Occidental Petroleum Corporation (OXY)

OXY Weekly Chart

OXY has broken the downtrend line. Resistance: 64/80. Bought 2009 Jun Call.

Exxon Mobil (XOM)

XOM Weekly Chart

I did not take profit the last time I played XOM's option. As a result, the profit turned into a total loss. I'm entering again, bought 2009 Apr PUT. Support is at 60 (uptrend line).

Chevron (CVX)

CVX Weekly Chart

CVX has given another sell signal. Supports: 55/48. Bought Jun PUT.

Chevron (CVX)

CVX Weekly Chart

CVX has broken its triangle. Supports: 55/48. Bought March 2009 put. Hopefully, CVX will make me money this time. The last time I bought the puts, I didn't take profit, so my puts will expire worthless this Friday. I didn't get out of the position because CVX has broken its uptrend line. The only direction to go is down. But, my Jan 2009 puts ran out of time.

Chevron (CVX)

CVX Daily Chart

Chevron (CVX): Anticipating for a breakdown from a triangle. Support: 55/48. Bought 2009 Jan put.

October 08 Performance

The month of October was a good month for me. As usual, I underestimated the down move, thus I missed out a lot of profits. Options that I have closed are:

• ACE Nov Put (++): From profit to loss to profit. What a roller coaster ride.
  
• ALL Jan Put (6+): Good one! Almost nail the bottom.
• AXB Dec Put (4+): Good one!
  
• AXP Oct Put (-): As expiration nears, I dump this before the great move down! Duh!
• AXP Jan Put (+++): This one is hard to play. So, I'm getting out.
• AUY Oct Call (---): Believed that gold will go higher. Wanted to wait for it to go higher, but the believe didn't have enough time to work out. Expired worthless.
  
• CB Oct Put (+): Glad to get out of this one with a really tiny profit.
  
• COH Nov Put (++): Took profit too early.
• CS Dec Put (6+): Good one! Almost nail the low.
  
• DSX Dec Put (+++): Took an early profit for this.
• EP Oct Call (---): What a believe! Believe that the world is craving for more energy, didn't let go due this believe, so got flattened!
  
• GME Jan Put (++): Took profit due to the fear of a strong rebound.
  
• JWN Oct Put(+): Glad to get out of this one without a loss.
• KSS Oct Put (=): Just glad to get out without a loss for this one.
• LM Nov Put (8+): Fantastic! Could have been better, but I'm satisfied.
  
• LVS Dec Put (7+): Sold at mid-teens. Thought that that was the lowest it can get to. Boy was I wrong!
• MDC Dec Put (++): Took an early profit.
  
• MGM Nov Put (+++): Took profit while it was in the high teens.
• MGM Dec Put (6+): Good one!
  
• OSG Jan Put (4+): Good one!
• PDCO Oct Put (+): Glad to get out of this one as it almost expired worthless.
• RL Oct Put (--): Took a loss due to expiration date.
• V Dec Put (7+): Fantastic! Almost near the low.

I guessed correctly the retailers direction, but my timing was all wrong. Thus, most of my retailers counters was lucky to go into the black.

Exxon Mobil (XOM)

XOM Weekly Chart

Exxon Mobil (XOM): Resting at uptrend line. Should break down anytime soon. Support: 70/65/56. Bought Jan put.

July 08 Performance

July was the month for those that go up, turned and go down. For those that go down, turned and go up. I was expecting a minor rebound for the financial and retailers, and a minor dip for energy, but the movement was stronger than I like it. A summary of my closing trades for the month of July, 2008:

• BAC Put (10+): This is my best ever return. I don't think that I can repeat this. Close my put because of a bullish engulfing candle at a time when the daily & weekly chart is very oversold.
  
• LM Put (4+): Close my put because of a bullish engulfing candle that happens at the lower end of the downtrend channel. Additionally, the daily & weekly chart is very oversold.
• LVS Put (4+): Close my put because of a long shadow hammer. Both daily & weekly chart is very oversold too.
• HAL Call (--): Cut loss because HAL weekly MACD is going to drop into negative.
• BAC Call (---): My hedge for my Puts, it could have worked if the strong rebound comes a few days earlier. This one expired worthless.
• ANF Put (++): Only 3 weeks left, tookwhat ever profit that has suddenly presented itself. I hate trading options with less than 1 month lifetime.
  

Oh boy, in July all my open profit vanished! Darn!

