Phil's Stock World, Stock Options Trading & Information

Phil - I celebrate today, having reached my goal for the year, trading in sync with your education and guidance, of 1 million in profit. I learned a lot, achieved much, and am profoundly grateful. To be honest, when I set the goal I thought it was daunting, as I have for many years been an investor in equities but did very little with options. Learning and doing has for me been a blast! I reached my goal by following Phil’s strategies - lots of Buy/Writes, covered calls on equities , naked put entries for income production. I did it with 2.5 mil and kept 600,000 in cash in case I got in trouble. I concentrated on stocks (many of my own choosing) that had decent dividends and wrote front month calls against (OTM) which has worked well in this market run. 25% of my gain is in dividends and premium selling, with the balance in appreciation.

- Gel1, Sep 16, 2009

Phil/Everyone here/Thank you - What everyone here with their insightful comments (including yourself) has helped me with is that I’m greatly increasing my ability to trade more psychologically neutral, although I’ve got a ways to go. Two years ago I’d wake up early and my heart would race if futures weren’t pointing exactly how I wanted… I’ve noticed an exponential leap in my discipline skills especially over this past two weeks. The old me would have ran with that trade for profits without even asking. Now I know that there are ALWAYS more trades and that I have PLENTY of options to turn a bad trade even. Also, it’s more logical and less emotionally draining which lets me focus my faculties on my wife, college, my job, and studying for the ol’ Series 7. Would it be safe to say that one of the most important skills to develop is the ability to adjust? I’d love to get to the point where I can look at a bracket and know, for example, what I need to sell for cover in what month in order to get my desired results. Both COF and my past DMM venture have been excellent learning experiences. Thanks, everyone. I look forward to further lessons.

- Skasiah, Aug 25, 2009

Looking over your main themes last week, the \"China may fall first\" and \"if you missed it previously, Thurs am gives you a second chance to short\" were absolutely on target. I had to rely on stop-losses because of my schedule but just those two calls could have been worth a small fortune. Keep it up and I look forward to your new portfolio.

- Ocelli, Aug 18, 2009

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, Aug 13, 2009

HOTT / Got great trades with it: Enter 6.75 at open, out at 7.18 (avg) at 10:13 Reentered at 7.00 and out all 7.11 few minutes ago- Was a small play but I collected enoght for next month PSW subscription.

- Spider, Jul 9, 2009

WOW, look at DRYS go. Nice call on the entry the other week Phil. I got 200 at $6.66 and sold a 7.5 call for $.50, then on the tear today sold another 7.5 call for $1. This should puts me in at an average of $5.91 and called away at $7.5 for a profit of $300+ after commisions. Once again another Phil trade pays for this months membership.

- Craigzooka, May 29, 2009

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, May 28, 2009

Phil - FAS - I dont know whether to be happier I averaged down and sold calls or that I got myself out of FAZ the other day…thanks for that help

- BCFla, Apr 15, 2009

GLD I took out my callers and rolled down my longs this morning, woo hoo!

- Ephmen85, Mar 18, 2009

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, Feb 27, 2009

Beginner's Guide to Options Trading. Free PDF Guide. Where & when to trade, how to prevent stock or option loss and how to make money!

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Posts Tagged ‘AEP’

AAPL-Bull Buys Call Spread

by Andrew Wilkinson - December 14th, 2009 4:26 pm

Today’s tickers: AAPL, GLD, XLU, AEP, CI, CHK, XEL, OSK, LLL, JAVA & BSX

AAPL - Apple, Inc. – A long-term bullish play on the iPod manufacturer suggests the price of the stock could skyrocket by July 2010. Apple’s shares increased more than 1% during the session to $196.96. It looks like one trader initiated a call spread in the July contract to position for a significant jump in the price of the underlying in the next seven months. The investor purchased 3,000 calls at the July 220 strike for a premium of 13.60 apiece, and sold the same number of calls at the higher July 250 strike for about 6.18 each. The net cost of the bullish play amounts to 7.42 per contract. AAPL’s shares must surge 15.5% from the current price in order to reach the breakeven point on the trade at $227.42. Maximum potential profits of 22.58 per contract are available to the investor if the stock jumps 27% to $250.00 by expiration in July.

