Trading Update June 17th

Today’s trading day got ransacked by a misinterpretation of an article written through the Financial Times. The piece held within its paragraphs keywords that hinted towards the ‘tapering’ of the FED’s QE programs. Although speculation already exists about the FED’s position, the perception in the markets this morning was that Bernanke was going to ease concerns this Wednesday during the release of the FOMC minutes. Once the news algos caught wind of the FT article, the panic selling ensued and the sell buttons were held down aggressively.

Many traders got caught during the split second pop in volatility including myself. Many of the Tech/Internet names were super bullish and the tape on all of them looked clean. I chose to stick with a stock I have been following for quite some time now. Amazon AMZN…

I piled heavy into 4 different options series in order to play this move higher and was looking for an attempt at the all time highs around $284 and change. Last week the stock managed to hit $282 and then gave it all up when the markets dropped out. We’re still in that environment where the market is pushing people in long and then just pulling the rug later on in the session. As you can see right after 2 PM this stock got buried almost 4 points from the high and everyone of my call options disappeared in premium. I thought I could work my way out of the trade so I held on and averaged down. Again, your environment dictates how you must adjust your trading strategies and right now you can’t afford to hold any directional position for too long. Unfortunately, your mind gets the best of you sometimes…

Stick with Lucci!