Today's trading makes no sense to me.

Good point, but I sure hope that is not the case here and that as the share price gets over 620 that my calls will have much higher percentage gains.

I certainly did not expect the options to lose 10-20% when the stock was up at 609 today...even deep ITM calls got negative reviews....which seems to go against what you wrote earlier when you said that the deep in the money calls would go up dollar for dollar with the stock due to a delta of 1.

I sure like that the new I-Phone will have a 4.6" Retina Screen, a size equal to the Samsung Galaxy screen. In fact, the main reason I ditched my I-phone two years back was for the Samsung Evo with its huge screen, great for seeing details in photos and reading smaller print magnified. I will definitely get the I-Phone now that the screen will be so large.

Laize, please explain why my AAPL call options are down 10-20% on a day where the stock is higher? (reference May calls 600's and higher strike prices in same month).

Options are priced and acting completely differently this week than they have the prior 45 days.
Thanks in advance.

Many who have written calls against their stock for the March 600's do NOT want to have their stock called away.

I think next week will be a very different picture.

Thank u sir!

Me too! I bought the Apr 490 puts to protect my May 600's, May 650's and May 750's.

But don't be surprised to see a $100+ point drop before $650. I would continue to have protective puts far OTM cheap enough to buy enough insurance to protect a long position.

If we are $650 in April, it is certainly conceivable to hit $700 by May/June.

I think there is a huge potential gain in options with such a dynamic stock, trading in either direction. The safer way to play naked calls and puts is not to get greedy, sell for quick gains, buy back with initial investment funds and keep buying puts as you buy more calls.don't leave a lot of profit from one day to the next, as the stock is very unpredictable and profits can be lost faster than gained.

If the climb continues with minor pullbacks as over the past few months, and owing to the phenomenal millions of pre-orders for the Ipad3 talked about , I am expecting great earnings for q2, and a baked in share price going into earnings announcement reflecting that. My expectation is $650 by April 21st.

Analysts now have AAPL share price targets of $710, $725 this year. I expect the targets upped again to $800's as we get closer to $700.

That makes it doubly hard to make a significant profit, as first it has to go from 520 to 530, then it has to stay over 530 at expiry time to get the full benefit. Depending on your expiry month, that could mean a long wait...

And, what happens if while waiting the stock takes a sudden drop? Like you are waiting for April expiry and then the stock takes a nose dive over 100+ and takes a couple weeks to recover?

I would rather play the calls and puts and take my profits within days or sooner, profits that are 100-200-300% gains or more, taking them out as soon as possible to avoid time decay and volatility, and then re-buy more calls with my initial investment and as I gain more profits on the call trades, I continue to add protective puts.

Everyone to his own tase and comfort level. If I realize over a 1000% gain, I can buy quite a few more times,as the stock goes higher and higher without tapping into my original outlay.

Definitely! Haha

I have to thank you very much for explaining that fine detail to me that has been left out of several tutorials I had read on vertical bull spreads. They all teach that there is the "potential" to get the maximum gain, but none of those I read explained I had to wait till expiry to actually get it. Nor did two people I know who claim to have traded these explain that to me either. That is why I sold at 531 for my 520/530 spread.

Many thanks!

Thanks very much!

With AAPL, my cousin's deep ITM Apr 440's were not moving up dollar for dollar as the stock rose, it was giving him only 12-15% gains when the stock was at 500.

In theory you are correct about the potential maximum gain on your vertical bull spread 530/570, but it does not necessarily give such a great return. Case in point.... This month I bought a vertical bull spread on AAPL April 520/530 and paid a premium of $2.65. I thought when selling at the stock price of 531, I would realize a profit of the difference between 530-520 minus my premium, or 10-2.65 = 7.35, yet all I gained was a mere $1.00 in selling, got a total of #3.65. It was my first vertical bull spread, and needless to say, I was very unimpressed because my gain didn't come close to the $7.35 I had expected. Of course I do not understand all the reasons behind why I did not get the maximal potential, but I did not expect only a dollar gain either, and the move from $520 to $530 was within a few days. Call me greedy, lol....

BTW, my Apr 490 puts are doing quite well today to offset the temporary losses of my calls.

Your way is much safer but offers a far less return. Waiting a year or more to double my money from this point is too long when this stock has such large moves in shorter time. I am fully expecting a share price of $650 by April 21, 2012 and at the least in the $700's by Fall. One can make much more money in either direction with this stock in options than in the stock itself, which is probably the reason why so many options are traded in lieu of holding the stock for so many.

Naturally, I wish I held thousands of shares of AAPL, as I would happily be selling calls against my stock, trading the calls with price fluctuations, and protecting me with puts.

Forgive my exuberance, but it's been a GREAT MONTH, with gains over 1000%!!!