GLD - SPDR Gold Trust ETF – A bullish risk reversal on the gold ETF today points to a rebound in gold bullion prices by expiration in February 2010. Shares of the GLD added nearly 1% during the trading day to stand at $110.23. One trader sold 9,650 puts at the February 110 strike for 4.70 each in order to partially finance the purchase of 9,650 calls at the same strike for 4.90 apiece. The net cost of the reversal amounts to just 20 cents per contract. Profits amass on the transaction if shares of the fund rally through the breakeven price of $110.20 by expiration day in February 2010.

XLU - SPDR Utilities Select Sector ETF – Shares of the exchange-traded fund comprised of common stocks of companies from the electric utilities, multi-utilities, independent power producers, energy traders and gas utility industries, increased 0.75% during the trading day to a new 52-week high of $32.08. The fresh high for the fund perhaps inspired the bullish options activity we observed on the XLU today. One investor banked profits on a previously established long call position in the January 2010 contract. The trader originally bought 5,000 calls at the January 29 strike for a premium of 92 cents apiece back on November 6, 2009, when shares were at $28.90. The investor sold the calls today for 2.95 apiece and took in net profits of 2.03 per contract. It seems…

Option Trader Prescribes Bullish Risk Reversal on CVS

by Andrew Wilkinson - November 19th, 2009 5:43 pm

Today’s tickers: CVS, LIZ, ITMN, MA, V, RF, KG, HW, WSM, AEP & NTAP

CVS - CVS Caremark Corp. – Shares of the pharmacy retail chain are up 1.5% to $31.11 perhaps due, in part, to the ‘buy’ rating it received at UBS today. Optimistic options activity took place in the December contract as one investor initiated a bullish risk reversal. It appears the trader sold 4,400 puts at the December 31 strike for an average premium of 94 cents apiece in order to finance the purchase of the same number of calls at the higher December 32 strike for 63 cents each. The investor pockets a 31 cent credit on the trade, which he retains in full as long as shares remain above $31.00 through expiration. Additional profits accumulate if CVS’s shares rally above $32.00.

LIZ - Liz Claiborne, Inc. – A 15,000-lot covered call in the January 2011 contract on Liz Claiborne today suggests shares are likely to recover, albeit at a glacial pace. Shares of the apparel and accessories retailer suffered a 5% decline to $4.55 during the trading session. One investor effectively purchased shares of the underlying stock for $3.30 apiece by selling 15,000 calls at the January 2011 5.0 strike for a premium of 1.25 each. Thus, the trader stands ready to accrue gains of 51% if shares of LIZ appreciate to $5.00 by expiration. The long-term positioning of the covered call play provides several advantages to the investor. One advantage is that the call options do not expire for another 13 months, which leaves ample time for LIZ’s shares to appreciate up to the strike price of $5.00. The 15,000-lot call transaction represents nearly 50% of the total existing open interest on LIZ of 31,502 contracts. Note that shares last traded above $5.00 yesterday at approximately 10:35 am (EDT).

ITMN - InterMune, Inc. – A bull call spread on the biotechnology company today suggests shares could rally significantly by expiration in April 2010. Bullish options activity on the stock belies the more than 3% decline in ITMN’s shares during the session to $10.94. The call spread involved the purchase of 3,750 calls at the April 15 strike for an average premium of 2.25 each, marked against the sale of the same number of calls at the higher April 25 strike for 75 cents apiece. The net cost of the transaction amounts to 1.50 per contract. The optimistic investor is positioned…

Tags: AEP, CVS, HW, ITMN, KG, LIZ, MA, NTAP, RF, V, WSM

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Phil's Favorites

The Threat to Muddle Through

March 20th, 2010 4:56 pm

The Threat to Muddle Through

Courtesy of John Mauldin, at FrontlineThoughts.com

If the Chinese allowed the renminbi to rise, would that make the USA better off? That is the contention of a cabal of critics from Senators to Nobel laureates. Paul Krugman wants to see a 25% tariff on Chinese goods. Today we examine that idea, and look at the real problems that we face. If only it were so easy. The numbers just don't add up. The fault, dear Brutus...

O Canada

But first, and quickly, and in keeping with the spirit of the recent Olympics in Canada, I want to let my Canadian readers know...

