Momentum Options Trading Blog
Daily market updates at 9am & 1pm EST
Categories
Archives
Blog Roll
Bears Take Fourth Straight
May 17th, 2012

9:00am (EST)

Move over McDonald’s (MCD, $91.43, up $0.42), we are lovin’ the bears right now.

It’s rare the market gives you this many clues to trade but we have been telling you for months this is one of the BEST environments we have seen in years to trade options.  The charts we have been showing our subscribers have literally been a treasure chest.

The bulls got off to a good start on Wednesday but the Fed and more concerns from across the pond dragged the major averages lower and into negative territory by the close.  We have 4 current option trades showing massive gains of 200%, 172%, 170% and 117%.  We have 2 other trades approaching the triple-digit club that are up 90% and 83% and we are hoping they join the TD club today.

As far as the market, let’s go check the numbers.  (continued…)

Comments Off
FaceBook (FB) Offers More Shares, Bumps Price Target Up
May 16th, 2012

12:35pm (EST)

They you can’t get enough of a good thing, right?

While some will argue if FaceBook is a “good thing”, investors can’t seem to get enough of the company’s upcoming IPO (Initial Public Offering) which is set for Friday.

The company has upped the offering price from $28-$35 to $34-$38 and will flood the Nasdaq with 420 million shares, up from 337 million.  Based on these raw high-end numbers, FaceBook will easily have a market cap (MC) north of $100 billion. 

Frothy?  You bet.

Other companies that have been around for decades that could be worth LESS after Friday’s close on Wall Street include McDonald’s (MCD, $91.54, up $0.52) which has a MC of $90 billion, Home Depot (HD, $48.99, up $0.32) at $74 billion and Cisco Systems (CSCO, $16.72, up $0.18) which has a market cap of just under $90 billion.

We have heard reports that FaceBook is oversubscribed by 25 times in Asia and what about the little guys and gals?

If you have a brokerage account with Chuck (Charles Schwab), you must have at least $100,000 in assets and trade at least 36 times a year.  For TD Ameritrade, your account would need to have $250,000, or, if you have made 30 trades in 3 months and feel like filling out a mountain of paperwork then you may qualify.

We have been with Chuck for decades but we don’t plan on participating in the IPO.  We were thinking of adding it to our Weekly Wrap but we know not everyone will be able to get in at the IPO price.  We also know shares will be volatile and the Weekly Wrap is all about safety.

However, this doesn’t mean we won’t be trading FaceBook down the road.  We don’t plan on trading the stock but instead, the options.

We have a feeling call and put options on FaceBook will list fairly quickly but they will be expensive and there won’t be any charts to follow right away.

This is the beauty of options because it allows you to CONTROL 100 shares with just one option contract.  If you buy 10 option contracts, you would control 1,000 shares of FaceBook.

It will also be a lot easier making 100% on a call or put option than trying to make money by flipping the stock.  Be patient, folks.

FaceBook’s real IPO to us will be the options once they list for trading.  We would like to say they will be available to trade in a couple of weeks, maybe sooner, but nothing is confirmed.  

As far as the market, it has been another choppy day of trading but has so far favored the bulls.  The Dow is up 48 points to 12,670 while the S&P 500 is higher by 4 points to 1,335.  The Nasdaq is showing a gain of 5 points to 2,899.

We continue to lock-in profits when we can and we are rolling our Hard Stops up as we are locking in some huge winners ahead of FaceBook Friday.  Tech could get a bounce and a rising tide will lift all boats but the trend is still lower.

We have a ton of info to cover in our Members Area so let’s get on it.   

Comments Off
MomentumOptionsTrading.com Profit Alert (CSTR) for 5/16/2012
May 16th, 2012

11:55am (EST)

We have another triple-digit winner on our hands as our Coinstar (CSTR, $58.21, down $1.11) put options are now up 117% in just 6 days!  We are going to close HALF of the trade to lock-in profits but we have a feeling shares could test double-nickels ($55). 

We have also raised the Hard Stop in case shares rebound but we will enjoy further gains if the stock keeps sinking.

Subscribers, check the Members Area for the trade instructions.

We will be back in about an hour with our midday update.

Comments Off
Bears Pushing February Lows
May 16th, 2012

9:00am (EST)

The market struggled to hold its gains on Tuesday and finished the session lower as the final hour of trading favored the bears.  The bulls made a run at resistance which was prior support but it wasn’t enough to stop the current downside momentum. 

