Scheduled a test drive for the Lexus IS250 today at 2-3pm at the Mutiara Damansara showroom. Went over with Kok Meng and Jong Yang. Had lunch at Burger King before moving over next door to the showroom.
Reached there at 2.30pm and Alex, the sales advisor arranged for the test car. It's black in colour. Sitting in front of the showroom, nicely polished and I think it looks pretty good. The car came shod with 225/45/17" Bridgestone Potenza RE050 at the front and 245/45/17" at the rear. Good performance tyres ! The car tested was the premium version, going for bout $300K+.
Entry into the vehicle is by keyless-entry and the car is also a keyless-go car. Just keep the keys in your pocket and press the start button to bring the engine to life. The seat are very comfortable and has plush leather seats. The premium version came with Mark Levinson audio... oh... it sounds damn good on the LS460 !
The dashboard and center console is the most boring looking of all the mid-size executive sedan. Plain vanilla straight forward.... bland.... boring... bahhh........ japanese... camry looking.... nothing compared to the german competitors. And there's this big bump where the rear drive-shaft is located at the center of the rear seat. It's so high up that it's quite hard for a 3rd person to sit at the center !
Press the start button and the digital meters (odo, tacho, etc) spring to life in white colour. The odo and tachometer makes a full sweep from left to right anti-clockwise before displaying the readings. Cool. Drove off to the Penchala Link. A gentle standing acceleration is not bad. Very mild-mannered drive off. Hit the Penchala link and took a gentle drive at bout 110-120km/h. Very comfortable and quiet cabin. Not until you hear what KM and KY says later....
Paid the Penchala toll and head towards damansara heights and took a U-turn back to the Curve. Once taken the U-turn back, i switched the gear from D to S. Sports mode gear starts with 4th gear and i floored the pedal, maybe like 80% down. Used the steering paddle-shifters to play round with the gears. In-gear acceleration is commendable and smooth. The car pulls away with easy. The paddle shifters is much more easier and friendlier to use compared to the Audi's. However you get the feeling that the acceleration ain't the kind you feel with the 325. With the 325, you can hear the in-line sixes revs up with tenacity and it's music to the ears. With the Lexus, you hear the engine revs, however it lacks the emotion and feel of going fast. Well maybe cause it's a Lexus ! Build for good cabin insulation and ride. With the paddle shifters, according to Alex, once activated it will stay in gear until red-line and won't change up automatically unless paddled with. Hhhmm....
Steering feels muted, not the kind of feel of the Germans. With the german's steering, you could feel the road, with the Lexus, it's not so much so. At speed, the steering is not weighted enough for a confident steer, not like the 325 or A4. With the 325 or A4 in Dynamic mode, steering feels weighted and you can actually feel more confident taking a curve / corner at speed.
On the way back to Curve on the Penchala, after paying the toll, it's pedal to the metal... it's pick-up from stand still is good... something like the 325 but nothing compared to the adrenalin rush of the Passat ABT or A4. Once in the Penchala tunnnel, we were doing like 140km/h or so... then I start to hear wind noise. Wat.... wat..... wat...... is this................... I am in a Lexus ! how can this happen.... and the noise is quite audible. Drove back to the showroom and parked the car.
Had a fag with JY and KM. 1st thing i ask how's the car and they complained bout wind noise, at 120km/h, on the way to the Penchala toll Mont' Kiara. They even make sure that they windows are fully up ! Hmmmm... ... Well i have to admit it the stretch of road before the toll has a lot of cross wind.
Well, lets sum it up this way, it's a good all rounder car compared to the 325. 325 ride is just stiff with the run-flats, which is bad in comfort. So it's a nice car to be driving, more of a family man kind of car. Well i guess it's just not for me. :)
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Monday, February 2, 2009
Audi A4 Test Drive, 2 Feb 09
It's a holiday today, Federal Territory day. Went to site for some work in the morning and later looked for Chian Howe for lunch. Went over to CentrePoint, BU for some good porky food ! Yum Yum !
