Tim Bovee, Private Trader: 5/10 Almanac

Friday, May 7, 2010

5/10 Almanac

On Monday, May 10: No econ reports. Take the day off!

There are 12 days before the last trading day for May options, 40 the June and 68 the July.

On the jump, market stats, econ reports, rules, my holdings and a good book...

Stats

Blue chip stocks (SPY) closed the latest regular session down 1.5% from the prior close. During the day SPY traversed 3.8% high to low in a net move down of 1.2%.

Today's extremes: Open $112.64, high $113.77, low $109.41, close $111.26.

SPY closed within the DeMark pivots, which were distorted on Friday by the prior day's brief computer-driven selling panic that produced an abnormal daily low.. The next DeMark pivots are $108.16-$112.52.

In total, 6.5 billion shares were traded on the three major U.S. stock exchanges, 500 million fewer than in the prior trading day.

Econ reports:

None.

Kansas City Fed Pres Thomas Hoenig appears before a House subcommittee at 10 a.m. Eastern.

Minneapolis Fed Pres Narayana Kocherlakota gives a speech at 1 p.m.

Rules:

By my rules, at this point in the cycle I can trade June covered calls, iron condors, and butterfly, calendar, diagonal and vertical spreads. Also, July single calls or puts. Shares, of course, are good anytime.

My Holdings

May expiry:

CIEN, bull call spread, c18/-c19
GE, bull call spread, c18/-c19
QQQQ, bull call spread, c49/-c50
UNP, bull call spread, c75/-c80

Dividend shares: JNK, NLY

Special situation: PALM

Zombie shares: MCO

Good trading!

The Investor's Guide to Active Asset Allocation: Using Technical Analysis and ETFs to Trade the Markets

Martin Pring's detailed deconstruction of the economic cycle: What sorts stocks to look for at each stage of the recovery. A masterful analysis.