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2013 Trading war stories

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+1. I had bought some calls for Detroit and then cashed out too early after the pre-announcement even after telling my wife that this was going to move a lot higher. When I look at what happened at Detroit, I actually regret buying before the announcement. It was too risky of a binary move IMO. I should have waited until after hearing the announcement and then made my play. I've been following John Carter (simpleroptions.com) a bit and this guy schooled all of us in his TSLA pre-annoucement trade at Detroit. He got in after the announcement and knew when to exit.
How to Trade Earnings Pre Announcments
Tesla Million Dollar Trade

That is my favorite and least favorite day of all the days since I started trading options. I too cashed out too early.

Thanks for the links Dave. I don't have time to watch them right now but I will this evening.
 
+1. I had bought some calls for Detroit and then cashed out too early after the pre-announcement even after telling my wife that this was going to move a lot higher. When I look at what happened at Detroit, I actually regret buying before the announcement. It was too risky of a binary move IMO. I should have waited until after hearing the announcement and then made my play. I've been following John Carter (simpleroptions.com) a bit and this guy schooled all of us in his TSLA pre-annoucement trade at Detroit. He got in after the announcement and knew when to exit.
How to Trade Earnings Pre Announcments
Tesla Million Dollar Trade

Those videos are solid. He's got discipline and experience and it shows. Still, it doesn't hurt to have a degree of luck in catching a rising wave on a once-in-a-generation stock like TSLA around Pre Earnings announcements. :)

So here's my small war story. I have been following Tesla Motors since roughly 2004-2005 and have long been an environmentalist, software geek, as well as a performance car enthusiast, so naturally this was pretty much the dream company for me. I manage a small fund with fairly conservative partners who long knew of my interest in Tesla, but I had to beg the other partners to take even a modest position in TSLA last year with repeated analysis and investment case presentations. They finally relented at $41 in 2013, thank goodness, and the rest is obviously history for those shares. They begged me to sell at 71, then 89, then 110, but I made long and convincing arguments against it because my (admittedly aggressive) models showed Tesla was still undervalued at those prices.

Now, I did exit the fund's TSLA position completely very briefly during a period of uncertainty around the debt ceiling brinksmanship fiasco here in Washington when I actually thought Boehner might blow up the global economy, but then he mercifully came to his senses, and I bought back in at only a small penalty which at the time I felt was a small price to pay for the risk reduction ($3/share difference, not a big deal). And here we are in the $200s today. This fund has had some home runs in its short history (including a nice 2-bagger on CSIQ thanks in no small part to Sleepy's pioneering and incredibly generous analysis), but the TSLA common shares are by far the most successful investment in the history of any of the partners in the fund next to a fluke dot-com windfall in the 90's.

On the options front in my personal portfolio, I missed the Q1 and Q2 plays, and got hurt as many of us did looking to a post-earnings long play around Q3. But then in December of last year, my wife and I had the opportunity to get a loaner Model S at a great price, and decided to jump on the purchase we had been considering for years. Having bought our dream car in December, knowing demand was already high, and then hearing people's frustration on TMC about dwindling loaner inventories around the country, I had a strong hunch that sales numbers were going to be very, very good for Q4, and I decided to load up on some March calls earlier in January. When Jerome dropped the 6900 sold carpet bomb, within minutes I had completely erased my losses from Q3 and turned my personal portfolio way green on those March calls and some long LEAPS, admittedly much earlier than I thought given that earnings were still weeks away. I wasn't at my desk the day of the announcement and wasn't set up to play it minute-to-minute like the guy in Dave's link, but I still did very very well.

I'm fairly confident I'm set up how I want to be this time around for earnings, but we shall see. In the end, I'm in this for my own good but also for the good of the company like many here, and will be long stock for years to come.

This is a fantastic community, to be sure, and here's looking forward to a great 2014 and beyond.

/endwarstory
 
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I have a ton of trading stories, way too many to mention.

Going into the NAIAS I had bought some weekly $155's for $2.4, then doubled down at $1.4, and then again at $0.80, and once more at $0.40. Then on the day of Tesla's presentation I bought 16 more contracts at $0.12 to get my total up to 60 contracts. Overall, my cost basis was just above $3000.

When Jerome announced the 6900 number, I saw the stock jump to $149 and then it started retracing, so I quickly sold a bunch over $1 and then held on as TSLA fell back to $143, because I knew that the market was not pricing in the 6900 correctly; at that point the options went back down to $0.40. I then started selling the rest later in the day around $1, $2, $3, $4, and sold of the rest just under $5.

