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Phil - I know I am small change compared to most others members, but I just wanted to let you know that during the last two weeks with the shorts you and others suggested I have 6 winners and 5 losers. My losers were small because I tried to follow your guidelines as best I could. On the other hand my winners on average were around 50%. Consequently, I am up $2000 in 14 days. Thank you for your patience and help. I think I am making progress getting rid of some of my poor trading habits of the past!

- DCalrk41

Personally I admire and respect you disciplined approach to investing. My style is at the extreme side of aggressive and I have to learn how to be less that way. If I yell " Let it Ride" at my house, no one says a word so I can't use that to temper my behavior. Phil has done a pretty good job of knocking some of my potential moves and as a result, I have increased my portfolio value by almost 25% since late July.

- DoubleD

Phil - I caught the interview…. terrific!. Your host recommended that the viewers should " go to your site, as you will be entertained ". That is for sure if you consider entertainment is laughing while you read, learn and make unbelievable leveraged profits that you never thought were possible. That is my kind of entertainment !

- Gel1

Its been a "perfect" month. Every stock I wrote calls against looks like it will be called away next week, every put I wrote will expire worthless. Thanks Phil, now I need some new buy/write candidates, or the new 100K portfolio….

- Barfinger

Greetings Phil, I am an Economist at Harvard and some of my colleagues and I would like to let you know that we follow your posts on SA, and find your analysis refreshing, rigorous, and acute. Great work! Though many of us (including myself) have our work covered in the Wall St Journal, in many ways your macro commentary is more fearless and accurate than what is generally found in that venerable publication. Kind regards, Daniel

- Daniel

Phil Thank you very much, I appreciate your help and wisdom.

- CdsdpDean

WOW, glad I went bearish… Phil, thanks for the help on the QID calls yesterday, I turned it into a partial cover rolling down to the Feb 52s selling the 55s 1/2 covered. Sold 1/2 and now lowered my cost basis to $4.38 on the $52s (fully covered).

- Texasmotion

Phil - I'm with you just little bit longer than a month and you can not imagine how happy I am now, and not just because my P/L improved ( and I'm sure that it will be even better), but I found that the worst thing in trader's carrier is a LONELINESS. Here I found so many bright good guys, I looked for this service for years. THANK YOU AND TAKE GOOD CARE OF YOURSELF BECAUSE I PLAN TO STAY HERE AND RIDE THIS CREASY MARKET WITH YOU FOR ANOTHER 20-30 YEARS

- Tchayipov

Phil- I would like to echo the sentiments of dclark41. Joining this site was the best thing I have ever done to aid my growth as a trader/investor. There are so many smart and experienced people here sharing their ideas that regardless what your investing style is you will learn something daily. Thank you and all the regular contributors for your generosity.

- Acd54

Took profit on QQQ 57 Puts, bot 40 at $0.07, sold 20 for $0.15 and 20 for $0.32. Thank, Phil

- Bobhu

Nice intraday trading calls this week Phil. You have me hooked on trading SPY options analogously to your DIA moves. I paid some tuition the last few weeks but I think I have the hang of it. Don't be greedy and be happy with 0.05 to 0.10 and sometimes you're lucky with much bigger moves. Thanks for the training!

- TmDecay

You guys gotta give it to phil–the voice of reason yesterday, last nite and this morning.

- Corleone

Phil & Ephmen85: I hadn't thought about selling the covered calls. That should be the easiest strategy for me since I'm a beginner. Thanks a bunch!

- JWick1981

I have been with this site since the beginning and i have learned more the past 3 years than the previous 10. Information and great commentary are abound. The traders on the site are second to none and my portfolio has benefited greatly.

- Kustomz

Maya, After years of being pretty good at picking stocks I still managed to lose almost as much as I made.All the reading Phil asked us to do as a new member (And everything else I can get my hands on lately) has revealed my Achilles Heal.Good stock picks do not necessarily make money. My problem was swinging for the fences. Since becoming a member Jan 1 this year and getting into to scaling into small trades I am amazed at the steady profit growth I have experienced already while not worrying about getting killed. And having fun doing it.. Phil, Thanks for the education, the help you give and the chance to learn more and get better. Also thanks to all the members who have answered the few questions I had when your not around.