We often say history likes to repeat itself while the suit-and-ties prefer to say history “reminds” us of the past.  We prefer our way of shop talk because the major averages were dancing right on their January/ February highs and lows which is giving us another clear warning signal.

*************************

Our subscribers know we have been in an 8-month zone in calling the current market tops and bottoms as we have nailed 24-straight winning put option trades since late March.  We have been right on over 80% of our trades since late 2011.  From January 2012 until the end of March, we loaded up on call options.  We have been waening of the trend change that was coming. 

Since the end of March, we have been in put options except for one trade which is a call option and is currently up over 235%.  Our current 2012 Track Record is showing gains of over 600% as we are 85-18 for the year with numerous triple-digit winners.  Some of our trades have made upwards of 570%.  Seriously.  If you had started the year with a $10,000 trading account, it would be worth nearly $73,000 in just 5 months based on making 100 trades at $2,000 or less per position.  Knock off some zeros and you could have started trading options with as little as $1,000 which would be worth $7,300 by now.

We also have auto-trading brokers that verify our results for those who cannot watch the market all day long.  They do the trades for your account and execute the trade instructions as soon as we send out an NEW option trade or Trade Alert.

If you are not a current subscriber but would like to see our Closed 2012 Track Record, send us an email.  If you would like to join us, click here, to get our latest option trade recommendations.

Comments Off
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) Rebounds
May 15th, 2012

12:40pm (EST)

Futures were soaring last night before we hit the rack and were showing a strong open on Wall Street this morning.  Much of the fluff was on early word Greece would be able to put together a coalition government so they could hold a new elections.  However, as their day wore on, the country’s political leaders failed to find agreement which put pressure on the U.S. markets as futures were flat ahead of the bell.  Imagine that.

Here at home, the Empire State Manufacturing Index came in at 17.1 for May, up from 6.6 in April while Business Inventories increased 0.3%.    

Tomorrow is a busy day for economic news with Housing Starts, Building Permits, Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization all being released an hour before the open.  They will take a back seat to the FOMC minutes which are due out at 2pm. 

Earnings for Wednesday include:

Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF, $45.86, down $0.05), Deere (DE, $77.47, up $0.14), Jack in the Box (JACK, $22.59, up $0.25), Limited Brands (LTD, $48.71, up $0.71), NetEase (NTES, $56.89, up $0.63), Red Robin Gourmet Burgers (RRGB, $35.25, up $0.38), Staples (SPLS, $14.93, down $0.16) and Target (TGT, $55.36, up $0.44)

Parting Shot:  We haven’t commented on JPMorgan Chase (JPM, $37.18, up $1.39) too much because we don’t think the $2 billion and counting the company lost will be a huge hit to earnings this year.  Sure, the loss stings and tarnished one of the better CEO names in the business but the press and Congress is making this a far bigger deal than need be.

President Obama said on The View that this is “exactly why Wall Street reform is so important” and that Washington might have had to step in if this was a smaller bank.

Give us a break.  That is the problem with our country.  Let companies take risk and if they fail, they go bankrupt if they can’t cover the losses.  JPMorgan had a portfolio of about $400 billion in bonds that they wanted to hedge and they went into the credit default swap market to do so.  This would have allowed the company to profit if the bonds went the other way but the market figured this out. 

Had JPMorgan’s bets paid off and they made $2 billion, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now.  The problem was the market saw what JPMorgan was doing and everyone bet against them.  Had they taken smaller positions and gone unnoticed in their swap dealings, this would be a totally different story.   

BTW, JPMorgan is expected to make $18 billion this year – the highest profit ever earned by an American bank.  The dividend is safe and the company will make money this quarter.     

Our question is this, who is going to “step in” and stop our government from spending?  We are approaching $16 trillion in debt which averages out to $50,000 in debt per U.S. citizen.  Check it out:

http://USdebtclock.org

That’s all we have for today.  As we head to press, the Dow is up double-nickels (55 points) to 12,750 while the S&P is higher by 5 points to 1,344.  The Nasdaq is showing a 25 point pop and is at 2,927.

Subscribers, check the Members Area for the important trade updates.

Comments Off
« Older Entries Newer Entries »
2012 Closed Trades:
    Our updated 2012 Track Record is now at 85-18 for an 82% win rate. We have closed 24-straight winning option trades since late March!

    Despite the recent volatility, we have given more "locks" to our subscribers than a Vegas bookie. If you started with a $10,000 trading account, our CLOSED option picks would have made you over 600% by now. In other words, YOUR $10,000 option trading account would be worth over $70,000 as we have become one of the most powerful option newsletters in the business. Our biggest trade of the year so far was hit in early May when shares of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) fell 50% after an earnings miss which made our subscribers 576% on the put options!