I probably cashed them out for just under $10k, when I could of simply held them all till expiry (or even the next day) and cashed out at $100k. The biggest mistake I made was when TSLA fell back to $143, I should have been buying calls like crazy but it went by so fast and I was so focused on cashing out at the right time, that I forgot to buy more.

Even though I tripled my money on that one, I am really upset with the way I traded. I should have held on, but panic sold because just before Jerome started speaking my options were worth $700 and I was happy with a 10-bagger from there.

On the flip side, when TSLA crashed in November to $120 and lower, I loaded up on call options and LEAPS: mostly J16, and Jun14 with a couple of J15's. I still hold the all time low buy price for:

J16 $210 at $18.70
Jun14 $155 at $9.60

The following calls I bought at virtually the bottom, but just not quite at all time low prices:

Jun14 - $160, $185
J16 - $230, $245, $250, $260

Then for good measure I also bought a bunch of other options very close to the bottom as well:

Jun14 $170
J15 $165, $175
J16 $220, $240

Overall, I put about half of my money into those options above. They have worked out very well, but in hindsight we all should have been buying the March $200 calls for $1 back then.

I just realized that in my Roth IRA I bought the J16s $220 for $17.16 which is also the all time low price. Actually $1.54 cheaper than my all time low purchase for the $210 at $18.70.

Good old times. Just shows that I (as well as all others who were buying then) was one of the few people in the entire world who still had faith in TSLA in November.
 
+1. I had bought some calls for Detroit and then cashed out too early after the pre-announcement even after telling my wife that this was going to move a lot higher. When I look at what happened at Detroit, I actually regret buying before the announcement. It was too risky of a binary move IMO. I should have waited until after hearing the announcement and then made my play. I've been following John Carter (simpleroptions.com) a bit and this guy schooled all of us in his TSLA pre-annoucement trade at Detroit. He got in after the announcement and knew when to exit.
How to Trade Earnings Pre Announcments
Tesla Million Dollar Trade

Thanks for sharing. For me it's really about learning to be a bit more patient. I also was telling my wife how this thing is going to jump like crazy. But once I saw some profits it was hard to be patient and just let things play out, instead I felt like I needed to make some trades. Overthought things a bit too much. I think it would have been best just to turn off the screen and go on a walk or something :)

This is why I actually don't mind if TSLA drops a lot tomorrow. I will try to survive and gather what I have left and wait for another day like that. I also wish that instead of buying LEAPS I would have bought more March and June calls when we were at $120 or even $130. I bought some but not as much as I should have. Live and learn :)
 
My initial (and by far biggest) investments in TSLA were made ~$28. I made a nice chunk of money trading the stock while it was bouncing around in the $30's through the end of 2012, then made a really nice chunk playing the volatility around the government debt limit negotiations at the end of the year.

Got some so-so gains when it went back to bouncing in the $30's then held on for dear life starting at the end of March when I nailed down their sales for January and February and decided that that was going to drive the stock upwards once folks realized that it was the top selling large luxury vehicle in the U.S.

When the stock got up to the $190's the government started playing shutdown games again, so expecting strong downwards volatility I hedged strongly to the downside. Coincidentally, the first fire happened right as I was laser focused on playing the volatility, and so I knew about the fire before the market reacted (because someone posted the video in the short term thread).

I immediately felt that the fire was a "Bad Thing" and with my mental stance already leaning short I made some rather radical adjustments on the short side and those trades netted me my biggest short term gains of my entire TSLA sequence, both biggest day and biggest week on a percentage basis, and far and away my best in dollar value. I still feel rather guilty about that actually.
 
My initial (and by far biggest) investments in TSLA were made ~$28. I made a nice chunk of money trading the stock while it was bouncing around in the $30's through the end of 2012, then made a really nice chunk playing the volatility around the government debt limit negotiations at the end of the year.

Got some so-so gains when it went back to bouncing in the $30's then held on for dear life starting at the end of March when I nailed down their sales for January and February and decided that that was going to drive the stock upwards once folks realized that it was the top selling large luxury vehicle in the U.S.

When the stock got up to the $190's the government started playing shutdown games again, so expecting strong downwards volatility I hedged strongly to the downside. Coincidentally, the first fire happened right as I was laser focused on playing the volatility, and so I knew about the fire before the market reacted (because someone posted the video in the short term thread).

