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 : Tech Stock Options -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: The Perfect Hedge who wrote (51658)	9/7/1998 4:33:00 AM
From: MonsieurGonzo	Respond to of 58727

Beeblebrox; RE:" short focus " >Would you go after the US banks or that list of Latin American biggies that you sent me (TBR...etc...) ? You've got the right idea, IMHO. So far, when Donald says "down" (using the DOW as his reference), most of us have been working with SPY/S&P Futures,options; or OEX options. The driving force behind the recent crashes has been the NF.X - NYSE Financials Index... which can be further divided into BKX.X - BigBanks, IUX.X - Insurance and XBD.X - Broker/Dealers. The financials are so heavily weighted in our indices, and so fundamental to the overall market, USDollar, etc., that when they tank they take few prisoners on the way down. Focusing on these 'financial' sector indices during down-swings would have increased our satisfaction, as they are not subject, as the DOW and OEX tend to be, to defensive buying in the RLX.X - Retail and DRG.X - Drugz and large-cap TechStox that support the major market somewhat, relative to the financial sector. One could also short a BigBank or a Broker, as some savvy traders here have done, instead of a (financial) sector index or, the broad market. So I would recommend playing RLX.X + DRG.X (WMT & MRK) on up-swings, and any NF.X index(s) on downswings, in addition to, or in place of the broad market-type index option, FWIW. I have never used LatAm index options before, but it looks like they might be fun to learn about, Beeble. Given some opportunity where shorting LatAm looked good, I was thinking of a "shotgun" approach, shorting a basket of telecomms and banks all over the region. On another note, with the USD continuing to go down, and the Euro markets (relatively flat last week, folks) I'm wondering if we'll see a flight from US bondz to (Bundz) euro-denominated treasuries :-/ -Steve