thank ganesha, i'm back on my mac after a month+ working on the Dell/ MSFT Abacus model 2000. it feels naaaice.
anyway, i straddled LULU today -nice one, gotta love finance jargon. bought the Oct 40 puts (for a buck??) to compliment my Dec 40 calls (up 20%-ish), basically locking it in -hopefully, unless the stock doesn't move at all (in either direction) in a month.
also, i did all kinds of crazy sh-- in my IRA today (as it just funded). i really don't wanna get into all of it, but it feels wildly reckless. . . calls on crox, way out of the money calls on GOOG & BIDU, and puts on CMG, and APPL (all Oct expiration).
i love AAPL too, my favorite, but i like to own puts on AAPL when it runs, and today the puts felt more attractive than the calls, or getting long the common (of which i have limit buy orders). i never hold the AAPL puts for more than a few points, bc i'm mondo bullish on mock t. also, i feel like making money on both directions, that way i don't need to be bullish or bearish, i can be both.
CMG was a random short (put) my mom gave me. oddly, i love Chipolte. weird, i know. did i mention i live w/ my mom. . .
you really should not be listening to anything i say. please, go.
i fully subscribe to Taleb's (The Black Swan) philosophy of overweighting cash and juicing w/ options, although i'm mostly juicing to tell the truth . . .
*and, i am quite aware that all my positions, long and short, can all move against me. . . om namah shivaya!!
life is risk. swaha!!
om ritam namah -yoga teacher training next 4 days, so till then, may the long time sun shine upon you.
-yt
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
cop out
hi there.
i'm really bloated, so here's a cut and paste commentary i slung 2 weeks ago (on Google finance) regarding my rational for buying the LULU calls:
for you maniac fact checkers, here's the original link:
http://finance.google.com/group/google.finance.715923/browse_thread/thread/f5b82b226b08ca18/5c5cac1fe19fb604#5c5cac1fe19fb604
lazy? absolutely yes.
right?? we shall see. . .?? common at all time high. . .
enjoy, or not:
From:
bria...@gmail.com - view profile
Date:
Mon, Sep 10 2007 7:50 pm
Email:
bria...@gmail.com
Rating:
(3 users)
show options
Reply Reply to Author Forward Print Individual Message Remove Report Abuse Find messages by this author
okay guys, just wanted to join the fun here.
i'm an options trader -worked for a major I-bank for the last few years, and am now on my own (my choice;>).
i've got the DEC 40s which are quite illiquid at this point.
also hold the Sept 40s which I just got killed on after hours. . .
so yes, i'm pitching my book, but for the newbie investor, there's not a lot to go on, so here's my take -and please, take it like everything else, w/ a grain of salt and likely worthless, but here goes: yoga is exploding. the comps to UA and Nike are way off, like comping AAPL to HP or DELL. yoga is like what jogging (yagging) was in "Anchorman" in the 70s. it's legit, if you live in a major city, you know this to be true -ask your girlfriend/wife/or both.
i also happen to be a yoga practicioner and teacher, and the classes are packed and literally 70-80% of the women are sporting LULU -they just make the best/ most functional/ stylish gear.
what you've got a here is a combo of early WFMI, CROX and AAPL (a cult- like employee/ customer base + quality product + fad/fashion heat). the overwhelming majority of their biz is in Canada, so figure a quadrupling of N. American stores in the next 2-3 years + Europe = plenty of growth.
for the newbie dipping their toe, even though i'm an option guy, i now believe the best strategy here is to average in, long the common (the regular stock). you still have sooooo much time here -you're early, so pick up a bit at a time. best case, they do something stupid - dilute, mgmt problems. etc. and you get some in the 20s, worst case, we get a rate cut tomorrow and it never sees 30 again. . .
good luck all.
cheers, b
i'm really bloated, so here's a cut and paste commentary i slung 2 weeks ago (on Google finance) regarding my rational for buying the LULU calls:
for you maniac fact checkers, here's the original link:
http://finance.google.com/group/google.finance.715923/browse_thread/thread/f5b82b226b08ca18/5c5cac1fe19fb604#5c5cac1fe19fb604
lazy? absolutely yes.
right?? we shall see. . .?? common at all time high. . .
enjoy, or not:
From:
bria...@gmail.com - view profile
Date:
Mon, Sep 10 2007 7:50 pm
Email:
bria...@gmail.com
Rating:
(3 users)
show options
Reply Reply to Author Forward Print Individual Message Remove Report Abuse Find messages by this author
okay guys, just wanted to join the fun here.
i'm an options trader -worked for a major I-bank for the last few years, and am now on my own (my choice;>).
i've got the DEC 40s which are quite illiquid at this point.
also hold the Sept 40s which I just got killed on after hours. . .
so yes, i'm pitching my book, but for the newbie investor, there's not a lot to go on, so here's my take -and please, take it like everything else, w/ a grain of salt and likely worthless, but here goes: yoga is exploding. the comps to UA and Nike are way off, like comping AAPL to HP or DELL. yoga is like what jogging (yagging) was in "Anchorman" in the 70s. it's legit, if you live in a major city, you know this to be true -ask your girlfriend/wife/or both.