- Ricpar

GIVE THANKS/PHIL Have not done my 10,000 hours, but a couple of years at PSW, and moved from fishing with a single line to owner of a commercial trawler (metaphorically speaking). Now I fish with many lines. It is amazing when you go over the same information time and time again, eventually it clicks. Like planting trees; being the house, 20% sale items, selling into the excitement. and patience. I just sold an AAPL Jan 12 340/390 BCS financed by the sales of Jan 12 275 Put. The trade was put on one year ago for a net credit and exited five minutes ago for a 49 dollar per contract profit. No point in waiting till opex to see what happens, and I will just sell 10 of those VLO puts to make myself net the round 50. I no longer worry about opex coming as I have adjusted well in time for most positions that go against me. I still make some howlers (RIMM, TBT, TRGT) but I play the percentages and my winners outdistance my losers by many miles. I would never be in this position if it were not for Phil. He is a treasure, pure and simple. The goose that lays the golden egg if we care to listen and practice. Phil, a mighty big thank you.

- Winston

Phil - Another excellent teaching article - when you write like that it blows me away. Thank you! I had the ideas from earlier articles but what I didn't have was enough understanding. The familiarity of ideas through repetition, re-working, revision - over time - the variation, the pulling out of implications - it all contributes to understanding and mostly thats on the student - but a good teacher (worth their weight in gold) makes understanding a pleasure. I wanted to learn about trading options because it makes my brain feel better - fitter, healthier. Actually mostly it makes me happy to think about the trade and trading options. You are a good teacher and I know that or I wouldn't value the subscription the way I do. It pays for itself through the pleasure of understanding alone.

- Redfern1

Newer member here, but just wanted to say thank you too. I've learned so much and I hope you'll be around for a long time helping us learn along the way.

- Where

Phil, I've got to give you props on the ICE spread play. Tremendous call! I jumped in on Friday when you made the recommendation and closed out today. Nice 57% return ($2,300) over a mere 3 trading days! This is why I dig your site!

- Samlawyer

I have been very fortunate over the years as an investor. Last year was on of my best in terms of percentage gains. I have to attribute much of this success to my membership in PSW which gave me the best education available anywhere when it comes to the understanding of option trading , discipline and general trading strategies. I will be forever grateful to Phil and the many "highly skilled" traders that have offered their advice.

- Gel1

Wow, Phil, we pretty much made your levels. Your levels: Dow 7,404, S&P 775, Nas 1,466, NYSE 4,839 and RUT 402 My sceen is showing: Dow 7,404, S&P 777, Nas 1,462, NYSE 4,868 and RUT 404

- Jordan

Gel1…..I've been here 6 months, mostly watching and learning. Lots of smart people on the site and I've learned a lot from Phil and many others. //// Inflan - I have to trump your sentiments regarding the wisdom of the board. I have to thank Phil and the many contruibutors for a 80% profit for 2009. I have learned a lot and am still learning ( even occasionally about political issues - ha! )

- Iflantheman & Gel1

Phil fantastic call on the markets… I owe you BIG…thanks and have a great weekend!

- Kustomz

I am a Registered Nurse, so is my wife. We work hard to take care of seven kids that are the joy of our lives. The cost for a basic membership is ALOT from our our monthly budget of spending and saving…but well worth it! Phil has allowed me to really ramp up the savings we put away for our children's college funds and our retirement.

- David

I picked up one of your recommended Gold plays, the July ABX 30s and sold the Feb 35s, which are now mostly intrinsic value. Is it time to roll these to the March 37.50s, or should I wait this spike out?

- Bill Hoffman

A truly great website with a lot of information for investors. Whether you are a novice, seasoned, or a professional there is a lot to be gained about stock options and options trading from this very informative website.

