Overlords Investment Conclave [OIC] Recruitment Thread

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Mon Apr 27, 2020 11:08 am

I'm sure that's part of it. They're also due to report on Wednesday, and earnings weeks for TSLA are always nuts. We know based on the P&D data already released that Q1 was less shitty than feared.

All that said, I wouldn't be surprised to see it back in the $600s this week, or the $900s.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Mon Apr 27, 2020 11:13 am

Zaxxon wrote: ↑Mon Apr 27, 2020 11:08 am All that said, I wouldn't be surprised to see it back in the $600s this week, or the $900s.

Me either. If it happens in the right order, I'll be back at 4 shares with an extra few hundred dollars in pocket.

If not I could either have an extra $1600 in pocket or be back at four shares or be exactly where I am at. TSLA roulette has been very good to me so I will keep playing with my four shares on house money. I will say that if it gets in the $900s I end up with a sellers remorse that I go down to one share... Until it falls again...

Edit: Stunned F is at 5.15 right now. If this holds out, my two units of covered calls are going to get sold easy for May 15. Never would have guessed. But I'll have made money that will eventually get funneled in to CDs or Indexes, so I can't complain. If my bad assessments always made me +30% or so in two months, I'da retired years ago.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Tue Apr 28, 2020 5:26 pm

Yegads, not a great report for Ford.

Net loss of $2B this quarter, with a worse outlook for Q2 ($5B loss projected). Of course much of this is due to COVID-19, but this is far below consensus estimates. Will be an interesting barometer for Tesla's report tomorrow.

All that said, I've never been one to give too much credence to analyst consensus, as they're just guessing...

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Thu Apr 30, 2020 9:31 am

looks like I'm going back down to 1 share of TSLA today. Though my account doesn't show a sale, even though 850 came and went. Either way I'm good.

Edit: Now I'm at one share. Set to buy 1@700 and 1@650

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Thu Apr 30, 2020 9:39 am

LordMortis wrote: ↑Thu Apr 30, 2020 9:31 am looks like I'm going back down to 1 share of TSLA today. Though my account doesn't show a sale, even though 850 came and went. Either way I'm good.

Edit: Now I'm at one share.

It was a crazy evening in TSLA. Reported a (small) 1st-quarter profit, their first ever 1Q profit. They were trending toward an all-time high production/delivery quarter (in seasonally-weakest Q1!) before the lockdown.

That's now 3 profitable quarters in a row, although Q2 will necessarily be a disaster due entirely to the Fremont factory having been down for 5 weeks and likely to remain closed for at least a couple more weeks. Model Y already positive GM, Model 3 Shanghai nearing Fremont margins, etc etc. And then Musk had to go off the rails about the lockdown again, calling the local gov't fascist, etc.

Mr. Market seems to be ignoring the rant for now, and I understand why Musk wants to push for the factory to open under COVID precautions (as they've done in Shanghai apparently well). But he's clearly off the deep end with his messaging.

pr0ner · Post by **pr0ner** » Fri May 01, 2020 1:20 pm

LOL, Elon Musk.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Fri May 01, 2020 1:35 pm

He's nuts or on something, for sure. Or both.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Mon May 04, 2020 9:53 am

I apparently bought a share back at $700 when I wasn't paying attention. I'm now back up to 2 shares. I have orders in to both buy and sell.

(Also bought my 2 year CDs at .5%... Mostly funded by TSLA buy and sells, so that's good at least... Until tax time...)

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Thu May 07, 2020 4:27 pm

Fascinating interactive breakdown of Norway's sovereign wealth fund.

https://www.nbim.no/en/the-fund/holding ... lsize=true

pr0ner · Post by **pr0ner** » Fri May 08, 2020 5:01 pm

This stock market rally is heavily tech stock driven. NASDAQ finished today on the positive side of the ledger year to date (still about 700 points off its high in February before the stock market came crashing down). The DOW, however, is still down over 4500 points for the year (and about 5200 points off its own high in February), and the S&P is down about 300 points (about 450 off of its February peak).

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Tue May 12, 2020 9:33 am

LordMortis wrote: ↑Mon May 04, 2020 9:53 am I apparently bought a share back at $700 when I wasn't paying attention. I'm now back up to 2 shares. I have orders in to both buy and sell.

