2 Swing Trades + 1 Day Trade (Total: 125 pips)

USD/CAD - Long @ 0.9975, Closed @ 1.0015 (40 pips / 2 days)
EUR/USD - Long @ 1.4657, Closed @ 1.4680 (23 pips / 4 hours)
GBP/USD - Short @ 1.9683, Closed @ 1.9621 (62 pips / 2 days)

Day trade #2 & #3: AUD/JPY & GBP/USD

GBP/USD - Short @ 1.9431, Closed @ 1.9420 (11 pips in 17 minutes)
AUD/JPY - Long @ 96.27, Closed @ 96.31 (4 pips in 26 minutes)

Day trade #1: GBP/JPY - 13 pips in 15 minutes

This is another rare bet on a currency pair that I seldom (or never) trade.


GBP/JPY - Long @ 208.84, Closed @ 208.97 (13 pips in 15 minutes)

p/s: I'm expecting more small wins today since I'll be at home for the whole day!

-23 pips

Today is a bit disappointing - lost more than gain by 23 pips!

USD/JPY - Long @ 106.95, Closed @ 106.98 (+3 pips)
EUR/USD - Short @ 1.4743, Closed @ predetermined stop loss 1.4769 (-26 pips)

p/s: I haven't closed my GBP/USD swing trades!

An hour trade - 28 Pips

I traded for 3 long positions (the 3 typical currency pairs) at around Singapore time 11.30pm. I closed all 3 trades within the next hour!


GBP/USD - Long @ 1.9865, Closed @ 1.9882 (+17 pips)
USD/JPY - Long @ 106.80, Closed @ 106.78 (-2 pips)
EUR/USD - Long @ 1.4781, Closed @ 1.4794 (+13 pips)

Total Net Pips Gained: 28 pips

p/s: I'm still in a swing trade for GBP/USD position since last Thursday!

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.

Option Trade within 12 minutes

The Dow is down again, more than 200 points drop already ('at the time of press').

State Street (STT) missed the earnings estimate. And I profited 9.4% from STT within 12 minutes (in fact, 11 minutes 58 seconds.


STT Jan'08 80 Put (STTMP) - Enter @ 1.60, Exit @ 1.75 (9.4% profit)

NASDAQ Day: RIMM & AAPL - 5% wins!

A triple-digit Dow gain greeted the opening bell, and the market didn’t look back (at least until now).

Anyway, today is my NASDAQ day: I went into Research In Motion (RIMM) and Apple (AAPL), closing both tickers with 5% wins each.


RIMM Jan'08 95 Call (RULAS) - Enter @ 3.80, Exit @ 4.00 (5.3% profit)
AAPL Jan'08 185 Call (APVAQ) - Enter @ 2.31, Exit @ 2.43 (5.2% profit)

p/s: The RIMM was a roller-coaster ride. The lowest option price upon entry was only 2.60.

92 pips in total

The first trade was entered in the movies. This is the first time I executed a trade in the cinema. Before the show 'American Gangster' started, I entered in EUR/USD. During my meeting at Republic Plaza d-coffee shop, the same trade already exited on predetermined profit take. Then I entered into my favourite GBP/USD which also exited on predetermined profit take later.

Here's the results (total 92 pips today):

EUR/USD - Long @ 1.4873 in GV Marina 6, Close @ 1.4904 (31 pips)
GBP/USD - Short @ 1.9626, Close @ 1.9565 (61 pips)

INFY - 6.7% win on a Dow Down Day

The day looked promising at the start, with Bank of America (BAC) confirming the rumored purchase of Countrywide Financial (CFC). However, investors had other things boggling their minds:
1. American Express (AXP) taking a fourth-quarter charge,
2. The New York Times reporting that Merrill Lynch (MER) may have to deal with a substantial write-down in the fourth quarter.

The end result of all this news was a rather sizeable drop of 246 points from the Dow.

For me, I entered into Infosys (INFY) yesterday on this Dow Down Day (DJIA dropped 240+ points). I entered at 1am (Singapore time); I couldn't stay awake till a decent profit take and thus, I placed my profit take and went to sleep.

INFY Jan'08 40 Put (IUNMH) - Enter @ 0.75, Predetermined Exit @ 0.80 (6.7% profit)

My first trade in Malaysia - 7 pips

This is the first time I opened a trade in Malaysia. The trade was opened at Johor Bahru (Permas Jaya) and closed before I headed home after my Money Mastery masterminding session.

USD/CHF - Long @ 1.1130 , Close @ 1.1137 (7 pips)

My favourite GBP/USD - 15 pips

I entered into this trade on my PDA at Novena Square. Yup, it's my favourite forex pair GBP/USD.

GBP/USD - Long @ 1.9814, close @ 1.9829 (15 pips)

2 wins on a single ticker (CRDN)

Been trading forex and backtesting all these while, it's been a long time since I traded options. My last options trade was a $8 win (after comm.) on Citigroup (C) last Monday (19 Nov).

Today, I went in CRDN at 2 separate occassions on a single ticker and scored 2 wins.

CERADYNE (CRDN)
Straight ITM Dec-07 50 Call
(Personal Account) Entry 3.10 Exit 3.40 (9.7% profit within 70 minutes)
(Managed Account) Entry 3.20 Exit 3.40 (6.3% profit within 90 minutes)
My compelling reason to trade: CDRN is upgraded to Buy and target raises to $73!
Day trade based on TCT

M&A in a volatile market

The market was very volatile yesterday. It started slightly in the red, then green a bit, and then red again. By mid-day, Dow Jones was up more than 100 points. But, DJIA finally gave up the gains (ended 55 points compared to Friday close) and break through its 13,000 support level!