- ZKatkin

Market manipulation…. One of the things I've gained from this site is the concept of market manipulation. I never thought it was so prevalent, but now I know it is. I actually consider its effect when I make trades. Several days ago, when AAPL was moving toward 220 I sold 210 calls. My reasoning was that they will probably pin this month at 210. They came in big time as the stock moved ever closer to 210. I agree with Phil's comment that one of the things we need to do is find out what they are manipulating, and how, and hitch a ride. They are doing this with several equities. I've actually seen one article describing several equities that were being manipulated to pin at expiration each month, and describing how it was done, and of course Phil has described it well. In some ways it's easier to figure this out than it is a ‘normal' market behavior, and thus easier to make money in certain equities.

- Iflantheman

hil, I hit my targets for the year in my 401K (thanks in no small part to your site), so I cashed out of all positions a couple of weeks ago. Feels good... I'm conservative with this money –looking for 2% per month, which i've been able to do… thx.

- Lunar

Phil, I have the SRS 2011 $7.50 short puts you recommended awhile back. I sold them for $2.20 and now $1.51 (up 31%) although SRS has been down since inception. This was a nice mellow way to play it like you said, thanks.

- Jomptien

Very nice in and out on those USO puts again, easy way to get the subscription covered in just a couple of hours. Thanks again Phil and everyone here contributing to such intelligent and informative discussion! I have wasted countless hours reading "professional newsletters" and message board blather over the years. Have learned a great deal here in a very short time. I have sent out a number of invites to friends and family for stockworld!

- Eyezz

Archive for the ‘Virtual Portfolio Moves’ Category

$100K Hedged Virtual Portfolio Update

by Phil - May 6th, 2009 4:48 am

Well, there was no reason to adjust the virtual portfolio this weekend but now I’m a little concerned (as I went short-term bearish yesterday morning) and it’s a good time to review our positions.

Monday gave us a lot if cushion but that doesn’t mean we have to squander it. Our last review was on the 25th and we had made adjustments on the 21st in member chat, triggering the plays we had decided to wait for the previous weekend. Notice we haven’t really had a down day since so there has been no reason to adjust what has essentially been a bullish set. Yesterday, in comments, I called for covering our UNG play but that’s the only move we’ve had to make in 2 weeks. Sadly, vacation time is over so let’s look over our positions and see where action will be required:

Our original positions were:

500 UYG at $3.48, selling 5 May $3 calls for .72 and 5 May $3 puts for .28, net $2.48/2.74
- UYG now $3.91, May put and call combo now $1.05 = net $2.86 ($190 profit on $1,240 = 15.3%)
  - We are fine being called away on this position
Selling 2 FAS $7.50 puts for .45 naked
- FAS closed at $9.40 so 100% profit of $90
500 C at $3.04, selling May $3 puts and calls for $1.11, net $1.93/2.47
- C now $3.31, We took out the callers for .30 on 4/21 and the May $3 puts are .20 = net $3.11 ($590 profit on $965 = 61.1%)
  - We should close this position, it is above our profit expectations
Selling 2 IYF May $36 puts for $2 naked
- IYF closed at $41.80, May $36 puts $.35 ($330 profit on $400 =82%)
  - Because of the stress tests, I would rather close these out
4/21 Sold 2 IYF May $34 puts for $2.10 naked
- IYF closed at $41.80, May $34 puts $.20 ($380 profit on $420 =90%)
  - Because of the stress tests, I would rather close these out
Selling 2 JPM May $29 puts for $1.95 naked
- JPM closed at $34.77, May $29 puts $.23 ($344 profit on $390 = 88%)
  - Because of the stress tests, I would rather close these out
4/21 Sold 2 JPM $28 puts for

…

Posted in Education, Virtual Portfolio Moves, Virtual Portfolio Review | Join Member's Chat - 1 Comment Here »

PSW Investment Club – July Update

by Phil - July 20th, 2008 9:02 am

June was not a good month.

We were under covered on the way down, got more conservative at the bottom and got blown out this week as our callers went deep in the money.