(Also bought my 2 year CDs at .5%... Mostly funded by TSLA buy and sells, so that's good at least... Until tax time...)

Opening hot this morning. If it it breaks $850 again, I go back down to one share and will raise my buy one share back limit order up to $700.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Fri May 22, 2020 9:44 am

It's looking probable that my 2 covered calls for F at 5.50 will go today. I picked up the shares at 4.70, made $60 from not selling them in a covered call and will make $30 for making $.80 a share. I can't complain. The Bonus will be that FIFO will sell them as if the are a loss from the initial shares bought $15+, which should counteract some of the gains taxes from riding the TSLA roller-coaster.

Options trading has been fun but as the market rises, I'm not sure it's a game I want to play. It does encourage me to buy stocks in lots of 100 but short of Ford at under $5 a share, finding stocks I can afford and am willing to buy isn't really feasible.

(And no I don't want to get the game of trading calls for stocks I don't own, unless I want to actually buy those stocks. That's a game I'm not comfortable with at all)

In related news, looking at two year CDs, I'm seeing .2%. I'm sure there's way better if I'm willing to spend the effort to research and move money and open accounts, but damn. I thought the 1% barrier was extreme. I'm still doing CDs because I want that income stream if things hit the shitter for my ability to pay bills but it's getting hard to pull the trigger to tie up money for that long for what is pretty close to nothing in return. I might pull the plug on sustaining (and growing) a CD ladder if this holds.

Edit: In the time it took to type this F goes from 5.73 to 5.58. Probable is now looking like might, just like that.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Fri May 22, 2020 11:05 am

I had SDC covered calls exercised the Monday before expiration a few weeks ago. Was planning to roll them but whatever.Funny thing, it shot up 25% the next day and then fell to below the Monday price the day after that. Something definitely hinky going on there. But I was happy with the money so it can do whatever.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Mon May 25, 2020 7:03 pm

From my account. It pretty much described me perfectly (except in fractional share trading and sports book and I've put in no new money since late March for fear because intermittent furloughs are terrifying. Also I'm selling calls, not buying them). That's probably not good.

By Randall W. Forsyth

A funny thing is happening while we're holed up at home. In addition to binge-watching and bread-baking, day trading among individual investors has taken off.

A full-blown retail mania has taken hold in buying and selling small lots of stocks and options, says Jim Bianco, head of the eponymous Bianco Research, who over the years has been in front of the big trends in markets, in part because he watches things that conventional indicators don't pick up.

The day-trading trend has been powered both by changes in the online brokerage business and the coronavirus crisis. That, along with a confidence among these small traders that stocks' plunge in March would elicit forceful action by the Federal Reserve to reverse the declines, persuaded them to get in on the expected bounce.

First, spurred by the upstart app-based Robinhood trading platform aimed at millennials and Gen Zers, zero commissions became the rule -- one embraced last year by giants Charles Schwab (ticker: SCHW), Fidelity Investments , E*Trade Financial (ETFC), and Interactive Brokers (IBKR).

More recently, Schwab and Fidelity announced that they would follow another innovation of this upstart -- permitting trades of fractional shares, letting small guys get a piece of highflying stocks priced in the hundreds or thousands of dollars. As a Robinhood ad touted, "Got .3 shares of tesla stock today. Little by little."

Then came the shutdown of much of the economy, the quarantining at home for most of us, and the halt in sports and online gambling. So, Bianco argues, punters switched to stocks.

In addition, many Americans -- including those with moderate incomes -- used their coronavirus stimulus checks to trade stocks, according to data from Envest Yodlee, a finance aggregator, which compared recipients' bank transfers with those of people who didn't receive the federal payments. It found that the third-biggest jump in bank transfers for those with incomes of $35,000 to $75,000 -- behind only savings and cash withdrawals -- was for securities trades, CNBC.com reported. Even households in the $100,000-to-$150,000 income range stepped up their transfers for trading.

Unlike past manias, which have been fed by momentum traders cashing in on an uptrend, this one has been fueled by motivators known as TINA and FOMO, Bianco continued. The Fed's aggressive slashing of interest rates to near zero led investors to conclude that "there is no alternative" to stocks. And the trillions the central bank pumped into the financial system stoked "fear of missing out" on the stock market rebound they correctly anticipated.