I bought a sizeable number of Apr 650's initially at $0.83 on AAPL calls just prior to the Feb 23rd meeting. This week on Monday I bought more at $0.99. Tuesday they were worth $2.05 at the close. Yesterday they were up over 449% at one point, wanted to sell but did not get the opportunity, I think the high was $11.50 yesterday. This am, as soon as I was able to sell calls, I sold them all at $13.60!!

That is a very good return. Next time you are playing with Apple options and you are already "in-the-money", take a look at the out of the money calls, you will see a much greater percentage rate of return. In fact, several hundred percent...

My cousin was "holding onto" Apr 440's last month and getting daily gains of 12-15%, till I recemmended he move his strike price to 530 for greater percentage gains, which were paying over 27% daily.

I had Apr 540's bought when the stock was $520. This past week, while in-the-money, my calls were only bringing me 22% gains on the day, but the April 600's were paying a return of over 60% on the day with same movement in the stock price. For that reason, I sold my Apr 540's for $26, and bought twice as many Apr 600's for $10 and with the same money added to my Apr 650 position for $0.99 (I had previously bought at $0.83).

Next day the Apr 650's went to $2.05, yesterday they went over 440% gain to over $11.50. I sold them this am for $13.60! Also sold the Apr 600's today for $29.65. I noticed that at the same time the Apr 540's had gone to $42.

If you feel that way about AAPL having such a high chance of falling so far, why not buy puts to protect such an incident and profit from call options as the stock keeps going incredibly higher. Personally, I had a fantastic day today selling all my Apr calls at various strike prices. The Apr 650's I bought last month for $0.83 I was able to sell this morning for $13.60!

Mugur, I tried selling my Apr calls yesterday, but didn't. Actually VERY GLAD I didn't! Ended up selling all my APRIL AAPL calls for 600's, 625's and 650's just as soon as the options were able to be traded this morning.

Of all these call options, the Apr 650's I had bought the most of last month and paid $0.83 each..... sold first thing as soon as options trading opened all at $13.60!!!!!! A phenomenal gain!!!

Took not half, but ALL of the profits off the table, Left my original investment in the May 650's, but added some protective puts for Apr 490, enough to completely cover my investment on the calls plus some profits in the event of a 100+ point correction, which, in this stock, is not unlikely before it goes back again.

VERY VERY HAPPY CAMPER TODAY!!! EXTREMELY!!!!!!

The way I see it, you take pictures with your I-Phone that seamlessly downloads into your I-Pad3 which has 10 hours battery, 5-megapixel capability, Retina Screen with 1M megapixels more than HDTV, and voice dictation among other features. I can incorporate into my medical practice for EMR (electronic Medical records) and when I buy my AAPLE TV (I-TV) which may come out later this year, I can seamlessly incorporate all my e-mails, presentations, etc. all from the comfort of my family room or wherever the I-TV(s) end(s) up. I will cancel my satellite and cable subscriptions for excessive channels I really don't watch and just pay for those I really do watch, which is what I-TV promises to offer. I see the I-TV revolutionizing the industry.

I also enjoy riding the incredible wave with stock options with AAPL.

You might want to check out trading your 580's for an out-of-the-money call. I found this out last month when holding too long onto in-the-money calls which were advancing at much lower percentage points daily than the out-of-the-money calls. In fact, I traded Apr 540's yesterday and bought Apr 650's and paid 0.99,they closed at $2.05 they are now over 5.00.

If your calls are for APR, your 580's are up 58%, while Apr 600's are up 86% and Apr 650's are up 170% on the day!

Apr 650's up over 150%, Apr 600's up over 83% today, will sell some and move out to May strike.

The New iPad Is Already Scarce
By NICK WINGFIELD| March 12, 2012, 10:08 pm 22

Apple
Apple has already sold out of the new iPad inventory it allotted for pre-orders.Facebook
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.If you haven’t ordered the new iPad already online and you don’t plan to brave the lines likely to form later this week when it goes on sale in stores, don’t expect to get your hands on the device anytime soon.

Apple has sold out of the iPad inventory it allotted for pre-orders and the company’s Web site is now saying that every model of the new iPad will ship to customers in two to three weeks. It will begin selling the new iPad in retail stores starting Friday, which is about when the people who ordered it online will have the iPad delivered.

“Customer response to the new iPad has been off the charts,” said an Apple spokeswoman, Trudy Muller, adding that the product would be available on a first-come, first-served basis on Friday in Apple stores and other retail locations.

