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Awgee,



I agreed....not many buy gold this year, because of the price, but I gurantee you there are a lot of people selling it. I have a friend at work and her mom have more than 30 "stick" of gold at home. A stick cost btw 400-500 depend when you buy it, at one time she told me she brought it for $ 350 as gift for her Mom 's birthday or New Year. This is how they save their money, they will not put it in the CD or saving accounts...for the more savy one, they put all these "stick" in a saving deposit box, and for some it is in the closet.



My grandmother always wore a solid thick gold ring. Nothing fancy, but this is security for them, because you can sell that ring and live on it for a month in the old day. I thought it was the tackiest ring, but when you listen to her story, than you understand why.
 
before the millenium bug I had a few kookie clients buy gold bars and bury them in their backyard. They all told me if they ever died to go back there and dig it up. People do strange things when they are scared by the media hype. I still have their addresses though
 
tulip-your story about your grandmother is touching. Thanks it reminds me of my beautiful grandmother who passed on last year. She always bought gold as well.
 
I own gold, and silver. Does that make me weird? Oh... wait posting here 2000 plus times makes me weird. Anyway, it looks like we all have different investment theories. And, all I have to say about that is I sincerely hope you do well with that theory. I am not a bull or bear, I just see what I see, and try to make money from it. I am glad I didn't write the Bear puts when they were below $60, and I am pissed I didn't buy the LEH calls yesterday, er day before yesterday. Oh well... I can't get it right all of the time, however I am glad I am right more than I am wrong.





BTW, U.S. futures are predicting down today. And, don't forget it is March and quadruple witching Thursday due to Good Friday.





Oh, and the VIX is more of a bear indicator on the upswings of its price, but trading has been low since the options trading began on the index ETFs, including the ultra shorts, like SDS. The VIX isn't always a bear indicator, but it tracks option volume, and option volume rises in a bear or down day. Buying calls on the SDS has been my friend lately. I just don't want it to become my enemy.
 
graphrix, you stated in another thread that you don't use margin, eschewing same being ostensibly a conservative approach, when, in fact, you use options--themselves a leveraged play. What distinctions do you make when not using margin but waxing poetic about options?
 
<p>Is this true? Fed officials told reporters on Sunday night that the new lending program for primary dealers would have <b>NO LIMIT</b> on the amount of money that can be borowed?</p>
 
going a bit over the top with the Shakespearean lingo, Cal Gal.





options are technically a leveraged position, but not from the standpoint of your own account. If you have 25,000 in an ETrade account with 5k in cash and 20k in options, you aren't leveraged, just a bit speculative.
 
<p>Tulip,</p>

<p>Thank you for sharing your stories. Is your family from Vietnam with Chinese heritage? From your postings I sense a lot of cultural aspects uniquely related to some of my demographic research.</p>
 
<em>graphrix, you stated in another thread that you don't use margin, eschewing same being ostensibly a conservative approach, when, in fact, you use options--themselves a leveraged play. What distinctions do you make when not using margin but waxing poetic about options?





</em>I am not sure where you get the idea that I take a conservative approach. I would say, that if you search my posts on investing, they are anything but conservative. I have been trading options for a year and a half now, and they are risky but they are not leveraged. I do not use my margin account, I have not borrowed money from my house to trade, and I have not borrowed money elsewhere to trade. Therefore I am not using leverage.





Not all options are leveraged. If I buy a call or put, I am buying the right to purchase the stock or shorting the stock, the right to buy being the option part. But, if I just trade the option contract, then I have not used leveraged. If I am writing options, then either I would have the cash in my account to cover the cost if they ever did get exercised, or I would have the stock/shares in my account.





What you see as leverage, is what I see as risk. I am not borrowing any money, so I am not using leverage. I am using risk, some times I beat that risk, and other times risk beats me. If I used leverage, risk could still beat me, but leverage could destroy me.





BTW, I used to have a disclosure at the bottom of any post I posted on investing. Basically, I said if you are crazy enough to invest like me, and you lose it all, then you can't blame me or anyone at IHB, you can only blame yourself. Everyone knows I am a nutter, and unless you are, you shouldn't be investing like me.
 
Yes, I see the distinction you're making. Since the money you use to trade options isn't borrowed money, you feel unleveraged, despite the nature of the investment vehicle itself, even though your stake can go to zero.



EvaLSeraphim, stuff it.
 
Yes, you see the distinction I am making. Since the money I use to trade options isn't borrowed money, <strike>I feel</strike> I am unleveraged, despite the nature of the investment vehicle itself, even though my stake can go to zero.





You just defined risk. If I were leveraged, I could lose more than zero and have to add money to my account. I can't lose more than what I have, therefore I am not leveraged.





<em>EvaLSeraphim, stuff it.





</em>That was uncalled for, and I will give you one warning only, and it will stop right here and right now. Use the search button, and look up the definition of sarcasm and use urban dictionary to get the definition of snarky. There is plenty of it to go around here and you better get used to it.
 
<p>Hey guys, I just found out that Mr. CalGal decided to state his opinion yesterday while sitting at my computer in between watching basketball games. I told him to get his own screenname and not to use mine in the future I wish he would contribute to the blog because he does have some good facts he could bring to the conversation. He sells Equities for a living so he is heavily involved in day-to-day Stock Market Activities.</p>

<p>Awgee, I read him your responses. When he said the "public" is buying into gold right now - he meant that a lot of people have it in their portfolios and don't even know they have it. A lot of his multi-million dollar general agents are telling their brokers to sell all their gold shares. He said a lot more to me - but it's all mumble jumble to me. I think he was refering to short-term investing. </p>
 
<p><em>I was referring to SoCalGal's comments...... Yikes! Don't want to get on your bad side!</em> </p>

<p>Lendingmaestro - I didn't realize hubby contributed to this thread yesterday and used my screen name. And yes, he's very grumpy when he wakes up. </p>
 
<p><em>"When he said the "public" is buying into gold right now - he meant that a lot of people have it in their portfolios and don't even know they have it."</em></p>

<p>Darned interesting. Never thought of that. I know CalPers is buying commodities. Hmmm-m-m.</p>

<p><em>"A lot of his multi-million dollar general agents are telling their brokers to sell all their gold shares."</em></p>

<p>Well, that would explain some of today. LOL</p>
 
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