    We DON"T count "half" closed trades twice, or "third" closed trades three times like other option newsletters do. Some option services will fluff their Track Records up by using these smoke-and-mirror tricks. They will also "average down" a losing trade in hopes of it coming back then will record the "average" price of the trade when it was really 2 bad trades. Most option websites DON'T have track records and say they give 300% winners. The devil is in the details.

    We don't play these types of games which is why we have the most dedicated subscribers in the business because we have earned their trust. We have recommended 103 trades, 85 winners, 18 losers for 2012. Pretty simple and pretty powerful. We also have verified auto-trading partners who trade our recommendations for your account if you cannot watch the market. They will also tell you how good and how honest our service is.

    Here are some of our other profitable triple-digit recommendations: Capital One (COF) call options +423% in 8 days, American Express (AXP) call options +310% in under 7 days, magicJack (CALL) call options +80% in 3 days, Microsoft (MSFT) call options +124%, STX call options +100% in 2 weeks, +114% and +131% on 2 MGM Resorts (MGM) call options trades in 3 weeks, +158% on Zynga (ZNGA) call options and +107% in Aflac (AFL) call options in 6 days. We also had a +200% winner with Scientific Games (SGMS). Some of our double-digit gains include +58% on WPRT calls, +80% on TSM and +38% on INT call options.

    Our Weekly Wrap is 35-0 since the start of 2011 and is 17-0 for 2012. Some of our winners include +55% on Solazyme (SZYM), +27% on Clean Energy Fuels (CLNE), +38% on Vivus (VVUS), +17% on MGM, +18% on Dendreon (DNDN), and +20% on Darling (DAR). Despite what the suit-and-ties say, you can make incredible gains trading the RIGHT covered calls.

    Over the past 5 years we are averaging a 75% winning percentage for all our trades despite volatile, flat and choppy markets. Come see why some of Wall Street's pros are following us instead of the Journal!

    Here are some of our profitable 2011 recommendations: ORLY call options +191%, VMW call options +100%, JOYG call options +169%; GS put options +184%; FDX put options +164%; OXY put options +74%; +137% on RIMM put options, +1,167% on RMBS puts in 11 days, +296% on FCX calls; +157% on ZAGG calls; +110% on LNKD puts; +133% on RLD put options.

    You can also request our Track Records to see all years by entering your email address which will allow you access to the portfolios.

    If you are missing these juicy profits, come give us a try. Get your password to our Members Area instantly when you sign up TODAY! One profitable trade will easily pay for your membership. You can request our 2008-2011 Track Records by sending us an email or filling out the box below. 665 Total Trades; 459 WINNERS or 7-out-of-10.


2008 - 2010
Track Record
94.05%
73% winners
Results are NOT compounded.

Request our detailed Track Records which are updated in our Members Area. As soon as you sign-up for a subsciption, you will have access to all open and closed trades for 2011 and past years.

Enter Your Email Address:

Trader Comments:

    REGINA L.
    I just want you to know that I love the way you write and explain everything. I am new to this, and have lost 50% of my account until I met you guys. Iit is slowly coming back. I will be calling to set up a year
    of membership rather than the one quarter. Thanks again, and LOVE YOU ALL.

    STEVE T.
    Rick, I appreciate the advice. I think I will just sit back and utilize your selections only for awhile. This will obviously save me a great deal of money in commissions. I have gone thru your entire site including the video on money management. This has brought me to the stark realization that I have been trading too much for too little. I definitely have not been "swinging for the fences", but I also think I have been getting impatient with trades and getting out too fast. This has no doubt caused me too trade too much. I like, and definitely agree on, the advice on money management. Thanks for the help.

    SCOTT H.
    Thank you!!! I held on to the NFLX position since Nov. 13 at a cost of $1.89. Sold ½ on April 14th for a 540% return and the other ½ upon earnings for 702% return. Total profit of $11,615 a 621% return. Keep the recommendations coming and thanks to you and your team for the service you provide.

    PETER G.
    Rick & Team, GREAT Call on NKE for my two trading accounts:
    1) Entry at .65, out at 1.45, 1.55 Profit = $415
    2) Entry at .60, out at 1.75, 1.50 Profit = $485

    LAWRENCE O.
    Hey Rick! Here is an update on what your picks have done in my accounts.

