MSFT

My goal in with trading is to execute flawless trades. Seek the best entry, manage my risk, and exit with profit. Some of my trades are better than others but this week I bought 5 AMD calls and 5 COST calls. I’m still watching my MSFT diagonal put spread, with my first short put option expiring at the end of the week. Granted, if I get assigned (which is a low probability) I’ll just sell covered calls on those 100 shares. I do have a protective long put in MSFT to act as a back stop to selling “premium.” I don’t know I’ll end up doing this for the long term but I’ll keep this position open till end of May and sell weekly puts against it. ...

Markets had an interesting week, especially if you were trading the #AI stocks like NVDA and AMD. Both of those darlings sold off. NVDA looks to be firming up but it’s too early to tell. AMD is heading lower and I expect it to test the $180 level. I’d become a buyer around there. After transferring my brokerage account over to Interactive Brokers (referral link), I put on a single #options trade. I sold my first put to collect premium and bought a long dated put for insurance on MSFT. This is called a diagonal spread trade and I’m banking that MSFT will climb higher here. ...

I sat out most of the week because I was transferring my brokerage account from TD Ameritrade to Interactive Brokers (referral link). It took 3 days to move everything over and today (Thursday) I made my first diagonal options trade. I bought a Jul 21 MSFT $405 put and sold a Mar 21 MSFT $410 put. The plan is to hold the July put till about June and sell weekly puts to get premium. ...

My plan is to stay out of the market today. There was some violent sell off on Friday in the semiconductors. All the stocks and ETFs I follow sold off and there were a lot of shooting starts or bearish engulfing candles. Several of the indices are looking tired too, the S&P500 has a bearish engulfing candle as well. But MSFT is hanging in there, that’s one that I want to bet on for the long term and I might be increasing my long term holdings of it. ...

History might not repeat but it sure rhymes which seems to be the case here. I remember back in 2000, right before the Dot Com crash when four stocks, affectionately known as the “Four Horsemen” ruled technology. They generated so many gains with quarter after quarter of earnings growth. It seemed to go on forever until it didn’t anymore. I’m talking about MSFT, INTC, CSCO, and Dell.. Today we’re repeating this same lunacy except it’s the Magnificent Seven that rule technology in nearly the same way. Their strong price action is pushing the S&P500 to new all-time highs, which I’m a BIG fan of, but I can’t help but wonder one damn thing. ...

Microsoft (MSFT) hits all-time high, hires OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, gains AI brainpower & potential to kill partnership.

Identifying stock market trends is like eating and drinking the Zeitgeist. It has to be inside you to understand it. You have to be social, go outside, go to parties, etc. If you’re not “hip” then you’ll never see emerging trends until they’re already established. Then it’s a matter of chasing their coattails and riding them for a bit. Years ago Howie had a great tag-line for his blog, it was “Trends… Find them, ride them and get off.” I thought that was a great way to frame the problem and represent one way to generate “alpha” for the short term. Get in on a trend before it takes off and then ride it up (or down). The next trick is getting out, as Howie so eloquently puts it, “ride them and get off.” ...