Stocks To Watch For The Week Of: 02-02-09

HOLX, HUM, PJC, ROK, SNDK, TSRA, ACE, ADS, ADP, AVP, CTX, CME, COCO, CMI, DHI, ERTS, EMR, ETR, ILMN, MAN, MRO, MRK, MOT, NETL, PNC, RVBD, COL, DOW, PTRY, TZOO, TRMB, YUM, AKAM, CSCO, CLX, EXBD, HAR, HRS, LFUS, PRU, PHM, SLAB, SUN, VARI, V, UHAL, BEBE, CI, EXP, EOG, ESE, ESLR, FLIR, HIG, HWAY, ITWO, K, MA, MCRS, MFLX, NCR, PMTI, RSTI and BIIB.

FYI, all ticker symbols in bold / red are my special focus list. Enjoy trading!

Today's Moves: SPWRA and AMZN

These are two stocks that I follow daily and I knew some quick call moves were prudent trades at the opening as shown below:

AMZN - the CALLS side:
Filled Buy to Open 73 +ZQNBM Limit 0.59 09:30:45 01/30/09
Filled Sell to Close 73 +ZQNBM Limit 0.82 09:37:48 01/30/09 (less than 8 minutes!)

AMZN - the PUTS side - AMZN hit its peak (technically) intra-day and at that point it was time for another super quick trade on the PUTS side as shown below:

Filled Buy to Open 5 +ZQNNL Limit 3.65 09:52:03 01/30/09
Filled Sell to Close 5 +ZQNNL Limit 4.10 10:02:33 01/30/09 (less than 11 minutes!)

SPWRA -
Filled Buy to Open 16 +QSUBH Limit 0.80 09:32:36 01/30/09
Filled Sell to Close 16 +QSUBH Limit 1.15 09:49:12 01/30/09 (less than 18 minutes!)

SPWRA - this stock beat earnings today and signed a couple of new contracts; however, the stock moved down quickly after I sold the above 16 calls and it hit a support level intra-day. So it was time to buy another 5 calls of the same contract based on technical signals as shown below:

Filled Buy to Open 5 +QSUBH Limit 0.65 10:23:40 01/30/09
Filled Sell to Close 5 +QSUBH Limit 0.95 11:56:33 01/30/09 (obviously this move took more than 1 hour; however, I make this kind of small moves to confirm my technical analysis theories and in both cases {see PUTS move above} they worked).

***DO NOT TRADE / DO THIS WITHOUT PROPER TRAINING!***

Enjoy trading and continue to have lots of fun!

SYK - This Was One Of The Stocks For The Week Of: 01-26-09

SYK - These 30 calls were purchased one day before earnings on 01-27-09 in anticipation of an upward movement based on technical signals and past stock performance:

Filled Buy to Open 30 +SYKBI Limit 0.40 15:47:44 01/27/09

On 01-28-09, I added another 10 contracts to my orginal position at .55 per contract as shown below:

Filled Buy to Open 10 +SYKBI Limit 0.55 09:31:06 01/28/09

Sold the entire position on 01-28-09 as shown below:

Filled Sell to Close 40 +SYKBI Limit 0.75 15:12:16 01/28/09

What a beautiful move! Enjoy trading!

ZMH - This Was One Of The Stocks On The List Below:

This was basically a strangle on ZMH purchased on 01-28-09 in anticipation of earnings:


Filled Buy to Open 10 +ZMHBI Limit 1.10 15:43:59 01/28/09 (this is worthless today)
Filled Buy to Open 10 +ZMHNH Limit 1.00 15:38:29 01/28/09 (this was sold at 3.60 as show below):
Filled Sell to Close 10 +ZMHNH Limit 3.60 10:24:02 01/29/09

Another quick move on ZMH - just to make additional cash based on technical signals:

Filled Sell to Close 33 +ZMHNG Limit 1.05 10:16:18 01/29/09
Filled Buy to Open 33 +ZMHNG Limit 0.86 09:34:12 01/29/09

Enjoy trading!

Stocks To Watch For Quick Trades On 01-28-09:

OTEX, TSCO, CHTT, ZMH, SYK and ISRG.

Enjoy trading!