All of that is manageable but the worst trade of the month came on Friday as Google went down much further than expected and wiped our out callers as well as most of our long position. I decided to play GOOG for the bounce, figuring we’d work into a bear call spread if it kept going down, most of these moves were detailed in Friday’s chat but essentially I built up a spread where I sold the $470s against higher calls and played for the bounce. By 12:19 I had sold 100 $470 calls for about $160,000 and Google was at about $483, the $480s, $490s and $500s were losing money too so the move was, as GOOG bottomed out, to roll the caller to the $460 with a tight stop (in case we went further down) but with tight stops so we could take advantage of the rebound.

That left us with a spread of 300 sold $460s against a similar amount of $480s and $490s and $500s. Google did indeed bounce just after I did the roll and I went to buy them back but OXPS wouldn’t let me! The reason was the computer didn’t count the fact that we were releasing $20 in margin each time we bought back a caller so it wouldn’t put the trade in. That left us in a very dangerous spread with GOOG coming back as the $460s were going to out gain out higher calls by a wide margin. I called support at OXPS but while I was waiting for them GOOG was going up fast on us and it was getting prohibitive to take out the caller so I decided to cover by rolling the $480s down to the $470s.

By the time I had explained the whole thing for the second time to a supervisor on the phone (who said "Oh sure, you should have been able to make that trade"), it was after 2 and our premiums were crushed so all I could do was roll the trade into an Aug $470/Aug $480 BULL call spread where our caller now holds the $300,000 in premium. Our realized loss on this trade was $225K, had…

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Thursday Virtual Portfolio Moves

by Phil - December 29th, 2007 5:33 pm

November 29th, 2007 at 9:41 am | Permalink edit copy

SU – I’m going to DD at $2.50 for a $2.95 basis and get 1/2 back out there and then be patient. XXX

November 29th, 2007 at 9:42 am | Permalink edit copy

Still plenty of buyers out there, this is nothing I want to short into right now but BIDU is looking like a fantastic short up here if GOOG breaks down.

November 29th, 2007 at 9:46 am | Permalink edit copy

SPWR, FSLR going vertical! Also going to be good shorts when oil calms down but for now they are rallying the sector.

SHLD broke below $100, I’ll be buying more when it settles down but this is now a long-term play.

November 29th, 2007 at 9:51 am | Permalink edit copy

Weak stocks that worry me: DELL, YRCW, NYX, LEH, AXP (very nasty turn), TGT, BSC, MER, NKE, HD (how can it keep going down?)…

I like shorting MA off AXP’s move MA $190 puts at $6.25, stop at $5.50, going for $9+ XXX

November 29th, 2007 at 10:05 am | Permalink edit copy

AAPL – any opportunity to do a double roll of your call and your caller up $5 for $1 out of pocket is worth taking. For example, I have the $175 calls, now $10.22 and I sold the $165 calls, now $17.57 and I’m going to roll my caller to the $175s for $7.35 out of my pocket and I will roll myself to the $185s at $4.78 collecting $5.44. This costs me $2 but moves my max collection all the way up to $175 (of course this also means I don’t expect Apple to hold $180). XXX all virtual portfolios!

New home sales much better than expected but not a real number but it should goose the markets until people look at the internals. Supply is still up and sale prices are down but expect a very nice buider rally off the headline and let’s keep an eye on the financials to see if anyone is buying this.

November 29th, 2007 at 10:18 am | Permalink edit copy

Oh sorry, I forgot to mention take the money and run on the GOOG $710s in the $25KP, we still have the $730s but I don’t want to leave them both up.
XXX

November 29th, 2007 at 10:40 am | Permalink edit copy…

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Monday Virtual Portfolio Moves

by Phil - December 17th, 2007 11:25 pm

December 17th, 2007 at 9:35 am | Permalink edit copy

Gloomy – I don’t think there will be a bounce until after the new year at best so yes, rolling down (if cheap) and selling Jan callers (who will lose 1/2 their premium by Jan 2, is a good plan.