Traders jumped on the most beaten-down, lowest-priced shares, with the expectation that they could score the biggest percentage pops. These bettors piled into airlines, which are getting federal assistance -- ironically the opposite of the tack taken by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), which dumped its airline holdings. The top Robinhood trader positions are Ford Motor (F) and General Electric (GE), which are near their lows, with single-digit prices. Also stepped up: bets on Covid-19 treatments from Sorrento Therapeutics (SRNE) and Moderna (MRNA).

Even more, these speculators also have piled into options. Citing data from Sentimentrader, Bianco describes small options trades of fewer than 10 contracts as being overwhelmingly bullish, with buying of calls or selling of puts.

The frenzied trading of stocks and options by erstwhile sports bettors worries Liz Ann Sonders, Schwab's chief investment strategist. Even though her employer is benefiting from the surge in new accounts and trading volume, she views it as a sign of speculative excess.

And E*Trade, wary of all the money coming from inexperienced investors, is running ads showing bears shopping in a supermarket, with the message that if this is your idea of a bear market, trading isn't for you.

To Bianco, what he terms the retail mania has been a major driver of stocks' 30% retracement from their March lows. He contends that it's a bear-market rally, not the start of a new bull market.

And now, the National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball are preparing to start play, with the National Football League set to follow in the fall. Will the new day traders stick around when there are games to bet on again?

Write to Randall W. Forsyth at

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Mon May 25, 2020 7:19 pm

I like to check out Robintrack for this. Or this. Or this.

Everyone doing it doesn't make it smart.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Mon May 25, 2020 7:30 pm

LawBeefaroni wrote:
Everyone doing it doesn't make it smart.

More often signifies the opposite in my experience.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Mon May 25, 2020 8:32 pm

LawBeefaroni wrote: ↑Mon May 25, 2020 7:19 pm Everyone doing it doesn't make it smart.

The implication is that I am part of a larger mania and it will come back to bite me. I have started essentially gambling. I've scratched the surface of options and watching daily and selling... and buying and selling. It's actually been good to me, though I know there's going to be another shoe drop.

Funny thing is "TINA" as they say is where I'm at and wondering what I'm to do. I have CDs maturing which just don't make sense to tie up money for small fractions of a percent and now that I'm coming off furloughs, money will be coming in again, where does it go? My savings account may as well be under the mattress. But then, maybe under the mattress is where it should be. I dunno.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Wed May 27, 2020 12:40 pm

OK, so I'm unhappy. I'm looking at my gain/loss for selling my covered call for F and it lists "Wash Sale Adj" and takes all of my FIFO losses away (which would go along way toward covering that gains I've been making riding the Tesla rollercoaster)

"The rule defines a wash sale as one that occurs when an individual sells or trades a security at a loss and, within 30 days before or after this sale, buys a “substantially identical” stock or security, or acquires a contract or option to do so"

So now I'm trying to understand if those losses have been liquidated or returned to the "unrealized" state.

This also puts a damper on my plans for Options trading and covered calls is the only way I intend so sell options and buying back stock that I sold via covered call needs to be on the table. <harumph>

Also among other things I bought a single share of LOW in March. Driving home from work yesterday after I performed my "essential functions" I saw Home Depot had a nearly 100% full parking lot. I was thinking, So what if my lone LOW share is up 33% since March, maybe I should buy more even just a 2nd share. I won't but damned I want to.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Wed May 27, 2020 1:32 pm

How did you open the sold call? With a dual order for buy 100 shares and sell 1 call? If so the broker may have lotted them together when exercised. I'm pretty sure you can go in and adjust adjust your tax lots to fix this.

FIFO is usually the default but of you did a dual order to open maybe FIFO was overridden.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Wed May 27, 2020 1:40 pm

LawBeefaroni wrote: ↑Wed May 27, 2020 1:32 pm How did you open the sold call? With a dual order for buy 100 shares and sell 1 call? If so the broker may have lotted them together when exercised. But I'm pretty sure you can go in and adjust adjust your tax lots.

FIFO is usually the default but of you did a dual order to open maybe FIFO was overridden.

