USN_Squid

I stopped out of my oil shorts when they hit 146. Anyone getting rich today that I can vent my frustration on?

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xTYBALTx

Nope.

:[

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Current good song: Justice - Stress

xTYBALTx

Down about $18k today. Which is especially awesome once you realize that I only had $50k invested at the end of trading yesterday! I put the other $50k available into SPY put options, which declined in value 80% today. Buy daddy a new pair 'o shoes!

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Current good song: Justice - Stress

Hambergler

Bought 2000 Bac @ $24.89
Bought 10000 WM @ $5.11
SS -130 USO @ $108.82
SS -330 GOLD @ $52.01

I got banks because everyone needs a place to keep their cash besides thier mattress. And I don't think the big BoA is going anywhere. In the small chance that WM fails, I'm sure BoA will hedge. If all banks tumble our money will be worthless anyway. I bought a day earlier and would have got +25%, but I messed up the trade.

Shorting Oil because the media has begun spooking that crowd. They are looking for an excuse to get out anyway because of guilt.

Shorting Gold because it's tied to oil.

That's about all my cash.

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Sabre_Tooth_Tigger

Brent crude has allready dropped 18 dollars in the last week so you may have missed the bus there.

I think it may just be displaying resistance to the 150 level, ie. it may bounce back even harder. Make sure you put a decent stop loss on it, very spiky :>

I bought into lloyds tsb at 266, its reached 300. The banks are happy for the moment but it wont take much to fall again and maybe worse so we'll see

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WWII German infantry weapons in detail

Hambergler

I bet gas will reach $3 before it reaches $5.

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xTYBALTx

I think my portfauxlio is worth less than the mini Snickers bar I'm eating right now.

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Current good song: Justice - Stress

leejo

I've been shorting COP (Conoco Phillips) and recently added to some COP puts, so yeah I'm making money. Plus several other positions benefit directly when oil goes down.

On the other hand, I'm at the In-Laws and so was on the golf course yesterday when my GOOG calls dropped 70%. I had about $10k in those so it's not the end of the world, but a yet another sharp thwack. My portfauxlio is worth several mini snickers bars, but it's definitely been a hard slog these last several months, no?

I think each of us would benefit from as mini-AAR. First of all, this is not like trading real money. I take MUCH greater risks in this exercise than I do in RL. I don't know about the rest of you on that though, but again, you just don't get the urge to throw up when things go bad, nor the overwhelming hubris that comes when your brilliance and unique insight into the way the world works pays off. I also suspect that most of us are too active: One criticism of dumb money (all of us) is that they trade too often. I don't know what bkelly's portfolio is worth right now but according to my calculations, it would be worth a little more than $110k. I bet it's not worth that much because for a while there things weren't looking for hot for SRS, SDS, and IAU. This week wasn't great for them either. Who knows what next week will look like, or next month?

I read once that one trader, from time to time, sells everything in order to start again with a clear eye not influenced by his current positions. I'm not sure that's always a great idea but it might be interesting to look at your balance and consider what you'd buy with that amount Monday. "Nothing" is a fair answer: sometimes your money is best invested outside the market. I suspect that the correct time to make that decision was last summer and this summer is a terrific time to be buying in, but obviously I don't know.

Sabre_Tooth_Tigger

70% drop, no stop loss?

I think cashing in everything when the market is booming is not a bad idea. Theres no gain made till you actually sell it after all

Antique cars are doing well now apparently, maybe because there is no tax on any profit and with houses and shares are falling these are a kind of commodity & are rising.
I think theres maybe alot of guys kicking back playing with these waiting for better times

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WWII German infantry weapons in detail

Drizzid

Well it's a good thing this isn't real money cause I have floundered with just about every trade I have made. I am a conservative investor and other than the number of shares I have bought when making a purchase I have tried to take a realistic approach to this exercise. So I have attached screenie of my portfolio and it's pretty ugly and shows I have absolutely no idea what the hell I am doing. Right now I am playing the waiting game hoping that some of these positions will turn around so I am not buying much and I don't want to take the "cut my losses" approach due since the market has been so bad in the past couple months so that is where I stand. Wait and hope some of my purchases will turn. I will take any advice that anyone who knows what they are doing might have.

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Sabre_Tooth_Tigger

Principally holding 5 shares is a short term bet I think

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WWII German infantry weapons in detail

Hambergler

It's not that ugly. Your only down 5k. I don't know what I'm doing either but here is what I think. It seems you are buying the most expensive hot stocks instead of bargain shopping.

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USN_Squid

I would short Wachovia if I could find a way to do it with CBOE. Their wholesale mortgage shutdown is imminent.

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Sabre_Tooth_Tigger

Any link/info on that, whats their stock code


You can try shorting HBOS.l if you like 1.35 billion shares are to be sold on the stock market by the under righters of a recent botched rights issue and nobody much wants them? The same thing FNM is talking about I think

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WWII German infantry weapons in detail

USN_Squid

AWO --no press release yet

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