We have several options positions that expire on Friday, and I just want to explain to the newbies how to best maximize their profits.
My bets that (GS) and the (IWM) would rise, and that the (FXE) and (FXY) would fall during March and April proved dead on accurate.
Provided that some 9/11 type even doesn?t occur this week, all positions should expire at their maximum profit point on April 17. In that case, your profits on these positions will amount to 16.4% for the (FXE), 14.2% for (GS), and 16.4% for the (IWM).
Many of you have already emailed me asking what to do with these winning positions. The answer is very simple. You take your left hand, grab your right wrist, pull it behind your neck and pat yourself on the back for a job well done. You don?t have to do anything.
Your broker (are they still called that?) will automatically use you long put position to cover the short put position, cancelling out the total holding. Ditto for the call spreads. The profit will be credited to your account on Monday morning, and he margin freed up.
If you don?t see the cash show up in you account on the following Monday, April 20, get on the blower immediately. Although the expiration process is now supposed to be fully automated, occasionally mistakes do occur. Better to sort out any confusion before losses ensue.
I don?t usually run positions into expiration like this, preferring to take profits two weeks ahead of time, as the risk reward is no longer that favorable.
But we have a ton of cash right now, and I don?t see any other great entry points for the moment. Better to keep the cash working and duck the double commissions. This time being a pig paid off handsomely.
If you want to wimp out and close the position before the expiration, it may be expensive to do so. Keep in mind that the liquidity in the options market disappears, and the spreads substantially widen, when a security has only hours, or minutes until expiration. This is known in the trade as the ?expiration risk.?
One way or the other, I?m sure you?ll do OK, as long as I am looking over your shoulder, as I will be.
There are already interesting trades setting up in bonds (TLT), the (SPY), the Russell 2000 (IWM), NASDAQ (QQQ), solar stocks (SCTY), oil (USO), and gold (GLD).
The currencies seem to have gone dead for the time being, so I?ll stay away.
Well done, and on to the next trade.
Pat Yourself on the Back
https://www.madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Woman-Pat-on-the-Back-e1428930558429.jpg299400Mad Hedge Fund Traderhttps://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.pngMad Hedge Fund Trader2015-04-13 09:09:592015-04-13 09:09:59A Note on the Upcoming Friday April 17 Options Expiration
Featured Trade: (LAS VEGAS WEDNESDAY MAY 8 GLOBAL STRAGEGY LUNCHEON) (WEDNESDAY APRIL 15 GLOBAL STRATEGY WEBINAR), (A DAY WITH TOM FRIEDMAN OF THE NEW YORK TIMES)
https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png00Mad Hedge Fund Traderhttps://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.pngMad Hedge Fund Trader2015-04-10 01:06:592015-04-10 01:06:59April 10, 2015
?There is nowhere in the industrialized world where bond markets are looking for more than 2% inflation or more than 1% real interest rates over the next decade,? said former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers.
https://www.madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Hot-Air-Balloon-e1438023081790.jpg300271Mad Hedge Fund Traderhttps://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.pngMad Hedge Fund Trader2015-04-10 01:02:252015-04-10 01:02:25April 10, 2015 - Quote of the Day
Featured Trade: (FRIDAY, APRIL 17 INCLINE VILLAGE, NEVADA STRATEGY LUNCHEON), (MY UPDATED VIEW OF THE STOCK MARKET), (SPY), (TLT), (IWM), (DXJ), (FXE), ?(PANW), (GS), (AAPL), (FB), (BABA)
SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond (TLT) iShares Russell 2000 (IWM) WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity ETF (DXJ) CurrencyShares Euro ETF (FXE) Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (PANW) The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS) Apple Inc. (AAPL) Facebook, Inc. (FB) Alibaba Group Holding Limited (BABA)
https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png00Mad Hedge Fund Traderhttps://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.pngMad Hedge Fund Trader2015-04-09 09:08:502015-04-09 09:08:50April 9, 2015
Sooner, and not as high. Those are the adjustments that I am making to my forecast this year for the performance of the US stock markets for the year.