Was thinking of what shall we do after lunch........ and since we were near to Glenmarie, I thought of going for the test drive of the new Audi A4. On the previous occasion, the sales personnel was suppose to bring the car to my office for the test drive but I was Fong Fei Kei. So we went over to the Glenmarie showroom and was greeted by another sales personel, Alex. The previous sales personnel who attended to me was not there today. Told him i wanted to test the A4 and he arranged the car for me.
Got the test car bout 10 mins later. Alex was explaining the various functions / gadgets in the Audi A4. Me and CH totally agree that the A4 has the best looking interior among all. The dashboard looks good. Much much better than the 3series, C-class & VW Passat. It looks just cool ! Trust me, Coooolllllllll............
I just need to speak out the details of this car, cause for once it has impressed me so much... so so much.... My initial opinion of this car is not the best, to put it the very least (apart from the striking aggressive front looks which is gorgeous!)
Lets start with the exterior. The front of the car looks really good, aggressive and cool, especially with the 14 nos of white LEDs each side acting as daylight running light. Cool ! One of the show cars even comes with 17" Pirelli P Zeros. Impressive ! The car looks bigger than the 3 series, and actually is longer by 7 inches. However the rear interior of the car is pretty tight on the legroom department, especially with the front seats adjusted to my optimal seating position. Done with aesthetics, what I am impressed are the gadgets offered compared to the competitors with this kind of price especially being a CBU car.
1st of all, A4 offers electromechanical parking brake, gone are the parking brake handle, now it's done with a push of a button, just as the Passat. It also includes parking brake function when stopped and auto-release when car is driven away, so you don't need to keep on stepping on the brakes at the traffic lights. The auto-release is very much smoother than the tested Passat. The tested Passat jerks when accelerator is depressed.
2nd, it has a 6.5" screen called MMI (multi-media interface), just like on the facelifted 3 series and new C-Class, but included at a much cheaper car price. All car info, radio-station, climate control are controllable thru the MMI, just like the I-drive on 3-series.
3rd - It has 8 multi-tronic gears with paddle shifters. The BMW only has 6 and with no paddle shifters. Chian Howe was saying the revs on the A4 was slightly less than 2k at 110km/h.
4th and most important of all is probably the Audi Drive-select. There is the Comfort, Auto and Dynamic setting. Self-explanatory !
So off we go for a drive. Alex explained that in the Comfort mode, the steering is much more easy and steerable with lower revs for more comfort driving. He switched over to Dynamic mode when I was driving and the engine drops a gear or two and maintains the revs up and with the steering feeling much harder and takes more effort to steer it. Auto mode is where the cars selects appropriate modes depending on driving style.
We drove off to the highway leading to the old Subang airport and managed to floor it. OMG !!!!! It's acceleration is superb !!! Comparable to the Passat ABT. This is a car which will probably win 9.5 out of 10 cars out there in a traffic lights shoot-out ! In the dynamic mode, the A4 is just so so willing to rev up and keeps on going ! In fact the acceleration is good from stand-still and all the way up ! The fact that you can select the gears using the steering paddle shifters makes you feel so much in control ! Alex explains if the car detects that you do not use the paddles in 5 secs period, it goes back to D and selects gears automatically. The brakes feel responsive and stops well too and so is the handling and ride.
Actually what really impressed me with the A4 is the power. I initially thought with only 160 HP compared to the 218HP on the 325 and although both has 250Nm torque, it would be struggling to move it's arse. But i was wrong,.....proven dead wrong with its superb go-go-going -gone feel !
We went over the test the 325 again on the same road. It was so obvious now that the 325 is lacking in stand-still acceleration. In fact, i felt that the 325 needs to be in the 50km/h and above before the power really kicks in. Pick-up is hmmmm... nothing to shout bout compared to the A4. Once moving, the power of the 325 is probably as good or better than the A4. But acceleration wise, i still felt that the A4 can beat the 325 from stand-still. Anytime !
