What did you trade today and why?

[Fermion]

In my case it was dumb luck... I've been down the market timing swing trading road before. It's like gambling, if you are having a good day,,,,,, STOP!

You did take on a bit of diversity risk but it paid off this time.

To be fair, you had about $200,000 or so at risk, so you could have bought 300 shares of SPY a week ago and gained $45 per share there. Only $13,500 vs $30,000 though.

 

[Surewhitey]

Reminds me of years ago when I publicly urged Chatam Fish Market to go public as Chatham Seafood and Blockchain.
Regards, Dick

Similar memories of the .com days... I remember this one for some reason.

The Zapata Corporation, founded by George H.W. Bush in the 1950s, was originally an oil company that later became a major fish-meal processor specializing in marine protein, particularly targeting species like menhaden, anchovy, tuna, and sardine for animal feed. In the 1990s, it shifted focus to become an internet-focused business, separating its marine protein operations.

 

[dickoncapecod]

Used cash raised yesterday to very quickly buy back some PDI, then a added to WDI and DMO (small/illiquid), and PTY. Started a position in BGH.
Regards, Dick

 

[COcheesehead]

Adds to THOAX and TIBAX for concentrated global growth.
Add to PRPFX diversified growth

 

[Quattro73]

"What did I trade and why?"
Agree with those who really like moderate allocation fund FBALX, nice steady grower. For safety some growth, diversification, and wealth inflation beating protection, like and added to PRPFX, Permanent Portfolio. Interesting fund with commodities, swiss francs, real estate included.

Here is graph of total return up too about 5% this year, though to me 1 year just recency bias, but it is up.

PRPFX Stock Chart (Dividends Reinvested, Inflation Adjusted) | Total Real Returns

Chart of PRPFX inflation-adjusted and with dividends reinvested. See how your real purchasing power changes over time.

totalrealreturns.com

There is also ALLW now which is a State Street etf managed by Bridgewater, trying to do the “All Weather” type portfolio.

 

[Budswhizzer]

Decided to ring the register on OXLC for one dividend payout, and a 17% gain ahead of the ex-date. I'll be back in shortly. Bird in the hand!!

 

[DogDad]

Bought HOSIX yesterday, almost seems like a money market on steroids. Also, placed a couple of limit orders for DIVO.

 

[Flieger]

No Sells or Buys recently. Holding pattern. Up $1800 gain with GOF (not including Div of ~$800).

Flieger

 

[joesxm3]

I just sold a little of my beloved TSLA pre-market. TSLA jumped $25 yesterday and I worry about the next turn of events in the war. I trimmed about 10% of my PLTR position last week. But that was a recent buy trade that I made speculating outside of my core position. I bought back half of that and sold again, making a small profit on the trades.

I just put an order in to sell a little more TSLA at a limit 5% over the current to catch a pop on the open. I will probably put a close in trailing stop order to sell a little more this morning if that does not hit.

[edit[ I forgot to mention that Grok AI talked me in to reducing my massive concentration in TSLA and PLTR. It says a gentleman of my age has no business being so concentrated in risky companies

 

[RetiredHappy]

Not sure what to do with cash in the accounts after we got out of QLENX entirely yesterday. Can always put them into tech or VOO again.

 

[dobig]

Trimmed some tech. Raised 5% cash.

 

[surprising]

OK, this is crazy. MSFT is up another $20 per share today. That's up an avg of ~$60 per share since I bought 500 shares last week. I'm not sure I can hold off selling much longer. That's ~$30k profit in less than a week on one stock...

I may tap out today.

I think it continues going higher. I bought more yesterday and will continue adding periodically.

 

[dobig]

Trimmed more tech across the board. Up to 8% cash.

Protecting gains and want money on the sidelines if things get squirrely.

 

[Fishmasterdan]

Sold MRVL. Put that into cash into MSFT

 

[Al18]

BIRD stock down 28% today. I believe BIRD is attracting about 2% buy and hold investors, and 98% are just trading options.

 

[FlyingCircus]

Jumping on the MSFT "undervalued" bounce bandwagon today.

 

[TheWizard]

I sold just a few shares of VOO and QQQ yesterday and today in my tIRA to get cash for doing RMD QCDs.

Going forward, I think I'll sell a few shares of something within a few days of 12/31 each year, enough to cover at least half of my new RMD...