I bought 200 shares of F and then proceed open two call options to sell. Once those options sold, I bought 200 more shares for less than my options sold.

Under cost basis it list

Assign Sell.FIFO 200 xxxxx show a substantial loss based on prices from 2014 Long
Wash Sale Adj [200] xxxxx negate that loss by showing a positive for the exact amount loss Long

That's simple to read.

Under unrealized gain/loss I can't tell what's up.

No matter, my ignorance screws my whole plan for taxes next year and my fear is in doing so I reap the bonus of having that unrealized loss liquidated. (the fear is also rooted in ignorance)

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Thu Jun 04, 2020 12:33 pm

I should be happy that I made all of these purchases to make covered calls and they're selling. But the thing is, I bought this stuff on the low instead of buying more indexes, with the idea that I would mark them up huge, they wouldn't sell and then I'd do it again and again. But when F jumps from 5.00 to 6.30, my outrageous ask of 5.5 ends and picking up a few hundred dollar, leaving not wanting to get back in again that price at this point in time, while also missing the index lows.

I'm making money on these sorts of sales everywhere but I am loathe to put money back in right now. It's looking like all my F covered calls are going to go, like my IRM covered call might go, and I'm back down to 1 share of TSLA, and my few shares of SPOT sold off (way too early)... and it's all still rising. I don't understand. Even if COVID 19 impacts are over (and it's not) there is still going to be masses of bankruptcies and bailouts coming, to say nothing of the social upheaval deep rooted in racial bias supported institutionally that isn't going anywhere. When this is all said and done, the upheaval over corrections will have made me about $4,000 before taxes, forcing me to cashout at every entry except allowing me to take small positions in MS and AAPL which I could never warrant before and increasing my indexes a fraction as what I consider to be bargain prices (mainly VT between $67 and $72 on the ride down).

I wish I had more money to have gambled the roller coaster and that I was smart enough to see how to take advantage of the opportunities (long term or short term) that I am sure must abound right now. I really don't get this rally at all.

And I just can't force myself to keep building my CD ladder when 2 year CDs are paying .2%

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Fri Jun 05, 2020 9:21 am

I've always thought earnings guidance (and analyst estimates!) was the stupid, but never really looked into it. Apparently I am not alone. Be nice if the trend continued.

Barry Diller calls for an end to ‘absurd’ earnings guidance, says his firms won’t do it anymore

Barry Diller, chairman of Expedia and digital media group IAC, told CNBC on Friday the two companies will no longer provide earnings guidance.

“Guidance is a bad business. We’re out. We’re not doing it anymore,” the billionaire businessman told “Squawk Box.”

Diller said the amount of time companies spend to develop guidance is “wasteful” and that employees’ time would be better spent “actually doing some work.” “The whole thing is nuts,″ he added.

Many companies suspended earnings guidance due to the uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Diller said it gave Expedia and IAC the opportunity to say it would no longer be issuing it and he wants other corporations to do the same.

...

Companies spend too much time massaging the process, getting the model right, so that they can always beat, not miss expectations, and the markets are always reactionary on that wildly short-term, dumbness of what happened in the next quarter,” Diller said, adding the models are “based on a phony premise.”

“You cannot predict the future. Full stop,” he said.

Expedia Group’s brands include Expedia, Hotels.com, and Trivago, while IAC’s brands include Ask.com, video-sharing service Vimeo and news site The Daily Beast.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Fri Jun 05, 2020 9:31 am

Well, of course he's say that, Expedia is dead right now.

No, you can't predict the future but equities markets and nearly all the derivatives are predicated on guessing the future. For all the issues with guidance, it's the only thing companies can do to communicate their plans and expected performance to investors.

Diller also proposed monthly earnings reports (he joked about weekly or daily). Like that wouldn't involve extra work.

Analyst estimates are indeed dumb and often great conflicts of interest but they are big business. We're seeing them become less important as social media allows for "distributed analysis".

SMAR was a great example of this yesterday. A lot of social media bears predicted it and analysts were left scrambling, reissuing price targets and hold ratings.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Fri Jun 05, 2020 9:40 am

LordMortis wrote: ↑Thu Jun 04, 2020 12:33 pm
I wish I had more money to have gambled the roller coaster and that I was smart enough to see how to take advantage of the opportunities (long term or short term) that I am sure must abound right now. I really don't get this rally at all.

