No wonder it's worth $9Bn (based on BLK's latest buy-in) – it's actually useful. Yesterday, in Member Chat at 9:39 am, I hit the button early on a trade as oil tested our favorite shorting point ($96.50 on /CL Futures). We also took advantage of the run-up at the open to pick up more USO Feb $35 puts at .65 for our $25,000 Portfolio. Using our new Twitter feature, I also tweeted (is that the verb?) out the trade idea on our account so that people who follow us with mobile accounts wouldn't miss what we thought was an easy trade.
We had no idea how easy it would be, however as oil promptly plunged $1, to $95.50, where I said to Members at 10:26:
"$95.50 is goaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal on Oil Futures – Congrats to players on that one!"
Not only was the Futures Trade Idea good for a very quick $1,000 PER CONTRACT, but our USO puts in our virtual $25,000 Portfolio made a very quick .20 at .85 and that was a 30% pop in an hour, returning $850 on a $650 investment in less than 60 minutes – and still in time to buy our Egg McMuffins for the day!
USO puts are a nice no-margin way to play oil, if you can't trade the Futures but, at $10 per penny per contract – you've gotta love the action on those Futures. Actually, they have lower entry and exit costs than options and it's easier to set tight stops (usually right on the line) and get out quickly when the trade turns against you and THAT is why we like the Futures. This morning (8:20), we're toying with $96.50 on the oil futures again and we'll be looking to short them again if they cross below the line – maybe even another run at the USO shorts too (see Dave Fry chart for key line).
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