LDK – if you are in that butterfly it’s best to take out the caller now and sell yours on mo at the top, the put side will take care of itself. XXX

December 17th, 2007 at 9:39 am | Permalink edit copy

AAPL is just amazing!

Financials geting killed but not C – possible bottom for them. Tech actually doing pretty well on the whole with the usual suspects finding buyers. If Apple and Goog fail then it’s time to short the Nas.

Oil just broke below $90!!

December 17th, 2007 at 9:49 am | Permalink edit copy

LDK – that was a quick turn! Too quick for me to move so I’m stuck at the moment and trying to roll myself ($70s) to the Jan $75s, then I will roll the caller up to the $70s to get some premium and then roll him to Jan ??? at the week’s end. XXX

December 17th, 2007 at 10:07 am | Permalink edit copy

TSO going nuts! Citi is nuts but we’re fine with out Jan $50s and I wouldn’t roll the caller and I won’t pay him .25!

CAT with a gap down.

DNDN giving it all back, we’ll watch them.

HOT at 52-week low, not a good economy sign.

SU heading the wrong way, banking on those rebels over the actual NYMEX action. TBoon owns SU so you can guess who’s paying MENDs bills…

NEM – you should aways roll down if you can get it cheap (and you still believe in your position) it never hurts you if you can do a 35% roll, which would be about $1 on $2.50 and dollar $1.70 on $5 and $3.50 on $10. I wouldn’t be too quick to sell another caller down here as I think this is a great bottom. In fact, lets take a shot on the Mar $47.50s at $4.10 as a holiday crisis insurance play. XXX

December 17th, 2007 at 10:18 am | Permalink edit copy

MA got slapped by the EU on their fees, this is the story we’ve been following all summer and…

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Friday Virtual Portfolio Moves

by Phil - December 14th, 2007 11:28 pm

December 14th, 2007 at 9:39 am | Permalink edit copy

GM $26!

RTP off a cliff, AGAIN!

KO getting bought, CSCO doing well, VLO getting action, XOM holding up, FCEL still going..

POT getting smoked, IBM not good, DRYS a mess, SBUX NEW LOWS…

APPL is the sign that we’re going to hell, although the Dow down 113 is a hint too! Watch 13,400 of course and 1,475 and 2,650 (already gone) to see which way we’re going.

YHOO may hold $24, that will be very telling if they do in this weather.

December 14th, 2007 at 9:41 am | Permalink edit copy

Someone big is buying down here!

Take out Apple callers, I’m willing to stick my neck out on those! XXX

December 14th, 2007 at 9:54 am | Permalink edit copy

BUD – sell only executed in one for some reason. Oh well… I still like them as a superbowl play.

We might get that silly oil rally to short into!

December 14th, 2007 at 10:03 am | Permalink edit copy

DNDN moving like they mean it now!

LOL Kahn, good trade!

FWLT is acting like a lost sheep again but I barely got out even last time and I’m back on the wagon with them.

C – patience. We will buy them on the way up and sell to cover at the top of the channel. If they break $31 they are good to go to near $32 but there are dividend cut worries and we have to wait for all the income dependent investors to clear out.

December 14th, 2007 at 10:07 am | Permalink edit copy

Dollar at 77.25, that’s a squeeze zone for bears!

DELL coming back from the dead. We held up nicely there and now the buying is spreading. We’re being led by energy so let’s watch them for a reversal but let’s also stop out of our callers in accounts where we can day-trade back into them. XXX

December 14th, 2007 at 10:14 am | Permalink edit copy

RTP Apr $420 puts at $47.50, selling the $420 puts for $14.20 ($13 premium) and then rolling to Jan $410 puts ($23.50 premium). If the first part wasn’t so expensive I’d put it in the small virtual portfolios but XXX

December 14th, 2007 at 10:19 am | Permalink edit copy

OK, I think I see a pattern. Someone is buying up stocks they…

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Thursday Virtual Portfolio Moves

by Phil - December 13th, 2007 11:35 pm

December 13th, 2007 at 9:35 am | Permalink edit copy

Things look pretty good so far but I’m not quite ready to buy just yet.

