Investment BS Thread - Stocks/Futures/Mutual Funds/Bonds/Commodities/Options/ETFs/401ks/Etc

Ha...offsetting my bad plays

 

I'm just sharing..

enjoy your day.

 

Usually being the key word. Everything I've done this year in my play account has been short. Sometimes less then 20 minutes. Always less then a month.

 

Uncle Sam: the most successful stock trader in history. Also the most profitable dividend investor.

 

Check out SPAQ..news just came out

 

stupid question, but if I hit my Roth 401k limit, does this also mean I hit my limit for other Roth vehicles like an IRA?

 

I'm pretty sure the IRS treats them as their own limit. You should be able to max out both but verify that with someone else. lol

 

Nope. You can do both to their limit.

 

Well let's see how this goes..
Picked up CLNE @2.88 (New position) earnings gamble and added to my CTXR @1.10 today...averaged down to $1.38...

 

I picked up PEIX yesterday on advice from a buddy. I'm up 20% and they release earnings Tues after close. Guess who's selling before then? lol

 

You have enough shares to sell deep covered calls? Sell the 8/21 $2 calls, lock your profit and buy them back if it dips..or just let them expire

 

Yeah. I've got 4000 shares. I thought about selling Aug $3 calls but that means I need to hold until Aug 21st. Still debating it.

 

OK. Debates over. I sold 20 Aug $3 calls at a premium of $50. That netted me a cool $1000. I kept the other 2000 shares to sell or keep as I see fit.

 

So as I do more and more of this trading stuff and succeed and fail more, I'm shifting much of my thinking.

One thing that seems to be a prevalent mentality (*cough*NRGU*cough*) is that "I haven't lost until I sell" which leads to holding on to losers in the hopes that they'll turn around and be gainers before a loss is "realized".

My new thinking is that not only is a losing investment losing whatever it's losing on its face, but I'm also losing the potential gains that money could be making elsewhere.
This is leading me to cut bait much sooner on stocks that aren't currently performing rather than being the proverbial bag holder.

Obviously this applies only to the traded/play/gamble funds. The long term stuff is buy/hold/forget ETF type stuff.

Curious on others' take.

 

Perfect play.
You lock in your profit PLUS premium. You were already happy to sell at that price. I try to tell everyone this is the way to go...The ONLY regret is a big jump up, but even then you've already settled...
This is how I let my ABT shares go...I sold the call and lost my shares but was still happy and that pop dipped after so I was all "Well I made more than it's worth"

 

The choice largely depends on whether you think you'd gain more than your unrealized loss if you put the remaining funds elsewhere.

Say you're down $100 in XYZ but have every reason to believe you'll recoup that loss if you wait. The question then is whether in that same timeframe you think you have a good shot at gaining more than the $100 you lost - remembering tax effects and wash sale rule when figuring after-tax loss vs after-tax gain.

The "best" option will vary by individual stock/fund and investor.

 

Yep. It's almost always how I sell shares. If there's a jump you can always roll up and out. I just did that 20 minutes ago with NVDA.

I have 200 shares and sell weekly covered calls on them. Monday I sold 2 Aug 7th $435 covered calls. This week NVDA did it's thing and broke trend. They are at $451 currently. That means I would have lost profit. So I rolled into the Aug 21 $455 call. I got paid another $250 to do that. I'm sure they'll blow away earnings. When they do I'll just roll into a Sept $480 call. lol

 

I am a buy and hold investor, and I apply this somewhat. If a company cuts its dividends (F as an example), I'll sell at whatever loss I am at. I have the same thinking, if I can salvage the money that's tied up in F, and put it into something that pays dividends, it's better than waiting for something that may never happen (F reinstating its dividend).

 

A+
It also leads to losing gains because you get greedy...always try to have an out.
I'm still in NRGU because I was willing to take the hit and I don't have a viable alternative right now...I'm debating selling 1/2....and trading in and out with that 1/2

 

Securities can be long term holds too, IE: F, T, etc. (@Boyk1182 has some T as a dividend yielder I think). They aren't as "safe" as ETFs, and are less "boring", but there's no reason you can't mimic an ETF on your own - that way you're getting it all, plus no fund fee!

You start with 5 donuts. You have 7 donuts. You can either walk away and keep your 7 donuts, or hold on. If you hold on, you might get 10 donuts, or you might get only 5 donuts.

Long of the short (my philosophy): Know what your goal is, if the goal hits, dump and run. You hit your goal, don't be greedy. You can always reassess, change strategies, etc. But, sometimes it's better to take what you have for a nice gain, instead of risking it all for a slightly better gain.

The other thing too is long term - at least with the likes of F, after 5-10 years, your dividends earned might far outweigh the principal loss.

Curious, no real wrong answer to this: We are currently assuming F will bring back the dividend. Would you buy and hold now, while it's "on sale" for the eventuality of the dividend returning, or park your money elsewhere w/ dividends until then? I'm just curious as to your mentality. I'm wanting to look at the dividend yielders soon, pretty much for the same reason as you: Set up something that I can either live on or have a nice supplement without touching the principal.







Was hoping for a bigger drop, we'll see what it does toward the bell. Might wait until Monday to rebuy if it stays level or goes up.