4aapl
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Post by 4aapl on May 8, 2015 11:30:40 GMT -8
*I forget, did Thurman get sick of us or was he banned? He got sick of us. I miss Gregg. Say what you want about his prickly personality and wild theories, but he's got brass balls. He pretty much told me he just wasn't really gaining anything from it, and it didn't let him focus. And that's pretty much what I determined too. I know when I was spending too many hours on the message boards, it often made me focus too much on the small things, or whatever. A rising share price helped all Bulls, but we were too focused on where AAPL should be now and in the future, and were blindsided by the downside. Instead of talking with more people giving you insight into other opinions and seeing potential pitfalls, it turned more into the herd mentality. It's tough with Apple often being the leading indicator into a fall (Aug/Sept 2000, instead of other PC makers that waited another month or 2 to fall). But some of these overall market health things we should have at least thought about a bit more, instead of only being focused on AAPL and where we thought it should be going. One of the downturns was Jan/Feb of 2008 I believe, and that was when they were having a big get together at his place in WA. I didn't go, but the timeframe was just bad in retrospect. Kind of like some of the AAPL mega-bulls, that set up sites and even charged quite a bit, and then fell into trouble with this last dip. Sadly I'm not remembering their names (ahhh, bullish cross.com "Prior to 2013, we also managed an Apple, Inc. (AAPL) options-based model portfolio but have since dropped coverage of Apple after the Apple-apocalypse of 2012. While we do trade Apple from time to time, our focus has shifted to trading a broad range of equities and equity options.", and something else). I particularly liked the second one, as he was on my same mindset of cutting risk and being much more conservative while still making lots of money, but I think he stopped publishing and took down his site after the illogical fall from 600 to 500, even before the further drop happened. Things change. Sometimes it's nice to post a "WTF isn't AAPL going up after great earnings" and have some plausible explanations. Or to bounce some ideas off of others with similar thoughts. But other times, trying to read every post and keep up, it's just too much and doesn't have as much gain. I'm curious if he ended up buying that garage to restore his cars. I think the last I heard on it is that he signed an option to buy it, something like a year out, giving time for AAPL options to mature. Fun stuff, but I haven't talked to him for a while, and really need to get back in touch with BlueHerring.
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JDSoCal
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Aspiring oligarch
Posts: 4,183
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Post by JDSoCal on May 8, 2015 11:35:15 GMT -8
I don't know about any brass balls, but his "free shares theory" was pure entertainment. Gregg regularly had 5 or even 6 figures of options contracts in play on weeklies at a given time. Poo-poo the weekly option players and their pain effects all you want (I won't argue too strenuously), but the guy had like 20 cars paid for by Apple options. Probably ended up losing 15 of them the same way. But yeah, half a million dollars in Apple options in play that can expire worthless in 5 days, that's what I call brass ones.
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Post by phoebear611 on May 8, 2015 11:37:00 GMT -8
WAIT A MINUTE ......Where the hell did JD get that picture of Schiff with Bernanke?! That is priceless!
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Post by rezonate on May 8, 2015 11:45:37 GMT -8
I know most of us love our apple products and might be a little bias but those of you who have had a couple of weeks with their apple watch, whats the verdict? How do you like them? Could you not live without it a la Timmy? Thanks, thinking about getting one. I think lstream said it first and I agree: my wrist will never bear anything but a smart watch for the rest of my life. It is already that useful and the category will only get better. A couple nit picks, like not recognizing that I have actually been standing during the "stand goal" window, and glances has a poorly-designed UI, and too many crown presses needed to return to a watch face (when I forget to double-press), and limited available complications, and only one other person I know is using one (and she is typically no more than 10 meters away, so message features are unnecessary.) Directions is a killer app. Speakerphone-on-wrist is way convenient. Three activity circles are a fine step up from a single on Nike+ Fuel Band, and yes I am moving more. Silly as it sounds, I change watch face color to match my shirt. Haptic feedback is a game changer. Bumped the chassis and crystal a couple times with a "ooohhh noooo" thought, but totally unscathed. Just a joy to use.
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JDSoCal
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Post by JDSoCal on May 8, 2015 11:49:18 GMT -8
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2015 11:55:15 GMT -8
If Gregg had even remotely that amount in play on weeklies, it was a long time ago. Sorry, that sounds like forum hyperbole. From what I've heard from other sources, he would more likely be seen on a skateboard than managing a fleet of collector cars.
