Investments Trade Log

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ToFI
Posts: 136
Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2011 1:22 am

Re: Investments Trade Log

Post by ToFI »

@Lemur
I thought you hedged your options but hedging has cost. One sided option is risky. I think option is too much work and hard to get consistent return. Even with covered call, I tried for a few months and gave up options completely. Many times stock increased far beyond the strike price. Too much work for little return.

Lucky C
Posts: 755
Joined: Sat Apr 16, 2016 6:09 am

Re: Investments Trade Log

Post by Lucky C »

Lucky C wrote:
Thu Feb 20, 2020 11:34 am
The trend is your friend til it bends in the end.
Previous post coincided with SPX crossing the -1% down point on the first day of this selloff, when I doubled up on some SPY puts (first batch purchased 2/13, doubled up 2/20). I sold them as prices fell, a little Friday, a little Monday, and the rest throughout yesterday as we entered Extreme Fear territory. Gain of +132% over about a week which more than cancels out my "insurance" losses during the bull run (some would say melt-up) over the past year.

At the same time I have held my gold mining stocks (small %), reduced other equities exposure to a small amount, and bought a little GLD. Overall mostly in cash now since options are no longer cheap / volatility is likely to remain high, and I have no idea where the market is headed in the short term. Plus my cash can earn about as much yield as short term treasuries, for now. I have predictions as to where the market is headed in the short to medium term, but I am done making trades based on those types of predictions and I want to be done with any sort of options or shorting.

Despite this great week for me, I do not normally beat the market overall since I have been conservative in my bets, so everyone riding this market up has probably been doing better than me so far. I have been getting smooth bond-like returns recently but without much correlation to overvalued equities or bonds. Obviously a bad move vs. riding the melt-up over the past year, but could turn into a good move if this is the start of a bear market.

ertyu
Posts: 2893
Joined: Sun Nov 13, 2016 2:31 am

Re: Investments Trade Log

Post by ertyu »

bought lots of GDX. On the one hand, ATH (well, close to. Bought at 32.08). On the other hand, corona. ?? Did I fuck up do you think.

Dream of Freedom
Posts: 753
Joined: Wed Aug 29, 2012 5:58 pm
Location: Nebraska, US

Re: Investments Trade Log

Post by Dream of Freedom »

Anybody think of any good coronavirus plays? Sure, I have some exposure to Corona through Constellation Brands and I like that brand of beer but I'm not sure it's quite the same. ;)

Lucky C
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Joined: Sat Apr 16, 2016 6:09 am

Re: Investments Trade Log

Post by Lucky C »

Switched to IAU instead of GLD after realizing IAU fees are only 0.25% vs. GLD 0.40%.

An idea I have for COVID-19-based trading would be to avoid countries where the virus has not yet hit or where it is growing exponentially (fear will grow) and buy stocks in countries where the growth rate is heading toward zero, if you trust the numbers (fear will subside). This is assuming it will continue along the path as a pandemic. A safer bet would be to wait until the population is saturated if containment fails, and half the population is infected, all out panic, etc., but we don't know if that will happen. China reported infection growth rate is now near zero but are those numbers real and will there be a second wave after they try to return to work? Anyway that's my thinking since waves of fear vs. greed will crest at different times in different countries. Won't work if fear continues to hit all world markets at once and/or we enter global recession. If that happens I will be happy to have my cash & gold.

Jason

Re: Investments Trade Log

Post by Jason »

Zoom Video was the one holding I had that remained in the green throughout this event. Jim Cramer recommended Clorox. Someone else recommended Tencent because the entire country is stuck at home playing video games. Or throat fucking bats I imagine. I wouldn't know. I read a third party email from a person in Italy. The world is not going to be kind to this. Bob Iger resigned. I'm sure he had it planned but at at least he won't be the face of first quarter earning results. Sorry Lemur. For what its worth my stock ticker looked like Kermit The Frog getting anally raped by a parade of Chinese Red flags over a 48 hour period.

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Lemur
Posts: 1612
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2016 1:40 am
Location: USA

Re: Investments Trade Log

Post by Lemur »

@ToFi

None of my positions were hedged. Unfortunately, I think I became a statistic to irrational exuberance. I should have known better :/ . On the flip side, this spurred me into action and I learned a lot about covered calls, buying puts, shorting....just reading and watching tons of videos. Also learning about all those greek symbols. We learn more from our mistakes sometimes then our gains.

@Jason

lol. The laugh I got from that is worth more then my call options at the moment so its definitely worth something.

Lucky C
Posts: 755
Joined: Sat Apr 16, 2016 6:09 am

Re: Investments Trade Log

Post by Lucky C »

DVYE and DVYA ETFs look appealing to me compared to broad international/EM ETFs due to their concentration in high dividend & low valuation countries and sectors. DVYE top country holding is Taiwan (about 2/3 is Taiwan + BRIC) and DVYA top country by far is Australia (about 3/4 is Australia + Hong Kong).

But if the virus isn't going to peak for several months in most countries, and if there were already significant risks of many countries entering recession (or global recession) even before the outbreak, it might not be wise to jump into one of these funds for a "safe" 6% yield after they've only been knocked down 10%.

thedollar
Posts: 257
Joined: Tue Feb 21, 2017 4:07 am

Re: Investments Trade Log

Post by thedollar »

Things are getting interesting...

I might pick up Royal Caribbean Cruises and Carnival this week or start of next week. Great companies and I will hold 5+ yrs. Don't think corona will impact long term prospects.

Also looking at Marriott, Hilton and Intercontinental Hotels. They seem to be quality companies with awesome brands but they haven't drop enough to become attractive (yet).