    1) Great call on the JoyG March 55. I bought when you said, then bought again on one of the dips. Booked 80+% profit. Made enough to pay for your service for years to come.

    2) Also booked profits on your Berk Feb 74 (80%) and threw a major chunk of change at the March 75’s (190+%). I would have never known that Buffet's stock had split if it weren’t for your service. Bought the shares also for the long haul. Won’t look at them for another 20 years. Great job on getting us in before the indexes did.

    3) Took profit on your Imax March 12.5. 20 cent trailing stop at 1.90 yesterday. Not sure what the profit on that was, but profit is profit.

    I see that you took a loss on some of these. It’s all good. I look to trade your “ideas” not your exact calls. I THANK YOU! For your ideas and commentary. Keep up the good work. And keep those ideas coming.

    C.J.
    Loving this subscription so far! I got into the BRK feb 76 calls the day you talked about right before the split...now up over 300% (0.70 to 2.475)! Keep the good picks coming and let's see some OSIS and EMC upside soon! Just wanted to share my positive enthusiasm on your newsletter...it gives us individual investors great ideas on not only the options market, but also the broader equity market! Case in point is BRK...I can't always read the breaking business news but its easy to read your twice daily updates on my smartphone...helped me get some BRK shares immediately after the split which I will hold for the long haul! Thanks again!

    SHAUN
    Aloha Rick - Thank you so much for the great CL pick. I am not sure if there was buy-out/merger news or what but at 3PM today Colgate-Palmolive absolutely EXPLODED to the upside, and my calls turned into green candy when they went from 1.40 to 3.8 in a matter of seconds! I even sold a few for over 4.0! Much thanks and keep the solid picks up my friend, honestly. Only a fool would scoff at 267% gains... Peace!

    MICHAEL K.
    I like the fact that you ask for comments from subscribers. Good customer service. By the way, am enjoying the service so far. Some good
    profitable calls. Keep up the good work.

    PARAG P.
    Woo hoo! Out for 50% on WMT this am. Making up for my depression for getting out of pcln for a 30% gain monday :( you the man! any word on the manual? My friend Mike ( who I sent to your service) told me he emailed you about your integrity in reporting fills. I echo that sentiment big time.. keep it up! Cheers!

    JAY P.
    Hi Rick, as a new member all I can say is, 'show off' LOL, with PCLN.

    MIKE
    Rick, I am a new subscriber to your service, and I want to say I am impressed. I am impressed by your results, but more than that I am impressed by your reporting of your fills. You could have easily said you got that Wal-Mart call today for 80 cents, instead you reported 98 cents! Good job and keep it up, I watched the reporting of the fills first, and then I subscribed. Thank You.

    TRISH D.
    Hi, good morning. I jumped the gun a little on this one (PCLN). But still made $1,675.00 profit!! Very happy!! Keep up the good work!! Thanks.

    MIN L.
    Hi there, I have joined recently, and I am very happy to tell you that I am up over $10,000 on your picks in a month. I started on 10/7 with the Intel pick. I'll be your member for life. Please don't quit on us. Also, I am learning a lot about options. I didn’t get in your recent APOL and that gold trade and only had one loss on CHK. I appreciate all the DD you do. I enjoy your market commentaries. Best advice site period, and I have tried a few here and there. Again, you guys rock!

    JOE G.
    Thanks be to Momentum Options Trading for providing me with some fantastic wins. I just started with this service and am up nearly 50% in less than a month. There have been losses, but if I manage them properly, I will continue the best efforts given on the blog (in which there are no complaints). What a great cause for humanity. I feel more confident about my trades and continue to play the wins. Best of all, I am now keeping my regular paychecks in the bank! Thank you!

    GREG F.
    Rick - I wanted to say thanks for getting me started on the right foot with your service. I have made six trades since starting on October 22, 2009. Five are winners and One loser netting me $6,245. Thanks again and keep the trade recommendations coming.

    NOEL
    I got into the Nike 60 Call at 1.85, sold at 5.00, also bought a 55 put at 1.05, but got stopped out at .35. What a ride! $2830.00 in the black even with the put. It's right at 100% return. I hope earnings season coming up is going to look like this trade.

    TODD F.
    Nice call on Nike. I think I'll go buy a pair with my profits! : ) I did the straddle for safety but still made 62% on the trade. Not bad for less than 24 hours. If Goldman is right, then the Nov 70s or 75's could be a steal today.

    PAUL H.
    What a sweet way to get introduced to Momentum. My first trade based on your picks and it a 2X. Thank you!

