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Strategies & Market Trends : The Covered Calls for Dummies Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dr. Id who wrote (1767)	8/2/2001 5:14:00 PM
From: alanrs	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5205

I would hate to see this thread become one of "trading recommendations" as opposed to an options workshop. I agree. The problem as I see it is that covered calls is fairly limited in scope and many of the posters here have other threads-and therefore stocks-in common. I'm off to the Keys to attend a wedding. Always wondered what the weather there was like in the summer-now I'll find out. Computer going in for more RAM. One of the reasons I've mentioned call spreads is because it is an easy strategy to understand if one has been doing covered calls, and it is also a good position to "leg" into, especially if one owns the underlying so that at no time are any calls uncovered. This also opens up other buy/sell possibilities. This is especially true since Dan and Dale and a few others seem to understand these things. Hope to read some McMillan and find out why what I'm doing shouldn't work. Mostly hope I don't get too confused. ARS Looks like I got the worst price of the day on the QCOM. Oh well. Have a good week everyone.

To: Dr. Id who wrote (1767)	8/2/2001 5:28:37 PM
From: TShirtPrinter	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5205

Hey Doc, No groupthink for me. I popped Aug75's for .45 a bit earlier today. Any weakness and I'll cover for .20. Hopefully I'll get it early next week. Sept. is too far out on QCOM for me. Anybody else notice Cooters over on the QCOM thread? He's doing very well selling Jan's @ a higher strike price and covering. This make 17 round trips for him. Awesome. Tony

To: Dr. Id who wrote (1767)	8/2/2001 6:00:50 PM
From: FaultLine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5205

I would hate to see this thread become one of "trading recommendations" as opposed to an options workshop. I'm glad you raised that point -- here's how I arrived at my sell-to-open decision today. 1. I've been leery of a sudden pop in QCOM that would leave me without much time to recover before AUG expiry, thus I've not wanted to sell AUG contracts for the past couple of weeks. 2. I'm put off by the low premiums I'm seeing in the AUG contracts. 3. I've been considering the SEP 70's and 75's for the past week. 4. When duf mentioned today that he sold at 4.30 with the hope of closing out sometime in the next 6 weeks for under 2.00, well that made sense to me and was the last link I needed -- reasonable amount of premium, long enough to allow the time premium (4.30) to waste away, and enough time to catch a dip. I think the discussions we've had over the past couple of weeks were the workshop -- now I've taken action on those results. --dfl@gasconade.com

To: Dr. Id who wrote (1767)	8/2/2001 8:00:37 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5205

No Groupthink for me.. Come on, ID. Your profession is built on "Groupthink". :) Here are the calls I sold today. All September, to keep me from writing it so often: 1) Intel 32.50 for 1.80 2) Qcom 70 for 4.50 3) Sun 17.50 for 1.90 4) JDSU 10 for .90 5) NTAP 17.50 for 1.50 6) SEBL 37.50 for 3.90 7) Brocade 40 for 4.80 8) EMC 22.50 for 1.00 I said, in response to Frank, that I would buy back on a dip. I may change my mind. I think we are all selling at the same time because of the market rise, and we are all in the same stocks. That is what makes it look like "Groupthink". I

To: Dr. Id who wrote (1767)	8/2/2001 9:08:24 PM
From: Uncle Frank	Respond to of 5205

>> I was speaking to UF about it this morning which led to his posts regarding it.. Did not. It was an original idea, just like writing September calls. >> tryingtoremainanindependent Really? Does that mean we won't have to suffer through all that liberal democrat stuff any more? :-) duf

To: Dr. Id who wrote (1767)	8/2/2001 9:26:15 PM
From: JGoren	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5205

I think you mean 45 cents, not 4.50 for Aug Qcom 75's; the way folks have been posting prices is confusing.

To: Dr. Id who wrote (1767)	8/3/2001 1:02:17 AM
From: Dan Duchardt	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5205

Dr. Id, First I'd like to say that I appreciate your concern, and I think you have expressed it well. The latter part of your last sentence I would hate to see this thread become one of "trading recommendations" as opposed to an options workshop speaks to a central issue, and reminds me of concepts like "it is better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish". I agree with you completely on that point. On the other hand, it does not concern me that several people on this thread are holding QCOM, and a few other stocks, and are all looking for ways to maximize their gain. There is a lot to be gained by having a common position to talk about and think about. The danger is in one person saying what to do and when to do it and everyone following blindly without knowing why they are doing it. When I first started reading here though I was struck by a number of posts reflecting a great concern about not writing the call of the near month too soon for fear of locking themselves out of profits. I would not have come up with the term, but "groupthink" fit the picture I was getting. What I don't see is how the first part of your final statement leads to the conclusion upon which we agree. Also, there was a strong sentiment for front month calls, which also changed with a couple of posts... While they were fine posts, it is a concern .... I think it's great that a couple of hopefully well-reasoned posts that presented some independent thinking got more people to consider an alternative to front month calls. I see that as a step away from people doing the same old group thing without really knowing why they are doing it, or because the "why" they know does not really fit the situation they are confronted with. I certainly don't expect everyone here to agree with everything I say, and welcome opposing viewpoints. I know for a fact there that I still have a lot to learn. Hopefully, as people are willing to contribute independent ideas and others are willing to challenge them, all of us will become smarter dummies. Dan