You may recall that in my 2015 Annual Asset Class Review (click here), that I thought the S&P 500 might appreciate from 2,060 to 2,350 by the end of 2015, a gain of 14%, and that stocks might reach an average multiple of 18.5 times earnings.
I am now cutting that expectation by two thirds. My top end target is now a much more modest 2,150, or 4.4% increase. Add in 2% for dividends, and you will earn a paltry 6.4% on you indexed stock investments.
Shares may still achieve 18.5 earnings, but from here, that is looking like a stretch, as euphoria is in short supply.
My aggressive expectations for stocks this year were based on the business and economic conditions that existed a short three months ago.
But oh, how the world has changed since then.
For a start, the euro (FXE), (EUO) reached my yearend downside target in a mere three weeks. In all, the beleaguered continental currency has plunged an awesome 25% since the summer high, a Titanic move in the foreign exchange markets (sorry, reading Dead Wake by Erik Larson now).
The speed of the descent has many consequences. It means currency translation losses will occur much sooner, and be far larger than even the most wild-eyed pessimist was expecting. It also shut out companies from hedging against future losses in the currency markets.
This will affect the Dow Average and the S&P 500 (SPX) the most. It will have almost no impact on the Russell 2000 (IWM), which is composed of small caps. This is why my long US equity positions are focused in the (IWM) along with a few rifle shots in cyber security (PANW) and financials (GS).
A big chunk of my stock risk is also in Japan (DXJ), which benefits from a strong greenback.
You can also expect technology to continue to do well, which obtains some 80% of sales from domestic sources, and will therefore miss much of the dollar?s damage.
Any sector that trades at a 10% discount to market multiple, but enjoys 10% better earnings growth than rest of market has my vote. Think Apple (AAPL), Alibaba (BABA), and Facebook (FB).
The other big factor toning down my US stock hopes is that oil (USO) looks like it is going to stay down lower for longer. The approaching storage Armageddon, now only weeks away, is ominous in the extreme.
The Iran peace deal also tosses in one million barrels of supply on the global markets, right when producers need it the least.
Energy companies? earnings, which account for a hefty 10% of the (SPX), are already down by 60% in the recent quarter, and more pain is to follow.
As a result, the Q1, 2015 earnings reports, which started yesterday with Alcoa?s (AA) sickly $120 million revenue miss, are expected to be the worst in years.
However, don?t go slit your wrists yet. The growth we lost to a strong dollar, the west coast port strike and a horrendous winter in Q1 will roll over into Q2, setting up April as a stock great buyers month.
Don?t forget also that several hundred billion dollars worth of refund checks start appearing in the mail after April 15, much of which ends up in the stock market.
The markets will also slowly come around to the view that the Mad Hedge Fund Trader has been right all along, and that there will be no interest rate rise from the Federal Reserve until 2016.
This factor will co-conspire to drive stocks up to 2,150 or a little more by midyear.
After that, watch out below!
Did I hear ?Sell in May and go away??
The flip side of my interest rate view is that interest rates will increase early in the New Year. And that will be a lot to worry about. The worst-case scenario is that the US stock markets then give up all their gains to end up with a flat year.
That is, unless you read this newsletter and, as a result, carried a heavy overweight position in Japanese and European equities. Whatever the US loses in the second half, Europe and Japan may well pick up.
Don?t worry yourself over the prospect of a stock market crash. Corporate earnings now highest in history, boasting 9% margins, thanks to lower tax rates, ultra low interest rates, bargain energy costs, offshoring and just in time inventories.
The scenario I am painting here calls for no more than a 10% correction this year.
Then GDP growth will return to a heady 3% rate by the end of the year, and it will be off to the races once again.
And one more thing: The Mad Hedge Fund Trader?s model trading portfolio performance hit a new all time high today, up an eye popping 15.03% so far in 2015, and up an unbelievable 167.84% over the past four and a half years.