    NOEL
    “Limit order was set at 1.60 on RIMM so it sold. I may have left some money on the table but you can't go broke making a profit. That was a fun trade. Thank you. Good call. I’ve been watching and trading Rick's advice since March. It’s usually a fun ride, but I give him heck when it's wrong to. :) ”

    CHRISTIAN
    “Your service rocks! I made bank on Dendreon last week! The other thing I have to say is that it took me quite a while to find a REAL options trading service like yours. Most of what’s out there is 99% scam and very sketchy. Momentum Options Trading is the first service I found that I can trust and seriously make money with.”

    JOHN
    “I made $420.00 on ANF in 2 days. Thanks for the trade and updates on getting out of the trade.”

    CHARLES M.
    “I did follow a lot of your trades with 1-2 contracts per trade and YTD I’m up 108%. I try not to follow blindly by not entering all of your trades and sometimes entering the ones you don’t. I entered AIG a few weeks ago against recommendation – that one hurt.”

    BRYAN C.
    “I have been following you for several months and am interested in the new service. I hate to see the free service go away but as they say, “all good things must come to an end”. My ability to join will be greatly influenced by the monthly fee so I’m very curious to see the new prices. Thanks for making April a great month for me and my family.”

    JOHN H.
    “I have really enjoyed the past month since finding your blog. You have made some great calls. I would appreciate info. on the new options mentoring program. Thanks.”

    JEFFREY
    “Hi Rick, I have been following your blog for several months now and I would like to be including on the list for your new service and to receive more information about it. And yes I was a Dendreon winner with your tips. Turned $280 into $7700, and literally saved my butt.”

    ED
    “I made over 6k on your Dendreon trade, and I’m very interested in learning how you pick and trade options. Sign me up.”

    GREG
    “Rick – Wow what a day! I got in at the Dendreon calls at $2.25. Thanks to for your advice. I appreciate that. This company has a lock on this type of therapy and no one else in the world is close. Kind of reminds me of the type of companies that Peter Lynch and Warren Buffet suggest that investments be made in. Companies that can build a moat around their business model, that allows them to charge a premium for their product or service. In other words - a monopoly.”

    KEN
    “Hi Rick, Thank you so much for the Dendreon trade, I made almost $10,000 with that trade with a little over $2,000 investment. You have shown me the power of options trading. Again, thank you so much for all your inputs.”

    GARETT
    “Hi Rick, thanks for the encouragement to play the dendreon calls! did freaking great! Got in the first lot at $1.44 on 3-24-09, sold at $2.45, 70% not bad. Bought it back at $2.30 on 4-7-09 closed out on 4-14-09 for 454% gain! Wow! I love it when that happens. So, thanks the encouragement to get back in when others were saying sell, sell, sell. Keep up the good work.”

    TERENCE
    “Rick – Thanks for Dendreon – it has made all the headlines today! I missed on RIMM earlier, but I’ve been holding onto DNDN calls since 3rd week March. Of course today it all paid off today, as DNDN rocketed up.”

    Jan. 31 2012
    Rick, new member...Studied all current trades, did some chart work,picked ZNGA, PEP, MGM...Sold on Feb. 2 for $3600.00 profit...Cost for 1-year membership to your newsletter was less than $1000.00..All I have to say..Thank you. John H –

    3/18/11
    Rick, I purchased 10 contracts of the Nike March 85 puts Thursday afternoon for $2.00. Thing is, I was upset because the puts went down to $1.60 or so before the market closed. Well, needless to say Nike didn’t impress Wall Street and when I turned on the computer this morning the puts were worth $7.10! Sold them for a $5,100 profit!. Thanks again, you are the MAN. Chuck J-

    2/3/12
    Hi Rick,

    I will start off with a thank you for your time and dedication to all
    the research you and your team commit yourself to. This is not me just being excited about the profits I have accumulated aka (bank) ! You have helped me get back to the passion I had of researching stocks/options. Keith N-

    Hi Rick,

    I want to share my great results on GMCR. Based on your comments on February 15th, I bought 20 options at $0.28. They closed today at $7.00, which is a 2,300% gain. My $560 dollars turned into $14,000 in less than a month. In decades of trading, this is my single best trade ever. Thank you! By the way, the Dow was down 228 points today and I could care less. What a great trade. It proves the amazing power of options. I am so grateful for your service, which calls it straight all the time, your options trading manual, and most of all, your amazing skill
    at finding winning trades. I have attached a copy of the trade from
    my brokerage screen.

Follow us on Twitter