7/17 Day-Trades

It was a very busy day. As expected, with the help of JPM earnings, short covering in financials carried into the open. Unfortunately for me, I woke up right at the market open so was frantically getting the trading platform up on the screens. As it turned out, all my overnight postions gapped open. However, by the time I made my way through selling the positions, I had left about $8k on the table. Luckily, I started with BAC which was my largest position in terms of contracts...it also gapped up the most. Lesson for today will be to use automated trailing stops on these ONH set-ups.

BAC - Switched to the 1-min chart at the open and sold on weakness
Bought @ $21.50, Jul 22.5 Calls ($0.36 cost...very cheap, minimal risk)
Risk @ $0.00
Sold @ $25.50
Profit - $2.70 on calls
Re-entered after break of consolidation
Bought @ $24.50
Risk @ $23.90
Sold @ $26.00
Profit - $1.50 on calls

FNM
Bought @ $9.50, Jul 10 Calls
Risk - @ $0.00
Sold @ $11.50 (yes, very shitty when you look at that highs on the chart)
Profit - $1.30 on calls

LEH - I had too many positions to sell. By the time I got to this, it had already come down. I will use automatic trailing stops next time.
Bought @ $16.50, Jul 17.5 Calls
Risk @ $0.00
Sold @ $17.50
Profit - $0.50 on calls

WFC - I had rolled my profits yesterday from Jul 25 Calls to Jul 27.5 Calls. I was much more liberal with these and placed stops on them last night. Again, trailing stops would have been better.
Bought @ $27.00
Risk @ $0.00
Sold @ $26.40
Loss - $0.15 on calls

OIH - Energy stocks were weak after the surprise build in natural gas. I went with OIH as most other stocks had already begun the move down.
Bought @ $199.50, Jul 195 Puts
Risk @ $200.10,
Sold @ $195.00
Profit - $1.50 on puts

BIDU - Another false break-out. I need to stop chasing this one.
Bought @ $305.00, Jul 270 Call
Risk @ $303.00, moved to 303.90
Sold @ $303.90
Loss - $1.10 on Calls

7/16 Day/Swing Trades

Today was an excellent day to take advantage of options expiration on Friday. As expiration nears, option premiums dry up resulting in a lot of low-risk set-ups. The big news today was Wells Fargo beating earnings estimates and RAISING the dividend. Given the fear and weakness in the financials lately, I instantly knew that this could lead to some serious short-covering in the financials...the theory being maybe the capital markets aren't as bad as everyone thinks. That's the theory. I personally think things will be getting worse but that won't prevent me from taking advantage of the market fear and greed. In addition to the trades below, I'm holding LEH 17.5 Calls, FNM 10 Calls, WFC 27.5 Calls and BAC 22.5 Calls. These are all overnight holds in case the short-covering in financials spills into the AM.

WFC
WFC I pulled up the option chain at the open and saw the July 25's asking $0.45. Would I risk $0.45 for WFC to get to $25.45 by Friday...hell yeah! I'm in. Again, this takes advantage of the low premium prior to expiration. Worst case, I lose $0.45 per call, well within my usual $1.00 stop parameter.

Bought Jul 25 Calls w/ stock at $24.50
Stop @ $0
Sold @ 27.00
Profit - $1.75 on Calls
Still holding Jul 27.5 Calls for further short squeeze

BIDU
I should have placed a more liberal stop. I got stopped out before it ran...

Bought @ 291.00 w/ Jul 240 Calls

Stop @ $289.90, moved to $292.90

Sold @ 292.90

Profit - $1.30 on Calls

OIH

Unsuccessfully chased drop in oil...

Bought @ 197.80 w/ Jul 210 Puts

Stop @ 198.50, moved to 198.30

Sold @ 198.30

Loss - $0.50 on Puts

ONXX Swingtrade
As I mentioned in a previous post, biotech has been the hot sector. ONXX had resistance at $40.00 which it broke today. I'm not thrilled with the volume today but it held up fine into the close so I'll keep evaluating my stop levels over the next couple of days.

Bought @ 40.88
Stop @ 40.50

Still holding...