Typically, what that means for a new Apple device is long lines or, if you’re not willing to wait around in a queue, paying a healthy premium to the people who might seek to profit off the scarcity of new Apple products. On the San Francisco Bay Area Craigslist, a quick perusal of listings shows an asking price of between $650 to $800 for the cheapest new iPad model, which normally retails for $499. The people advertising on Craigslist are promising to deliver the new iPads after they receive them this week.

The sell-out left Wall Street analysts guessing how many new iPads Apple sold since it became available for order on March 7, with Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray speculating that pre-orders exceeded one million and Ben A. Reitzes of Barclays Capital saying the figure was likely in the millions.

Apple frequently reveals first day or first weekend sale of new products, and sometimes pre-orders. In the case of the original iPad, Apple sold 300,000 during its first day on sale in April 2010. Apple sold its millionth iPad 28 days after the original went on sale.

Analyst sees new signs of big screen Apple TV
Portland Business Journal
Date: Tuesday, March 13, 2012, 2:40pm PDT

Related:Technology Enlarge Image An analyst wrote on Tuesday that Apple will begin full production of a wide screen TV in May or June that it will start selling later this year.
Apple Inc. Apple Inc. Latest from The Business Journals Follow this company will begin production of a wide screen television in May or June and will begin selling the product later this year, an analyst said in a note to investors on Tuesday.

Peter Misek of Jefferies & Co. boosted his price target on the Cupertino company's stock (NASDAQ:AAPL) to $699 from $599 fresh from a trip to Asia.
"Evidence of commercial iTV production is starting," he wrote. "We believe specialty components have begun to ship to Apple’s Asia panel suppliers with polarized films, filters, and IGZO [LCD display] components starting to move in small quantities. We expect commercial production in May/ June with 2M to 5M builds likely. We still expect a calendar Q4 launch."

Misek's report this week follows one from Piper Jaffray Piper Jaffray Latest from The Business Journals Follow this company analyst Gene Munster last month that said Apple had begun reaching out to component suppliers for a television product.

Apple last week announced a new version of the box it has been selling for some time now called Apple TV but that is a $99 device that lets users view content from Apple devices and iCloud on high definition TVs, as well as to get content from Netflix, YouTube and Vimeo.

The Apple TV that has caught the fancy of analysts and others is thought to be something much bigger, perhaps involving a branded HDTV or use of something like Apple's iMac as a TV.

Speculation about an Apple TV have been around for several years now but spiked following publication of theApple Inc. Apple Inc. Latest from The Business Journals Follow this company will begin production of a wide screen television in May or June and will begin selling the product later this year, an analyst said in a note to investors on Tuesday.

Peter Misek of Jefferies & Co. boosted his price target on the Cupertino company's stock (NASDAQ:AAPL) to $699 from $599 fresh from a trip to Asia.

"Evidence of commercial iTV production is starting," he wrote. "We believe specialty components have begun to ship to Apple’s Asia panel suppliers with polarized films, filters, and IGZO [LCD display] components starting to move in small quantities. We expect commercial production in May/ June with 2M to 5M builds likely. We still expect a calendar Q4 launch."

Misek's report this week follows one from Piper Jaffray Piper Jaffray Latest from The Business Journals Follow this company analyst Gene Munster last month that said Apple had begun reaching out to component suppliers for a television product.

Apple last week announced a new version of the box it has been selling for some time now called Apple TV but that is a $99 device that lets users view content from Apple devices and iCloud on high definition TVs, as well as to get content from Netflix, YouTube and Vimeo.

The Apple TV that has caught the fancy of analysts and others is thought to be something much bigger, perhaps involving a branded HDTV or use of something like Apple's iMac as a TV.

Speculation about an Apple TV have been around for several years now but spiked following publication of the Walter Isaacson biography of co-founder Steve Jobs. In it Jobs is quoted as saying he had finally "cracked" how to revolutionize the TV in the way that he had in other electronic products including the iPod, iPhone and iPad.

Still, some analysts are skeptical.

Gartner analyst Van Baker told Wired that he is dubious about the prospects for an Apple-branded television. "It's such a bad business to be in right now, almost nobody is making any money. It's just a very, very brutal, low-margin, poor-return business."

Apple is set to expand its Oregon footprint beyond the three retail stores it already operates in the Portland area. The company plans to build a data center on land it recently acquired in Prineville.

Written by Cromwell Schubarth. Contact him at cschubarth@bizjournals.com or 408.299.1823.

Read Full Article

It started out as "VERYLONG4...." a particular stock, and changed to a couple others over time, but I realized I had been drinking the Koolaid before with certain pinkies and changed the name accordingly a couple years ago.

Now, mostly trading only AAPL options and loving it!

Very nice to be reading today about analysts upgrades on the share price to now $699 and $725!

A great day for AAPL call options! Looks like AAPL stock is 13 days ahead of schedule per your chart!

C'mon 650!!!