Driving the 325 on the same route, I was speeding on the same highway and we went over a bump and the car actually took-off slightly and did not hug the road as much as i thought it would be. Disappointed. Need to retest the same route with the A4 and see whether is has the same problem.
Was thinking of what shall we do after lunch........ and since we were near to Glenmarie, I thought of going for the test drive of the new Audi A4. On the previous occasion, the sales personnel was suppose to bring the car to my office for the test drive but I was Fong Fei Kei. So we went over to the Glenmarie showroom and was greeted by another sales personel, Alex. The previous sales personnel who attended to me was not there today. Told him i wanted to test the A4 and he arranged the car for me.
Got the test car bout 10 mins later. Alex was explaining the various functions / gadgets in the Audi A4. Me and CH totally agree that the A4 has the best looking interior among all. The dashboard looks good. Much much better than the 3series, C-class & VW Passat. It looks just cool ! Trust me, Coooolllllllll............
I just need to speak out the details of this car, cause for once it has impressed me so much... so so much.... My initial opinion of this car is not the best, to put it the very least (apart from the striking aggressive front looks which is gorgeous!)
Lets start with the exterior. The front of the car looks really good, aggressive and cool, especially with the 14 nos of white LEDs each side acting as daylight running light. Cool ! One of the show cars even comes with 17" Pirelli P Zeros. Impressive ! The car looks bigger than the 3 series, and actually is longer by 7 inches. However the rear interior of the car is pretty tight on the legroom department, especially with the front seats adjusted to my optimal seating position. Done with aesthetics, what I am impressed are the gadgets offered compared to the competitors with this kind of price especially being a CBU car.
1st of all, A4 offers electromechanical parking brake, gone are the parking brake handle, now it's done with a push of a button, just as the Passat. It also includes parking brake function when stopped and auto-release when car is driven away, so you don't need to keep on stepping on the brakes at the traffic lights. The auto-release is very much smoother than the tested Passat. The tested Passat jerks when accelerator is depressed.
2nd, it has a 6.5" screen called MMI (multi-media interface), just like on the facelifted 3 series and new C-Class, but included at a much cheaper car price. All car info, radio-station, climate control are controllable thru the MMI, just like the I-drive on 3-series.
3rd - It has 8 multi-tronic gears with paddle shifters. The BMW only has 6 and with no paddle shifters. Chian Howe was saying the revs on the A4 was slightly less than 2k at 110km/h.
4th and most important of all is probably the Audi Drive-select. There is the Comfort, Auto and Dynamic setting. Self-explanatory !
So off we go for a drive. Alex explained that in the Comfort mode, the steering is much more easy and steerable with lower revs for more comfort driving. He switched over to Dynamic mode when I was driving and the engine drops a gear or two and maintains the revs up and with the steering feeling much harder and takes more effort to steer it. Auto mode is where the cars selects appropriate modes depending on driving style.
We drove off to the highway leading to the old Subang airport and managed to floor it. OMG !!!!! It's acceleration is superb !!! Comparable to the Passat ABT. This is a car which will probably win 9.5 out of 10 cars out there in a traffic lights shoot-out ! In the dynamic mode, the A4 is just so so willing to rev up and keeps on going ! In fact the acceleration is good from stand-still and all the way up ! The fact that you can select the gears using the steering paddle shifters makes you feel so much in control ! Alex explains if the car detects that you do not use the paddles in 5 secs period, it goes back to D and selects gears automatically. The brakes feel responsive and stops well too and so is the handling and ride.
Actually what really impressed me with the A4 is the power. I initially thought with only 160 HP compared to the 218HP on the 325 and although both has 250Nm torque, it would be struggling to move it's arse. But i was wrong,.....proven dead wrong with its superb go-go-going -gone feel !
