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Technology Stocks : Gateway (GTW) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Brian Lempel who wrote (4778)	11/17/1997 11:44:00 PM
From: Skeeter Bug	Respond to of 8002

brian, i wouldn't buy any options unless they expire after eps warning season. find out when gtw warned before and make sure the expiration is at least a week after that date. off the top of my head i'd say the dec are quite a bit riskier than the jans. the potential reward may offset the risk, however, it may not. brian, i have several options suggestions that i've learned the hard way. only invest about 1/5 of you spec money in options at a given time. i've had options go from $1 5/8 to $1/4 in minutes. not pleasant. you must keep powder dry. i lost on mu puts for 9 months. i recently made back all the losses plus i'm up 10-15% afyer being down nearly 70%. i wish i had more dough at the end then i'd really be up big. anyway, let these stocks come to you - especially going to the downside in a bull market - and i expect a strong bull market going forward. interest rates are too low. also, put a limit sell order when you make your purchase. maybe after a triple or a quad. you have to expect to lose more than you win so when you win you must win big. gtw will tank if and when they pre-announce again. i think they will and i'll play gtw that way. however, i also think they'll go up in the near term due to the bulls coming back in the market (hey, cash advances take a couple weeks sometimes ;-) and in anticipation of dell announcing that they have flatlined gtw ;-) actually, the gulli-bulls believe that dell doing well means that all pcs will do well. at least until muei and gtw report crappy eps - AGAIN ;-) good luck. options are crazy. absolute financial insanity. keep that powder dry and don't get greedy or you'll get wiped out eventually...

To: Brian Lempel who wrote (4778)	11/17/1997 11:46:00 PM
From: Alan C. Zezula	Respond to of 8002

Hi Brian, I'm not seasoned but I have been ROASTED, TOASTED, BURNED, AND FRIED trading options. I forgot CREMATED! They sure are fun to trade I call it "gambling with a shirt and tie on". Quite often my buddies the specialist don't leave you with the shirt and they us the tie to HANG YOU. Different strokes for different folks. I bought the Dec. 30 puts a while back at 2 3/4 watched them go to 5 1/2 and didn't sell them like an idiot as I was waiting for GTW to go to 24. Guess what, never happened. I did sell my Nov. 35's at 8 3/4 after buying them at 3 so that was a fun trade. Personally I'm going to add to my Dec. 30 puts but I don't think either one of us will be getting them a 1 5/8 tomorrow. GTW looks weak to me here and I am still looking for a pull back in the over all market during the next two weeks. JMO. People in general are getting very bullish again here and I'm guessing the hammer will fall one more time before the end of the year. Been wrong before and it cost me a bundle on OEX puts so I stay clear of them. Comdex will keep techs. up temporarily I think. Until they panic over some new disaster. Good trading. Al

To: Brian Lempel who wrote (4778)	11/17/1997 11:58:00 PM
From: IceShark	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 8002

Brian my friend, please don't look at options that way. The volitility, especially when the stock is close to strike will leave you scratching your head as to why the equity moved your way but the option did nothing, or worse yet moved against you. Leg in with 1/3 rds, or whatever, and hit for the home runs (but little capital at risk in the overall scheme of things) or go with in the money close expiration contracts with basically no premium. At this point I would never go with 30's; even if you know something we don't there are better contracts. Regards, DWW