Urahh!
https://www.madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/John-Thomas9.jpg319365Mad Hedge Fund Traderhttps://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.pngMad Hedge Fund Trader2015-04-09 09:05:312015-04-09 09:05:31My Updated View of the Stock Market
?The central bank trade has been very fulfilling, but if you are going to play it now, do it aboard,? said Mohamed El-Erian, for co-CEO of bond giant PIMCO.
https://www.madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Woman-Backpacker-e1428584505719.jpg205300Mad Hedge Fund Traderhttps://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.pngMad Hedge Fund Trader2015-04-09 09:02:032015-04-09 09:02:03April 9, 2015 - Quote of the Day
Featured Trade: (FRIDAY, MAY 8 LAS VEGAS STRATEGY LUNCHEON) (CYBER SECURITY IS ONLY JUST GETTING STARTED), (PANW), (SNE), (GOOG), (CSCO), (FEYE), (FTNT), (CHKP), (JNPR), (A TRIBUTE TO A GIANT OF JOURNALISM, ROY ESSOYAN)
Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (PANW) Sony Corporation (SNE) Google Inc. (GOOG) Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO) FireEye, Inc. (FEYE) Fortinet Inc. (FTNT) Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (CHKP) Juniper Networks, Inc. (JNPR)
https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png00Mad Hedge Fund Traderhttps://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.pngMad Hedge Fund Trader2015-04-08 01:06:462015-04-08 01:06:46April 8, 2015
The peace deal with Iran is worth a stock market double and maybe more.
Add that to the double we already deserve from a cheap long-term price of energy, and it is clear that stock prices have a long ways to go on the upside from here.
The Iranian peace deal is a hugely pro global growth, pro risk development, which I have been forecasting for years.
Bring on the Pax Americana, whereby the United States no longer faces any industrial strength adversary anywhere in the world for decades to come.
That is why I have been adding to what is already a precariously bullish position in the Mad Hedge Fund Trader?s model trading portfolio, which by the way, us up an impressive 12.67% so far in 2015. Hold on to your hats, because there are still more Trade Alerts in the works to come.
New all time highs for the service are a hair?s breadth away.
After discussing the finer print of the agreement with my many friends at the State Department, the Joint Chiefs, the CIA, and Israeli Intelligence, it is a miracle that this deal got done at all.
Pouring molasses in the works were direct communications between the Republican Party and the far right in Iran, both of which have absolutely no interest in a peace deal getting done.
This led to an event almost ludicrous in the annals of international diplomacy, where moderate Iranians lectured American conservatives on the finer points of US constitutional law, and the Persians were proffering the correct view.
Christian and Islamic Fundamentalists working hand in hand? Go figure!
I?ll break down the major talking points, and their consequences. I will also draw where I can from my own knowledge of nuclear weapon construction, which I picked up while working at the Atomic Energy Commission?s nuclear test site in Nevada 45 years ago. Not much has changed since then, although it has been a while since I have heard ?nuke them till they die!?
Sanctions
Iran won?t see positive economic consequences from the deal until well into 2016. That?s because they first have to destroy 14,000 centrifuges in full public view, from 19,000 down to 5,000. The Iranians see this as a big win because the US initially demanded only 1,000 centrifuges.
Iran also has to cut its uranium stockpiles to a fraction of its current inventory, another big job. The US has offered to purchase the excess uranium at market prices to fuel its own power plants.
Not until then will only the economic and financial sanctions be lifted, not the military ones. Remember Iran still possesses a ton of US military hardware purchased by the late Shah at inflated prices (to account for the bribes), which is in desperate need of spare parts.
Those waiting anxiously for another crash in the price of oil may have to sit on their hands for a while, as it will take this long for the new Iranian crude to hit the market.
Uranium Enrichment
Iran is permitted to enrich uranium to only 3.67%, enough to run an electric power plant, but far below bomb grade 90% purity.
This deal has a ten-year maturity on enrichment. What happens after that will be subject to the next round of negotiations. The future of the deep underground research facility at Fordow is still up in the air.
However, if Iran falls out of compliance for any reason, the US could destroy this facility at any time with a single, recently upgraded bunker buster bomb. The Iranians know this.
Plutonium
This element is crucial for the development of any large atomic bombs. Iran has agreed to destroy its reactor at Arak used to produce it, setting them back several years. All heavy water (2H2O) used to run the reactor will be sold on the open market.
Inspections
They are going to get the full proctological level of international inspection. The hot stuff is not hard to find. You can see it from a satellite that is already permanently stationed overhead.