We went over the test the 325 again on the same road. It was so obvious now that the 325 is lacking in stand-still acceleration. In fact, i felt that the 325 needs to be in the 50km/h and above before the power really kicks in. Pick-up is hmmmm... nothing to shout bout compared to the A4. Once moving, the power of the 325 is probably as good or better than the A4. But acceleration wise, i still felt that the A4 can beat the 325 from stand-still. Anytime !
Driving the 325 on the same route, I was speeding on the same highway and we went over a bump and the car actually took-off slightly and did not hug the road as much as i thought it would be. Disappointed. Need to retest the same route with the A4 and see whether is has the same problem.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Merc C-Class & VW Passat Test Drive
Was busy for the last 2 weeks and did not managed to have time off for the other test drives. So today, Sat i managed to squeeze in some time for 2 test drives.
First, the Mercedes sales personnel drove the new C200 Kompressor to my office at noon. Took it out for a drive round my office area and took the same route as the one i took for the BMW 3 series.
First impression, the Merc definately have better internal trimming then the BMW. Much more classier and seats are more confortable. In fact the ride is as comfy as well. Taking over bumps and road undulations much better, providing better ride and noise insulation. In fact i took one of the road where the road condition was bad and it basically just rode it over with ease. Good points for ride insulation for the Merc. The handling is as good as the 3 series. Can't really comment which is better unless compared side to side.
Went to the Curve later after lunch for the VW Passat test drive. Was given the Passat ABT version for test drive. The ABT version is basically souped up package of the basic Passat. The Passat is powered by 2.0 turbo giving 200HP, 270Nm torque while the ABT version is a re-map engine providing 240HP and 330Nm torque. Hhmm.... sounds sweet....
The sales person asked me to gun the car down a clear road after the Petronas traffic lights heading to penchala link. Did what he said when the light turns green. Oh my.... i love the acceleration. It's damn fast !!! Did a hard brake approaching the end of the road. The brake feel is not as solid as the BMW. It hauled the car to a stop quickly, but the brake feel is just not as "feeling" as the BMW. There are 3 problems with the driven Passat. It has clocked bout 25k km on the odo. The suspension setting is too hard and ride is harsh.
First problem is there is a rattling noise with the rear passenger side when going over road undulation. For 25k km on the odo, this is not good ! Second problem is that when travelling at only 120km/h, there is an audible wind noise on the left hand side of the car. Bad !! Third problem is that when the test drive is nearly over, the brakes gives a gruntling feel and noise just prior to fully stopping. Worse ! Reliability problems here surfacing only 25k km, which is bad for a continental car !!
Acceleration wise, the ABT Passat is as good as the 325. It feels as quick as the 325 but the sound is not a sweet as the 325. Well can't compare a 4-cylinder to a 6 cylinder right :)
First, the Mercedes sales personnel drove the new C200 Kompressor to my office at noon. Took it out for a drive round my office area and took the same route as the one i took for the BMW 3 series.
First impression, the Merc definately have better internal trimming then the BMW. Much more classier and seats are more confortable. In fact the ride is as comfy as well. Taking over bumps and road undulations much better, providing better ride and noise insulation. In fact i took one of the road where the road condition was bad and it basically just rode it over with ease. Good points for ride insulation for the Merc. The handling is as good as the 3 series. Can't really comment which is better unless compared side to side.
Went to the Curve later after lunch for the VW Passat test drive. Was given the Passat ABT version for test drive. The ABT version is basically souped up package of the basic Passat. The Passat is powered by 2.0 turbo giving 200HP, 270Nm torque while the ABT version is a re-map engine providing 240HP and 330Nm torque. Hhmm.... sounds sweet....
The sales person asked me to gun the car down a clear road after the Petronas traffic lights heading to penchala link. Did what he said when the light turns green. Oh my.... i love the acceleration. It's damn fast !!! Did a hard brake approaching the end of the road. The brake feel is not as solid as the BMW. It hauled the car to a stop quickly, but the brake feel is just not as "feeling" as the BMW. There are 3 problems with the driven Passat. It has clocked bout 25k km on the odo. The suspension setting is too hard and ride is harsh.