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JDSoCal
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Post by JDSoCal on May 8, 2015 12:12:39 GMT -8
If Gregg had even remotely that amount in play on weeklies, it was a long time ago. Sorry, that sounds like forum hyperbole. From what I've heard from other sources, he would more likely be seen on a skateboard than managing a fleet of collector cars. I specifically recall Gregg laying out his exact trades to the precise number of contracts and expirations, in advance, often a full magnitude larger than my largest trade ever. If you want to call him a liar and me a dupe, fine. Love ya man, but you're kinda being ridiculous in your hatred of the guy. I didn't say I wanted him as a cellmate. But considering all the nervous nellies in here, sometimes it's nice to have the wild riverboat gambler with no fear to give the other side of things and buck us up. YMMV.
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Post by wildguess on May 8, 2015 12:14:46 GMT -8
I have been checking my order status for my 42mm stainless, black sport band Apple Watch daily. And today I finally got the shipping notice with delivery Monday! My 16 year old daughter has had hers two weeks now and she loves it. Whats a little alarming is she doesn't know anyone who has one. I guess you have to teach kids to wear a watch.
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JDSoCal
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Post by JDSoCal on May 8, 2015 12:18:23 GMT -8
BTW, nice close on OpEx Friday! Pain suggested a 125-125.99 close, so un muy toro alcista close. About time we had some good news.
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Post by firestorm on May 8, 2015 12:20:48 GMT -8
*I forget, did Thurman get sick of us or was he banned? He got sick of us. I miss Gregg. Say what you want about his prickly personality and wild theories, but he's got brass balls. I would suggest that they're badly tarnished.
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JDSoCal
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Post by JDSoCal on May 8, 2015 12:23:13 GMT -8
He got sick of us. I miss Gregg. Say what you want about his prickly personality and wild theories, but he's got brass balls. I would suggest that they're badly tarnished. I just got some great polish for the Vette's wheels if you'd like to take on the job.
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Post by firestorm on May 8, 2015 12:34:42 GMT -8
I would suggest that they're badly tarnished. I just got some great polish for the Vette's wheels if you'd like to take on the job. I once photographed my boss fondling the tarnished bronze breasts of a statue in the American Museum of Natural History in NYC. I was going to blackmail him with it, but he grabbed the slide before I could hide it.
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mark
fire starter
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Post by mark on May 8, 2015 13:02:35 GMT -8
*I forget, did Thurman get sick of us or was he banned? He got sick of us. I miss Gregg. Say what you want about his prickly personality and wild theories, but he's got brass balls. I also miss Gregg, he was a character.
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4aapl
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Post by 4aapl on May 8, 2015 13:04:00 GMT -8
I specifically recall Gregg laying out his exact trades to the precise number of contracts and expirations, in advance, often a full magnitude larger than my largest trade ever. Yeah, as much as our MO on TMF was to not talk of overall value of trades (for the most part it didn't matter if I was buying 10 shares, Tom was buying 1, and Jerry was buying 100), it was nice to see someone putting his money where his mouth was and putting it all out there. I don't remember his large weekly positions, but his longer term bullish trades were at least a bit larger than mine, and often an order of magnitude larger along with even more bullish. I hope he's doing well. I know our accounts are not quite back from where they were in 2012, but they've recovered. A lot has changed since then and I'm a lot less risky than even my less risky self from then. And I'm finally ready to put a little on the line on things less than a month out, though I'd much rather stick with 4-24 months out for most things, and sometimes it's tempting to just deal with stock and live off the dividends.
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Post by firestorm on May 8, 2015 13:17:03 GMT -8
He got sick of us. I miss Gregg. Say what you want about his prickly personality and wild theories, but he's got brass balls. I also miss Gregg, he was a character. I really enjoyed it when he loudly announced how many of us he was placing on "ignore." At the end it may have just been you and Sponge and JD who were on his list.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2015 13:54:20 GMT -8
If Gregg had even remotely that amount in play on weeklies, it was a long time ago. Sorry, that sounds like forum hyperbole. From what I've heard from other sources, he would more likely be seen on a skateboard than managing a fleet of collector cars. I specifically recall Gregg laying out his exact trades to the precise number of contracts and expirations, in advance, often a full magnitude larger than my largest trade ever. If you want to call him a liar and me a dupe, fine. Love ya man, but you're kinda being ridiculous in your hatred of the guy. I didn't say I wanted him as a cellmate. But considering all the nervous nellies in here, sometimes it's nice to have the wild riverboat gambler with no fear to give the other side of things and buck us up. YMMV. I have zero hate for the guy, not sure where you got that idea. Although we're all responsible for our own trades, his wild theories (your words, not mine) were just that. I don't invest on wild man ideas, and my exit strategy is not bankruptcy.
