Boom boom bing. The rally rolls on I gain about
5%, now up 53% for the year. Grade for this trading month is another
A-.
ETFs
year-to-date, best to worst:
QQQ +37.2
SPY +28.3%
IWM +24.0%
EEM +14.2%
TLT +12.5%
GLD +15.1%
SLV +10.5%
QQQ +37.2
SPY +28.3%
IWM +24.0%
EEM +14.2%
TLT +12.5%
GLD +15.1%
SLV +10.5%
Equities
top the list. All these asset classes are having a good year. Again, my trading account is up 53%, so it is happy time.
I feel like I have been relatively conservatively positioned for a while now, with a lot of dry powder. When making adjustments I sometimes buy at the money options. For example, if I am short a batch of 10 delta calls on SPY, and SPY rallies. I might buy atm call(s) to rebalance to delta neutral, turning the overall position into a ratio spread (long the atm, short multiple otm options).
It is a time to reflect, to hopefully take in the lessons from this bull year in stocks. One big lesson is not to listen to Chicken Little. Yes, corrections and even crashes are inevitable, but rarely occur when large numbers of novice and amateurs are out of the market. Much more common at tops is novices writing about how leveraged long is the smart play, and believing it.
I feel like I have been relatively conservatively positioned for a while now, with a lot of dry powder. When making adjustments I sometimes buy at the money options. For example, if I am short a batch of 10 delta calls on SPY, and SPY rallies. I might buy atm call(s) to rebalance to delta neutral, turning the overall position into a ratio spread (long the atm, short multiple otm options).
It is a time to reflect, to hopefully take in the lessons from this bull year in stocks. One big lesson is not to listen to Chicken Little. Yes, corrections and even crashes are inevitable, but rarely occur when large numbers of novice and amateurs are out of the market. Much more common at tops is novices writing about how leveraged long is the smart play, and believing it.
Merry
Christmas to all. I’ll post a year end wrap up soon.
