<p>I don’t know for sure. Its probably just noise. I mainly buy aapl with options. I usually by 5 contracts. I’m not going to own 300k worth of any stock because I’m one of the little retail investors mentioned in the article. The past month or so, I’ve gotten tossed around in this stock exactly as described in the article. There are all kinds of rumors out there manipulating the stock. Last week there was talk about a cheap iphone which dropped the stock because margins would be reduced. Then it came out that there wouldn’t be one. Who knows? I just think that right now tech is too difficult to hold. The smartphone and pad marketplace is becoming crowded and competition is fierce. From my perspective - not a great area to invest.</p>
<p>Doct, I would like to see those strategies.</p>
<p>Do you have any links?</p>
<p>“The smartphone and pad marketplace is becoming crowded and competition is fierce. From my perspective - not a great area to invest.”</p>
<p>That is a problem.
Margins are an issue.</p>
<p>not of the top - I remember maybe 5 months ago these strategies appearing in seeking alpha.</p>
<p>The only difference in the way I play aapl and goog for that matter from before is that now I only deal with 2 contracts. I’m too much of a scaredy cat to play with more than that now unless they drop a lot more.</p>
<p>There are so many strikes and so many players, I think it would be difficult to peg aapl to a price. The open interest is high in many series. One thing that has nothing to do with manipulation that I see is people are playing the options and can’t afford to exercise the options necause the stock is trading at 500. It is easier to be long calls or long puts, but when it is time to exercise a 15 dollar option, the trader has to come up with 515 a share. </p>
<p>You can trade options for hundreds or a few thousand, but 100 shares of aapl is 50,000 plus.</p>
<p>Igloo, the option market is noise. Long term, aapl is going to go where it goes.</p>
<p>Doct, I will try and find what you mentioned…
Seeking alpha has articles written by people that don’t necessarily know much, right? Can’t anybody write for seeking alpha?</p>
<p>2 contracts? You can’t lose more than $9400 in your aapl position. </p>
<p>The stock is over 500 so 2 contracts in appl might be like 20 contracts in a 50 stock.</p>
<p>I think people do try and manipulate aapl and all the other stocks too.</p>
<p>I don’t like losing $9400. I usually keep my loses to <2000. I subscribe to the Warren Buffett rule: “The first investing rule is to not lose money. The second is to follow the first rule.” I don’t care about hitting home runs. Most of my gains have come from making a little in a lot of different positions. The only time I’ve broken that rule is with aapl and goog which worked well last year but not so well lately.</p>
<p>I don’t like losing 9400 either. I don’t like to take large positions in anything anymore. Don’t need to for one thing.
Just trying to hit singles.
I am a scaredy cat too. I am a shell of my former self. 
Pinning exists…</p>
<p>[Digging</a> Deeper: Options Expert Discusses Pinning, Max Pain and Apple (Part Two) - Seeking Alpha](<a href=“Digging Deeper: Options Expert Discusses Pinning, Max Pain and Apple (Part Two) (NASDAQ:AAPL) | Seeking Alpha”>Digging Deeper: Options Expert Discusses Pinning, Max Pain and Apple (Part Two) (NASDAQ:AAPL) | Seeking Alpha)</p>
<p>I’ve actually increased my loss tolerance to $2000 this year from $1000 last year. I’m trying to cut down on the number of trades. I buy the number of shares or contracts based on #shares = 2000/(2*atr) so the more volatile a stock - the less I buy.</p>
<p>[Blog</a> | Stock Option Traders Chat Room](<a href=“http://www.optionmillionaires.com/2012/pegged-aapl-and-goog-stock-prices-manipulated-on-options-expiriation-part-i/]Blog”>http://www.optionmillionaires.com/2012/pegged-aapl-and-goog-stock-prices-manipulated-on-options-expiriation-part-i/)</p>
<p>I have a problem with the idea that option traders are manipulating by pegging in concert.</p>
<p>There are so many option strikes and the stock can only be pegged to one strike. Aapl has hundreds of strikes. If aapl closes near one strike, just near, we hear shouts of
manipulation. We don’t hear, “aapl wasn’t pegged to 299 srikes.”.</p>
<p>People look at things with subjective eyes. They see what they want to see.</p>
<p>Hey, the stock held support. Charts work. What the trader doesn’t say is the stock broke support 18 times before it held. The trader just remembers the one time when support held. How many times did aapl break support from its drop from 700 a share?</p>
<p>Doct, we do similar things. Probably because we don’t like to lose. And because we are old. :(</p>
<p>I am trading more this year. One, because I don’t have a job. I have time and I want to replace some of the income. Two, my wife might lose her job. Three, my wife might quit her job. Four, I have too much cash. Five, fixed income is not attractive. Six, I want to see if I can make money and how I am affected psychologically by losses.</p>
