Tesla Megathread (was Just lost $40k USD on Tesla options)

[RedDawn]

Originally posted by themack89
Win some lose some its part of the game.

But, if this is a really big loss for you, then I'd say you aren't managing your risk properly. Getting pinched for an uncomfortably large % on a position that expires is a mistake I only had to make once.

Yes, that's an area I'm still working on. I haven't found an effective way to manage risk with options yet without basically eliminating a large part of the high gains they generate.

It sounds like you may know a thing or too though. Do you mind sharing how you would've played it? I know the general rules: diversify, stop limits but what I'm really interested in is the optimal way to repair a rapidly failed trade such as the one I had today.

[MGCM]

all this market and stock crap is a scam anyway

[themack89]

Originally posted by RedDawn
Yes, that's an area I'm still working on. I haven't found an effective way to manage risk with options yet without basically eliminating a large part of the high gains they generate.

It sounds like you may know a thing or too though. Do you mind sharing how you would've played it? I know the general rules: diversify, stop limits but what I'm really interested in is the optimal way to repair a rapidly failed trade such as the one I had today.

Options generate high gains if you're outright (on either side) and catch big moves. If you're playing that game (and yes it can be done successfully), then you really just need to manage your size and which strike prices you are choosing so you don't get fucked on the bid/ask when you want to get out (or if you have to get out).

How I would have played it? Well, I'll assume that I would have had the same theory as you that it would have stayed range bound...

- 2 Leg spreads (in your case meaning a strangle or a straddle, as a few others have mentioned).. The only reason being is cause they are easier to get out of. Adjust size accordingly for tolerable gains and losses.
- Different expiry. You said May 1st? Nothing expires on a date like that except for a weekly, which I have personally never played. Give yourself more time to deal with a trade OR reduce your size so if it goes to shit you don't care as much.

You don't repair failed trades.. They are failed trades, you just close them and move on. I don't believe in diversifying (its just an excuse for laziness and ignorance); I do, however, believe in finding the holy grail of all your positions having zero correlation with each other (huge difference as opposed to diversification)....And stops will fuck you one day when the market dries up, I'd only use them for entry and profitable exits, never losing exits.

[BrknFngrs]

Am I reading your first post right? Tesla essentially provided the details of the press release to shareholders over email in advance of its planned release and then subsequently changed its mind and made it entirely public in advance?

[RedDawn]

Originally posted by themack89


Options generate high gains if you're outright (on either side) and catch big moves. If you're playing that game (and yes it can be done successfully), then you really just need to manage your size and which strike prices you are choosing so you don't get fucked on the bid/ask when you want to get out (or if you have to get out).

How I would have played it? Well, I'll assume that I would have had the same theory as you that it would have stayed range bound...

- 2 Leg spreads (in your case meaning a strangle or a straddle, as a few others have mentioned).. The only reason being is cause they are easier to get out of. Adjust size accordingly for tolerable gains and losses.
- Different expiry. You said May 1st? Nothing expires on a date like that except for a weekly, which I have personally never played. Give yourself more time to deal with a trade OR reduce your size so if it goes to shit you don't care as much.

You don't repair failed trades.. They are failed trades, you just close them and move on. I don't believe in diversifying (its just an excuse for laziness and ignorance); I do, however, believe in finding the holy grail of all your positions having zero correlation with each other (huge difference as opposed to diversification)....And stops will fuck you one day when the market dries up, I'd only use them for entry and profitable exits, never losing exits.

Thanks for typing that out. I'm already aware of most of those things though.

[RedDawn]

Originally posted by BrknFngrs
Am I reading your first post right? Tesla essentially provided the details of the press release to shareholders over email in advance of its planned release and then subsequently changed its mind and made it entirely public in advance?

A month ago, Tesla CEO tweeted this:

"Major new Tesla product line -- not a car -- will be unveiled at our Hawthorne Design Studio on Thurs 8pm, April 30"


Then, 2 days ago, their head of investor relations sent out an email to certain investors confirming exactly what they'd be unveiling. Tesla expected this email to be made public via the investors and there was no intent of hiding it. The same evening, no longer bound to their NDA because the news is public, WalMart and Cargil Foods confirmed they're already trialing the Tesla product that was supposed to be unveiled on the 30th.

