11:55 p.m. New York time
I have entered a short iron fly position on GILD.
9:45 a.m. New York time
My top pick for am earnings play today is GILD.
AMZN is also on today’s list but it’s per-share price is greater than $1,700, which produces options trades that lack granularity, so I’m passing.
The four others on the list have implied volatility ranks in the 1st quintile, which is 81% to 100%. They are CMG, COG, INTC and WDC.
- Today’s Book
The Myth of Capitalism
Monopolies and the Death of Competition
by Jonathan Tepper and Denise Hearn
As traders we know full well that capitalism is the air we breathe. No capitalism, no trading, and we become totally bored with our lives.
But “capitalism” is a word with many meanings encompassing many differences, and it is those differences that the authors focus on in this book. The United States, they argue, has gone from being a competitive marketplace to an economy dominated by a few powerful companies — Amazon, Google, Facebook and other gateways that must be used by others wanting to do business.
The book’s description doesn’t use the term, but to my ears what they were describing has more than a passing resemblance to the monopoly capitalism of the late 19th century, known as The Gilded Age. Just as monopoly then produced a host of ills, so, too, do the gatekeepers today. A book that looks backward to causes and forward to solutions.
Here is the status of my options positions at the time I exited.
| sym | option debit | share price | curr % max profit | net prft/shr $ | option days left |
| C | 3.82 | 64.45 | (10.7) | (0.37) | 22 |
| EWZ | 0.78 | 33.35 | 9.3 | 0.08 | 22 |
| HON | 7.10 | 147.14 | (12.0) | (0.76) | 22 |
| IBM | 10.02 | 127.35 | (47.6) | (3.23) | 22 |
| JNJ | 5.28 | 135.39 | 5.7 | 0.32 | 22 |
| MCD | 8.00 | 176.50 | (29.0) | (1.80) | 22 |
| MSFT | 8.02 | 106.75 | 6.7 | 0.58 | 57 |
| PM | 3.65 | 88.67 | (6.4) | (0.22) | 22 |
| STZ | 6.70 | 210.93 | 20.2 | 1.70 | 22 |
| UPS | 9.09 | 105.74 | (10.9) | (0.89) | 57 |
| WBA | 3.34 | 74.64 | 6.2 | 0.22 | 22 |
And here is the status of my shares positions.
| sym | share price | net result % | net profit $ | days held |
| AAPL | 217.52 | -2.9% | (6.44) | 41 |
| CHK | 3.92 | -2.0% | (0.08) | 41 |
| FXI | 39.19 | -4.9% | (2.02) | 41 |
| SPXU | 41.11 | 1.4% | 0.55 | 163 |
| TSLA | 311.01 | 2.0% | 6.02 | 24 |
| VNQI | 52.76 | -7.1% | (4.05) | 42 |
By Tim Bovee, Portland, Oregon, Oct. 25, 2018
Tim Bovee, Private Trader tracks the analysis and trades of a private trader for his own accounts. Nothing in this blog constitutes a recommendation to buy or sell stocks, options or any other financial instrument. The only purpose of this blog is to provide education and entertainment.
No trader is ever 100 percent successful in his or her trades. Trading in the stock and option markets is risky and uncertain. Each trader must make trading decisions for his or her own account, and take responsibility for the consequences.
License
All content on Tim Bovee, Private Trader by Timothy K. Bovee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at www.timbovee.com.L
Tim Bovee, Private Trader 