Friday, April 9, 2010

Rally Continues, Un-nerving to Watch

I'm not sure what about this rally is unnerving for me to watch.  No doubt my portfolio has been benefitting from it.  I don't think its that the negative news is affecting my psyche enough to feel a contradiction in my stomach when the markets go up.  The problem is that each day of a rally up my portfolio goes up less than it did for the same move up in the markets last time.  By selling puts to get into positions I reduce my downside exposure, but my upside exposure is limited.  My delta has been decaying, putting pressure on me to open new positions to continue experiencing the upside.

Ideally, I'd like to open a new position or two after a pullback in the markets.  The problem is, me and every other person in the market.  A pullback similar to the one we experienced in February is what everyone expects, is waiting for, and that's why we're not getting it.  Selling my Berkshire Hathaway shares at $79.88 ended up not being the top for BRK.B, but yesterday closed at $79.68.  The position is looking attractive purely based on how much it has underperformed during this rally up.

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