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Technology Stocks : Compaq -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Elwood P. Dowd who wrote (86332)	11/1/2000 2:19:01 PM
From: profile_14	Respond to of 97611

El, I can empathize with you and offer this as a possible explanation as to our differences. First, I have owned the stock for a shorter period of time than you have (since a year ago September in any meaningful quantity). Second, although I do not know this, I venture to guess that I trade positions more often than you do. I am always on the long side, but I often try to protect myself when I feel there has been a good run up. Sometimes I do that by selling a portion of my shares only to repurchase them later, and other times it is by writing calls. My crystal ball is not quite perfect yet, so I often find myself selling too early or buying too early -- that's generally the case with me. I make up for that by using leverage in margin or by purchasing calls. Since getting burned in 1994 during the dual MSFT and INTC warning over the summer, I no longer purchase calls that are too close for comfort (i.e., less than 3 months in duration). When I hit it, well the rewards dwarf anything else I could have done. I also have positions that are very large by my standards (I think mine is similar to yours in Compaq), but only in a few stocks. I find that the position management back and forth not only requires me to stay alert on the stocks and industry, but also affords me the opportunity to lower my basis considerably, even after taking into account short term capital gains, etc. There is certainly no single way to skin this cat (or pig, as it is affectionately (some time less so) called, or any other issue, but it works for me and in the grand scheme of things, I have no regrets.