Author Archive for Terrapin Trader
First found out about options in 1995.From the arcane magazine Exchange and Mart! First trade- a covered call on VOD in 1999. Made 10%,VOD almost doubled. That's when I realised I was not a good trader,and I was forgiven thanks to the amazing world of exchange traded options
Trade 135 Week Ending 7June
That Was The Week FTSE Up almost 2.5% But,…………………………… SPX up 4.4% based on rumours of the FED softening and cutting rates. I think personally that they wanted to show how good things are when the commander-in-chief is out of the US! Actually bad news is good news. Good news is good news. Indifferent news is, […]
Trade134 Week Ending 31May
That Was The Week: So, we saw some more down moves, and perhaps a little more worrying, the US bond yields tumbling. Bond buyers are out in force. Risk off, as they say. Our week was shortened with public holidays as the month of May played the predictable role- ‘Sell in May’ a 3.46% decline […]
Trade 133 Week Ending 24 May
It’s The End of May- See What I did There! What happened this week? We saw a 1% drop in FTSE but since the start of May GBPUSD has dropped about 4%. Typically this is said to boost FTSE as our exports become cheaper due to the exchange rate. Though I suspect these are deals […]
Trade132 Week Ending 17May
That Was The Week On a personal level I had to make a few trade exits. Whilst I was aiming to get the 100 max on each, I was happy to settle for 23 for a put trade and 14 for a call trade. However max profit for me was at 7150 and 7450, so […]
Trade131 Week Ending 10May
Tweets And Chinese Takeaways Obvious headline really. Yet again someone let the iPad loose and the world’s premier tweeter tanked the markets. From 7380 down to 7189 on Friday. Curious market action solely on the Trump/Xi challenge. Tariff or not tariff, that is the question. More vexing than a Shakespeare quote. We are told […]
Trade130 Week ending 03May
That Was The Week We Nearly Saw a 1.5% Move! FTSE 7428-7380 VFTSE 10.01 -10.68 Statisticians tell us that 66% of the time markets go nowhere. You would not want to be strongly directional on that basis, it would make little sense. Options give us so many more facets to trading, we can adapt for […]
Trade 129 Week Ending 26April
That Was The Week Something of A Nothing. FTSE opened the week at 7459 and closed at 7428, the high was 7528 the low 7398. Another week bounded by 7400 and 7500. Another week of protests inspired by a teenager. Without getting too political it just seems obvious that tackling climate change hurts nobody. Our one […]
Trade 128 Week Ending Friday the 19th………….
That Week in Pictures- Market flat Vol decreasing. Expiry week was a damp squib, but that’s what we have come to expect. Traders know volumes are not terrible but not exactly setting the pulse racing. A sobering thought- those Extinction Rebellion protesters may know Friends of the Earth started 50 years ago. A powerful lobby […]
Trade127- That Was The Week Ending 12 April- Nobrexit Day 2
That Was The week We watched as more verbage gushed from the mouths of our glorious leaders. We remain in the EU. Then, the market shows its utter contempt by going……….. nowhere. We see volatility is crushed virtually to a single digit once again. Central banks are ensuring the smooth running of markets. However, we […]
Trade 126 That Was Another Odd Week, Ending 05April
The Week’s Charts: My simplistic view of price and volatility of the underlying- do we need more? I accept I have a bias towards the downside which does not often coincide with market action. Trading with a bias is like cycling no-hands. It’s no problem until you hit a major curve or a bump in […]
