VMW

I've been following VMW for quite a while now. Tough to examine trades and see what could have been. My first purchase was on 5/11/2010 @61.19, sold later that day 61.06. It retreated further but could have been held, I do not recall what I was doing then. Then I was thinking more about covered calls, looking to pick up a few percent each month with great stocks. I started this on 7/20. The call went against me as the stock grew. I ended up buying back the call and going further out in time. I recall that the profit in stock was greater than the loss of the call price. I think I then sold the stock and covered a profitable call. On options expiry day 8/20/2010 I was long (way over extended) some puts that I lost my arse on. The stock was stronger than I thought so I bought the stock with all I had. I sold after a big down day 10/1 for a nice profit, nearly recovering my options loss.

VMW now only a short. It has busted down on big volume.

It is unsettling to review these and other trades.

If you like trading leading growth stocks, good discussions of stocks are in the new book by Gil Morales and Chris Karcher. It details some history of them at IBD but also shares a lot of their thoughts on stocks through time. It includes better defined buy and sell rules.

I am sorry about the chart, it ought to have volume included but I need to get some other work done, not gonna change it. Pull it up on your own time if you want to see more.