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

To: Chris who wrote (2422)	4/17/1998 11:16:00 PM
From: Hawk	Respond to of 11051

Hi Chris CPQ Jan 35's VKPAG's when the stock was 68 Sorry, I don't understand the numbers. By this to you mean you bought CPQ 70(presplit)? Sorry, I didn't clarify, yes 68 pre-split or 34 now. Are you still trading LEAPS? How has this experience changed your trades? I think you still lose big no matter how deep in the money you are. I'm still not sure if one is really better than the other, or if it's just the total exposure that counts. I guess total exposure has the biggest impact. Yes I'am. Lets put it this way it comes down to timing either way the stock or the LEAPS. I prefer leaps further out say the 00's or soon the 01's. If you make a timing mistake that gives plenty of time for the stock and your leaps to recover. That was another mistake I made, I bought the 99's and that put me on a short time constraint. The advantages of deep in the money LEAPS as I see it lets you ride a stock for a lot less investment and will usually move in tandem with stock. The risk is the time factor, but there is usually little premium and it deteriorates very slowly. But as either with a stock or a LEAP timing is everything. Because you make a smaller investment a smaller move in the underlying stock will generate a greater return on your LEAP than if you were holding the stock. This way you can hold them for a shorter period of time. I would be interested in hearing how 'the dudes' diversify their portfolios. My myopic tech. focus may haunt me in a meltdown even with international exposure. I've trying to learn the same thing. I seem to concentrate on just techs and miss other great opportunities. This market has gone steadily up, while with the exception of a few techs, the techs have not done that great. Regards H.

To: Chris who wrote (2422)	4/18/1998 12:31:00 AM
From: MonsieurGonzo	Respond to of 11051

Chris; RE:" Other Options " >I would be interested in hearing how 'the dudes' diversify their portfolios. My myopic tech. Focus may haunt me in a meltdown even with international exposure... ...hey - there's STOPS on options too, dude (^_^) Well, we've been chatting about the Drug Sector - DRG.X - most of us have something there. The components are as follows : MktCap %-60d %-20d %-50w 14.8 MRK + 6 - 8 + 33 13.7 PFE +33 +17 +115 10.5 BMY +11 - 2 + 57 9.9 JNJ + 7 - 3 + 19 7.7 LLY - 1 + 3 + 52 6.3 AHP + 5 + 5 + 33 5.9 SGP +13 - 1 + 95 5.8 ABT + 6 - 3 + 19 4.9 WLA +29 + 9 + 77 2.3 PNU +18 + 3 + 35 1.6 AMGN +16 - 6 - 5 1.5 BAX + 6 -10 + 15 SBH GLX ...the 60-day performance (I just quickly used SI's comparo-charto) is approximately since the blow-off on 12-JAN to the present. The 20-day performance shows what happened since the MM's took profits in weeks 2~4 MARCH, before earnings. The bold ones have the best sustained growth. ( perhaps you can see why King LEAP Jrgen was after PFE today ;-) Look at the weekly charts on the top three: almost linear. This is what LEAPS are all about - amplifying growth. When you want to amplify waves, just use 2-4 month PUTs &CALLs, IMHO - LEAPS are for Amplifying Growth Trends. The nice thing about turtles like plain old NYSE stocks is that when you use options on 'em, and catch them crossing an option boundary, they really amplify capital gains! Berney's MRK is an interesting chart for T/A. Simplify the picture by just converting it into a line chart of closing prices. That formation up there at the top is called a Head & Shoulders - the "neckline" is sloping upwards. The rule for H&S is that, once the neckline is broken, the downward move is about equal to the distance from the neck to the top of the head. I got the neck at ~125 and the head at ~132 = 7 points. It should fall to 125 - 7 = 118, which is what it did. Now it will either bounce up and try to kiss its old UpTrend line, or slide down its new, short-term DownTrend line to ~114. With options, playing MRK's fall would have been $$$ (mucho dinero en el banco). Look at HWP's chart - it's a sine wave man - between 60-61 and 64-65 strike option boundary railroad tracks. What good are LEAPS ? I bought 10 HWPHM Aug 65 CALLs when it was 60-61, and I'll dump the cash equivalent of my initial investment when it gets to 64-65, leaving 2-4 contracts (the profit) open in case it goes up ( I like playing with their money ;-) I'll either put a STOP on 'em or just hang onto them, and if HWP goes back down to 61, roll 'em over further out. After getting burned on a narrowly-focused TechStock portfolio last year, Chris (and I had "diversified" into MSFT INTC AMAT DELL CSCO QNTM - all the Tech Sectors) I stopped caring about the underlying, and started to see stocks as simply vehicles to leverage. -Steve