I got a few LEAPS in F and PBR back in the beginning of April. Cheap long term bets.

F Jan 2022 $7 C
PBR Jan 2021 $8 C

(I also had orders in for MSFT 2022 but they didn't fill.)

I imagine while you're trading covered calls, some LEAPS sitting in the background would assuage any FOMO.

I missed out not loading up on PBR shares but the call options have tripled I think? Some consolation. And while I have a ton of F, most of it is over $7. Those calls effectively brought my average down.

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Fri Jun 05, 2020 9:45 am

LawBeefaroni wrote: ↑Fri Jun 05, 2020 9:31 am Well, of course he's say that, Expedia is dead right now.

No, you can't predict the future but equities markets and nearly all the derivatives are predicated on guessing the future. For all the issues with guidance, it's the only thing companies can do to communicate their plans and expected performance to investors.

Diller also proposed monthly earnings reports (he joked about weekly or daily). Like that wouldn't involve extra work.

As the article states, Berkshire Hathaway doesn't issue guidance and Buffet and Dimon teamed up to call for an end to it. Their businesses aren't dead.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Fri Jun 05, 2020 9:50 am

LawBeefaroni wrote: ↑Fri Jun 05, 2020 9:40 am I missed out not loading up on PBR shares but the call options have tripled I think? Some consolation. And while I have a ton of F, most of it is over $7. Those calls effectively brought my average down.

I dunno about the PBR I'm not made of money and I'm can't watch and try to educate myself about too many things.

The expensive F I have a lot of I am not letting go. The F money I've made is buying a $4.50 and apparently not being able to warrant buying enough. I bought 2 lots of 200 so I could sell covered calls. When the first covered call went for $5.50 I let the price come back down to $5.00 and bought it back to sell calls again at $6. While I'm holding my way more expensive shares, I'm not paying $6.30+ for more in this market when Ford is losing money and people aren't driving cars and production is on again off again without a supplychain that can be counted on.

LEAPS aren't in my wheelhouse yet. I'm trying not to learn to many hard lessons in "whelp, I guess I won't be doing that again." I've had enough of those already.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Fri Jun 05, 2020 9:51 am

stessier wrote: ↑Fri Jun 05, 2020 9:45 am
LawBeefaroni wrote: ↑Fri Jun 05, 2020 9:31 am Well, of course he's say that, Expedia is dead right now.

No, you can't predict the future but equities markets and nearly all the derivatives are predicated on guessing the future. For all the issues with guidance, it's the only thing companies can do to communicate their plans and expected performance to investors.

Diller also proposed monthly earnings reports (he joked about weekly or daily). Like that wouldn't involve extra work.
As the article states, Berkshire Hathaway doesn't issue guidance and Buffet and Dimon teamed up to call for an end to it. Their businesses aren't dead.

Sure Buffet and Dimon don't like giving guidance to shareholders. But do you think Geico doesn't report guidance to BRK? Do you think every JPM division doesn't submit some kind of predictive report on a regular basis?

I'm fine if it goes away but it's just taking another tool away from shareholders.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Fri Jun 05, 2020 9:53 am

I'm not paying $6.30+

Make that $7+. The money left on the table is hard to swallow, but I need console myself that I made money and got out even if it is only the level of money that can be made from my budget.

I do not get this market at all. Basically nothing yield savings it is. I can't even justify pumping up index holdings with the sales I've made. If just doesn't make sense to me that we believe the strength and outlook of these businesses en masse are where we were in February. (F aside)

pr0ner · Post by **pr0ner** » Fri Jun 05, 2020 9:59 am

This is just why I tend to buy and hold stocks/mutual funds and don't mess with options trading whatsoever.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Fri Jun 05, 2020 10:10 am

pr0ner wrote: ↑Fri Jun 05, 2020 9:59 am This is just why I tend to buy and hold stocks/mutual funds and don't mess with options trading whatsoever.

I figured what I bought, I was comfortable buying at discount and then I set what I thought were ridiculously high covered calls. At the time, my though was I'd be good making money and getting out or making $20 a month on ridiculous asks. I just need to remind myself that I was OK with the idea of putting in $900 to walk away with $1100 two weeks later two weeks ago.