Zero Hedge

Armstrong Economics: Entering Phase II of The Debt Crisis

March 20th, 2010 3:48 pm

Introduction by Ilene, with Chopshop's input

You may be wondering why Chopshop is referencing Martin Armstrong's writings, given Marty's extended stay in maximum security prison. Chopshop contends that Martin's cyclic modeling is genius and ought to supersede whatever opinion one has of Armstrong's case.

Armstrong is a gold-to-$5,000 guy. Chopshop agrees that one day gold will likely reach those dollar-denominated "values", but believes that gold will likely digest its 400% gain of the past decade over the next few years before 'going for the gusto.'

Chopshop and Fibozachi have remained steadfast in calling for first targets of 81 and 84 on the US do...

Chart School

Bears Emboldened By Low CBOE Equity Put to Call Ratio

March 20th, 2010 1:56 pm

Bears Emboldened By Low CBOE Equity Put to Call Ratio

Courtesy of Bill Luby at Vix and More

Truthfully, I have not surveyed our ursine friends this morning, so I really have no idea if they are emboldened by the low CBOE equity put to call ratio (CPCE), but they should be.

My preferred way of looking at the equity put to call ratio involves using an exponential 10 day moving average (EMA) as a smoothing factor. The 10 day EMA generates the dotted blue li...

Trading Goddess

Options and My Patience Expire Today

March 19th, 2010 9:29am

Well now we're officially cashed out!

As I always do before options expiration I reviewed our Buy List, which, this quarter, is a list of 37 stocks we've been playing since late December and, sadly, after reviewing 37 of our favorite investments very carefully this week - I could only conclude that cashing them out was the only decision I could be comfortable with this week. Of 66 trades we had on our 37 stocks, 64 are winners with an average return since 2/8 of 28% - since most of the trades were designed to make 40% for the year - it just seems silly not to take the money and run now, on March 19th.

You are not supposed to have 64 out of 66 winners in 6 weeks, you are not supposed to make 3/4 of what you anticipate for the year in 6 weeks - that is NOT how the markets are supposed to work! When the ma...

Oxen Group Trades

The Oxen Report: Five Keys to Fundamental Day Trading

March 19th, 2010 11:05 am

Identifying the Fundamentals

Stocks move under the influence various factors that we can use to identify stocks that are likely to move 3-5% in a single day. Even t...

The Options Report

By Andrew Wilkinson

Best Buy Option Investors Condone Broker Upgrade in Bullish Action

March 19th, 2010 4:41 pm

Today’s tickers: BBY, DNDN, GLD, BAC, AET, BA & NBR

BBY - Best Buy Co., Inc. – Shares of the world’s largest electronics retailer rallied 2% to $41.25 during the trading session after receiving an upgrade to ‘buy’ from ‘neutral’ at Goldman Sachs Group where analysts increased BBY’s target share price to $47.00 from $44.00. Options traders employed a few different bullish tactics to position for continued upward movement in the price of the underlying stock through expiration in April. Plain-vanilla call buyers targeted the April $44 strike to purchase 5,100 calls for an average premium of $0.55 apiece. These investors stand ready to accrue profits if Best Buy’s share price increases 8% from the current value to exceed the effective breakeven point on the calls at $44.55 by expirati...

Insider Zone

Insiders: March to Exit

March 15th, 2010 6:49 pm

By Ilene

Let's take a look at Insider Buying and Selling over the last week or so. These are screen shots from Finviz - the significant buys against a green background first and significant sells against the pink background second. All the buys fit into my screen shot but the sells did not. Click here to see all the sells.

Note that the largest buy in the group, for KITD was at a price of 9.73 (KITD is currently at 11.54). The buy was part of an Equity Offering rather than an open market purchase. Tuzman Kaleil Isaza's (KITD's Chairman and Chief Exec. Officer) history of buys is http://www.insidercow.com/ more from Insider

OpTrader

Swing trading portfolio - week of March 15th 2010

March 15th, 2010 8:55 am

This post is for live trades and daily comments.

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

- Optrader

...

more from OpTrader

March 2010
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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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About Ilene:

Ilene is editor and affiliate program coordinator for PSW. She manages the Favorites backup site (blogroll, archives, more). Contact Ilene to learn about our affiliate and content sharing programs.

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