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4aapl
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Post by 4aapl on May 8, 2015 14:09:40 GMT -8
Did you see my comment yesterday about possible calendar spread? What do you think? Yes, I think it must have been part of something bigger. My only hesitation there is that I'd expect the person tracking this stuff to see that some other large orders came in at the same time. Opps, I was mistaken about what we were taking about. There's the likely 60k synthetic stock may 22 130 deal, and then there's the 19k of May 22 114 puts. Both are likely part of something bigger. It's the straight puts that seem like they are of something that wasn't reported, like a calendar spread. Or heck, if we really want to be out there, you could make up a story that it's a 3rd party factory or someone with insider info somewhere along the way that thinks some news is really going to move the market. But really, it's much more likely it's a hedge against something, whether playing AAPL against AAPL, or AAPL against an index or something. But on the synthetic stock, what if a big hedge fund has 60k of stock that they want to sell, and they feel 130 is a fair price. But they also have 20% of their fund in cash, and so are willing to buy more if need be. So they write 60k of calls at 130, pocketing (old prices) 75 cents a piece. But since they have cash, they also write 60k of puts at 130, taking in 5.50 each. (this was back at 125) They have a few choices here, and all are positive as long as the stock doesn't go much lower. If it stays flat, 1.25 of premium between the 2 halves goes away, and they either buy back or buy the stock. If the stock moves back towards 130, they make even more in the deal. So say it went to 128, they would make up to an additional $3 on top of that 1.25.. And if the stock surpasses 130, they could sell their shares (if they even had any to begin with), or buy it back. They would still make money on up to 136.75. I think that's what someone is doing, and I think MM hedging would then lead towards that 130 price, instead of the alternate 125-135 BCS giving a wider range of OI. Looks like it's time for me to finish reading that Options book, instead of wildly speculating on the meaning of trades.
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Post by nathanstevens on May 8, 2015 14:23:18 GMT -8
I know most of us love our apple products and might be a little bias but those of you who have had a couple of weeks with their apple watch, whats the verdict? How do you like them? Could you not live without it a la Timmy? Thanks, thinking about getting one. The watch is awesome. I now have quantified self data for past 11 days. This includes movement, exercise, standing and heart rate. I never cared to have this info before and now it is collected and curated for easy visualization automatically. I will be very surprised if the watches aren't subsidized by the healthcare industry at some point in the future. Navigation via taps on the wrist is pretty slick. I've used Siri on the watch for directions several times now without using my phone. Dictating messages on the watch is very handy. Phone calls are simple and the mic seems to work well, but i probably wouldn't want to have a super long conversation on the watch. Remote works great for controlling AppleTV. ApplePay is awesome. Utility will probably seem limited for those that spend the majority of time at a desk in front of a computer, with iPad and or iPhone nearby. I think that may be why some of the reviews seem negative. However, utility is huge while working with your hands or carrying things (parents, teachers, doctors, nurses, etc.) All that being said, there are still hiccups and these seem to be more prevalent when your phone has a slow or intermittent data connection.
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Post by Red Shirted Ensign on May 8, 2015 14:25:00 GMT -8
I'd like to hear from Gregg and if he is still in Apple. I think he and Sponge stay in touch....spongie?
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Post by tuffett on May 8, 2015 15:48:31 GMT -8
I don't know about any brass balls, but his "free shares theory" was pure entertainment. Gregg regularly had 5 or even 6 figures of options contracts in play on weeklies at a given time. Poo-poo the weekly option players and their pain effects all you want (I won't argue too strenuously), but the guy had like 20 cars paid for by Apple options. Probably ended up losing 15 of them the same way. But yeah, half a million dollars in Apple options in play that can expire worthless in 5 days, that's what I call brass ones. Yep. Throwing that kind of money around when you don't even understand the basic concept of a buyback certainly takes some brass balls. Either that or pure stupidity, or a combination of the two. You shouldn't be trading stocks, let alone options, with that level of cluelessness.
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Post by PikesPique on May 8, 2015 16:17:09 GMT -8
Phone calls are simple and the mic seems to work well, but i probably wouldn't want to have a super long conversation on the watch. Can you move an ongoing phone call from watch to iPhone?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2015 17:46:58 GMT -8
I'd like to hear from Gregg and if he is still in Apple. I think he and Sponge stay in touch....spongie? Has anyone seen Spongie and Gregg together at the same time? Mmmmm. I kid. Seriously, Spongie and Gregg are characters and I like characters!
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Post by rezonate on May 8, 2015 19:51:12 GMT -8
Phone calls are simple and the mic seems to work well, but i probably wouldn't want to have a super long conversation on the watch. Can you move an ongoing phone call from watch to iPhone? Yes indeed, it is seamless.
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Post by nathanstevens on May 11, 2015 6:53:32 GMT -8
Phone calls are simple and the mic seems to work well, but i probably wouldn't want to have a super long conversation on the watch. Can you move an ongoing phone call from watch to iPhone? Yes. Handoff icon shows up on the phone. Worked perfectly when i tried it.
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