I immediately felt that the fire was a "Bad Thing" and with my mental stance already leaning short I made some rather radical adjustments on the short side and those trades netted me my biggest short term gains of my entire TSLA sequence, both biggest day and biggest week on a percentage basis, and far and away my best in dollar value. I still feel rather guilty about that actually.

Someday I want to be able to say I played both sides of an event well. As it is, I sort of got out on the way down for part of the trip, but like a silly bull kept calling false bottoms, and played the rising side ok. net net I profited but I need to get myself a better "bear" gear.
 
My initial (and by far biggest) investments in TSLA were made ~$28. I made a nice chunk of money trading the stock while it was bouncing around in the $30's through the end of 2012, then made a really nice chunk playing the volatility around the government debt limit negotiations at the end of the year.

Got some so-so gains when it went back to bouncing in the $30's then held on for dear life starting at the end of March when I nailed down their sales for January and February and decided that that was going to drive the stock upwards once folks realized that it was the top selling large luxury vehicle in the U.S.

When the stock got up to the $190's the government started playing shutdown games again, so expecting strong downwards volatility I hedged strongly to the downside. Coincidentally, the first fire happened right as I was laser focused on playing the volatility, and so I knew about the fire before the market reacted (because someone posted the video in the short term thread).

I immediately felt that the fire was a "Bad Thing" and with my mental stance already leaning short I made some rather radical adjustments on the short side and those trades netted me my biggest short term gains of my entire TSLA sequence, both biggest day and biggest week on a percentage basis, and far and away my best in dollar value. I still feel rather guilty about that actually.

I will always be thankful to you and Sleepy for this situation. I was fairly new to the forum when you and sleepy both basically had an 'oh sh*t' moment at the same time. I sold quickly and was able to rebuy in later with that money for 50% more shares than I originally had. Do not feel guilty...unless of course you were leaving trailer hitches on highways :wink:
 
My initial (and by far biggest) investments in TSLA were made ~$28. I made a nice chunk of money trading the stock while it was bouncing around in the $30's through the end of 2012, then made a really nice chunk playing the volatility around the government debt limit negotiations at the end of the year.

Got some so-so gains when it went back to bouncing in the $30's then held on for dear life starting at the end of March when I nailed down their sales for January and February and decided that that was going to drive the stock upwards once folks realized that it was the top selling large luxury vehicle in the U.S.

When the stock got up to the $190's the government started playing shutdown games again, so expecting strong downwards volatility I hedged strongly to the downside. Coincidentally, the first fire happened right as I was laser focused on playing the volatility, and so I knew about the fire before the market reacted (because someone posted the video in the short term thread).

I immediately felt that the fire was a "Bad Thing" and with my mental stance already leaning short I made some rather radical adjustments on the short side and those trades netted me my biggest short term gains of my entire TSLA sequence, both biggest day and biggest week on a percentage basis, and far and away my best in dollar value. I still feel rather guilty about that actually.

It's rare to see a trader who is successful trading both sides. I myself am only successful on one side and always lose money on the other. Then again, selling off positions is similar to shorting I guess. So Congrats.
 
I remember that first fire well when CapOp and I loaded up on cheap deep OTM puts.

I bought some weekly $160 puts (among others) for $0.14 about 1 hour after the Jalopnik story broke when TSLA was at $184. TSLA closed that day at $181.70 IIRC and I was selling those calls for $0.60 even though TSLA only dropped 2% from the time I bought them to the time I sold them.

Those puts went up in value even more the next day.

There will be another day like this where TSLA will decline steeply, and hopefully we at TMC once again are able to spot that catalyst before the rest of the market does.
 
It's rare to see a trader who is successful trading both sides. I myself am only successful on one side and always lose money on the other. Then again, selling off positions is similar to shorting I guess. So Congrats.

Yesterday, I sold covered calls OTM, and then when the stock dropped today closed them out. I'll make a lot more tomorrow, but it was nice to play the dark side and win.
 
Was looking for a plug in electric car in December of 2012. I already had a solar array on my roof and had a long commute, so I figured it was time to make the earlier investment really pay off. I also wanted to get the $7500 tax credit. Sadly, the cars from the competitors didn't offer enough range and the dealers were universally jerks.

My search did not initially include Tesla because I was looking for something smaller. I had wanted their roadster, but it was no longer offered. If electric didn't work out, I was considering a performance toy - GT500, Cayman, Corvette, Viper. Those would have been less useful for my purpose, but I always wanted something powerful.