**Remember the "FAR principle" - the underlying stock must move Fast (a quick move), Aggressively (a large move), and in the Right direction**

Putting My Money Where My Mouth Is: ISRG

01-28-09 (4:45PM) - POSITION CLOSED as shown below:

Filled Sell to Close 25 +AXQBD Limit 0.90 14:36:01 01/28/09

Rationale: ISRG intra-day technical signals reached their peak today so I sold the remaining 25 calls at .90 / contract. Then, I purchased and sold some puts for a super quick trade as follows:

Filled Buy to Open 4 +AXQNA Limit 4.70 14:43:14 01/28/09

Filled Sell to Close 4 +AXQNA Limit 5.50 15:36:39 01/28/09

****************Enjoy trading and continue to have fun!*******************


01-28-09 (12:35 PM) - as expected (explained below) regarding the low volume theory, ISRG went red today so shaving off some of this position was a good move. However, it did find support at 100.30 USD and I will hold the remaining 25 calls (cautiously) for a few more days...

01-28-09 - FYI, I took some profits on this position yesterday as shown below:

Filled Sell to Close 41 +AXQBD Limit 0.65 15:02:10 01/27/09

I just did not like how ISRG went up without its average 10-day technical moving average (volume) - remember that we need volume to support upward movements...


This is just a follow up to my post on 01-24-09 regarding the technical signals on the three major averages and ISRG. I am just "putting my money where my mouth is" to prove my theory and just wanted to disclose the following position:

Symbol Qty Bid Ask Mkt Val Maint Req Cost Gain($) Gain(%)
+AXQBD 66 0.65 0.75 4,290.00 0.00 3,560.00 730.00 20.51%

Wall Street folks get paid big money for this - they are called "Analysts" and again, get paid big money to "advise" their clients. For me, this is my hobby and I love it - specially when I am making money with my hobby and passion... And on my blog you get this completely FREE!

One more for "Joe, the option trader"... Enjoy trading and have fun!

Stocks To Watch For The Week Of 01-26-09:

This week basically marks the end of earnings season with the following stocks:

AMGN, CAT, ETN, HAL, MCD, NFLX, STLD, TXN, BBOX, CRS, CHKP, GILD, NUE, PLT, SYK, YHOO, CAI, CTXS, FORM, LM, QCOM, SAP, SBUX, TSCO, WLP, MMM, AMZN, BDK, BRCM, CELG, CHTT, DRIV, HP, OXY, SPWRA / B, VAR, VSEA, ZMH, CVX, XOM, IDXX, SPG and WL.

The following stocks is a list of stocks that are currently moving very nicely for option traders:

ISRG, POT, FSYS, MON, AGU, MOS, GS, BIDU, FSLR, AAPL, GOOG, CME, OIH, USO, C, MS, ESI, APOL, SPWRA / B, PNC, STT and STRA. Their respective swings create nice CALL / PUT plays.

Happy Monday and enjoy trading!

Follow Up On My 01-23-09 Post About The Dow:

Again, let's continue to watch the DOW as it continues to find some kind of support around the 7900 level. My only concern is that it did break through the 01-20-09 and 01-22-09 supports down to 7909; however, it did come back with decent volume.

This is more common sense than anything else. All three major indexes (DOW, S&P and NASDAQ) appear to be getting ready for a run to between 8500 and 9000. Let's get ready for it!

I am personally watching ISRG as it is currently exhibiting a chart similar to the major indexes with a very nice / strong support at 85.00USD - last Friday, it touched 87.14USD and rebounded nicely and closed green from a technical perspective as it opened at 87.99USD and closed at 93.29USD.

Day's Range 01-23-09: 7909.03 - 8152.59
52wk Range: 7,392.27 - 13,191.50

Enjoy trading and have lots of fun!

Let's Keep An Eye On The Dow Today, 01-23-09:

The Dow has bounced back a couple of times after hitting 7957 on 01-22-09 and 7949 on 01-20-09 - if we break through these two critical support points with volume and stay down; then, we may re-test 7300 again...

Day's Range 01-22-09: 7957.14 - 8224.83
52wk Range: 7,392.27 - 13,191.50

Enjoy trading!

STT - This Is What Happens When You Freak Out...

