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

To: Berney who wrote (3861)	9/9/1998 11:58:00 PM
From: Gersh Avery	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 11051

Berney .. on the Intel thread, about six months ago, someone picked up some 75 calls two days before reporting and 5 days before expiration. She paid 1/16 on 200 contracts. INTC was trending down at that time. The next AM INTC started heading north. Her intention was to sell the calls just before close reporting day. She got called out and was not able to sell before reporting and had to ride out the night. I think that large quantities of alcohol were required for sleep that night. The next AM she finally got to sell. With INTC ~83. Two days before they expired. Yes the short term ones can be a very wild ride. Gersh

To: Berney who wrote (3861)	9/11/1998 7:20:00 AM
From: Jurgen Trautmann	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 11051

Berney, every discussion is welcome - everytime. I would suggest that lemmings LEAP in a bear market. To this student, a 3-day trade on a LEAP just doesn't make sense. It seems that your profits would have been multiplied by a factor on shorter term options? I only ask to see your response and whether you have considered the issue. Here my excuses <g>: I don't buy leaps with the intention to sell 3 days later. I buy "for the eternity". I'm more kinda investor than 3-day-trader. Last friday I couldn't know whether the "bear-market" (thumb term) will just take a break or will be broken after the weekend. As you could read from me, I expected only a break, but I wasn't sure - so I bought a "minimum"-position of the riskiest underlyings. However, if I guess that my investments will lose worth, and I assume that this could be happen quite probably and quite badly, I sell. I don't really sell "realizing a 3-day-trade", I sell intending to buy back to better prices. If you want, it's more a shortterm-shorting than shortterm-longing... Look at the underlyings: cpq, dell, msft, cci - it's nearly impossible to lose money when you buy now leaps at these prices. But it's absolutely impossible for students like me to estimate for sure what will happen till the next expiration-date. Since last summer I've tried a lot of shortterm-option-trades, but mostly I've lost money. For me it's the second-worst (means unsafe!) strategy I've tried out so far (worst is shortterm-holding of stocks). The highest risk is that I miss to enter the right time. A big part of every rally is over (and lost, when you're out) after 2 days. IMHO it's a VERY stupid strategy to enter a train when he's left the station. Facit: I'm not suggesting LEAPS for shortterm-games - like you. More, I suggest to let be shortterm-games. More than 80% of all options expire worthless - that's a very clear statistic. I suggest to invest - longterm. I suggest to use leaps for limiting a possible loss. I suggest to concentrate in blue-chips, index-noted underlyings for longterm-safety. Last not least: I suggest to sell when you guess that a coming selling "costs" more than 3-times the spread (between bid and ask). BTW: You can probably see me buying back today, if you want - you know the underlyings... In this moment I enter limit-orders for the case that the ground will open today... Jury PS: I will try to catch: GE @ 27, DELL @ 45, MSFT @ 95, PG @ 62, KO @ 52 and LU @ 68. It's a new experience, we will see...