December 13th, 2007 at 9:56 am | Permalink edit copy

XMSR and other adjustments – yes but let’s give the markets some time to find a footing because we don’t want to do multiple moves. Right at the bell yesterday I laid out a move for XMSR that is still valid, that’s the adjustment I want to make as $15 seems much less likely.

FSLR – This stock is officially a joke. It’s like RIMM was and still is and PLAY was last year – just a rumor driven trading vehicle that is manipulated whichever way the retail investors aren’t playing it.

Exchange leaps are valid, we did the RUT last week and we can look for others. A long FXI put may be a good idea right now but I sure wouldn’t sell against it just yet.

JOSB – nice call, take the money and run!

December 13th, 2007 at 10:07 am | Permalink edit copy

Well this confirms that BA seems be done going down here. CAT is doing well too and MCD so it’s a flight to safety stocks but clearly that doesn’t include AXP today as they are down 3%.

Selling is picking up and I do expect 13,300 to hold, which would be good if we test it. Brokers off 2% and energy slowly but surely slipping.

Airlines would be a good buy if oil goes lower.

CELG getting hammered.

MSFT doing well as they do whenever Rein is watching!

Nat gas inventories today but if they don’t get a 130+ BCF draw they will cause a bigger sell-off across the energy sector.

I’m so glad we took out that XMSR caller, if they get back to $15 we have no reason to change the play.

NYSE down 109, Dow down 57, whichever one is catching up to the other is probably the market direction for the day. We are probably going to take a run at even since that was a critical point yesterday but if we fail that things could be sad in the afternoon.

December 13th, 2007 at 10:22 am | Permalink edit copy

COST – absolutely a buy. There was nothing wrong with their numbers other than a slight miss on the top line but they…

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Wednesday Virtual Portfolio Moves

by Phil - December 12th, 2007 7:45 pm

December 12th, 2007 at 9:31 am | Permalink edit copy

I’m not doing anything in general – sometimes you have to take a hit, take a breath and then come up with a rational course of action. Let’s see what levels we get to before buying into this. I’m not sure how much this really helps anything other than giving the bulls an excuse to rally. The CB’s have been giving money out like candy anyway, this is just more of the same but we’re not going to fight the tape.

December 12th, 2007 at 9:49 am | Permalink edit copy

LTP – I’d wait a bit for a real dip. 13,700 is so close to the top of the year’s trading range that you are much more likely to be overpaying than underpaying.

I’m tempted to short here actually but I’ll just be happy if this lunacy calms down here. I’m really getting fed up but S&P 1,505 is nothing to rally about and all I see is a ton of blocks being sold to retail investors who think $40Bn tossed out by the CBs is going to solve something. If they Dow breaks back below 13,600, we can probably short anything we wished we shorted yesterday, like XOM, which is now up over yesterday’s high and very close to it’s 10/29 high of $93.61 (spike to $94.27). At that point, out of prinicpal, I will have to bet the farm on XOM going down!

If you are long, I would suggest exiting with the big boys and just being happy you got out of yesterday’s mess with little damage. Let’s wait for a real breakout before we start “bargain hunting.” If you are short, I would roll up to Jan puts but you have to assume Dec is dead as we only have 8 sessions left.

December 12th, 2007 at 10:09 am | Permalink edit copy

DIA Dec puts – I’m only in Jans but I’m not covering.

NEM – after yesterday you have to ask? Yes, cover! AMGN – yes cover! This Fed thing is just more smoke an mirrors, likely capitulation to Paulson’s pals who got caught with their pants down yesterday and need someone to sell to. Remmbemr in yesterday’s comments I noted that there were NO buyers, that could have been catastrophic if it continued today thus the BS move followed by a hard-core…

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Zero Hedge

The Cost Of The Combined Greek Bailout Just Rose To €320 Billion In Secured Debt, Or 136% Of Greek GDP

February 11th, 2012 11:02 am

Courtesy of ZeroHedge. View original post here.

Submitted by Tyler Durden.