<p>Going for singles…</p>
<p>Mauldin’s weekend piece is interesting: The Crisis of the Middle Class and American Power. It’s basically a repost of a StratFor article. It talks about some of the causes of the problems that have been discussed in the college cost/merit aid/need aid threads on the Parents’ forum. It doesn’t discuss possible solutions - just how we got here. I think that we know most of this stuff intuitively but I learned a few things that I wasn’t aware of.</p>
<p>The takeaway was that investors and engineers (corporate engineers, not the folks that build things) are doing well, while most others aren’t. I had a chat with my son yesterday about inflation (he’s seeing his costs go up and he’s expecting a raise in about six weeks). I told him that he needs to start putting his money to work. He hates the idea of having to fight the Fed for yield and the government for taxes (I had to explain the payroll tax change to him). He is like everyone else. He wants a decent return from a mutual fund that he doesn’t have to put any effort into. That’s what we all want. I said that doesn’t exist anymore. He has the ability; but he’s working full-time and in grad school and moderately busy.</p>
<p>On trading: I have five positions: PBA, PSEC, QLD, TNA, MFC. The first three are large positions. The fourth is medium. The last is small. I have about 16% cash. TNA is up about 10 or 11 percent this year. PBA has a 6% yield (maybe smaller now), paid monthly. PSEC has about a 12% yield, paid monthly. QLD is getting held back by AAPL. Fewer, concentrated positions allow you to keep a closer eye on your holdings. It also concentrates risk and reward. It is relatively easier with fewer positions.</p>
<p>PBA, PSEC, MFC do not move very fast. QLD can move fast but I think that the underlying bullish sentiment is tamped down by AAPL so it hasn’t been moving fast lately. TNA moves like lightning.</p>
<p>It must be difficult for someone to support themselves trading probably a lot like somebody selling on commission. If you’re not making money for weeks on end or losing money, how do you survive? I guess you would have to have a lot of money in the bank or a spouse who has a full time job. I’m not a risk taker by nature that’s why I work for somebody else. I’m probably a product of my upbringing where my parents were conservative probably because they grew up during the depression.</p>
<p>In my taxable accounts, most of my money is in cash. This doesn’t really mean much since I own lots of positions in options which have leverage. I haven’t bothered to calculate the impact of this lately - the implied leverage but I would guess its close to equivalent of my having > 50% in the market.</p>
<p>It is extremely difficult to support yourself by trading profits. Extremely. Trading is different when you don’t have a steady income behind you. It is multiples harder. Most people lose. That steady income changes the game. Trading without a net is harder than selling on commission. You can lose what you earned previously. You don’t have total control of a situation. You have little to imperfect information about companies. There are people that know more. A stock can gap. Unexpected news may occur.</p>
<p>Most people who need to support themselves by trading… lose. We just don’t read about the losers. It’s gambling. Most people don’t have the temperament to just trade their own money for a living. There are a few successful people that trade their own money. As a trader gets older, he/she doesn’t necessarily get better either. People’s emotional makeup changes as they age. Older people want more security…a generalization.</p>
<p>And there is less edge today in the markets than their used be in the old days.</p>
<p>A friend of somebody I work with, trades for a living. Based on what I heard, he doesn’t seem to have the temperament for trading. If he made 100k one week, he would bet the whole amount and more the next week and lose it all. He’s doing a bit better now. If he makes a certain amount of money per day, he’s done even if its a 10:00 AM</p>
<p>" If he made 100k one week, he would bet the whole amount and more the next week and lose it all. He’s doing a bit better now. If he makes a certain amount of money per day, he’s done even if its a 10:00 AM"</p>
<p>That doesn’t sound good to me. I wouldn’t give him any of my money to trade with. </p>
<p>How do you make a small fortune?</p>
<p>Start with a big fortune.</p>
<p>The guy I work with acts as his “coach” and tries to help him control his emotions. A lot of people bet more when they are losing to make up for their lose. I tend to bet less when I have less and bet more when I have more. I bet a percentage of what I have in a particular account. I won’t make a fortune but I won’t lose it all either.</p>