1.16.08 – Volatile day, finishes where it opened. Down.

The SPX opened about down about 7, and finished down at 8. IWM finished up slightly. It was an absolute chopfest. AM selloff started @ 10:30 and bottomed at 10:45 and covered 20 SPX pts. The Afternoon rally started at 2 and concluded at 2:30 and covered 20 SPX pts. The last selloff started at 3:30 and ran into the close. It took back the afternoon rally. Wild.
The Weekly SPY – there may be a bounce here. But I will be out of ALL my long positions by Friday. I may not be very short going into the weekend, but I won’t be long. I will be getting short of everything else that meets my criteria in the coming week. This chart is just ugly.

Look out below.
There were some excellent happenings through the day.
AIG – I scaled out of half of my remaining 55p calendar positions from 1.50 to 1.72. A selloff tomorrow would do wonders for this trade. It closed around 1.45.
ADCT- exited 1 unit of Jan/Feb 17.5p calendar for .01. I didn’t want to deal with assignment. This was the residual of a trade from awhile back. I profited nicely over the course of the trade. I bought them for .15 It was a difficult trade with earnings which popped the stock, then the announcement of a convertible bond issuance which killed the underlying.
ANR- It was killed today. Sold 1 unit of Mar 35/30p for 1.30. I took a .30 loss. I sold into the afternoon rally.
USB – Sold 2 of my Mar 35c hedges for .35 and .40. I had sold several of my 30p hedges in to recent selloff. The32.5p calendars are back in theta positive territory. This was a trade that really when bad, however I was able to roll my short front month option from Jan to Feb for a .20 credit. I would now like to get out of these with a little better than a scratch.
I lost on the SDS. Bought 60.75, sold at 60.46. It closed up
I am looking for a short entry in FNM
The SPY sold off after the close. It is an interesting market and money is to be had, but patience is required.
Also,
SCHW and DTV calendars widened today
Suckout of the day. Yesterday I exited at my target price on SGMS I made a nice 150% on my Apr 30p. Today SGMS dropped 30%, and I wasn’t in. UGGGG. Unreal. I sold for 2.90. At the close today, the option was worth 10.60. Dang.
Trades to review:
IHP – 29.10 target by Mar 17th – High IV – Butterfly idea
CAL – 14.10 target by Feb 27 – Very High IV – Butterfly idea
Continental Delays Full Earnings Report
Continental Airlines Inc. said it will not report full fourth-quarter and 2007 results as planned Thursday, instead reporting pretax results as it works to finalize a special tax charge of up to $140 million, which will affect its bottom line.
ACS- 36 target by Apr 3. Med Volatility. Interesting bear put spreads.
These trades are not to be taken as trading advice. Remember, I am a ski instructor, not an licensed investment professional.