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.

Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: upanddown who wrote (30753)	8/7/1998 6:03:00 PM
From: Knighty Tin	Respond to of 132070

John, I am playing the energy area with long stock, mostly the producers, Plains Resources, Pogo, Burlington, Anadarko, and a lesser amount of the service companies, primarily SLB, Hal, HP, TDW and GLM. I am not playing options at all, as I have no idea when the world will recognize that we are using up all this stuff. I have used as high as 80/20 in the past, and as low as 95/5. I have also used interest only when rates were over 10 pct., but that is no longer even close to being the case. I feel most comfortable and make the most money at 90/10. I'm sure others will have different experiences. For me, 5 pct. is safe, but I don't get enough bang for being right. And 20 pct. is too high, so, as a risk averse sort of guy, I try to play my bets too close to the vest. That doesn't work as well for me, either. I recommend letting your experience tell you how you feel about taking advantage of the tax situation to add options. It is true that up to $3000, the govt. will eat some of your losses. But, if you are not booking large net profits over the course of a full year, I would not increase the allocation until you were. MB