When I was using Edmunds to research the cars, Tesla showed up as an electric and I decided to look at it. My hesitation was that it was a four door and I already had exchanged an Audi TT for an A4 to slow me down a bit, but I didn't really care for a four door and wanted to get back into a coupe. And then I saw the specs on the S. I had to read them several times and then look for other sources to confirm what I was reading. All of a sudden the four doors didn't matter. When I considered everything, the model S beat all the electrics, the hybrids, and the performance coupes. Well, if I wanted to drive 200 mph, it would fall short. If I felt a coupe was a necessity, that wouldn't work. Considering that most tests of speed occur at the stop light or making quick moves on the freeway, this car was it. That night I put down the $5000 deposit for a performance model.


The delivery date was estimated around September. In January I got notice to finalize. I was a little shocked because the delivery date was being moved up significantly. I had only weeks earlier placed the order and expected to not hear from Tesla for months. I decided I needed to check out the car for real first and so I went to the Seattle store and made sure of the one thing that really sealed the deal for me: the screen allowed me to get real time stock quotes while I was driving. Yahoo will give you streaming real time and that's all I needed to monitor the market.


So the only thing left to do was take it for a drive. The store was closed and the only car they were using was going through some modification, but the rep got the mechanics to give it to us for a quick drive. Stepping down on the accelerator was a total surprise - as it must be for every person who tries it for the first time. Needless to say, I went home and finalized the order.



It occurred to me to watch the stock. The Peter Lynch approach to investing is just about the most reliable way to make your decision. He says to buy what you like, and I liked Tesla. Watching the stock move up to $40 and then back to $35, it seemed like I could easily trade the stock and make it pay for the car. And the way I invest is to take big chances. In the beginning, when I started trading over 25 years ago, I took big chances and lost big. A few times I almost gave up and quit investing because I wasn't investing - I was gambling. Then I learned a little and started doing much better.



Sometimes I trade on a daily basis and sometimes I buy and hold, either because the investment takes time to be realized, or the gains are significant and relatively stable such that holding for long term tax advantages is worth it. That isn't always the case and an argument could be made to takes big gains and pay taxes and continue to trade.


I initially planned to trade TSLA. So I bought 5,000 shares in my IRA and 5,000 shares in my margin account on Mar 15 and got in at $35.21. Then the stock took off, but came back and I decided to buy more at some price that was a few cents lower than the stock ever would see again. I kicked myself for not raising my limit price.

The car was ready to deliver a few days after I bought the first shares and I was really not ready to receive it, but I was no fool because I knew why it was being delivered early. I got it the last week of March 2013. A few weeks later it was already paid for and the shorts were giving me suitcases of cash as a reward for my good judgement.

While I failed to get more shares in the $35 range, and thought I would sell around $50, it just kept going up. It was pretty obvious that this was a one of those bets where you push all the chips in. I sold off the bulk of everything else I held and bought in around $88. And then I bought in for others around the same price.


That may make me seem like a genius or a fool, but my greed and arrogance caused me to make a major error later. Somewhere over $190, I sold off all the shares in every tax advantaged account I had or managed for others. And then when the stock took a dip, I started buying around $180 until I was all in again around $174. And as everyone knows, it went under $120 from there.


The meteoric rise was not as irrational as the significant implosion, but that is the nature of the market and I failed to remain objective. So while I was still up huge beyond any fantasy, I had now lost 35% to 40% of my gains and that hurts. It hurt the ego more than the wallet, but it hurt the wallet also. On the other hand, it was more than I would ever spend, but it starts to be a game at some point. Or maybe it is just addictive.


Now as any investor knows, a loss is not a loss, nor a gain a gain, until realized. Since I held, I only missed out on bigger gains by not having anything left to buy more at lower prices. And, the stock has now achieved all time highs, so those losses were never realized and the gains are even greater.


My past experience attempting to trade in ways I have no experience have proven ill advised. I shorted and won - briefly, but didn't cash out. So naturally I lost. I traded on margin and made a lot but the brokers got most of it, so that didn't pay. After reading all the posts regarding options I decided I had made enough that I could afford to play. So I started with 10 contracts and watched the value increase a lot and then decrease to the same in the negative and finally decided to sell when it had a very modest gain. But now I could see how it worked and went in much bigger. And now I have a significant number of March contracts between $200 and $245.


Oh, when I saw that the model X now is using cameras in lieu of side mirrors, I decided to put in a deposit. And just as with the S, the market rewarded that decision by paying for my new car the next day. If Tesla offered new models, I would buy them also because it wouldn't cost me anything.

Sorry if this meandered off topic a bit. Sometimes one starts a story and just lets it run where it will.
 