Some of our German readers may be laboring under the impression that following the €110 billion first Greek bailout agreed upon and executed in May 2010, the second Greek bailout would cost a "mere" €130 billion. Alas we have new for you - as of this morning, the formal cost of rescuing Greece for the adjusted adjusted adjusted second time has just risen to €145 billion, €175 billion, a whopping €210 billion, bringing the total explicit cost of all Greek bailout funds to date (and many more in sto...

Chart School

Best Stock Market Indicator Ever: Weekend Update

February 11th, 2012 10:35 am

Courtesy of Doug Short.

The $OEXA200R (the percentage of S&P 100 stocks above their 200 DMA) is a technical indicator available on StockCharts.com that can be used to forecast conservative entry and exit points for the stock market.

The OEXA is used to find the "sweet spot" time period in the market when you have the best chance of making money. See Is This the Best Stock Market Indicator Ever? for a discussion of this technical tool.

The chart below is current through the February 3rd close.

After a major S&P correction, the conditions for safe re-entry into the market are when:

a) $OEXA200R rises above 65%. And two of the following three...

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Phil's Favorites

Violent Protests in Greece; 6 Cabinet Members Resign

February 11th, 2012 3:28 am

Violent Protests in Greece; 6 Cabinet Members Resign; LAOS leader "I Would Rather Starve Than be Under German Jackboot"; Controversy Over Missing Paragraphs

Courtesy of Mish

Imagine you are asked to sign a document but three pages were missing. Further imagine the documents you were asked to sign were written in English but you only speak Greek. Would you sign?

That is exactly the predicament Greek officials were placed in by the Troika. Here is the story sent to me by Demetri Kofinas at Capital Account.

Hello Mish

George Karatzaferis leader of LOAS political party gave a speech today addressing why he refused to sign this latest agreement. In his speech, he said that he a...

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Sabrient

Sabrient Risers - 2/11/2012

February 11th, 2012 12:00 am

Top 5 RisersStockRatingAnalysisICABUYThe projected value for Empresas ICA is still rising quickly even though past earnings have already improved significantly.XBUYThe projected value for US Steel is still rising quickly even though past earnings have already improved significantly.FEICBUYProjected value continues to rise for FEI while long term increases in earnings growth are also becoming more widely expected.ASBCBUYMany analysts are expecting higher than previously expected long term growth from Associated Bancorp, and its near-term earnings outlook is also improving....

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Insider Scoop

Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Friday February 10, 2012

February 10th, 2012 6:20 pm

Courtesy of Benzinga.

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Friday February 10, 2012:

Actuant Acquires Jeyco Pty

The Deal:
Actuant (NYSE: ATU) announced Friday that it has acquired Jeyco Pty Ltd (“Jeyco”). Headquartered near Perth, Australia, Jeyco designs and provides specialized mooring, rigging and towing systems and services to the offshore oil & gas industry in Australia and other international markets. Additionally, its highly engineered products are used in a variety of applications for other markets including cyclone mooring and marine, defense and mining tow systems. Jeyco generates annual revenues of approximately $20 million.

Actuant shares closed at $27.33 Friday, a loss of 0.18% on average volume.

...

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Market Montage

And Still Not a Single 1% Down Day in 2012

February 10th, 2012 4:14 pm

Submitted by Mark Hanna

Courtesy of MarketMontage. View original post here.

A little flurry of buying in the closing 5 minutes tacked on 2 S&P points and took the major indexes off the lows. Only the Russell 2000 finished with a greater than 1% loss (1.4%) as it has been relatively weak versus the senior indexes for the past few sessions. While today was the "worst day of the year" – it was quite a low bar as the previous biggest loss on the S&P 500 was -0.57%.

The S&P 500 held well above the 10 day moving average (didn't even really touch it) and did not even attempt to fill the gap from last Friday's employment report. The teflon market rolls on for now. Specul...

ETF Selector

ETFs Skid On Greece (VGK, EWG, FXE, DIA, SPY)

February 10th, 2012 4:11 pm

Courtesy of John Nyaradi.