Anyway, the trades were all about IBM acquiring COGN for $5 billion. Typically (but not always) the acquired company will gain in stock value and the acquiring company will lose a bit. But apparently, acquiring COGN will bring in great values and investors see this and shoot up IBM stock price.

Another good example of a 'win-win' M&A (merger & acquisition) is the recent BHP Billiton (BHP) and Rio Tinto (RTP) one!

COGNOS (COGN)
Straight ITM Nov-07 52.5 Call
Entry 2,25 Exit 2.50 (11% profit)
Day trade based on TCT

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINE (IBM)
Straight ITM Nov-07 100 Call
Entry 4.00 Exit 4.50 (12.5% profit)
Day trade based on my 'revised' TCT

Anyway, I lost US$700 (for 2 contracts) on my personal account for GOOGLE (GOOG), since it dropped more than 100 points over the past few days. Fortunately, I don't trade stocks (otherwise, 2 lots x 100 points loss = $20,000!!!).

Winning Tuesday!

The night started red yesterday. I closed a position in the red for VRTX. But the market 'greened' up for me after that.

I had my first position in my managed account.

MASTERCARD (MA)
Straight ITM Nov-07 195 Call
Entry 6.30 x 2 & 5.20 x 1 Exit 7.20 x 3 (23% profit)
Day trade

But after that, I can't day trade in my managed account and thus, I traded on my own account as I see many opportunities in the market.

FIRST SOLAR (FSLR)
Straight ITM Nov-07 165 Call
Entry 10.80 Exit 11.80 (9.3% profit)
Day trade

MASTERCARD (MA)
Straight ITM Nov-07 200 Call
Entry 6.00 Exit 7.60 (26.6% profit)
Day trade

VALERO ENERGY (VLO)
Straight OTM Nov-07 72.5 Call
Entry 1.60 Exit 1.80 (12.5% profit)
Day trade

FOREST OIL (FST)
Straight OTM Nov-07 50 Call
Entry 1.50 Exit 1.65 (10% profit)
Day trade
This trade was exited on preset limit price, coz I was too tired to stay the night.

Trade after that 2 days..

Recently, I traded rather intensively.

C.R. Bard (BCR)
Bull Call Spread Nov-07 80/85 Calls
Entry 3.20 Exit 1.60 (50% loss)
Earning trade on 23/24 Oct

CME Group (CME)
Bull Call Spread Nov-07 630/640 Calls
Entry 4.80 Exit 7.00 (44% profit)
Earning trade on 23/24 Oct

Amazon.com (AMZN)
Bull Call Spread Nov-07 100/105 Calls
Entry 1.35 Exit 0.20 (85% loss)
Earning trade on 23/24 Oct

National Oilwell Varco (NOV)
Bull Call Spread Nov-07 75/77.5 Calls
Entry 1.00 Exit 2.35 (135% profit)
Earning trade on 23/24 Oct

BHP Billiton (BHP)
Straight OTM Nov-07 80 Puts
Entry 2.925 Exit 3.60 (23% profit)
Day trade on Wednesday 24-Oct based on TCT

Illumina (ILMN)
Straight ITM Nov-07 60 Put
Entry 3.40 Exit 4.10 (20% profit)
Day trade on Wednesday 24-Oct based on TCT

Merrill Lynch & Co (MER)
Straight ITM Nov-07 65 Call
Entry 2.45 Exit 2.20 (10% loss)
Blue Box on Briefing.com

VMWare (VMW) -1
Straight OTM Nov-07 110 Call
Entry 8.40 Exit 9.50 (13% profit)
Pre-Earning / Earning trade on 24/25 Oct

VMWare (VMW) -2
Bull Call Spread Nov-07 105/110 Calls
Entry 2.30 Exit 3.80 (61% profit)
Earning trade on 24/25 Oct

IntercontinentalExchange (ICE)
Bull Call Spread Nov-07 175/180 Calls
Entry 2.40 Exit 1.20 (50% loss)
Earning trade on 24/25 Oct

VMWare (VMW) -3
Straight OTM Nov-07 115 Call
Entry 6.10 Exit 6.70 (10% profit)
Day trade on Thursday 25-Oct based on TCT

Apache (APA)
Straight OTM Nov-07 95 Call
Entry 2.425 Exit 2.35 (3% loss)
Day trade on Thursday 25-Oct based on TCT

Wellcare HealthPlans (WCG)
Straight OTM Nov-07 90 Call
Entry 0.60 Exit 0.75 (25% loss)
Blue Box on Briefing.com


Ya, you can see that the (briefing.com) blue box may not always turn out profitable trades!

I'm taking a break today... No trading!!!

3 Realised Profits in a day!

Trade Journal for Oct 09, 2007

Alcoa (AA)
- BTO 0.90 & STC 1.20 (33.3%) on MB

Goldman Sach (GS)
- BTO 1.40 & STC 1.95 (39.3%) on MB
- BTO 1.35 & STC 1.90 (40.7%) on IB

Infosys Technologies (INFY)
- BTO 1.10 & STC 1.65 (50%) on IB

All above are day-trades!


Open Positions/Unrealised PnL: GOOG, AA