First problem is there is a rattling noise with the rear passenger side when going over road undulation. For 25k km on the odo, this is not good ! Second problem is that when travelling at only 120km/h, there is an audible wind noise on the left hand side of the car. Bad !! Third problem is that when the test drive is nearly over, the brakes gives a gruntling feel and noise just prior to fully stopping. Worse ! Reliability problems here surfacing only 25k km, which is bad for a continental car !!
Acceleration wise, the ABT Passat is as good as the 325. It feels as quick as the 325 but the sound is not a sweet as the 325. Well can't compare a 4-cylinder to a 6 cylinder right :)
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Test Drive of the BMW E90, 3 series
I wanted to get myself a new car for quite some time now. Had thought of getting one and so far it has been merely a thought . But this time round, i am serious in changing and upgrading to a better car.
So I went over to Auto Bavaria Sg. Besi on Christmas day and sales person, Albert introduced me the new E90, 3 series after i told him i am looking for one. He explained well on the cars and the highlighted the difference between the various models and the old and facelifted models. Was initially looking at the 320i. But later he introduced the 325i Sports. Damn... The specs sounds so good...
The 320i has 156HP with 200NM torque, 323 which has a 2.5 litre engine has 190HP and the 325i which also has the same 2.5 litre engine but with 218HP, 250NM torque... now that is a lot of power. :)
So we arranged for a test drive today. Went over with Kok Meng and Jong Yang at 2.30pm.
He let me drive the 325i Sports first. Damn.... can't he take out the 320i first and we test out with a lesser engine... He knows how to sell... LOL
Albert briefly explained the available functions and features of the 325i inside the car. JY and KM was sitting behind. Took it out for a drive.
Not far out from the showroom, managed to find a clear spot and managed to floor the 325. OMG... it sounds so good ! The silky smooth inline-six just sings the tune you wanna hear ... and the accelerations is excellent i would say. Impressive ! We were touching 120+kmh or more on a short stretch of road, i wasn't keeping an eye on the speedometer, my eyes are glued to the road.
Took it around a stretch of badly maintained road with bad bumps and it handle quite well. The ride is a tad harder yet comfortble....not the kind of smooth comfy ride you expect from an Accord for example, but it's something expected from a Beemer.
Then we took the 323i out for a drive. This has the iDrive function, cool gadget i would say. For me, the 323 and the 325 ride and handling and power are quite similar. Would be hard pressed to find out the difference between them in such a short test drive, although there are extra 28 horses extra lurking in the 325i.
Later, I took the passenger seat behind and allow the sales person, Albert took the wheel. Kok Meng was saying that the 325i feels much bumpier when sitting behind. However, the ride feels roughly similar to me for both cars. In fact, the 323 feels harsher at the rear seat when riding over the badly maintained road i was earlier talking bout.
I told myself, SHIT!! I am poisoned ! They should label the 325 as a "Hazmat", Hazardous Material ! The power is so addictive...
My initial car i wanted was the E39 525. Although that car is an older car, i am waiting to test that out too and compare between the E39 and E90.
So I went over to Auto Bavaria Sg. Besi on Christmas day and sales person, Albert introduced me the new E90, 3 series after i told him i am looking for one. He explained well on the cars and the highlighted the difference between the various models and the old and facelifted models. Was initially looking at the 320i. But later he introduced the 325i Sports. Damn... The specs sounds so good...
The 320i has 156HP with 200NM torque, 323 which has a 2.5 litre engine has 190HP and the 325i which also has the same 2.5 litre engine but with 218HP, 250NM torque... now that is a lot of power. :)
So we arranged for a test drive today. Went over with Kok Meng and Jong Yang at 2.30pm.