Watch list for 7 July 2008

My watch list for Monday, 7 July 2008:

• Greenhill (GHL): If breaks 50.00, then support at 37/30.
• Credit Suisse (CS): Support 35/25.
• SVB Financial (SIVB): Support 40/33.
• Nymex (NMX): Support 75, then bottomless.
• Prudential (PRU): Support 54/46/40.
• Manulife (MFC): Support 34/30.
• Couch (COH): Support 25/19.
• Anixter (AXE): Triangle. Support 52/45.
• JCrew (JCG): Support 25.
• Kuhl's (KSS): Support ~41/32.
• JC Penney (JCP): Support ~35-36/26/15.
• Sinopec (SNP): Support 70/50.
• Amazon (AMZN): Support 62/36.

Looking to getting into PUTs.

Jun 08 Performance

Luck still with me. Still managed to read the trend change from up to down. Closed the following positions in the month of June:

1. VLO put (--): Thought that oil will go lower, got fooled into cutting loss.
2. EP call (++): Sold out my nearer term call, then opened a longer term call.
3. MR call (++): Managed to get out at the top. This is the only one that I have perfect exit.
4. QCOM call (+): Didn't get a good price, but I'm still satisfied with the return as it got really volatile during the trend change.
5. HAL call (-): Cut loss on this one too as I thought that oil will get lower. Anyhow, I enter back a position later into the month.
6. BAC put (++++): Cannot resist in taking profit. This is my best ever return so far. Still got 2/3 position left.

For the rest of my call ideas, it looks like they are going to expire worthless: CAT call, GLW call and SLT call. Luckily, the put ideas is enough to compensate for my loss.

A summary of my holdings:

1. Calls: HAL, EP, STLD, CAT, GLW, SLT
2. Puts: ANF, BAC, GES, JWN, LM, LVS, PDCO, PTR

I am still looking to get into a few financial and retail puts.

Petrochina (PTR / 0857.HK)

0857.HK Weekly Chart

Still in downtrend. Should continue down with oil going up. Buying the PTR put to replace my VLO. Oh yes, I was stop out of my VLO put during it's rally in the first week of June. Then, the oil chart was looking toppish and VLO shows potential of going higher, but it fooled me. Didn't get a chance to get back into my VLO put. So, I am hoping the PTR put can replace my missed chance. Bought the PTR put today.

May 2008 Performance

Closed 3 positions in the month of May:
1. EGLE call (++)
2. QCOM call (++)
3. XOM call (+)

Based on gross paper profit, I have recovered 80% of my loss. Luck is still with me. Looking at the total commission I have paid, the total is 30% of my initial capital! Oh boy, I'm thinking of injecting more capital to so that I can trade in bigger position. This will lower down the percentage commission for each trade. But, I'm still not that confident yet. I'm still reading a lot of news and blogs so that I can categorize the counters in their respective sectors.

Caterpillar (CAT)

Caterpillar Weekly Chart

Bought CAT Call as it seems that it will continue the uptrend. Need to break resistance of around 86.00.

After I sold my HAL call, I have reenter last week. Hopefully, it will go up much higher in the next phase.

Valero (VLO)

VLO Weekly Chart

I see two patterns. The ascending flag is more or less broken while the descending triangle is not yet broken. I bought PUT base on the first reason.

XOM

XOM Weekly Chart

Bought XOM Call yesterday. Oil companies are making huge profit. I'm sure XOM too. First challenge of 95.00 was repelled. Can it break it on the second try?

EP

EP Weekly Chart

ElPaso (EP) is trapped in a box. Can the bullish sentiment in O&G helps it to breakout out of the box? I'm betting yes. That is why I bought the 19.00 Call.

FRO

Entered FRO Aug Call as FRO seems to have broken out of downtrend (consolidation?) and heading higher. A cross above 50.00 will confirm my buy signal that was given 1 month ago.

1st Trade of 2008

After stopping for quite some time, I'm back into the US market. It's hard to get back my confidence after a string of losses. I'm trying to ride this rebound. The first trade of this year is HAL. Hopefully it can break 42.00. There are a lot of shorts now, maybe a short squeeze will do the trick. I cross my finger.

Halliburton (HAL)

Okay, I am bad in managing my option position. The swing for the option is so large. The correction from 5.90 to 3.80 is greater than I though. Thus, I decided to close out my October Call with a little bit of profit. I'm still having my PFE though and looking to close this position with a loss.

Lesson learned: Will not sit out any correction for options. Just buy/sell at swing ends.

Halliburton (HAL)

HAL attracted my attention because it is an O&G company. I will never choose this company if not because Dick Chenney has something to do with it. Anyway, the first option that I bought was 2007 Sept 32.50 Call. Well, as usual, after I bought, the option went up 0.20 and then HAL reverses, and my call was suddenly worth 1.95! What a volatility! I panic and decided to take a loss. The order was not filled and again the market proves that I always sell at the lowest low!. Now the option is back to 3.00 range.

HAL looks like it has broken the tringulation with further upside. I hope that this stock can move fast enough for my first lucky break in options.