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(110.39 -0.44) Feb 2008 122/121 Put @ $0.28
- Credit $5,600
- Commissions $(609.95)
- Margin Hold $20,000
- Sold 200 Vertical
QQQQ(45.84 -0.21) Feb 08 40/39 Put @ $0.18
- Credit $3,600
- Commissions $(609.95)
- Margin Hold $20,000
- Sold 200 Vertical
DIA(104.80 -0.29) Feb 08 111/110 Put @ $0.22
- Credit $4,400
- Commissions $(609.95)
- Margin Hold $20,000
- Sold 200 Vertical
IWM(65.03 -0.12) Feb 08 61/60 Put @ $0.21
- Credit $4,200
- Commissions $(609.95)
- Margin Hold $20,000
- Sold 100 Vertical
VIX(23.85 -0.40) 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.
