>> those puts you had would have worked today...
Actually, that was the problem. I didn't have them, I was short them. The public was in buying cheap out-of-the-money puts, and even if I sold enough stock against them at the time, when the stock drops $20 you are nowhere near protected enough. The public was buying both puts and calls, and when you're short premium on both sides, you're forced into buying stock on the way up and selling it on the way down, which obviously is the least preferred position. This is the down-side of being a specialist--you have to take the other side of the order-flow. And yes, the $39K was a loss. If my post last night seemed a little intemperate, I apologise. I wasn't in the best of moods. But the sun's coming up, the birds are singing, I've marked-to-market, and today's another day. (Slept like a baby, too; thirty minutes of sleeping, 30 minutes of crying).
Happy trading.
Porter |