I purchased 52 calls of STT (strike 25.00 FEB) again on 01-21-09 since I still considered the stock to be oversold / undervalued compared to its peer group - see calls below:

Filled Buy to Open 52 +STTBU Limit 0.75 09:33:22 01/21/09

Today, STT opened red and these calls were purchased at .60 per contract - the technical signals were a little "undefined" this morning, MSFT came out with very bad earnings news and the housing report sent the futures seriously down before the opening. So, I simply got emotional, forgot about my original theory based on valuation and dropped the entire position this morning at .85 per contract as shown below:

Filled Sell to Close 52 +STTBU Limit 0.85 09:38:20 01/22/09

Well, today's high for this call was 2.20 per contract as STT reached a high of 21.95. Just wanted to share this with everyone to be used as a learning experience: Do not get emotional and stick to your theories! Luckily, this was not a loss but be careful about your emotions in this business... Enjoy trading!

STT - What A Beautiful Opportunity!

It was almost impossible for STT to stay down below 17.00USD today - so it was time to buy some calls right at the opening for a quick trade:

Filled Sell to Close 10 +STTBU Limit 1.50 10:41:55 01/20/09

Filled Buy to Open 10 +STTBU Limit 0.70 09:31:45 01/20/09

Since the news was so bad, I kept the trade very small. Enjoy trading!

POT - Just Wanted To Disclose This Small Position:

FYI, this turned out to be a losing trade / position for me as I allowed my emotions to take charge. Basically, I knew that all I needed was for POT to reach at least 90.00USD and I would be able to get out of this position at .40 per contract. However, on 02-05-09 when POT started to make a move to 90.00USD, I dropped the position at .05 per contract as shown below:

Filled Sell to Close 18 +PYPBA Limit 0.05 09:37:03 02/05/09

What went wrong here? I had held the position for too long and I was afraid that I would have to just let the position expire (since there was no bid for a while on these calls). So when I saw the first opportunity to sell, I panicked and sold without paying attention to volume and the technical signals for that day. Well, needless to say these calls went as high as 1.45 per contract when the stock reached 95.46USD on 02-09-09. Lesson learned - emotions do not belong in this game!


01-21-09: The BID / ASK for this call (PYPBA) is .15/.20 - obviously, I will not add anymore to this position as it is just too far from POT stock price. I will have to fix this trade after POT reports earnings - if the stock happens to run between now and tomorrow; then, I may sell the entire position at .40 per contract. Fixing this trade will require a trade closer to the stock price after the expected movement based on their earnings report.

Added to this position today, 01-20-09 - see below:

Filled Buy to Open 12 +PYPBA Limit 0.30 09:44:57 01/20/09 - just trying to average down the cost of my original trade below:

Filled Buy to Open 6 +PYPBA Limit 0.55 15:56:42 01/16/09

It appears as the DOW may have found a small support right below the 8000 mark and we may see a little rally next week - we'll see what happens. I am not in the business of predicting the markets that is why this call play is very small in anticipation of another small rally on POT before reporting earnings on 01-22-09.

Enjoy trading!

Stocks To Watch For The Week Of 01-19-09:

This week should be fun and will provide a lot of opportunities with stocks such as: IBM, AAPL, GOOG, ISRG, ESI, POT SYNA and SLB. These are the stocks that I have personally selected to make my call / put plays.

The entire list for this week is: CREE, CSX, FAST, IBM, PETS, STT, ADTN, DOX, AAPL, COH, EBAY, FFIV, NE, UTX, UAUA, EXC, EZPW, GOOG, ISRG, ESI, KELYA, MSCC, MSFT, POT, SCSC, WV, SYNA, UNP, VOL, GE, HOG & SLB.

PS. This week will be extra special as I will be celebrating my birthday all week (01-18-1969) - yes! 40's are the new 20's!

Enjoy trading and have fun!

ISRG - Another Quick Technical Move With Puts:

This move was based on technical analysis with puts on a green / up day, NICE!

Filled Sell to Close 30 +AXQMT Limit 1.05 10:11:34 01/16/09
Filled Buy to Open 30 +AXQMT Limit 0.65 09:38:40 01/16/09

Again, technical analysis = profits! Enjoy trading!

AAPL - A Small Technical Move With Calls...

AAPL is one of the stocks that I follow daily and every time this baby opens down huge like yesterday, 01-15-09, historically, it always recovers - so it was time to buy a few calls:

Filled Buy to Open 40 +QAAAQ Limit 0.25 09:30:12 01/15/09
Filled Sell to Close 40 +QAAAQ Limit 0.51 13:52:54 01/15/09

Enjoy trading!

