Vdsat.com

Bought 30 TWM at $115.66
Quick run up over $116
Stop loss at $115.95
Sold 30 TWM at $115.94
+28 cents on 30 shares = $8.40
Total round-trip commission = $10
Loss = $1.60
Man, that was a cheap thrill. On these kind of trades, you just have to put a short leash on it. The moment it starts going against you, [...]

Sold 1 DIA Dec 90 straddle for $11.52. $5.05 on the call, $6.47 on the put.
Bought 1 DIA 104 call for $0.53
Bought 1 DIA 77 put for $2.39
It is pretty much it is a short straddle with an OTM call and OTM put to prevent the possibliity of unlimited losses.
I can’t believe I am going [...]

In an earlier post, I blogged about the status of my double calendar spread. I am a bit surprised that I have made no trades since I bought these two calendar spreads. Below is the P/L curve of my two calendar spreads. The difference between the November puts that I sold and the December puts [...]

1. I just finished playing Tribes 2 like there’s no tomorrow. Why? Because there might not be a tomorrow. Tribes 2’s master server is set to go down on November 1st. I’m sure there will be a work around, but just in case, I played Tribes 2 for a few hours tonight.
2. I’m pretty busy. [...]

I’m loving it. Slowly moving money from T-bills $100 to $200 per day.

UPDATE @ 2:03 AM on Oct 30: Okay, this is not the time to be crazy. I’m not buying more TIPS. Why not?
1. I still think TIPS are an excellent deal, but this is not the time to use up all the free [...]

Semiconductor stocks are getting ridiculously cheap.
CPUS+graphics
AMD under $3?
INTC under $15?
NVDA around $7?
Discrete analog
ADI under $20?
LLTC barely hanging onto $20?
Semiconductor manufacturing equipment manufacturers
LRCX under $20?
AMAT under $12?
NVLS under $14?
The spiffy stuff
BRCM under $17?
MRVL practically at $6?
FPGAs
XLNX around $17?
ALTR: Same as XLNX?
I would be shocked to see ADI and LLTC go any lower, but I wouldn’t touch [...]

Today’s 5 year TIPS auction had a pre-inflation adjusted yield of 3.27%.
http://treasurydirect.gov/RI/OFNtebnd
Meanwhile, the yield on the 5 year conventional bond was yielding 2.67%.
In other words, if over the next 5 years, inflation is greater than -0.6% annualized, you would be better off buying the TIPS bond instead of the conventional bond.
This is such a good [...]

Just wow.

I am definitely going to exchange more of my T-bills in my retirement account for TIPS. The bond market is definitely pricing in a few years of deflation. This kind of buying opportunity is one of the reasons you should keep extra cash sitting around in your retirement account. If this fund continues to [...]

Bought 1 IWM Dec 45 put
Sold 1 IWM Nov 45 put
Bought 1 IWM Dec 55 put
Sold 1 IWM Nov 55 put
Completely non-directional trade. Trying to milk premiums.

Inflation protected securities are starting to look very attractive. They have taken an absolute pounding the last month or so.
If you compared the following funds over the last few months:
VIPSX - Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Fund
VUSTX - Vanguard Long-Term Treasury Fund
VFITX - Vanguard Intermediate-Term Treasury Fund
You’ll see that VIPSX has been absolutely pounded. Keep in [...]