Forcing myself not to follow the market these two weeks. It’s both a great time to start my trading ‘career’ and a lousy time. Great because the volatile and weakening market offers many opportunities to uncover opportunities through hard research and practice. Lousy because this is the period where the grades of my last (hopefully) semester in college are determined. Exam time.
I just hope I don’t miss out too much action these two weeks although that’s really unlikely. I really really would like to catch a great bear rally! That would give me a chance to offload some of my AIG, and gain an entry point into the ridiculously expensive ultrashorts, EEV, FAZ and SRS. Should there be another capitulation on the scale of October I would actually go *a little* long on the $300 MKL, and of course keep my eye out for a good time to take up some TBT as I still believe strongly in the eventual long-term cheapening of Treasuries.
On a brighter note, I’m registering with a new brokerage, OptionsXpress, and transferring all my holdings over from DBS Vickers Online! OX offers a fantastic, responsive interface with HALF the trading fees. And the customer service is even better. I do not have much against DBSVO’s service, although there was an administrative lapse that denied me access to US equities even though I had submitted the W-8 form already. My first customer service experience with OX was very pleasant. Middle of busy trading day and I logged on to the ‘live chat’ function they have to ask some dumb questions about certain promotions they were having. And a person actually answered back really promptly, plus there was the option to recieve the transcript via email. All I can say is, throughout the entire website experience, you know and feel that they put their customers first. AND their share custody is insured by the US Govt, unlike for DBSVO where I *heard* that the holdings are uninsured against.. anything. Although it was a forum post where someone posted a reply from a DBSVO staff, there is still some credibility.
Will be back with a vengence on the first Monday of December. Appreciate your comments and hope to see you all soon!