One More Stock For This Week, PKX:

This baby moved about 16.00USD in October of '08 on earnings - it reports earnings tonight...

Enjoy trading!

Fixing A Greedy Trade:

Again, do not get greedy, just take your profits and wait for the next opportunity...


Filled Sell to Close 33 +OAQAQ Limit 0.90 10:12:09 01/14/09

Filled Buy to Open 14 +OAQAQ Limit 0.35 09:32:46 01/14/09 ++On 01-14-09, I had to fix this "bad, greedy trade" by adding to the position, averaging down the cost of the original trade at 1.10 per contract and then dumping the entire position at .90 per contract - I was only able to do this because the stock pulled back and then recovered. This could have been a loss!++
Filled Buy to Open 19 +OAQAQ Limit 1.10 10:27:12 01/13/09 ++I could have sold this position on 01-13-09 at 1.55 per contract - got greedy and never sold as my order was at 2.05 per contract.++

I Remain Bullish On Oil (e.g. OIH and USO)...

Folks, we want to continue to trade OIL (e.g. OIH, USO) as we will experience trade swings from here all the way to the heavy Summer driving and hurricane seasons (let's just hope we never see another Katrina in our life time). Overall, I am bullish on OIL - but who cares what I think; I am not an expert, right? Of course not, I am just a regular guy that has been watching OIL since 1986 and have put in over 10k hours on the topic of trading (mostly technical) and have proven to be very effective as my blog indicates.

Let's keep our eyes open for any pull back on OIL between 30.00 and 36.00USD and load up on OIH for a nice trade... Remember that you can also trade solar (e.g. FSLR, ENER, SPWRA) based on OIL swings. Enjoy trading!

POT - Trade Based On Technical Analysis:

POT, was down huge on 01-12-09 and on 01-13-09 - only my five year-old did not know that the stock was perfect for a quick technical bounce today, 01-13-09; therefore, a few calls would do the trick for this trade:

Filled Sell to Close 20 +PVZAP Limit 1.15 09:54:08 01/13/09

Filled Buy to Open 10 +PVZAP Limit 0.50 09:33:08 01/13/09
Filled Buy to Open 10 +PVZAP Limit 0.65 09:30:36 01/13/09

Enjoy trading!

INFY Was One Of The Stocks For This Week:

Filled Sell to Close 10 +IUNBF Limit 1.05 10:03:29 01/13/09
Filled Sell to Close 20 +IUNBF Limit 1.20 09:58:01 01/13/09

Filled Buy to Open 30 +IUNBF Limit 0.85 09:32:05 01/13/09

Like I said, these stocks may be right for experienced option traders. Enjoy trading!

Technical Analysis = Profits!

The definition of Technical Analysis: Technique that claims the ability to forecast the future direction of prices through the study of past market data, primarily price and volume, It is that simple and this works because of the "herd mentality". Well, I use this tool for those days where there are no significant earnings reported or the market appears to be quiet like today. Although ISRG is seriously down from its 300.00+USD high; today, 01-12-09, it went up without any significant volume and when all intra-day technical signals indicated that the stock was not going to continue to push forward, I bought a few puts as shown below for a nice Monday profit:


Filled Sell to Close 15 +AXQMT Limit 2.60 10:48:17 01/12/09

Filled Buy to Open 10 +AXQMT Limit 1.85 09:59:45 01/12/09
Filled Buy to Open 5 +AXQMT Limit 1.90 09:52:54 01/12/09

Folks, DO NOT try this at home unless you have put in your 10k hours of training (you may "paper trade" to train yourself, first).

Stocks To Watch For The Week Of 01-12-09:

Stocks to watch for the week of 01-12-09: INFY, LLTC, CLC, VOL, BGG, SJR, JCI and PPG - these stocks may be right for experienced option traders as significant swings are anticipated after earnings. However, this week’s stocks are not as explosive as last week’s (e.g. MON and APOL). We will really have a lot of fun for the week of 01-19-09 (holiday) as we will have very high PE / Beta stocks that week (e.g. ISRG, POT).

APOL Was One Of The Stocks For The Week Of: 01-05-09

This was a nice small move (on APOL) for a Friday (I should be playing golf on Fridays):


Filled Sell to Close 10 +OAQAR Limit 1.55 10:08:58 01/09/09

Filled Buy to Open 10 +OAQAR Limit 0.90 09:37:30 01/09/09

The regular guy wins again...

