 day moves, say the stock rallies 7-8bucks the rest of the week on some good news..EU, stock specific, etc...you go from a worthless ratio to one that is near max profit of $500 per ratio..so you have no downside to just sitting tight and seeing if stock rallies a bit in order to get a profit out of it. you can then put on a new trade on monday, with 5+ weeks till july opex, the pricing will not be significantly different from today to monday if you are looking at doing another ratio spread into earnings for FFIV for july.

gotta hold those ratios all the way to opex day to realize the near max potential profit..dont screw up the strategy by jumping out too soon

Fast Money Trade of the Day $TGT - Josh Brown

12 jun - on tonights fast money trade of the day segment, josh brown lays out a case to buy Target. i generally dont mess with retail stocks. i definately dont like shopping at Target though. here is the video clip with the annoying "Fast Money" music playing thru most of it, video .. i will use the price seen in the video for entry into the spreadsheet. all of Josh Browns Trade of the day trades in a google docs spreadsheet .id like to follow Josh on twitter but just get flooded with tweets during the day

Buy 100 shares TGT at $58.16

on this chart you can see the breakout josh mentioned in the clip... saw several stocks that had false breakouts yesterday with the general reversal.

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6/11 Fast Money Web extra $TGT $KOF

$HD $USG $WMT $TGT $KOF are just some of the names mentioned in tonights web extra. Pete, Murphy, and Tim make some comments and true to form Adami prefers to act the clown. here is the video web extra


this picture is as relevant to the web extra as Adami has been

6/11 Fast Money Trade of the Day $NKE - scott

28 jun - with Nike getting crushed after hours on earnings..fast money just happens to have scott nations on the options desk tonight.. and looky looky, he had a Trade of The Day 2weeks ago on NKE, heres tonights clip of the OptionsAction segment on NKE, NKE clip.. and guess what..no mention of it.. should have been melissa saying "hey scott, you had the trade of the day 2weeks ago and its down 20bucks, are you still in it? since some viewers probably bought on your recommendation".. do i smell a fastfire coming soon? do they even do fast fires anymore? not good for ratings to show losing trades. kind of ironic that an Options Action panelist buys stock instead of doing a defined risk options trade on it..you know..."risk less to make more".. as in walk it like you talk it.

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11june - fast money tonight has the trade of the day being Nike, here is the video the clip . the video i can summarize as: "blah, blah blah, Olympics, blah blah blah, Lebron James, blah blah blah". had NKE on my watchlist for a while but just didnt have the volitility to get decent option premiums so lost interest in it. will use the price shown in video and add to spreadsheet:

Buy 100shares NKE at 107.46 ($10746)

all of scotts on air trades in google docs spreadsheet

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$AAPL credit spreads

20july - stock up about 40bucks since entry, feels like ive had this for months..will expire at max profit today
Sell the July 525/530 credit put spread at .65
expiring today at zero for $650 profit on 10 lot

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11june - what looked good in morning not so good in pm. , not the first nor the last time that will happen. had a break thru the 50day in morning, entered credit put spreads then stock reversed when WWDC started. might add to this spread at some point:

Sell the July 525/530 credit put spread at .65

showed 87%probability of max profit at time of entry. when a bit higher than the strikes i was looking at from setup based on the delta and the premium it was showing.

Make $300 with ITM short call $aapl

heres my situation, still have June575 short calls expiring on friday.. what to do , what to do. current prices:

Stock at 587
June 575 short call $15.50(of that there is still $3.50 in time premium remaining, $350 per contract)
July 575 short call $28.50 ($16.50 of time premium)

at first glance you might worry about that ITM june short call since price of stock is above the price of the call.. but as you know (or as i hope you know)..come friday for opex, that $350 will have decayed away to my benefit (profit). with the EU uncertainty hanging over everything this summer im leaning towards rolling this short call to same strike for July to give me good upside (that $16.50) and having excellant downside protection (the $28.50 if it closes below 575 for july)...the July 575 will decay a bit by friday, but by sitting tight and squeezing out the majority of that $350 time decay for June, you can make $300 per contract.. remember with diagonal spreads..money is made by sitting not trading.

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6/9 $CF chart and setup

9jun - higher probability entry point for a new credit put spread for July would be to wait for a break of the recent highs near 176ish, would still keep credit put spreads at or below the lows put in during may near 152ish... so 145/150 credit put spread would be the highest strikes id go with.