IRM is going hurt watching it go, though. I bought for $22 (and on my budget that broke that bank of all my free TSLA money). Sold a covered call for $30 because there was no way IRM would hit $30 and at $22, their dividend was pretty (hitting damned near 10%) But it's downright weird to say making $800+ hurts. (Note the call isn't until the 19th so it is not outside the realm of possibility the world shifts gears between now and then)

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Fri Jun 05, 2020 10:10 am

LawBeefaroni wrote: ↑Fri Jun 05, 2020 9:51 am
stessier wrote: ↑Fri Jun 05, 2020 9:45 am
LawBeefaroni wrote: ↑Fri Jun 05, 2020 9:31 am Well, of course he's say that, Expedia is dead right now.

No, you can't predict the future but equities markets and nearly all the derivatives are predicated on guessing the future. For all the issues with guidance, it's the only thing companies can do to communicate their plans and expected performance to investors.

Diller also proposed monthly earnings reports (he joked about weekly or daily). Like that wouldn't involve extra work.
As the article states, Berkshire Hathaway doesn't issue guidance and Buffet and Dimon teamed up to call for an end to it. Their businesses aren't dead.
Sure Buffet and Dimon don't like giving guidance to shareholders. But do you think Geico doesn't report guidance to BRK? Do you think every JPM division doesn't submit some kind of predictive report on a regular basis?

I'm fine if it goes away but it's just taking another tool away from shareholders.

Yes, and every division has an OP plan they work towards. But issuing guidance leads to managing to hit the numbers instead of managing the best way for the business. I see it every day.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Fri Jun 05, 2020 10:21 am

LawBeefaroni wrote: ↑Fri Jun 05, 2020 9:51 am
stessier wrote: ↑Fri Jun 05, 2020 9:45 am
LawBeefaroni wrote: ↑Fri Jun 05, 2020 9:31 am Well, of course he's say that, Expedia is dead right now.

No, you can't predict the future but equities markets and nearly all the derivatives are predicated on guessing the future. For all the issues with guidance, it's the only thing companies can do to communicate their plans and expected performance to investors.

Diller also proposed monthly earnings reports (he joked about weekly or daily). Like that wouldn't involve extra work.
As the article states, Berkshire Hathaway doesn't issue guidance and Buffet and Dimon teamed up to call for an end to it. Their businesses aren't dead.
Sure Buffet and Dimon don't like giving guidance to shareholders. But do you think Geico doesn't report guidance to BRK? Do you think every JPM division doesn't submit some kind of predictive report on a regular basis?

I'm fine if it goes away but it's just taking another tool away from shareholders.

I agree. However, it is a metric that has devolved a bit and many CEOs end up having to chase it around (well the COO/CFO do tbh). I'd rather have them focus on strategy instead of these tactical quarterly/annual targets personally. Maybe reserve them for companies that need more granularity.

Edit: And everything stessier just said.

pr0ner · Post by **pr0ner** » Fri Jun 05, 2020 10:28 am

LordMortis wrote: ↑Fri Jun 05, 2020 10:10 am
pr0ner wrote: ↑Fri Jun 05, 2020 9:59 am This is just why I tend to buy and hold stocks/mutual funds and don't mess with options trading whatsoever.
I figured what I bought, I was comfortable buying at discount and then I set what I thought were ridiculously high covered calls. At the time, my though was I'd be good making money and getting out or making $20 a month on ridiculous asks. I just need to remind myself that I was OK with the idea of putting in $900 to walk away with $1100 two weeks later two weeks ago.

IRM is going hurt watching it go, though. I bought for $22 (and on my budget that broke that bank of all my free TSLA money). Sold a covered call for $30 because there was no way IRM would hit $30 and at $22, their dividend was pretty (hitting damned near 10%) But it's downright weird to say making $800+ hurts. (Note the call isn't until the 19th so it is not outside the realm of possibility the world shifts gears between now and then)

This feels like way too much fretting to me over a few hundred bucks. Am I misinterpreting your situation?

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Fri Jun 05, 2020 10:51 am

pr0ner wrote: ↑Fri Jun 05, 2020 10:28 am This feels like way too much fretting to me over a few hundred bucks. Am I misinterpreting your situation?