He let me drive the 325i Sports first. Damn.... can't he take out the 320i first and we test out with a lesser engine... He knows how to sell... LOL
Albert briefly explained the available functions and features of the 325i inside the car. JY and KM was sitting behind. Took it out for a drive.
Not far out from the showroom, managed to find a clear spot and managed to floor the 325. OMG... it sounds so good ! The silky smooth inline-six just sings the tune you wanna hear ... and the accelerations is excellent i would say. Impressive ! We were touching 120+kmh or more on a short stretch of road, i wasn't keeping an eye on the speedometer, my eyes are glued to the road.
Took it around a stretch of badly maintained road with bad bumps and it handle quite well. The ride is a tad harder yet comfortble....not the kind of smooth comfy ride you expect from an Accord for example, but it's something expected from a Beemer.
Then we took the 323i out for a drive. This has the iDrive function, cool gadget i would say. For me, the 323 and the 325 ride and handling and power are quite similar. Would be hard pressed to find out the difference between them in such a short test drive, although there are extra 28 horses extra lurking in the 325i.
Later, I took the passenger seat behind and allow the sales person, Albert took the wheel. Kok Meng was saying that the 325i feels much bumpier when sitting behind. However, the ride feels roughly similar to me for both cars. In fact, the 323 feels harsher at the rear seat when riding over the badly maintained road i was earlier talking bout.
I told myself, SHIT!! I am poisoned ! They should label the 325 as a "Hazmat", Hazardous Material ! The power is so addictive...
My initial car i wanted was the E39 525. Although that car is an older car, i am waiting to test that out too and compare between the E39 and E90.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
DELL 26 Nov
Cut loss... sold out my Dell Dec 10 put options at 0.42. Bought it for $1.32. Loss of 68%. Dang. Wat happen to the 35% rule i have...!! Disicpline !! lack of it tat is...
Sunday, November 23, 2008
New Online Broker, Interactive Brokers 20 & 21 Nov 08
Dell is gonna announce earnings after close on 19 Nov. Decided to get some put options, based on previous earnings data, even if they announce better earning, the stock does not gap up by much and more on the underside if missed. In this kind of times, i doubt they will do well. So i got DELL 10 Dec put options for $1.32/contract
After close, dell beats analyst estimate by 6 cents but gives lower rev than estimates. Premarket wise, DELL gap up by 5%.
Went clubing @ Ministry of Sound. It's a boring place to be on a Friday nite. Crowd's not there. Anyhow, i managed to close out / roll out my ITM options last nite, so i m OK to leave my PC on a expiration friday and party.
Got home at 3.30am and looked at DELL. Ah.... upon opening, it started to fall till bout 8% below last close price. Sweet.
YS called bout 4.15am and told me market is coming up real fast ! Market rally on Obama's selection of his Treasury Sec. OK OK Time to take off profit. Sold off PRU Jan 17.5 puts @ $6.6 for a profit of $2.6/contract in 3 days time. Not bad i told myself. :-) Yat Sin, Cheers for this trade !!
Still holding DELL as i expect it to fall further.
After close, dell beats analyst estimate by 6 cents but gives lower rev than estimates. Premarket wise, DELL gap up by 5%.
Went clubing @ Ministry of Sound. It's a boring place to be on a Friday nite. Crowd's not there. Anyhow, i managed to close out / roll out my ITM options last nite, so i m OK to leave my PC on a expiration friday and party.
Got home at 3.30am and looked at DELL. Ah.... upon opening, it started to fall till bout 8% below last close price. Sweet.
YS called bout 4.15am and told me market is coming up real fast ! Market rally on Obama's selection of his Treasury Sec. OK OK Time to take off profit. Sold off PRU Jan 17.5 puts @ $6.6 for a profit of $2.6/contract in 3 days time. Not bad i told myself. :-) Yat Sin, Cheers for this trade !!
Still holding DELL as i expect it to fall further.