SHLD Was Just Too High Technically Today!

So, it was time to buy at least 10 in-the-money puts to make a little cash:


Filled Sell to Close 10 +KTQMJ Limit 4.50 11:03:43 01/08/09

Filled Buy to Open 10 +KTQMJ Limit 3.80 09:42:25 01/08/09

Enjoy trading!

More Money Made On MON On 01-07-09!

And sometimes you may have to wait until the last minute to sell - that is ok, too...


Filled Sell to Close 44 +MONAS Limit 0.85 15:56:45 01/07/09

Filled Buy to Open 4 +MONAS Limit 0.50 11:18:20 01/07/09
Filled Buy to Open 3 +MONAS Limit 0.60 09:53:45 01/07/09
Filled Buy to Open 37 +MONAS Limit 0.60 09:53:45 01/07/09

One more for the average "Joe, the option trader".

MON Was One Of The Stocks For The Week Of 01-05-09

Like I said, these stocks have had wild swings historically and they can be very profitable for experienced option traders... See a "MONSTER" trade below:


Filled Buy to Open 7 +MONAU Limit 0.60 09:36:59 01/07/09
Filled Buy to Open 43 +MONAU Limit 0.60 09:37:15 01/07/09

Filled Sell to Close 30 +MONAU Limit 1.45 09:50:37 01/07/09
Filled Sell to Close 20 +MONAU Limit 1.45 09:50:38 01/07/09

Folks, as you can see this happened in less than 15 minutes! Not bad for a regular guy like me.

Option Trade To Support My Sell Recommendation On OIH

Just putting my money where my 10k hours of training (read "Outliers") have placed me... See trade below:


Filled Sell to Close 20 +OIHMZ Limit 1.95 09:31:37 01/07/09

Filled Buy to Open 20 +OIHMZ Limit 1.27 15:49:00 01/06/09

Not bad for a regular guy like me!

OIL Recommendation On 12-30-08

FYI, short-term OIL technical signals are overbought... It is time to sell stocks such as OIH and USO. Of course, I remain bullish on OIL long-term. Enjoy trading!

If You Have A Profit, Sell Into Any Strength.

Dow +258.30 +2.94% 9,034.69
Nasdaq +55.18 +3.50% 1,632.21
S&P +28.55 +3.16% 931.80

If You Have A Profit, Sell Into Any Strength.

01-02-09 Rally – this is so great, we all wanted to start 2009 with a decent rally and I must say that we managed to manufacture one. Obviously, it is the new year and stocks have gotten so beaten up that one would not have any problems putting some money to work in the markets hoping that 2009 will end up on a positive note. Additionally, shorts continue to cover their positions afraid that there will actually be a continual rally. There are a number of money managers with large cash positions and these folks also have to buy stocks for their clients as the alternatives out there are not that attractive (e.g. bank’s interest rates, t-bills, certificate of deposits). Historically, nothing has beaten the markets. And if history holds any truth the markets will eventually recover as the strong, innovative companies will come up with new products, stimulate consumer interest (again), the consumer will also eventually spend money on new products and services, those innovative companies will make profits (again) and as we all know (aside from speculation) the one single thing that guarantees stocks to move up is profits.

With this in mind, there are very few strong, innovative companies making a profit nowadays, the average consumer (and non-average consumer for that matter) has cut down on spending, companies have also trimmed down their expense budgets, the housing market has a few years to go, credit is extremely tight and consumer and market confidence is simply not present yet. The overnight fed rate of .25 not withstanding, most folks do not have access to cash via new or old credit lines. Home equity is a thing of the past and the long anticipated bailout money will not make it into the consumer hands for another long year, that is, 2009!

So as the future of the markets is not that great overall, you may want to secure every single profit you make on a day-by-day basis until we really see the DOW, NASDAQ and S&P 500 break through critical technical lines with heavy and positive volume. Remember that no market goes up or down in a single straight line – play up and down as you see fit.

This is not scientific research and writing - just a little bit of common sense.

Stocks to watch for the week of 01-05-09: MOS, GPN, MON, APOL and SCHN - these stocks are right for experienced option traders as significant swings are anticipated after earnings.