i also happen to be a yoga practicioner and teacher, and the classes are packed and literally 70-80% of the women are sporting LULU -they just make the best/ most functional/ stylish gear.
what you've got a here is a combo of early WFMI, CROX and AAPL (a cult- like employee/ customer base + quality product + fad/fashion heat). the overwhelming majority of their biz is in Canada, so figure a quadrupling of N. American stores in the next 2-3 years + Europe = plenty of growth.
for the newbie dipping their toe, even though i'm an option guy, i now believe the best strategy here is to average in, long the common (the regular stock). you still have sooooo much time here -you're early, so pick up a bit at a time. best case, they do something stupid - dilute, mgmt problems. etc. and you get some in the 20s, worst case, we get a rate cut tomorrow and it never sees 30 again. . .
good luck all.
cheers, b
Monday, September 24, 2007
Global Mala
om namah shivaya! global mala '07 was amazing www.globalmala.org. saul, shiva, govindas, gurmukh (do it!) and donna delory!! donna delory is a true goddess -completely blew my mind and i would marry her today. donna. . .? jai ma! jai ma! jai ma durga. . .!! the LA yoga community is off the charts and i am grateful, constantly humbled and amazed that i get to hang around with these great yogis. namaste, thankyou, thankyou, thankyou!!
okay, so back to bizness, i sold the AAPL Oct 150s today for a nice gain (in at 3.3, out at 5.3). i could give you all the ex-post-facto analysis, but the truth is i took a 3 hour nap, woke up 19 minutes to close, heard some bad stuff (bernstein, housing) and quite frankly needed the money, so took profits. i've extracted 130% of my initial cost basis and still hold my Dec LULUs so i'm up 80% in 5 weeks (and one day), and am now completely playing w/ the houses money. om namah lakshmi!
part of the yogatrader philosophy is that we trade so we can have experiences (trips, education) and give stuff away (to friends, to charity), not to accumulate all kinds of stuff, or build this giant portfolio. in yoga, we always talk about setting the intention, not in a super goal-oriented way, but in a humble, more, "how can i best be of service" type of way. don't worry, i'm not gonna get all preachy here, but most traders (that have been in the game a helluva lot longer than me) would likely agree, that humbleness and clear intention are important attributes of a successful trader. Google "Ed Sekoyta -Market Wizard", for more of that great Trader shakti!
okay friends, it's good to be back. this week, i'm gonna start moving toward a more palatable style of writing, more user-friendly, more analytical and linkable, less directly personal, but i wanted to have these first few entries on record so that you may get a bit of sense of where i'm coming from and who i am. thanks for your indulgence.
humbly yours,
yt
okay, so back to bizness, i sold the AAPL Oct 150s today for a nice gain (in at 3.3, out at 5.3). i could give you all the ex-post-facto analysis, but the truth is i took a 3 hour nap, woke up 19 minutes to close, heard some bad stuff (bernstein, housing) and quite frankly needed the money, so took profits. i've extracted 130% of my initial cost basis and still hold my Dec LULUs so i'm up 80% in 5 weeks (and one day), and am now completely playing w/ the houses money. om namah lakshmi!
part of the yogatrader philosophy is that we trade so we can have experiences (trips, education) and give stuff away (to friends, to charity), not to accumulate all kinds of stuff, or build this giant portfolio. in yoga, we always talk about setting the intention, not in a super goal-oriented way, but in a humble, more, "how can i best be of service" type of way. don't worry, i'm not gonna get all preachy here, but most traders (that have been in the game a helluva lot longer than me) would likely agree, that humbleness and clear intention are important attributes of a successful trader. Google "Ed Sekoyta -Market Wizard", for more of that great Trader shakti!
okay friends, it's good to be back. this week, i'm gonna start moving toward a more palatable style of writing, more user-friendly, more analytical and linkable, less directly personal, but i wanted to have these first few entries on record so that you may get a bit of sense of where i'm coming from and who i am. thanks for your indulgence.
humbly yours,
yt
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Thai Massage
LULU cooked today and I got lucky. Those Sept 40s that were $5+ OUT of the money yesterday and worth ZERO $, and expired in 2 days, I got 50 cents for them this afternoon, and broke even (on that trade). Buzzer beater.
Yogatrader believes in luck = Lakshmi, Goddess of Abundance. Anyone who believes trading is all MBA math, bell-curves and quant models. . . well, you're in good company -LTCM, BS Enhanced Credit, GS Global Alpha, Quant this, Quant that, et. al. Blow up city.
The ancient yogis understood rational models are not so hot in describing real stuff. Human behavior = Market behavior and both are impossible to model. Fat tails predominate in Eastern philosophy.
The yogis were the first Chaos theorists/ Quantum theorists. With that segue, here are some great books on trading:
The Black Swan -Taleb
The Bhagavad Gita -Ganesha??