1 day to Expiration Friday, 20 Nov 08
Lately i have not been updating my trading blog as often as i do the trades. Lazy would be the only excuse. :-)
Ok lets see what has happen till date, tomorrow is Friday 21 Nov, expiration Friday which saw a lot of activity in my account today.
Basically most of my sold options are now ITM. Shit. Tat is not good eh... What happen is that most the the stocks fell below price level that i do not expect it to breach and i sold those options at price where i thought it would have a good support. BGC, MDR & LVS are very bad examples in which my sold options are deeply ITM. and i mean it's deep cause the delta is near to 1 !!DANG ! and it's options expiration on 21 Nov. Got to close all these out !
Decided to roll out & roll down the BGC option by buying back the sold Nov 20 BGC Put @ 11.33 and selling the Dec 12.5 BGC put @ 4.12 for a debit $7.2/contract. Remember earlier on, i rolled out to this BGC Nov 20 put last month on 17 Oct, expiration Friday as well. Earlier on, the reason i sold the 12.5 puts was cause i believe there is a good support at this level. I am proved wrong on 12 Nov when BGC fell below 12.5 and goes all the way down till $ 7.6 on 21 Nov. I decided to roll it down to the Dec 12.5 because of the excessive price drop. Made a loss of $7.63/contract. Not good....
I am lucky today :-) cause SWN gapped down sharply and fell down to $24 from $30 the day before. Bought back the sold SWN NOV 30 Call. @0.25 (which i sold on 20 Oct @ $6.17). Some nice profits here.
The LVS 7.5 Nov put which i sold earlier @ 0.5 on 31 Oct just because i wanted to make some little profit of $0.5/contract on the sold options was not a good decision. Dang. LVS is trading at bout the $4.5 range today. Sold option deeply ITM !! Roll it out and down by buying back Nov 7.5 puts @3.26 and sold the Dec 5.0 puts @1.61 for a total debit of $1.65 per contract. Now lets hope LVS touch $5 soon and i will close this sold position out. LVS last traded at $3.23. Lost @2.76/contract on the Nov contract.
MDR... this is one stock which has went all the way down and much below what i expected. MDR gapped down on 6 Nov on missed earnings estimate. Gap down sharply tat is !! and traded down from there onwards. MDR is trading at bout $6 range now. Roll it down and out again by buying back the 12.5 Nov puts @ $6 and sell to open Dec 10 puts @ 3.7 for a total debit of $2.3/contract. I would close this out even if MDR is trading near $10. MDR is just so so weak....
Lost $5.64/contract ($6-$0.34).
Sold LEN Jan 09 7.5 put @ $3.8 for a profit of $2.4/contract. Decided to sell of LEN Jan 09 puts even thought the option still has a fair bit of time left as i believe there is not much more room for it to fall further. How much more can it fall since LENs trading at $3.6. Another buck drop will just net me maybe another 90 cents or so. Might as well use the money to buy some other options.
To cap off, basically i was right on the direction of the stock but underestimate the amount of movement downwards. All the sold options are deep in the money and i have to roll em out. Lost some money there although not much. My pure puts bets of LEN & IBKR is making me $$$.
Ok lets see what has happen till date, tomorrow is Friday 21 Nov, expiration Friday which saw a lot of activity in my account today.
Basically most of my sold options are now ITM. Shit. Tat is not good eh... What happen is that most the the stocks fell below price level that i do not expect it to breach and i sold those options at price where i thought it would have a good support. BGC, MDR & LVS are very bad examples in which my sold options are deeply ITM. and i mean it's deep cause the delta is near to 1 !!DANG ! and it's options expiration on 21 Nov. Got to close all these out !