Lucky C
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Joined: Sat Apr 16, 2016 6:09 am

Re: Investments Trade Log

Post by Lucky C »

Gilead's Remdesivir drug showed promise in treating COVID-19 based on one US case. Clinical trials started a couple weeks ago in China. I read clinical trials are starting in Taiwan and the FDA approved phase 3 trials. Meanwhile Alex Azar testified that the private sector needs to make money vs. the govt forcing vaccines and treatments to be made affordable for all Americans.

So GILD has been doing very well amid the selloff and is at another +6% pre-market. Still well below its highs in 2015 and a decent dividend too. Seems like a decent place to put a small bet with a stop in place in case remdesivir turns out to be a dud.

ToFI
Posts: 136
Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2011 1:22 am

Re: Investments Trade Log

Post by ToFI »

just a reminder for retired folks, don't speculate based on short term noise.
Gilead Sciences, Inc. (GILD) is in a downhill slide for 5 years already. It's not wise to go against a tide.

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Seppia
Posts: 2016
Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2016 9:34 am
Location: South Florida

Re: Investments Trade Log

Post by Seppia »

Some oil stocks are getting very interesting.
I would have already bought some RDSA if it weren’t my second largest holding* already (used to be THE largest but not any more :) )
Keeping an eye on Siemens and may add some more Rio Tinto.


*among single stocks

ToFI
Posts: 136
Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2011 1:22 am

Re: Investments Trade Log

Post by ToFI »

This crazy market drop has to stop soon. For couple days, the market was trying to squeeze some positive gain in the morning and it turned red in the second half of the day. SP500 is already downed 12% . I know the valuation of US market is elevated but Chinese stock market bottomed at around -11% then bounced back slowly. I can't guarantee this is a true bottom because the infection rate can reverse in China once people are back to work. North American stock markets are much higher quality than Chinese stock market and should drop the same % if not less. The hygiene habit is also much better in developed world than in China. I don't think we'll get as many cases in US as in China. There's a reason for Chinese investors to panic because new cases number exploded in Wuhan during the Chinese new year where many people gathered together. How many new cases we have in US now? Around 60.

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Seppia
Posts: 2016
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Location: South Florida

Re: Investments Trade Log

Post by Seppia »

Likely many many more.
In first world countries there seems to be a direct correlation between tests taken and number of cases.
Ie italy ran 10.000 tests and has 450 cases, while in Japan you can get tested only if you’ve had a fever for 4 days - hence much less cases.
Korea tested 35.000 people, the most outside of China, and not surprisingly they’re the country with the most cases.

In the USA they simply didn’t test a lot (hardly at all). Plus the way trump is handling this doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence: it feels like he’s treating it as a PR and stock market isse (ie: pence needs to vet communications on the virus before they are released to the public, Mnuchkin and Kudlow are on the team).
This is the first non self-inflicted crisis Team Trump has to deal with, and I don’t have a great feeling about it.

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Lemur
Posts: 1612
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Re: Investments Trade Log

Post by Lemur »

@ToFI

It does seem a bit exaggerated but at the same time, the market has been over-valued for a long time now. It was a flimsy house of cards and all it needed was a catalyst to start knocking it down.

Still I hold because I'm not lucky. You either die a bull or live long enough to buy puts at the bottom lol.

classical_Liberal
Posts: 2283
Joined: Sun Mar 20, 2016 6:05 am

Re: Investments Trade Log

Post by classical_Liberal »

I actually did some buying today. I had half of my 2020 roth contribution still sitting in cash, after using the other half to buy IAU earlier this week. I pulled the trigger on a small medical REIT I'd been watching GMRE, and VNQ. I've been looking to increase REIT exposure and they all got hammered today, even more so than the general market. A couple $1500 buys doesn't really mean much, but it feels good to make some moves in such a dramatic environment.

Looks like we blew threw the 200-day moving average. If tomorrow is another bloodbath, I'm wondering if the next real support isn't all the way down at Dec 2018 lows? If I'm recalling correctly that was around S&P 2400? I've been hoarding cash for awhile, it's about a third of my portfolio. If downtrend continues I'll probably look at making more moves around 2600.

wolf
Posts: 1102
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Location: Germany

Re: Investments Trade Log

Post by wolf »

I bought two real estate stocks yesterday, unluckily right before the selloff in the afternoon. But that investment was part of my overall monthly DCA strategy, which I plan to follow into the years 2024-2026 anyway. I'm sitting on about 40% cash. Maybe I buy a bigger portion when stocks are down 25% percent from the top. Anyway, it hurts to see my investment account to decrease in total price.

Lucky C
Posts: 755
Joined: Sat Apr 16, 2016 6:09 am

Re: Investments Trade Log

Post by Lucky C »

classical_Liberal wrote:
Fri Feb 28, 2020 12:55 am
Looks like we blew threw the 200-day moving average.
Potentially important, depending on how popular it is now to sell based on 200-DMA at the end of the month. Are Meb Faber's followers going to hurt chances of a March Madness comeback?

Dream of Freedom
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Re: Investments Trade Log

Post by Dream of Freedom »

I just took the opportunity of the selloff to add to some long term holdings JCAP, BA, and PPL.

jacob
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Re: Investments Trade Log

Post by jacob »

I took some tax losses today and switched a major portion of my NW (almost 10%) into BRK.B. Please don't die, Warren or Charlie!

This, incidentally, is the first day of this week where I've done relatively worse than the market indexes in either of my two [big] portfolios. Today, the matrix looks like overall panic + chip sector gains and I'm not that into chips. I think that explains it.

PS: I don't understand why the weapons sector has been hit so hard? Low oil prices => less reason to go to war?!

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