Cue mass explosion in stock price the following day.

Why on earth they would plan a whole press event and then ruin their own surprise through email is beyond me.

[InRich]

^ who cares. You shouldnt have been a bitch and held back. Now your crying about it on here. Next time grow a pair and commit.

[BavarianBeast]

[jwslam]

Originally posted by InRich
^ who cares. You shouldnt have been a bitch and held back. Now your crying about it on here. Next time grow a pair and commit.

Pretty much. Cry like all the companies who budgeted with $80/barrel. QQ oil was supposed to be up for the entire next year

[InRich]

^ yea your right, fact is, why couldn't they just save a % of their profits during boom times? We all know the shit fluctuates, save some of your friggin earnings when times are good! Now their all crying and whining about it. The governments the worst though. Instead of them putting away cash for for harder times, they spent it all, and now their imposing extra taxes to compensate for losses in tax revenue. That really friggin grinds my gears. Now everyone in Calgary's fucking poor, and I'm struggling just to keep all my crews busy and happy.

[msommers]

Originally posted by InRich
^ yea your right, fact is, why couldn't they just save a % of their profits during boom times? We all know the shit fluctuates, save some of your friggin earnings when times are good! Now their all crying and whining about it. The governments the worst though. Instead of them putting away cash for for harder times, they spent it all, and now their imposing extra taxes to compensate for losses in tax revenue. That really friggin grinds my gears. Now everyone in Calgary's fucking poor, and I'm struggling just to keep all my crews busy and happy.

Hopefully you have money set aside for the downturns then.

[ricosuave]

Sounds to me like you got greedy by waiting until the very last second then complaining when you got scooped.

Hey, that's the way it goes. For whatever reason.

[mazdavirgin]

Telsa is all hype... Why you would touch hype stocks with a ten foot pole is beyond me. At that point it's not investing it's gambling. The stock rises and falls dependent on popularity/the mood of the unwashed masses. Telsa's fundamentals do not support the stock price but that doesn't mean that it won't keep going up simply due to hype. It's too hard to invest in something that has no value other than temporary popularity since you have no idea where the stock will go.

[themack89]

Originally posted by RedDawn


Thanks for typing that out. I'm already aware of most of those things though.

If you knew these things then why did you need to make this thread?

You can't execute your own shit properly within your risk tolerances. Learn to trade small before you try and trade big dude.

Maybe the real problem here is you don't need external advice, but you need to listen to yourself. Ask yourself questions like "How can I get fucked on this?" .... "Am I comfortable with losing that much?" .... "Will I be able to exit? When will I exit?" .... etc.

I think you failed to do this, otherwise you wouldn't have made this thread.

[riander5]

Themack what happened to your trading blog? Did you get hammered with the great oil annihilation of '14

[themack89]

Originally posted by riander5
Themack what happened to your trading blog? Did you get hammered with the great oil annihilation of '14

It's just sitting cash right now.. I'm in Thailand on vacation, and I might actually need the money to survive if I don't get work (oil field), or if I decide to go to school.

Hence my signature.

And most of what I accomplished was because of the great annihilation of 14, anything I tried since then didn't work LOL.

[RedDawn]

Sweet. Got my 40k back plus more. Official news just broke and it's even better news than their initial leak.

Amazon, Target, your local electric company and data centre - All soon to be powered by Tesla.

[msommers]

Neat.

[riander5]

Cool

[RedDawn]

This is history in the making.

Before tonight, everyone thought the billon dollar gigafactory they're building was for internal use.....it isn't...the factory itself is the product and the one they're building is the first of many. The intent is for cities to purchase it and be powered by it.

Imagine one of these outside of every single city. Rather than using the energy to build cars and batteries, the factory's energy output will be used to power our cities. And, before all the armchair solar experts jump in - Tesla showed their math during the unveil. Where many pie in the sky solar ideas like this have failed in the past, this is the first one that's technologically and economically feasible.....and it's already being built.