Some people are saying that you can track the real estate market by how many new realtors there are signing up. “When everyone thinks they will get rich selling real estate,” they say, “that is when the market will fall.” Charles Turbiville has some advice for people wanting to get into the real estate game (more…)
Phil Town took an email recently about naked put options. A Rule #1 reader was trying use naked puts to make a little extra money while he waited for a stock to fall to a reasonable MOS (margin of safety) price. It’s an interesting tactic, and Phil has a great response.
Trading strategies are great, but a more pressing issue for me was how this article got me thinking about these so-called naked options. Why are they “naked”?
You guys may know that I have a position in Crystallex (AMEX: KRY). If you follow the stock, you know that yesterday was a bad day. There was a press release today, which speaks of… well let me just quote some of it:
If you follow the stock, you know that yesterday was a bad day. There was this press release, which speaks of… well let me just quote some of it:
Crystallex International Corporation … announced today that, subject to receipt of all necessary regulatory and shareholder approvals, it has agreed to amend the terms of certain unlisted common share purchase warrants … held by two holders in the United States. The proposed amendment is in relation to 2,272,727 Warrants originally issued by the Corporation as part of an issuance of 4,545,455 special warrants (each special warrant consisting of one common share and one-half of one Warrant) completed on August 29, 2003. Each Warrant entitles the holder thereof to acquire one common share in the capital of the Corporation at an exercise price of US$2.75 per share until September 15, 2006.
Read on for much much more…
We here at InvestorGeeks lean towards the side of “fundamental” “investing”, but as I’ve been reading up on technical analysis for my upcoming articles I’ve run into some interesting reading. When we invest in a market, we want to know the players. We spend a lot of time trying to figure out what the institutional (more…)
Last week, we were watching Microsoft’s stock and hoping it could break through the resistance level at $24. If it did that, the stock was set for a nice break into the mid-to-high twenties. Instead, the stock dropped along with the general market and tech sectors. Closing price yesterday was around $22.50.
Last time, I told you how I sold my Microsoft (MSFT) shares at $23. Afterwards, it sank under the $23 mark and hovered there for a few days. Yesterday, it closed up at around $23.50 on a day that saw a lot of return to tech stocks. What’s in store for Mr. Softy?
Today will be a big test for the stock. If MSFT breaks $24 today and stays well above $23.50 on Friday, I think we may have seen the true bottom for this episode. On the other hand, there is still a possibility the stock will sell off after these gains and plummet to new lows (look around May 6th on the chart above). How’s that for ambiguous?
adsense
I’ll be honest here. In true InvestorGeeks style, I’ve been winging it this whole time with MSFT as I brought myself up to speed on “technical analysis” and how to read charts. Below I’ll go through my evolution as a chart reader and technical analysis convert, and show you the different chart tools and technical indicators I’ve been looking at lately as I follow MSFT and other stocks. I’ll cover support and resistance levels today and go into moving averages, stochastics, and moving average convergence divergence (MACD). (I know you’ve been waiting for these guys, but just wait a little longer. It’s good stuff coming.)
Earlier today I sold my 100 shares of Microsoft (MSFT) at $23. Truth be told, I should have unloaded the shares a couple of weeks ago. Overall though, I’m still happy with how I’ve been trading this and looking forward to buying back in when goes on the upswing. Below is a brief history of my investments in MSFT.
Originally I bought 25 shares to start a position because I thought (and still do) that the company has a bright future once Vista is released and their online Live component gains some traction.
I kept my initial purchase to 25 because I was a little unsure of the short term outlook for MSFT leading into the quarter. I bought my first shares right after the last Vista delay, and it seemed that more bad news could be coming. Lo-and-behold… Microsoft announces a lack-luster quarter, states that margins on their operating systems and Office software can be expected to shrink in the future, and (perhaps worst of all) declares their intention to spend a little more than $2 Billion to beef up their online services and Xbox segments among others. Well, investors were not to pleased with this.
By far the most useful single page in Jim Cramer’s Real Money: Sane Investing in an Insane World is the “Cyclical Investing and Trading” chart on page 115.
Visually the chart looks like a W. It follows the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate through an economic cycle. The chart also depicts the Federal Reserve’s standard response of either raising (tightening) or lowering (easing) interest rates based on GDP growth. The chart has no explicit relation to time, but these cycles typically take about 7 years or so.
The meat of the chart is Cramer’s suggestions for which types of stocks (or sectors) to buy based on where we are on the chart. So where are we right now?
Investing can be tough some times. Wouldn’t it be great if you just won the lottery? Man, that would set you for life. Seriously.
Now, we’re not suggesting you run to the closest mini-mart with your life savings. The odds of winning the Big Game (a multi-state lottery open to adults in Massachusetts, Maryland, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, and Virginia) are roughly 70 Million to 1. That is only slightly better than your chances of making money going long on Overstock.com. However, there are some reasons to play. And if you are going to play, there are some strategies to follow. Read on for more.
Some of you may know that I play a little poker and that I used to play a lot of poker. Actually, my first trade (SIRI back in September of 2004) was funded using money I won playing poker. What can I say; gambling is in my blood. Of course my favorite forms of gambling (more…)