I read this a.m. that one analyst has expected over 8.3 Million I-Pad3's have been pre-ordered which made that analyst up his share price estimate for this year to $725!

Typical for AAPL, they will not release actual info, and I don't expect that number to be released until earnings April 21st.

Check out my percentage gains on my AAPL call options for April 650's for today, as well as Apr 600's and May 625's and May 650's. Quite a day today!!!

Knowing how much you like to play options, I am surprised you have not gotten into AAPL calls.

I am buying one and loyal Apple buyers will buy. They have stopped accepting pre-orders for the I-Pad3, the demand being off the charts. The analysts seem to disagree with the CNN poll.

Am I reading your chart correctly? Do you have the AAPL price target of $650 for May 2012?

Membermarked you.

If you buy the notion that ALL gaps must be filled, then expect a fill. In this stock, I don't think so.

It is a very strong and resilient stock and fundamentally stronger with time. Technical players will short it everytime it gets an RSI too high and surely when parabolic, but it bounces right back in short order.

I am just not an experienced shorter when it comes to stocks. I don't own this stock, just play the options, have been with vertical bull spread, calls and puts, but since I am not at the omputer all day long, I am not able to take advantage of all the wild moves in both directions. Last month, the April 600 calls were moving up over 40% daily when the in the money calls were moving up just 12-20%. I was really enjoying those profits. Glad I took the majority of the profit off the table.

I am hoping to make another 100-200% gain over next few weeks, but expect moves in both directions. 430, I doubt highly, but that is just my opinion.

Hi Mugur. Miss chatting with you...I am almost exclusively into trading AAPL calls of late with the exception of several long term holds on "possible" moves on CDCH.MDMN, EMXC, GMND.

I have realized 100-300% gains of AAPL options since getting back into them when the stock was going over $460 in February.

I am currently holding AAPL calls April 540's, 600's and 650's. I also made some profits on AAPL March puts last week.

I could use your advice on technical shorter term evaluation of AAPL, as fundamentally, I am very convinced to believe AAPL stock will be in 600's before end on 2012. This is a very hard stok to predict, it sells off when the shorts want it to sell off and only takes a couple days to come right back. Consider what happened on March 5th through March 9th as a case in point.

I am looking for at least 50-100% gains before selling. I am thinking AAPL will be 560's to 580's by end of April 2012 barring bad news. What are your thoughts?

I actually can't wait to get an I-Pad3. I know that loyal Apple buyers will buy just about anything Apple sells and keep buying all upgraded versions....I bought the I-phone a few years back when AAPL call option profits so I viewed that as a no-cost item. I hope to do the same when the I-Pad3 comes out. I will use it in my medical practice with EMR. I traded the I-Phone in for an EVO Sprint phone because of the 4G at the time and the larger screen size. Thinking about a Samsung Galaxy for larger screen size. Older eyes like larger screens, LOL....

Looks like AAPl will be coming out with a smaller I-Pad to compete with Kindle and Barnes and Noble products, undercutting pricing from what I have read.

What's your opinion on the overbought situation with AAPL as it relates to the next 4 trading days? As March 7th they will unveil the new I-Pad3 in San Francisco, what are your thoughts as far as the chart looks and as as what your feelings are for the share price prediction over the next 4 days?

I sold a good portion of my March 565 calls after achieving over a 200% gain this morning. I had quite a few of them and even though we could go higher, the time decay factor was already affecting the call option price significantly today. It would appear that the shorts did not want the stock to break 545 for the greater part of the trading day today.

Thanks, and thanks for the advice!

Sold my 520/530 vertical bull spread as we passed 530 today.

Went on buying spree of call options today, with March 565's, and very happy to see them up 96.77% on the day. Also, my Apr 600 calls up 58.99%, Apr 635's up 66.32% and Apr 650's up 93.33%.

Having a great Apple Day!

Looking forward to a run-up, hopefully, going into the March 7th date for unveiling the new I-Pad3 in San Francisco.

I would say, YES!!!!

LOL

I bought the vertical bull spread Apr 520/530 when AAPL was 517+ this morning.

This is the trading channel I was referring to in my previous post to you:

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=72197866

This is the trading channel I was referring to in my previous post to you:

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=72197866

As you say the stock could easily go to $550 and $575 within a couple of weeks if we break through the all-time intra-day high of last week, what are your thoughts of how early we might reach $600?

I ask in reference to looking at the trading channel since Nov 2009 where it would seem we would not get to the 600 mark until year's end.

I am considering a vertical bull spread and wonder if we do see $550 to $575 within a couple weeks, if you think $600 could happen by April barring any unforseen negatives?

You may wish to consider protective puts against your stock holdings if you still feel there is a significant downtrend a' coming...