The Misbehavior of Markets -Mandelbrot
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind -Suzuki
The Alchemy of Finance -Soros
The Yoga Sutras -Patanjali
When Genius Failed -??
The Art of Happiness - The Dalai Lama
The Elegant Universe -Greene
That's a start to give you an idea of where we're coming from. That's it for tonight. Oh yeah, my positions: just put a low ball bid on the ICE Oct 150s, have ridiculous sell limit orders on my remaining AAPL and LULU Calls. Doing another teacher training Thur-Sun so away from the Internets/ email/ trading/ time wasting/ blogging for 4 days. Heaven.
Oh yeah, got a Thai massage today -highly recommend it.
Namaste,
humbly yours,
yt
Yogatrader believes in luck = Lakshmi, Goddess of Abundance. Anyone who believes trading is all MBA math, bell-curves and quant models. . . well, you're in good company -LTCM, BS Enhanced Credit, GS Global Alpha, Quant this, Quant that, et. al. Blow up city.
The ancient yogis understood rational models are not so hot in describing real stuff. Human behavior = Market behavior and both are impossible to model. Fat tails predominate in Eastern philosophy.
The yogis were the first Chaos theorists/ Quantum theorists. With that segue, here are some great books on trading:
The Black Swan -Taleb
The Bhagavad Gita -Ganesha??
The Misbehavior of Markets -Mandelbrot
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind -Suzuki
The Alchemy of Finance -Soros
The Yoga Sutras -Patanjali
When Genius Failed -??
The Art of Happiness - The Dalai Lama
The Elegant Universe -Greene
That's a start to give you an idea of where we're coming from. That's it for tonight. Oh yeah, my positions: just put a low ball bid on the ICE Oct 150s, have ridiculous sell limit orders on my remaining AAPL and LULU Calls. Doing another teacher training Thur-Sun so away from the Internets/ email/ trading/ time wasting/ blogging for 4 days. Heaven.
Oh yeah, got a Thai massage today -highly recommend it.
Namaste,
humbly yours,
yt
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
post 1: Dow 330+
An auspicious day to start posting, no doubt -Bernanke the Tanke does the right thing, the Market rips, and here we are.
So first off, thanks for dropping by. My long story short is: 1) I'm really, really into yoga -in teacher training and all that, like Ogden http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFsEgwpLRTc
2) I'm also an MBA, worked on Wall Street slinging stock for the Mothership, quit that gig in August, and am now trading options for myself until I run out of dough.
My opinions are worthless.
Okay, glad that's over. So where are we? Right, big day. Here's my positions and recent history. I own the AAPL Oct 150s and the LULU Dec 40s as well as the LULU Sept 40s (now priced at 0). That's it. No, I don't believe in diversification. I'm 32 years old and just moved in w/ my Mom. I have no risk in my life.
Since, I started in early August, I've pulled out 80% of my initial capital to help pay for 4 yoga teacher trainings and a trip to India, so I'm playing (mostly) w/ the houses money. My big trade was buying the AAPL Sept 135s for $2 when the stock was at 120-ish and selling them for $7.3. I also bought AAPL puts (a strangle) when the common ran to 145 and sold those the next day for a double (a bit early).
It's been downhill ever since. I was up 80%+ in 3 weeks and am now up just under 30%. Still, not bad, and I still like my positions. Although, today was not that good for me even though the common (AAPL and LULU) did well -near term expirations sucking up the volume. Any who, I realize this option-speak may be a bit esoteric, so my apologies, I'll get to some juicier "yogatrader" stuff soon.
But just wanted to get this rolling and get my positions on record. Thanks so much for coming by!
Namaste,
yt
So first off, thanks for dropping by. My long story short is: 1) I'm really, really into yoga -in teacher training and all that, like Ogden http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFsEgwpLRTc
2) I'm also an MBA, worked on Wall Street slinging stock for the Mothership, quit that gig in August, and am now trading options for myself until I run out of dough.
My opinions are worthless.
Okay, glad that's over. So where are we? Right, big day. Here's my positions and recent history. I own the AAPL Oct 150s and the LULU Dec 40s as well as the LULU Sept 40s (now priced at 0). That's it. No, I don't believe in diversification. I'm 32 years old and just moved in w/ my Mom. I have no risk in my life.
Since, I started in early August, I've pulled out 80% of my initial capital to help pay for 4 yoga teacher trainings and a trip to India, so I'm playing (mostly) w/ the houses money. My big trade was buying the AAPL Sept 135s for $2 when the stock was at 120-ish and selling them for $7.3. I also bought AAPL puts (a strangle) when the common ran to 145 and sold those the next day for a double (a bit early).
It's been downhill ever since. I was up 80%+ in 3 weeks and am now up just under 30%. Still, not bad, and I still like my positions. Although, today was not that good for me even though the common (AAPL and LULU) did well -near term expirations sucking up the volume. Any who, I realize this option-speak may be a bit esoteric, so my apologies, I'll get to some juicier "yogatrader" stuff soon.
But just wanted to get this rolling and get my positions on record. Thanks so much for coming by!
Namaste,
yt
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
