Thursday, October 20, 2005

Sitting on Cash

In terms of percentages, I have the lowest percentage ever in stocks. I'm sitting on cash and getting ready to put more cash into my brokerage. I'm also getting ready to buy, but I don't know what as of yet. I need to spend time looking for things, and while I have been looking at certain industries (some packaging companies, technically, look decent- but natural costs are hurting their margins). Right now I think it's best for me to remain in cash and just take my time looking for decent investments. The way the market is acting, I'm not even sure if I will do anything for awhile.

I did finally sell something at a decent time. UNTD has dropped over 5% since I sold it a few days ago. I made the decision technically and stuck with it, and it's good that I'm sticking with the plan. I need to remember to not hesitate.

Also, I completed my first option trade! I won't go into the details, but my after commission return was +0.25%. Now, I know it's nothing to brag about, but here are a few details: it was made over a 2 day span and I just wanted to end up with a positive gain. My max profit was roughly 1.15% and I think I could have achieved that, but I wanted to minimize some risk. I'm still learning, but I do want my option trades (lots of spreads) to hopefully average a 1-2% per month. I'm dealing with short term options and using theta (the time decaying factor of options) to my advantage. I'll be limited my profits through the use of certain spreads, but I will also be minimizing my risks. I'm not looking into hitting home runs, but rather just a few nice singles per month. If I can hit my average, I'll definitely take that 12-24% gain over a year's time.