My confession: My mistakes!

I went into RIMM call options yesterday, making several mistakes in this trade.

1. The stock price should hit 91.50 (my trading criteria), and I entered the trade with 2 call options at 90.90 (first entry).
2. I entered again with my third call option at 90.71, thinking it will hit 91.50 soon.
3. It's the expiration Friday and yet, I bought into the current day expiring options.
4. Volatility was so high that Dow Jones rose more than 120 points and dropped more than 120 points (i.e. 240 points move within 2 hours) later.


I was purely speculating and I lost my own trading rules. And as an experienced trader, I was wrong to do something like this. As a result, I lost US$379 in 2 hours.

My first Google (GOOG)!

At the opening bell, I decided to get into Google (GOOG) today for one stupid reason! I think it will top the $600 mark today!

Indeed, it passed $600 mark before I switched on my laptop at 10.30pm (or 10.30am ET). I decided to buy an October 620 Call option (2 steps out-of-the-money) at when the stock price was slightly below $599 and it cost me $8.30.

With a opening bell gap up of $0.95 and fulfilment of The Chicago Trick slightly at around 1.30pm ET, I continue to hold when GOOG hit new high at 602.41, 602.90, 603.41 then 603.9496.

Time to go to sleep! At $603.51, I sold the position at $9.80 made a $150 profit (18% profit for my first GOOGLE!). GOOG continued to rally to the $609 region and the option i trade hit around $12.50 bid price.

Another Split WIN!

This time round, I profit from the stock splits of NOV (National-Oilwell Varco). I bought into it 'accidentally' on last Friday when I limit the price of $7.80 for the NOVJY (NOV Oct 145 Call). Despite the Ask price then was $8.40, it plunged to execute my trade at $7.80. And then, the call option closed at $5.50.

As always, stock splits will result in the stock price to rise on the execution date (which is Monday ET). I sold it off at $15.00, but the price continue to rally to around $16.00. (although the price rise shouldn't be this much!)

Great! Another stock split win - profit of $720 or 92.3%!!!

P/S: In case, you are wondering how come I claim only $720 profit instead of $950... The reason is the trading platform displayed a daily PnL (as mentioned, the option closed at $5.50 and I exited at $15.00) and hence a $950 closed PnL displayed.