Options update for 12/15...Thank you, thank you, Ballard
Boy, you don't have to be long much when a stock gaps on the upside. Although I sold some at the opening (also the low) of $92, I traded the stock all day and ended up with an average sale price of about 97, or roughly ten bucks a share. Made my Christmas. No one wanted to trade the options, though. Too bad. (48,48)
Barrick continued its decent rally today. I expect another day or two on the upside. Some small call selling appeared, but only enough to take the vol down a point. (51,48)
Bell went up when the Dow went down, so why wouldn't it tank today when NY was up 85? Makes sense to me (not). I fought it to a draw today; what I really want is a big move either way. (25,26)
Inco came to life today long enough to drop .65c; anybody wanting to mount a takeover is sure saving a lot of money. (41.5,40)
Pardon me if I don't jump on the bandwagon singing the TSE's praises for the recent deal with the ME. I would support it 100% if we had a central electronic book, but without it, the market will get fragmented and very cumbersome, since any order trader will be forced to check both markets before executing a trade. Most people don't remember that we used to have dual-listing...I do, since I was trading way back then. It was a nightmare. Montreal was on the phone after virtually every trade, claiming a better price existed there, but whenever a trader went down there with an order, the quote was no good. Strictly a one-way street. A central order book with tradeable markets would solve that, but the TSE has no plans for that. As a matter of fact, I can envision a circumstance where the ME will take over *all* options trading by putting the TSE's 'automated' book on their floor and conducting an auction in all classes. By so doing, every broker would have a fiduciary responsibility to send *all* orders to the ME, to ensure discovery of the best possible market for their clients. Parlez-vous Francais?
Happy trading.
Porter |