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6/9 chart and setup DNDN

9jun - no change since last weeks setup for DNDN. still would like to see an uptrend first to take out the gap higher before stepping in. no knife catching. wait for it to setup.

more free charts / setups / and trades by following @mark_lexus on twitter
https://twitter.com/Mark_Lexus

6/8 $aapl setup for new entry

not going to be anything terribly original about these levels, but for a new entry using credit put spreads, would be looking for a break of the 50day moving average which is coming down now. right now that 50day level pretty closely lines up with the high from last week, but 50day break would be more meaningfull. breaking would be the trigger...still like the level at/below the 515/520ish support line for credit put spreads


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6/7 Fast Money Trade of the Day - $S - Doc J

7jun - Doc J's turn to have a trade of the day on Sprint , here the clip the clip from last night. doc mentions the unusual activity he spotted.. just realize that he is a day trader so you may be buying the shares hes selling. will enter the price of the stock as shown in the graphics into the my tracking spreadsheet.

Buy 1000shares at $2.74 = $2740

Doc J's On-Air trades as featured on FastMoney trade of the day in google docs spreadsheet

CLOSING the - 6/6 Fast Money Trade of the Day - $X - mike murphy

7/3 - these trades of the day are going to be hard to track since i dont follow alot of the traders so ill just be posting them and not keeping the spreadsheet on them.. but did catch a tweet from mike murphy today that hes taking profits on X so ill close it out at $21.93 --good trade

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6/6 - mike murphy has the Trade of the Day tonight with US Steel , Guy makes a few comments at end of clip also, will enter into the trading spreadsheet using price shown on graphic.

Buy X - 100 shares at $20.03 =$2003


again, this is near 52 week low which is not a shopping list for new entries

Mike Murphy's on-air "Trade of the Day" trades in google docs spreadsheet

6/6 Fast Money "Final Trade" $MON $IP $KMB $BCE $MON

mentioned in tonights "final trade" segment is BCE MON KMB MHP IP , here is the video clip

final trade

6/6 Fast Money Web Extra $HAL

mike murphy talks some Halliburton on tonights web extra

looking at the chart, note the huge volume today, almost at 52week low.. like i have said before.. the 52week low list should not be your shopping list for new entries:

$MA setup for entry / condor

14 jun -  still watching this same level and setup to get into call credit spread to collar up my july credit put spread.


6jun - stock has moved nicely this week, up almost 30points during this week. in hindsight it bounced off the 150day and the support line near 390..these are always easy to see after the fact but have to take a leap of faith or play the percentages WHILE its happening. missed the buyback announcement by rolling my june put credit spreads down and out to july 395/400 by one day. never fails, but was able to roll for zero.
   stock tagged almost perfectly the 50day 2weeks ago, so 50day acting as resistence, will be watching for what happens if stock gets back near 50day again. fails to breakthru, would be good entry for a call credit spread to make my position into iron condor. would look at strikes at/above the all time high..premium is decent since there is plenty of time to july opex. setting alert for 425 to get on radar

CLOSING - $AAPL credit put spread

19jun - with stock up about $25 bucks since entry, i took profits on this trade, closed the 500/505 at .17 cents for about 79% of max profit. plenty of time left till opex to get back into another apple trade. everyone and their cat is saying we are overbought on market so opportunity might be soon.


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5jun - no technical trigger for this entry, just a gut trade. keeping the strikes below that 515/520ish level ive mentioned previously. earnings date unconfirmed, if before opex will likely close this spread prior, depending on where stock is of course

Sell July 500/505 credit put spreads for .80credit

6/5 Fast Money "Trade of the Day" - $MCD - Joe

7jun - Joe made a few comments on twitter reference his MCD trade this morning. appreciate that he acknowledges the price action:

Joe Terranova ‏@terranovajoe

always feel awful when I share a trade w @cnbcfastmoney viewers and it bombs out, thats the biz though

Joe Terranova ‏@terranovajoe

plan on holding my $MCD longs but no doubt it looks like a bad trade right now

Joe Terranova ‏@terranovajoe

$MCD not good news this morning, hurts my position - lousy trade on my part

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5jun - on tonight Fast Money Trade of the Day segment , Joe has MCD . they seem pressed for time so the clip is short, will enter this trade into my spreadsheet and check back in a while to see how it looks. will use the entry price shown in the video chart looks terrible, havent actually looked at this name in a while. oh damn..did i include a picture of your fat kid... cut those carbs you fatty.

Buy 100 shares at 87.08 = $8708

If i was going to commit $8700 to MCD i would instead buy four Jan2014 70strike calls for nearly same price. but thats only if i had too. which i dont.

Joes Trade of the Day On-air trades in a google docs spreadsheet