Third party international inspectors will get unrestricted access to the entire nuclear supply chain, from the uranium mines to the storage of the enriched end product. These intrusive inspections will continue for 25 years.
What Could Go Wrong?
Many things.
Domestic backlashes in either the US or Iran could easily torpedo the deal. In that case, the financial markets would quickly give back any rallies achieved so far.
Goodbye Dow 20,000!
Representatives from both sides are already making conflicting representations to their own people on what exactly has been agreed to in Geneva.
Iran has the tougher sell, to the powerful Revolutionary Guards, which are currently making a fortune from the black market that the sanctions created. No sanctions means no pay, and therefore, no play.
The Republican Party will do whatever they can to demolish an agreement, and all 16 presidential candidates have already come out strongly against it. The Republican controlled congress will certain refuse to lift sanctions, even if a final agreement is signed.
This is meaningless, as the European sanctions will be gone, where Iran conducts most of its international trade anyway. In the end, US big business will force congress to cave, lest they lose out on the immense profits about to be made in Iran.
The country has suffered from 40 years of woeful underinvestment in its oil and gas industry, and guess who the most competitive provider of that is (think yellow roses, Astros).
If the US doesn?t agree to the deal, it is likely that Europe would make the move without us, leaving America twisting in the wind. In any case, the US has the most aggressive weapons monitoring infrastructure, run by old friends of mine out of Los Alamos, New Mexico. (Hey John, call me!). So, our participation is crucial.
Also, if there is no deal, Iran would probably have a bomb in a year anyway. After all, sanctions didn?t prevent them from boosting their number of centrifuges from 300 to 19,000 over the last 15 years.
The reality is that the government in Tehran has probably done the math and found that a weapon they would probably never use anyway was not worth keeping the country in a permanent depression with dramatically falling standards of living.
The lesson here is that economic sanctions work, if you are willing to wait long enough.
For More depth on the long term global economic and financial implications of the peace deal with Iran, please read my recent piece ?Here Comes the Next Peace Dividend? by clicking here.
By the way, in this piece I predicted years ago that such an earth shaking development would crash the price from $100 to $30 a barrel and it looks like that is exactly what we are going to get.
https://www.madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Negotiators-e1428412841322.jpg251450Mad Hedge Fund Traderhttps://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.pngMad Hedge Fund Trader2015-04-07 09:21:182015-04-07 09:21:18Iran Deal Brings on the Pax Americana
Featured Trade: (FRIDAY, MAY 15 SAN FRANCISCO STRATEGY LUNCHEON) (THE BIG MILESTONE FOR SOLAR), (TAN), (SCTY), (SPWR), (FSLR), (THE CHINA VIEW FROM 30,000 FEET), (FXI), (BABA), (DBC), (DYY), (DBA), (PHO), (TESTIMONIAL)
Guggenheim Solar ETF (TAN) SolarCity Corporation (SCTY) SunPower Corporation (SPWR) First Solar, Inc. (FSLR) iShares China Large-Cap (FXI) Alibaba Group Holding Limited (BABA) PowerShares DB Commodity Tracking ETF (DBC) DB Commodity Double Long ETN (DYY) PowerShares DB Agriculture ETF (DBA) PowerShares Water Resources ETF (PHO)
https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png00Mad Hedge Fund Traderhttps://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.pngMad Hedge Fund Trader2015-04-06 10:03:362015-04-06 10:03:36April 6, 2015
Legal Disclaimer
There is a very high degree of risk involved in trading. Past results are not indicative of future returns. MadHedgeFundTrader.com and all individuals affiliated with this site assume no responsibilities for your trading and investment results. The indicators, strategies, columns, articles and all other features are for educational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice. Information for futures trading observations are obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but we do not warrant its completeness or accuracy, or warrant any results from the use of the information. Your use of the trading observations is entirely at your own risk and it is your sole responsibility to evaluate the accuracy, completeness and usefulness of the information. You must assess the risk of any trade with your broker and make your own independent decisions regarding any securities mentioned herein. Affiliates of MadHedgeFundTrader.com may have a position or effect transactions in the securities described herein (or options thereon) and/or otherwise employ trading strategies that may be consistent or inconsistent with the provided strategies.