Whoa... Volcker Rule Is No Joke...

Volcker Rule Sets New Hurdles For Banks On Market Making & Compensation

No more prop trading...

Limitations to banks investing in hedge funds and private equity vehicles...

Who will be there to run our stops anymore?  

Spiffin' Tiffins...

It's been a zero sum game for me this past week as I quietly chased The Maharajas and watched AAPL from behind the scenes.  There were numerous times in the week that I was wishing I was in 9FM's place.  I sent him a 7-8 figure client, but apparently, another few million in the bank is not enticing enough for him and he didn't bother taking action in time to take advantage of some last-minute Turkey Day sales.  All around me, I'm noticing missed opportunities in the name of bureaucracy.  

I swear it was the minute that I stopped buying AAPL calls that it started its ascent of over $87 per share higher, which means that I missed out on gains of anywhere from $5000 to over $8700 per call.  Repeat: per call.  I had strikes all over the place from $500 to $525 or something.

Every week for weeks on end, I would faithfully get into any AAPL calls within my price range up to $3 something.  I had a few small wins, but eventually got fed up being the dumb money, as BK on CNBC called it.  

I was right to follow Dear Carl Icahn, but somehow, I still ended up being wrong.  

If only I still had even one of those AAPLs in my tiffin...  

I took profit on one of my Lehman bond issues earlier in the week.  For something I bought for anywhere from $0.01 to $0.05 or something, being able to sell at $0.1925 was pretty exhilarating.  If only I had some more, but I'm looking forward to the day more of these issues turn green...


+1.26% DJIA
+0.73% Nasdaq
+1.12% S&P 

+0.83% FTSE
+0.72% Eurofirst
+0.82% Nikkei
-0.44% Shanghai
+0.18% SENSEX
+0.13% Hang Seng

0.86 Put / Call Ratio

+0.61% DJT
-8.55% VIX

0.090 Treasurys | DTCC GCF Repo Index
0.091 MBS | DTCC GCF Repo Index

+2.03% 5-Year US Treasury Notes
+0.73% 10-Year US Treasury Notes

70% Advancing Issues on NYSE                                 |   69% Up Volume
28% Declining Issues on NYSE                                  |   30% Down Volume
2% Unchanged                                                       |   1% Unchanged

65% Advancing Issues on Nasdaq                              |   62% Up Volume
31% Declining Issues on Nasdaq                               |   35% Down Volume
4% Unchanged                                                       |   3% Unchanged


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