We had a pretty quiet week in the markets as usual this time of the year. SPX opened at 2069.28 and closed at 2088.77 yesterday for a +0.94% gain and the index is now up more than 13% for the year.
CHRISTMAS PROMOTION
LTOptions at a 33% discount during the Year End Holidays.
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Saturday, December 27, 2014
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
February 2015 SPX Iron Condor
Today I entered the first position with February 2015 monthly options as we are getting close to 8 weeks away from that expiration cycle.
Here's the trade:
Buy 4 SPX February 1875 Put @8.45
Sell 4 SPX February 1880 Put @8.65
Sell 4 SPX February 2190 Call @4.35
Buy 4 SPX February 2195 Call @3.75
Here's the trade:
Buy 4 SPX February 1875 Put @8.45
Sell 4 SPX February 1880 Put @8.65
Sell 4 SPX February 2190 Call @4.35
Buy 4 SPX February 2195 Call @3.75
Saturday, December 20, 2014
Weekend Portfolio Analysis (December 20, 2014)
Yesterday was December expiration, and with it my options trading activity in 2014 came to an end. The following December positions finally expired yesterday for max profit:
SPX 1750/1760/2110/2115 Iron Condor
SPX 2110/2120 Credit Call Spread
SPX 1910/1915 Credit Put Spread
December resulted in a +1.62% return for the model portfolio before commissions (+1.31% after commissions). The return from my options trading activity this year was +5.44% after trading costs.
It was a tough year for option premium sellers, and I feel like I almost had it. I really did, when back on October 1st I was up +17.88% and could have stopped right there, or simply traded much more conservatively. But I really wanted to push it, I wanted a +25% return for the year and thought it was possible. Funny how I consider my current self a better trader than I've ever been to this date and yet I feel like this right after posting my worst year ever (options trading related).
Time to move on, and if you had a bad year and you are still complaining, if you haven't gotten over it yet, just remember that this is only a first world problem. So, suck it up!
SPX 1750/1760/2110/2115 Iron Condor
SPX 2110/2120 Credit Call Spread
SPX 1910/1915 Credit Put Spread
December resulted in a +1.62% return for the model portfolio before commissions (+1.31% after commissions). The return from my options trading activity this year was +5.44% after trading costs.
It was a tough year for option premium sellers, and I feel like I almost had it. I really did, when back on October 1st I was up +17.88% and could have stopped right there, or simply traded much more conservatively. But I really wanted to push it, I wanted a +25% return for the year and thought it was possible. Funny how I consider my current self a better trader than I've ever been to this date and yet I feel like this right after posting my worst year ever (options trading related).
Time to move on, and if you had a bad year and you are still complaining, if you haven't gotten over it yet, just remember that this is only a first world problem. So, suck it up!
Thursday, December 18, 2014
Back to Forex trading
Back in October 2011 I stopped trading Forex with real money after more than a year with mixed results and a lot of frustration by the end, which I described in the I have lost my ass article. This blog originally started as a Forex blog. That was the root. That was the essence. That was the only thing I talked about.
Believe it or not, in retrospective I'm glad the Forex fiasco happened as it forced me to follow other paths and learn about other markets. My Forex debacle led me to study and understand Options, develop a system, be profitable. Now that's a weapon on my side for the rest of my life. Changing from one trading vehicle to another inevitably made me wonder: "Why not another one?". And that's how I ventured into Dividend Growth Investing, a strategy with great merits in my opinion. As a result, today this site is about Options, Dividend Growth Investing and Forex, all that thanks to my initial Forex disaster, which in the end made me a more complete trader who understands different markets and sees how everything is interconnected.
Believe it or not, in retrospective I'm glad the Forex fiasco happened as it forced me to follow other paths and learn about other markets. My Forex debacle led me to study and understand Options, develop a system, be profitable. Now that's a weapon on my side for the rest of my life. Changing from one trading vehicle to another inevitably made me wonder: "Why not another one?". And that's how I ventured into Dividend Growth Investing, a strategy with great merits in my opinion. As a result, today this site is about Options, Dividend Growth Investing and Forex, all that thanks to my initial Forex disaster, which in the end made me a more complete trader who understands different markets and sees how everything is interconnected.
Saturday, December 13, 2014
Weekend Portfolio Analysis (December 13, 2014)
The SPX index went from 2074.84 down to 2002.33 this week for a 3.49% loss. The S&P is now up 8.2% for the year. The Dow Jones is up 4.4% and the Russell index is down 1.5% year to date.
Friday, December 12, 2014
SPX Jan 1825/1820 and Dec 1915/1910 Credit Put spreads
This was my activity today:
Sell 4 SPX Jan 1825 Put @7.50
Buy 4 SPX Jan 1820 Put @7.20
Credit: 0.30 ($120 total)
Max risk: 4.70
Days to expiration: 35
Sell 4 SPX Jan 1825 Put @7.50
Buy 4 SPX Jan 1820 Put @7.20
Credit: 0.30 ($120 total)
Max risk: 4.70
Days to expiration: 35
Monday, December 8, 2014
A basic Dividend Growth oriented Canadian Investment Portfolio
I've recently been analyzing the performance of several, mature Canadian companies with a huge presence in the Canadian economy and therefore in people lives up here. I chose companies from different sectors for some diversification. I wanted to only analyze large caps, dividend payers and growers. I also didn't want to make this a never ending series about an overwhelming collection of companies. I wanted to keep it simple and illustrate the power of reinvested dividends, dividends that grow above inflation every year combined with capital gains. So, only nine companies in the end, which in my opinion could make up a simple long term investment portfolio with some degree of diversification with the goal of cash flow generation in mind. The companies analyzed were, in this order:
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