My oil stocks were dividend super stars for a few years-then when the price of oil dropped-all went bankrupt. i dumped all my positions while they were still worth something and put the money into Pfizer.

I still get junk mail from the oil companies as they are working their way through Chapter 11. You can pick up Linn Energy-once a $30.00 dividend paying stock-for pennies now. Might be a good play if you can wait 10 years-and If they ever make a profit again.

Fracking laws will be tougher this time around for any kind of new American oil boom. Good luck.
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Any positions you want to share?

Doing any calls on banks this week.

I have 100, 23 calls on BAC till the 27th. I'm thinking I will probably be out of them by close on friday.
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Meh,

Looks to me like oil is on the recovery some, There ought to be some values out there.


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Not this week. I screwed up and missed TSLA. Wanted to jump in over a week ago and stock just keeps chugging higher.

I need to find a few goodies to look at.

I'm not big of bank stocks but they certainly will benefit from Trump and rising rates.

Do you ever buy any LEAPS?
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I agree, but I got lucky and cashed in on KMI in '16, so I'm a bit afraid the gambling gods would bitch slap me for getting greedy and trying to double dip on oil.:-)
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Don't worry about the money you didn't make. I scoped out NVDA 6 months ago and didn't put in a dime. Dumb. Have to move on.

I try to stay away from long options as much as I can. I am not a big fan of having a significant amount of money tied up for a long period of time without a dividend. Having said that, they definitely have there place to make money. Been looking long call options on MU at 25 but have not pulled the trigger.
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IRA OR ROTH?

I have no such options for individual trades in my ROTH that I can tell. Just mutual funds and indexes.
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Some mentioned healthcare and it's actually an area that was fairly stable in 2016 and lagged a bit IMO. Still 20-30% down from its peak in 2015 in many areas.
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What I like about some longer term options is when I'm certain a stock is ready for a move up but timing is suspect. So if I can buy an option on a high priced stock and get some decent leverage, I'll buy 5-10 of them.
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So you rather take minimal capital into a low cost stock that has a chance to increase greatly percentage wise in the short term? More speculating than investing as some would say?

Can also be a risky play as many of those companies have high volatility. If this is your strategy, where do you research most of these companies.
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That can get real expensive, real quick.

1yr call options on AMZN at 810 runs 93k for 10 contracts. That seems a lot of capital to me to to tie up for potentially one year with no dividend. Why not just buy cheaper stocks and sell covered calls if you are going to spend that kind of money?

Of course you could go maybe further out of the money. Let's say 10 contracts of 900 calls will still cost you over 57k.
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I guess I consider it more like playing poker. Knowing when to get out.

I watch everything like everyone else. I watch the charts daily. I use Worden TC2000. Pay attention to the news. That is pretty much it. Sometimes I will watch afterhours and premarket trading.
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Mine is in a self directed Roth Ira account at scottrade. You have to apply to get access to option trading.
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I try to buy something way out of the money 2-3 years away. Any stock over $250 per share and the ones over $500 are going to be crazy expensive.

I'll look for something maybe $50-75 a share that has potential for a $10+ or more move.

Oil companies look good right now for some of this IMHO
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My uncle and father love playing that way. I have seen them lose money and make money. But damn does it not tie up a lot of money that could be making money elsewhere. They are looking for big paydays. I look at it as daily bread.

Him and my father do not like the way I trade very much. They think I take a lot of time sensitive risks. I will buy options with 3 days expiration if they are cheap. My call this week of course was a no brainer with BAC. Monday morning I bought in at .36. Just sold out at .58. 100 contracts, 1 day. You can do that addition I m sure. Didn't even make it to the earnings like I thought. I at least thought it wouldn't be till Friday to hit 23. I was wrong, it was today. Don't care too much if I potentially left anything on the table either. I made money. That is the whole point. Trying to make daily money. Not watch an option go up and down for 2 yrs. That shit would drive me insane.
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