Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Market Gems:Stocks w/Strong Earnings and High Tech. Rank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jenna who wrote (12506)	8/4/1998 4:22:00 PM
From: Sam Armstrong	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 120523

I'm in MSPG Aug 45 calls with you. Here's to hoping AOL will surprise.

To: Jenna who wrote (12506)	8/4/1998 8:15:00 PM
From: Jenna	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 120523

Ketan, SWW was on my earnings plays watch list so yes I do follow it. I don't play options a lot. It just may seem that I do because I post them whenever I play them, whereas because of the subscribers to Market Gems, I don't always post my 'buys' from their watch list on Silicon Investor. (case in point was TMPW. No one on Silicon Investor even knew how closely I was following that one for the last 3 days). So if I post 2 options that's ALL I play and not more. The reason I picked up those two options today was just to have a 'small stake' in the internet sector just in case I sold AOL hastily. They both seemed to hold up rather well and I just bought 10 calls of each for a small amount. I would hate anyone to erroneously infer that there is lots of money out there to be made from options with the magic of leverage. The risks are there, but I've played them for 2 years now so I just use them for intraday trades and 1-2 day holds. About 5-10% of my portfolio is in options. That is not a whole lot. Also I trade options ONLY in stocks that I am very familiar with. They are usually high volume, stocks that trade in a fast market (i.e. DELL, LCOS, AMZN, ELNK, HBOC, TXN, AOL, TLAB, LU, SBH etc.) Sometimes options are difficult to dump especially if the stock is tanking. I like options in a 'volatile' market because usually the gains will be abrupt and dramatic (also the losses). I'd rather put down 1.5k on an option and take my chances rather than risk losing 10k on a bad trade. For example, if MSPG and ELNK somehow went down tomorrow 10 points each (it's possible) I'd never lose 20k but only the 3k it cost to buy the option. The most I ever made from an option was 17k (CDG in 4 weeks) and the most I ever lost from one option was 5k (MacAfee) Also it's unlikely the option would go to zero in one day. It could invariably go down about 75% at most, so I lose 1.9k.. but the best scenario is it can double and with increased momentum in can also triple. I've never met any person who's made money *consistently* just trading options. If they tell you they have it is two possibilities: a)They are trading for 3 months and they had good luck or b)They are feeding you a line.