Decided to roll out & roll down the BGC option by buying back the sold Nov 20 BGC Put @ 11.33 and selling the Dec 12.5 BGC put @ 4.12 for a debit $7.2/contract. Remember earlier on, i rolled out to this BGC Nov 20 put last month on 17 Oct, expiration Friday as well. Earlier on, the reason i sold the 12.5 puts was cause i believe there is a good support at this level. I am proved wrong on 12 Nov when BGC fell below 12.5 and goes all the way down till $ 7.6 on 21 Nov. I decided to roll it down to the Dec 12.5 because of the excessive price drop. Made a loss of $7.63/contract. Not good....
I am lucky today :-) cause SWN gapped down sharply and fell down to $24 from $30 the day before. Bought back the sold SWN NOV 30 Call. @0.25 (which i sold on 20 Oct @ $6.17). Some nice profits here.
The LVS 7.5 Nov put which i sold earlier @ 0.5 on 31 Oct just because i wanted to make some little profit of $0.5/contract on the sold options was not a good decision. Dang. LVS is trading at bout the $4.5 range today. Sold option deeply ITM !! Roll it out and down by buying back Nov 7.5 puts @3.26 and sold the Dec 5.0 puts @1.61 for a total debit of $1.65 per contract. Now lets hope LVS touch $5 soon and i will close this sold position out. LVS last traded at $3.23. Lost @2.76/contract on the Nov contract.
MDR... this is one stock which has went all the way down and much below what i expected. MDR gapped down on 6 Nov on missed earnings estimate. Gap down sharply tat is !! and traded down from there onwards. MDR is trading at bout $6 range now. Roll it down and out again by buying back the 12.5 Nov puts @ $6 and sell to open Dec 10 puts @ 3.7 for a total debit of $2.3/contract. I would close this out even if MDR is trading near $10. MDR is just so so weak....
Lost $5.64/contract ($6-$0.34).
Sold LEN Jan 09 7.5 put @ $3.8 for a profit of $2.4/contract. Decided to sell of LEN Jan 09 puts even thought the option still has a fair bit of time left as i believe there is not much more room for it to fall further. How much more can it fall since LENs trading at $3.6. Another buck drop will just net me maybe another 90 cents or so. Might as well use the money to buy some other options.
To cap off, basically i was right on the direction of the stock but underestimate the amount of movement downwards. All the sold options are deep in the money and i have to roll em out. Lost some money there although not much. My pure puts bets of LEN & IBKR is making me $$$.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
New Online Broker, Interactive Brokers 18 Nov 08
Has been tough preparing the funds for the deposits for a better online broker, providing better commision rates and much more powerful trading platform based on software platform. Finally managed to sort it out with some help from Yat Sin chipping in as well.
Did the necessary application thru Interactive Brokers and all paperworks are approved last week. Online TT the funds over on 18 Nov in the afternoon and it's funded once i checked IB account later at nite. Tat is fast :)
I just checked on the overall account, my commisions totalled up to USD 1200 in just 6 months of trading with optionxpress. Dang. Might not be much to some ppl, but tat's a lot for my acc size.
So happy to change over broker now. Really glad with the new platform. Much more sophisticated and faster. Taking time to explore all the functions and features.
Did the necessary application thru Interactive Brokers and all paperworks are approved last week. Online TT the funds over on 18 Nov in the afternoon and it's funded once i checked IB account later at nite. Tat is fast :)
I just checked on the overall account, my commisions totalled up to USD 1200 in just 6 months of trading with optionxpress. Dang. Might not be much to some ppl, but tat's a lot for my acc size.
So happy to change over broker now. Really glad with the new platform. Much more sophisticated and faster. Taking time to explore all the functions and features.
Thru IB, bought some Prudential options, PRU Jan 17.5 puts with YS @ $4/contract.
LVS 19 Nov
LVS gapped down on 6 Nov and fell sharply after that. More bad news from them. LVS now trading bout the same level on the lowest of 28 Oct, bout $5.00. Decided to take some profits and sold LVS Dec 12.5 put option@ 7.4/contract (which i bought earlier on and from YS on 29 Oct @ 6.9). Made some good profit here. :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
