Trading RM, LLC.

Thanks to Charles Trader at esanalysis.blogspot.com for this mental preparation video featuring Evan Longoria. . Some key cross overs for a trader:

• "step out of the box" after a bad swing. After a bad trade or a missed setup, do whatever it takes to mentally reset. Go for a walk, take a breathe, write in your journal, etc... Longoria steps out of the batter box and repositions is batting gloves and takes a practice cut.
• Repetition. Longoria has been practicing/honing his mental game since his college days. One can not expect the mental side of their trading game to happen overnight. Start practicing now.
• Improvement. Longoria went from undrafted and unknown to Major League all star. This reminds me of Don Millers "bamboo tree." The bamboo tree starts growing slowly but once it goes it really goes. trading careers can take of exponentially too.
• Remember your breathing. Longoria takes this seriously. Many bloggers, including Dr. Brett write about biofeedback, brain activity and breathing. These need to be in control.

Here is the video with some great clips on Don Zimmer included:

E:60 Evan Longoria from E60 on Vimeo.

Today was an interesting day and can be viewed in 2 parts. The morning saw continued strength in the market. Many leading tech companies show great strength. QCOM AMZN GOOG PCLN all stuck out. I heard many market talking heads speaking about the "melt up" market environment. I will not often try to fade a trending market however, I will try to listen to the market for clues that the momentum might be waning. Today, I noticed that LVS and WYNN were relatively weak in the morning. These stocks have been on fire as of late so the change in character caused me to be a bit cautious. Next, the TLT's were weak and after the poor 7 year auction I thought that investor might use the rise in interest rates as an excuse to take some profits. I positioned my self long IWM LVS WYNN and FAS puts to name a few. I was able to make some nice profits into the close as I started to cover when the s&p futures went negative on the day.

http://www.streetinsider.com/Corporate+News/BioMarin+%28BMRN%29+Shares+Rally+on+Klein+Resignation+from+Board/5470783.html

This morning there was a news story that a director from BioMarion Phamaceutical Inc. (BMRN) had decided to step down because the CEO of the company had received a take over offer and did not disclose it the board. The stock gapped higher on the open. I bought the April 25 calls for $1.00 based on the idea that more news might hit the tape including a potential take over price.(around 9:45 est on chart) The stock based for most of the morning until the headline hit a popular audio news service.(around 11:45 est on chart below) Right after that news hit the volatility in the april 25 calls exploded. I had the perfect opportunity to ring the register in my position. Note on the chart that the stock price did not move that much however the volatility in the options exploded. I had to decide how to handle the trade. I sold some of the calls at $1.75 and then I sold the April 30 calls for .70. This changed the position from a long call position to a long vertical spread. I am now long an April 25 30 call spread for free. I can now sit in the position for a couple weeks with no downside risk. If there is a follow up news story that causes the stock to go up I will profit nicely.

I would be happy to talk to any who is interested in learning more about this trade or how I approach the market in general. Contact me at info@tradingrm.com.

The options marketplace continues to evolve as the exchanges change their rules and fee structures on what appears to be a daily basis. The latest development is the new designation of professional customer. Option traders or groups who average 390 unique option orders on any exchange will be classified as a professional customer. The exchanges are attempting to increase their revenue by charging active traders a fee for each trade executed. If you are wondering how this will affect you or how it effects the market as a whole, email us at info@tradingrm.com and sign up for a free consultation.

Last week was option expiration which is usually the most volatile week of the month. In addition, we had the March futures going off the board which increases the volatility of the overall market. Unfortunately, the market did not have any huge moves. We had a tight range in the market with the S&P cash having a 28 pt range on the week. The thing that was interesting about last week is that a few underlying stocks had huge moves. At Trading RM we were able to capitalize on a few of these stocks(QCOM, GE, NTRI) last week as our subscribers to TRM Real-Time witnessed firsthand. Granted we had our share of losing trades but if you stuck to proper money management techniques the winners were 5 times your losing trades.

Please feel free to e-mail us at info@tradingrm for a one week free-trial of TRM Real-Time where you can get these trades real-time. This monthly service is 49.99 per month. Trading RM also offers coaching, training and mentoring.

Reading the sports this week I notice that Steve Stricker is leading the money list, is 2nd overall (behind Tiger) in world rankings and is in the top 5 of several other categories. Check out our past post which draws several parallels between Stricker's rise, fall and rise again with our trading careers. Recall Stricker's advice in the September post:

"never give up, practice with a purpose, find a coach to help you, etc.."