Trades for Today: Goldman Sachs, Amazon, Apple

This will be brief as I need to get a few hours sleep before trading hours.

Apple – looking to open another short position. Will wait for some uptick in the stock today before buying my puts.

Goldman Sachs – I will be buying a straddle on it potentially. I expect the stock to form a base and move upwards with expanded volatility. This is a volatility expansion play and not a directional play (though I suspect the direction will be upwards). I will most likely be entering a beta-neutral straddle position.

Amazon – This puppy is going to dive. Its a matter of when. I think it is hanging out and is showing signs of weakness. I will be buying a put, maybe even a straddle. I have not fully evaluated the Greeks yet on Amazon, but will by lunch.

I will update my findings and positions later today. In the meantime do your homework. Take a look and see if you have a trade in here. Also please comment so I can get some feedback. If you have a stock you’d like me to look at by all means do mention it in a comment.

Update[12:54pm CST]

Goldman Sachs (GS)

Bought July 230 Put [GPYSF] @ $1040/contract

Sold July 230 Put [GPYSF] @ $1110/contract

Made $70 profit/contract or 6.7% in 1 hr 20mins

Apple (AAPL)

Bought July 105 Put [QAASA] @ $430/contract

**Position still open

Amazon (AMZN)

Bough July 65 Put [ZQNSM] @ $480/contract

**Position still open

Update[2:45pm CST]

    Valero (VLO)

Bought Dec 07 75 Call [ZPYLO] @ $711/contract

Just a cheaper to way to get the gains of the underlying stock longer term and increasing my return as a percentage of capital.

I now have 3 open positions:  2 short, 1 long

Now you can track my gain or loss. I wish I could figure out a way to put a ticker of my trades with profit/loss. If any reader has a method to do so leave a comment.