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Saturday, August 30, 2014

Weekend Portfolio Analysis (August 30, 2014)

I was having a hard time while eating breakfast, thinking about what I would write in today's portfolio analysis without sounding boring or repetitive. The truth of the matter is that my action plan is still the same I outlined last week.

SPX went from 1991.74 to 2003.37 for a +0.58% gain. And because we didn't reach short term extremes I didn't enter a single trade.

Friday, August 22, 2014

Weekend Portfolio Analysis (August 22, 2014)

I'm going to be away this weekend so this is the right time for the Portfolio Analysis. It's now or never.

SPX went from 1958.36 up to 1988.40 this week for a solid +1.53% gain. I didn't manage any existing position and I opened the first one of the October expiration cycle: A RUT 1020/1030/1230/1240 Iron Condor that looks promising. There is nothing being threatened in the portfolio, and it's a time of joy at the Lazy Trader's home.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

October 2014 RUT Iron Condor

Today I entered the first position of the October 2014 expiration cycle:

Monday, August 18, 2014

Position initiated in Black Diamond Group Ltd.

Today I bought 108 shares of Black Diamond Group at $27.90 (Canadian Dollars). A total investment of $3013.20. The stock symbol is BDI.TO. That's for some sites. I assume the .TO at the end is because it is listed in the Toronto Stock Exchange. Now, on other sites, it may be BDI.CA. So, you type .TO, if that doesn't work go with the .CA version. Same thing happens with other Canadian companies.

Friday, August 15, 2014

Weekend Portfolio Analysis (August 15, 2014)

And just like that the August 2014 monthly options expiration cycle is in the books. As I forecasted in the previous weekend portfolio analysis, I didn't need to do anything in the end, and both August positions expired today for max profit. I'm talking about the RUT 1050/1060/1260/1270 Iron Condor and the SPX 1815/1820 Bull Put Spread. August was a solid month of +3.84% portfolio return (+3.69% after commissions) and now the performance year to date is +13.48% for the whole portfolio. So far outperforming the S&P500 which is up 6.1% for the year. The results page has already been updated.

Saturday, August 9, 2014

Weekend Portfolio Analysis (August 9, 2014)

If you were feeling bored in the past, you can't complain about the last two weeks in the American markets. I hope the recent decent price action and higher volatility are making you a happier person.

The SPX Index went from 1926.62  to 1931.59 this week. That's a +0.26% gain. Didn't you notice the world didn't end? For the financial media the sky is always falling when markets go down, and there is always "more to come". Which reminds me of an article I wrote back in 2011 about The Media and Markets' noise at a time when this site barely had 10 or 15 visits per day. There are people making six digits a year for showing up on financial shows to tell the world their opinions on the markets. Hint: They don't know any better.

TFSA account with Questrade

My long term investing activity takes place with Questrade, a Canadian online discount broker. They offer cheap commissions for stock trading ($4.95 per trade regardless of number of shares) which is pretty good and they have a trading platform (IQ Edge) which is free to use and has all I need for the purposes of long term passive investing (I don't think it is competent enough for active options trading [specially the $9.99 fee per order fill], but for passive investments it is fine).

Saturday, August 2, 2014

Weekend Portfolio Analysis (August 2, 2014)

SPX went from 1978.25 down to 1925.15 this week for a 2.68% loss. I got to enter an SPX 1815/1820 Credit Put spread yesterday taking advantage of what I consider to be a short term oversold market.

Friday, August 1, 2014

August 2014, SPX Bull Put spread

Today, with just two weeks to expiration I entered a 1815/1820 SPX Credit Put Spread:

Sell 4 SPX August 1820 Put @3.30
Buy 4 SPX August 1815 Put @3.00

Credit Received: 0.30 ($120 in 4 contracts per leg)
Max Risk: 4.70 ($1880 in 4 contracts per leg)
Days to Expiration: 14
Break Even Point: 1820.30 (5.45% below current price of 1925 for SPX)