Jun 07 2008
Beef: It’s what’s for dinner…
…that is, if you’re a bear.
This chart just looks so pretty.
What is very significant is that the 1370 level has been violated and that the break occurred with the highest volume since late March. Should be clear sailing from here to 1330. The rising wedge, however, suggests that the S&P revisits 1250.
Check out the VIX…
When was the last time you saw a 26% move in the VIX in one day? That’s crazy. The time to really pile into options was before the VIX spiked. There’s still plenty of room for the VIX to run though.
As for my trading account balance, I saw a 10% change in my account balance today. On a day the S&P 500 went down 3.09%, I went up 10%. That’s how much I’ve leveraged up. (Well, heck, my account balance saw a 33% haircut between mid-March and mid-May.)
Going forward, I think I may want to increase my short exposure in IWM and QQQQ and decrease my XLF short exposure. XLF already had a nice ride down but IWM and QQQQ are still sky high.
One more thing I want to add: I still can’t believe I am paying $2.95/contract to trade options at thinkorswim. Without their fee structure for options trades, it wouldn’t make sense for me to trade options. I traded 7 contracts today on 7 separate trades and blew $20.65 on commissions. For trading just one contract here are the fees at other brokers…
Scottrade: $7/trade + $1.25/contract = $8.25
Etrade: $12.99/trade + $0.75/contract = $13.74
Schwab: $8.95/trade + $0.75/contract = $$9.70
TD Ameritrade: $9.99/trade + $0.75/contract = $10.74
It’s not even close. Only interactive brokers can beat thinkorswim on single option trades.