I don’t post because things are going well. Strange as that may seem.

My trading system is fairly automated now and I am only taking trades generated from my system. That makes blog posting rather dull.

My system said buy WMT at …. Who wants to read that ?

Until my system can also write comments, I don’t think I will be blogging about my system trades. It takes a lot of emotion out of trading which is a good thing.

I run my system, it spits out trades, and stop losses, and I place the orders. The AAPL vertical was my last non system trade. Now they are all system trades.

I am starting to trade more in the public view. I think I will move more to just blogging about options in general, and leave my stock/option picks to another website that shall remain nameless for now.

Well, I love weekends. Two days of time decay where I do not have to watch the market.

One of my trades Corning ( GLW ) , just went wiggy on me. I have a calendar spread on, and the IV of the long option just jumped. Don’t know why, but it has a large skew. “The larger the skew, the larger the move”. I don’t want to be around for the move.

The skew developed while I was sleeping, so I didn’t see it. I did not expect a skew to develop that large that quickly. Now, skew is in my favor, which is why I made money, since I entered the position when the skew was much flatter. If the skew had gone against me, my rules would have me close the trade.

I will run a spreadsheet over the weekend to get a better idea of the pricing. That is the second reason I love the weekend. I have time to upgrade my software.

This is my first week back to trading. A little bit awkward, but getting better everyday.

This is the first month I am trading my complete system. Every trade , everyday. I must say it is a little bit nerve racking.

I am selling Theta so things can move slow. Near expiration, things move faster, but now, it is that “manage your portfolio” time. I have to watch my positions like a dirt farmer.

You really understand the need for risk & portfolio management, when running money. I cannot understand the blowup of Amaranth Advisors. How could Amaranth not have those systems in place, boggles the mind.

Well, I closed out of INTC today. The price was nearing the short strike. Even with expiration a few days away, I had set up my risk management to get me out when INTC hit the short strike price. I can’t complain, it was a 53.3% profit in a few weeks.

As I noted here PALM was a screwy trade for me. I am glad I got out. I really want to see what is going to happen to the IV. I am glad I am out of that position ( with a profit no less )

My favorite commentary was here

The deal looks like a loser. Palm gets to add $400 million in debt, gets no new strategic partner, and adds a few people who have as their claim to fame being fomer managers at Apple.

This deal is a loser. Just because you worked at AAPL doesn’t mean you are Steve Jobs. Now if Steve Jobs was on the board……. But really, can Jon Rubinstein, Apple’s former head of hardware save PALM ? I think not. I cannot see any value to this thing.

If you are long, a 50% one time dividend is nice.