Greece was “saved” for less than 24 hours but now major ETFs around the world skid into the weekend on Greek fears

After wangling for a week or more, Greek took their new deal to the European Ministers meeting, only to have it promptly rejected and so as we go into the weekend, major global markets and ETFs have again hit the skids on Greece.

After two years of wangling, the European zone is demanding yet more and deeper cuts for Greece to qualify for the next round of bailout loans that will keep the country from going bankrupt on March 20th.

Major European and United States ETF responded negatively to the new developments:

SPDR Dow Jones Industrial ETF (NYSEARCA:...

All About Trends

Mid-Day Update

February 10th, 2012 1:40 pm

Reminder: David is available to chat with Members, comments are found below each post.

Click here for the full report.

To learn more, sign up for David's free newsletter and receive the free report from All About Trends - "How To Outperform 90% Of Wall Street With Just $500 A Week." Tell David PSW sent you. - Ilene...

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Option Review

True Religion Falls Apart At The Seams After Earnings

February 10th, 2012 1:22 pm

Today’s tickers: TRLG, KR & IGT

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OpTrader

Swing trading portfolio - week of February 6th, 2012

February 6th, 2012 9:02 am

Reminder: OpTrader is available to chat with Members, comments are found below each post.

This post is for all our live virtual trade ideas and daily comments. Please click on "comments" below to follow our live discussion. All of our current trades are listed in the spreadsheet below, with entry price (1/2 in and All in), and exit prices (1/3 out, 2/3 out, and All out).

We also indicate our stop, which is most of the time the "5 day moving average". All trades, unless indicated, are front-month ATM options.

Please feel free to participate in the discussion and ask any questions you might have about this virtual portfolio, by clicking on the "comments" link right below.

To learn more about the swing trading virtual portfolio (strategy, performance, FAQ, etc.), please click here

Optrader

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Stock World Weekly

Stock World Weekly: The Relentless Pursuit of Meaningless Metrics

February 5th, 2012 5:19 am

NEW: Elliott and Ilene are available to chat with Members regarding topics presented in SWW, comments are found below each post.

Here's the latest Stock World Weekly, called "The Relentless Pursuit of Meaningless Metrics."

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IRA Strategy/Income Trader

Weekend Virtual Portfolio Update 1/30/2012

January 30th, 2012 7:22 am

Here is a quick update of past trades and our current position. AA Money No trade this week as we wait for AA to settle. Phil remarked last week that AA seemed overvalued. In the meantime, it looks like we might have to roll our Feb 9 calls. Good thing we sold only 5 of them against our position. Last week P&L - 310.00 We lost ground last week, but we still have 11 months to sell premium! FAS Money Very good week for FAS Money as we benefited from the large amount of premium sold the previous week. We covered most of the shorts in advance of the Fed speech, but sold another set of options on Wednesday after the speech - 2 FAS calls that expired worthless on Friday, 2 FAS put that we are still holding and 2 FAZ put that we bought back for a profit on Friday. A late stick comparable to last week's almost gave us problems at the end of the day though! Last week P&L - $4277.00 IWM Money A decent week in this virtual portfo...

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Pharmboy

Biotech Investing for 2012

January 18th, 2012 1:09 am

Reminder: Pharmboy is available to chat with Members, comments are found below each post.

Finding new and exciting Biotech companies that target novel mechanisms is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Sure there are many companies working on cutting edge science, but investing in those companies to reap the rewards of their work is a very dangerous game. More often than not, companies fail because the mechanism does not pan out, the compound(s) do not have pharmacokinetics (get into the body or last very long in the body), or an adverse event happens that knocks years off a development timeline. In addition, the stock can be manipulated by market makers so investors don't know which way is up. I approach investing in biotechs as a long term prospect. I continue to like our current portfolio of biotech companies (join in chat for many of those plays), and we continually add/subtract shares and sell/buy options on ...

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About Phil:

Philip R. Davis is a founder Phil's Stock World, a stock and options trading site that teaches the art of options trading to newcomers and devises advanced strategies for expert traders...

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