Best month ever!

I haven't had much time to blog lately, mostly because I've been busy at work, and have also been shoping for another investment property. So the latter it now out of the way, I have investment property #4, and hopefully it will take care of itself and give me a nice little return at the same time!

I just wanted to post a little update on my trading recently: February started off as a great month, with gains in the indices practically every day! In the third week of Feb, I started adding a few short positions, mostly in some parabolic stocks, and when the big drop in the market happened on Feb 22nd, I was well positioned, so I actually made money on that day! Some of my shorts were TA, KV/A, SHZ and TTHI. I also got short the FAZ yesterday, Feb 24th, after 3 down days in a row in the market. I knew we were going to bounce, at least a little. Another trade that I have been building into, is a short in the VXX. The decay on this ETF is spectacular, to the tune of 40-70% per year, so if I hold it short forever, I can make 40-70% per year! Anyway, I added nearly 40% of my portfolio to this short position, and I was underwater for a while, but it is now starting to pay off. My first target is $27, and here's the daily chart:

I also added a position in AAPL yesterday, as it tested the 50day MA for the third time. I liked the setup since my stop would have been very close, and it would have been easy to know I was wrong. A solid breakdown under the 50d and I was out. I got into this position via the sale of 1 March 340 Put. I liked this better than a call purchase because the volatility premium in the option market was much higher than normal.

I still have a few positions open, but here are my returns for the year so far:

January	6.27%
February	15.01%