You are not misinterpreting. You are right it is too much fretting but a few hundred bucks is a lot me. It took me 20+ years of building a 401k and then six years of building a personal savings/portfolio making some very bad decisions at the beginning to get where I'm comfortable even dipping my toe in this water and that toe dipping only happened because I watched the market lurch in March.

noxiousdog · Post by **noxiousdog** » Fri Jun 05, 2020 11:02 am

LordMortis wrote: ↑Fri Jun 05, 2020 10:51 am
pr0ner wrote: ↑Fri Jun 05, 2020 10:28 am This feels like way too much fretting to me over a few hundred bucks. Am I misinterpreting your situation?
You are not misinterpreting. You are right it is too much fretting but a few hundred bucks is a lot me. It took me 20+ years of building a 401k and then six years of building a personal savings/portfolio making some very bad decisions at the beginning to get where I'm comfortable even dipping my toe in this water and that toe dipping only happened because I watched the market lurch in March.

Then you shouldn't be trading options.

pr0ner · Post by **pr0ner** » Fri Jun 05, 2020 11:37 am

LordMortis wrote: ↑Fri Jun 05, 2020 10:51 am
pr0ner wrote: ↑Fri Jun 05, 2020 10:28 am This feels like way too much fretting to me over a few hundred bucks. Am I misinterpreting your situation?
You are not misinterpreting. You are right it is too much fretting but a few hundred bucks is a lot me. It took me 20+ years of building a 401k and then six years of building a personal savings/portfolio making some very bad decisions at the beginning to get where I'm comfortable even dipping my toe in this water and that toe dipping only happened because I watched the market lurch in March.

Yeah, I would agree with nox. I'm not sure options trading is really the right thing to do if you're fretting over hundreds of dollars.

I mean, I have a lot more money invested, and I don't do options trading because I don't understand it at all and don't particularly want to learn. I understand how to short a stock, but I'm even hesitant to do that. I buy well established stocks/mutual funds, hold them long, reinvest the dividends (no stock I currently own fails to pay a dividend), and ride it out. There are the occasional hiccups and bumps along the way, but set and (generally) forget is a much less stressful strategy.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Thu Jun 11, 2020 9:37 am

After all the gains I didn't understand since Memorial Day, the market seems to be in a bit of a route this morning. Of course a route just means it dropped back to where it was a week ago.

pr0ner · Post by **pr0ner** » Thu Jun 11, 2020 9:54 am

LordMortis wrote: ↑Thu Jun 11, 2020 9:37 am After all the gains I didn't understand since Memorial Day, the market seems to be in a bit of a route this morning. Of course a route just means it dropped back to where it was a week ago.

Spike in COVID cases + Jerome Powell's speech yesterday set the stage for a bad day. A friend who works in finance thinks it may open up the possibility of a continued slide like February/March.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Thu Jun 11, 2020 10:12 am

pr0ner wrote: ↑Thu Jun 11, 2020 9:54 am
LordMortis wrote: ↑Thu Jun 11, 2020 9:37 am After all the gains I didn't understand since Memorial Day, the market seems to be in a bit of a route this morning. Of course a route just means it dropped back to where it was a week ago.
Spike in COVID cases + Jerome Powell's speech yesterday set the stage for a bad day. A friend who works in finance thinks it may open up the possibility of a continued slide like February/March.

That's been my fear. That plus the fear of unemployment is why I've been sitting pat with new money. I have a bunch of money queued to buy (to hold) on a dip. I'm beginning to second guess myself, as if I should queue it buy deeper. I essentially bought a lot in late March/early April, and then have made exceptionally few moves since then and those moves have all been straight up gambling more than anything else.

Edit: Looks like I picked up a few shares of OTEX, CVS, and VT this morning...

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Thu Jun 18, 2020 11:00 am

So KR opens up dropping 5% on news that its earning exceed expectations concurrent with COVID 19 blooming across the south. I don't get it. I'm also picking up 20 share of KR this morning because I'm not smart. I'll take 2% dividends on a company that should continue strong in current situation or selling those shares at a $34 reactionary spike. I'm good either way. If it drops below 31 then I might divert some more of my outstanding "wait for a dip" orders in to KR.

I also picked up 5 shares of CSCO because gambling.