 

[Fermion]

Maybe some of you could figure this out for me. I was looking at Vanda today (I have made $78,000 on it YTD on a $80,000 account). I currently only have 1000 shares at $7 and the stock is trading at $7.10 or so. I suspect May earnings will be bad (again) so I am just holding a little bit in case of a surprise buyout so I won't feel like I missed out on it. This is totally just a psychological band-aid since a $15 to $20 buyout would be pretty meaningless extra profit compared to the 10,000+ shares I have held in the past few months.

Anyway, the trade I was looking at today was buying the stock at $7.10, buying a June $7 put for $0.70 and selling a $7 June call at $1.10, for a net debit of $6.70, with a trading cost of $0.50 per contract.

So to put real numbers on it, each of these collars would net me $29 on a $671 investment (1 contract) and would be a guaranteed return no matter what happens. So this would be a 2 month return of 4.3%. A tiny chance of a higher return on early assignment of the call (could then possibly sell the put for a few pennies).

Is the only thing stopping this unbelievable return the likelihood that I could only fill a few of these contracts before the market prices out the profit?

 

[Fishmasterdan]

Maybe some of you could figure this out for me. I was looking at Vanda today (I have made $78,000 on it YTD on a $80,000 account). I currently only have 1000 shares at $7 and the stock is trading at $7.10 or so. I suspect May earnings will be bad (again) so I am just holding a little bit in case of a surprise buyout so I won't feel like I missed out on it. This is totally just a psychological band-aid since a $15 to $20 buyout would be pretty meaningless extra profit compared to the 10,000+ shares I have held in the past few months.

Anyway, the trade I was looking at today was buying the stock at $7.10, buying a June $7 put for $0.70 and selling a $7 June call at $1.10, for a net debit of $6.70, with a trading cost of $0.50 per contract.

So to put real numbers on it, each of these collars would net me $29 on a $671 investment (1 contract) and would be a guaranteed return no matter what happens. So this would be a 2 month return of 4.3%. A tiny chance of a higher return on early assignment of the call (could then possibly sell the put for a few pennies).

Is the only thing stopping this unbelievable return the likelihood that I could only fill a few of these contracts before the market prices out the profit?

Buy put for .70$, sell call 1.10 is a net credit? I am confused at the 6.70 debit comment.. I see this as if the stock goes down you make money on the call and the put. If it goes up you lose your put dollars and just make the 1.10 call sell. For a .40 profit.

 

[Fermion]

Buy put for .70$, sell call 1.10 is a net credit? I am confused at the 6.70 debit comment.. I see this as if the stock goes down you make money on the call and the put. If it goes up you lose your put dollars and just make the 1.10 call sell. For a .40 profit.

You have to cover the call so you have to buy stock. When I wrote this the stock was $7.10 and the midpoint on the bid/ask of the put and call was $.70 and $1.10 respectively. It looked like the midpoint of the trade was a net debit of $6.70 and the profit was $0.30 with no chance of a loss. I tried to get it to execute at $6.70 though and it didn't so there just isn't enough interest in the calls or puts to get the trade moving.

I think what you are selling here is liquidity. Obviously you could earn about 0.7% over this two month period in a ETF like VBIL and could instantly get your money out but this trade would lock you in until expiration with no guarantee you could exit the trade at a profit until then (bid/asks could go crazy and volatility could make the fills unreliable).

If the market were willing to pay me 4.3% for a two month period, I would be willing to lock some money up for that yield. Maybe even 3%. Below that it gets iffy.

 

[Car-Guy]

Jumping on the MSFT "undervalued" bounce bandwagon today.

Sold half of mine this morning.

 

[Fermion]

I heard about the ETF called MEME and looked at the holdings. Wow, there are some crazy things in there. First one is AVIS (the rental car company). I didn't know that it has gone up 450% in the past month. Also Sandisk has gone up 2700% in a year.

None of this is giving me market warm and fuzzies.

 

[RetiredHappy]

Bought VOO using cash from selling QLENX yesterday but this are small potatoes. Under $20K on each of the 2 accounts.

 

[dobig]

How the stock market has performed on each day of the week so far in 2026.

Copied and pasted from RussFaigen at WallStbets.

 

[dobig]

Reported Straight is fully opened. Oil dropping like a rock. Futures soaring.