I'm just glad I was holding Aug and not Sep calls last month, as I had to sell them, and plowed it into stock (going full 50% margin to do so -- which is not recommended), so even though I bought them at 118 I'm still glad I bought.
I also bought at 94 and 108.
These are all pre-split prices.
I got burned bad my second quarter playing Dell options (two quarters ago), because I played with less time in order to buy more options. Although that may get you the "retirement trade," it also may force you to rely on your retirement fund. Luckily I learned quick, and now play a couple months out. You'll make less money, to be sure, but you'll also get burned less.
Soon perhaps I'll learn how to buy some of one and some of the other. In fact, I'm still holding Nov 130s I bought a month ago. Generally options players are quick-moving (and I really need to time my exits better), but if you give it more time you basically can't go wrong. I have complete confidence in the management team, and everything I've read on here has reinforced that belief.
You're a great crowd, and I look forward to meeting some of you whenever the next get-together is.
Cheers,
KenB
P.S. I'm advocating contradictory things above, I just noticed -- holding options that timed out helped me in the case of the crash last Monday, but in general it's a bad idea. Oh well, I guess that's life, and the reason computers can't yet do this. |
