Well, well, well… That was a pleasant surprise closing in the markets today.

Let me update you on the paper money portfolio.

This morning, right after the opening when things were in the toilet I was filled on all five of my positions. Of course, having a great broker I received price improvement all every last one of these.

Here they are in order of execution:

• Sold 200 Vertical SPY(75.45 +0.00) Feb 2008 122/121 Put @ $0.28
  • Credit $5,600
  • Commissions $(609.95)
  • Margin Hold $20,000
• Sold 200 Vertical QQQQ(25.56 +0.00) Feb 08 40/39 Put @ $0.18
  • Credit $3,600
  • Commissions $(609.95)
  • Margin Hold $20,000
• Sold 200 Vertical DIA(76.06 +0.00) Feb 08 111/110 Put @ $0.22
  • Credit $4,400
  • Commissions $(609.95)
  • Margin Hold $20,000
• Sold 200 Vertical IWM(38.53 +0.00) Feb 08 61/60 Put @ $0.21
  • Credit $4,200
  • Commissions $(609.95)
  • Margin Hold $20,000
• Sold 100 Vertical VIX(80.86 +0.00) Feb4 08 32.5/35 Call @ $0.67
  • Credit $6,700
  • Commissions $(309.95)
  • Margin Hold $25,000

The long and short of it is that I think that fear was at a high this morning, and that the market has hit a short term bottom.

At the close of the market today, I had a paper money unrealized gain of roughly $13,000 on these positions. I plan to keep them around for a while as we hopefully continue up a bit more and then I may exit early to lock in profits in this volatile market.

Please take caution in this market. If you are not comfortable with a trade - do not put it on. It is critical that you understand the risk that you are signing up for, especially in highly volatile markets like this.

Categories: Papermoney