Before I tell my story, here are some background statements to put the story into context.
1. If something in the story comes across as bragging, please be forgiving. We are posting stories when Tesla is breaking new highs, most people here made tons of money, and it is hard to tell a story about success without talking about the success.
2. All disclosure of sensitive personal and financial information is done for the educational and entertainment purposes only, not for bragging!
3. There are many parts or aspects of the entity that is me. The whole entity of me is a team. In the story below, I will only talk about two parts of me that are relevant to my Tesla investment story.

The Story of two buddies

I am a chartered engineer with MBA. Employers hire me for my engineering skills, so engineer is paying the bills. MBA degree gave me a lot of understanding of finance and business strategies. I will call that MBA trained part of myself ‘investor’. My MBA training did not secure me a job but it did prompt me to start investing in a share market.

Several years ago, the first investment meeting between engineer and investor went something like this:

Investor: Hey buddy you are slaving away at your job and seem to be ok for now, but you will never really be financially free if you just continue slaving away. Your job is not secure. I learned a lot about finance and business analysis, and I was very expensive, so let me put my skills to use and help you a bit. I can manage your money and make you some more.

Engineer: Hmm, I like my job but I am a bit tired of my slave labour and job insecurity. I lost my job three times so far. Businesses folded due to offshore competition. I am tired of applying for new jobs. If you really think that you are as smart as you say, then go ahead and prove it but please do not lose my hard earned money. You can only have my personal account, I will leave my retirement account in a managed fund as the returns are good. Prove yourself, show me the money, and maybe I will let you manage my retirement account as well.

Investor: Ok, let me get to work.

So investor started reading company reports and financial statements of ASX (Australian Securities Exchange) listed companies. Investor would look at ROE, ROA, p/e, revenues growth, competitive edge and all other available information and would pick the stock based on all available information. Initial positions were $5000, but that quickly grew to $20000 and many multiples of that as the size of the portfolio grew. It was difficult to manage too many positions in the portfolio as the investor did all his work only after hours. The investor made sure to properly diversify the portfolio by picking many uncorrelated businesses to accommodate the risk averse engineer.

The investor was very happy to make 20% - 30% profit on a trade. There were more loosing trades than the winning ones, but the portfolio grew because the fewer profits were far larger than the numerous loses, as the losers were promptly sold. Also engineer kept slaving away and kept contributing more into the portfolio.

The investor learned few things from that period:
1. It is so easy to make money in a bull market. Anyone can do it.

2. Timing tops and bottoms is only possible with hindsight and clairvoyant abilities. Market movements are influenced by countless often un-quantifiable forces. It is almost like Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle applies to market, it is impossible to have complete certainty about the future market movements. Study and analysis of all available information significantly increases the chances of having a lucky break. Investors make educated guesses but anyone claiming to be able to predict or to have successfully predicted sudden turns is discounting their luck.

3. Portfolio diversification is not that relevant in a bull market but it can make a huge difference during large market downturns. Some very good businesses are insensitive to economic highs and lows and they may be a good protection against large market downturns.

4. Portfolio size has an impact on trading strategies. Small size is much easier to grow and move around. Large portfolio leads to proportionally larger positions as small positions become irrelevant or meaningless. It is more difficult to get in and out of large positions and that influences trading decisions.

In February 2013, engineer calls an urgent investment meeting:

Engineer, all demoralized and beaten down: Aaaah I lost my job again. I am not sure if I can find work again. Manufacturing sites are closing down all over Sydney. There is however some work for you, I will be getting one year salary payout, you need to park that money somewhere. Have in mind that I may not be able to secure another job so there will be no income from now on.

Investor: O poor buddy, I will cheer you up! There was an interesting story in NYT by John Broder, about some new car called Tesla. It is ev. I can smell a blue ocean here and I have only seen red oceans so far. We really need to check this story out. Check the car that Tesla is making, that is your domain. After we check it out we will meet again.

Translation: Blue ocean term is used to describe businesses with no competition. Red ocean is the term used to describe businesses with lots of competition. Red stands for blood.

Engineer checks the car online and screams in excitement: Look at the image of the powertrain! No moving parts, no belts, no fluids, only AC motor! That rigid skateboard is an excellent crash protection! Aluminium body! I have spent good part of my working life trying to repair and improve all sorts of weird and complex machinery. When I look at Tesla powertrain, I feel like hearing Beethoven’s Ode to Joy whilst watching Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel Ceiling, o what a wonderful music to my tired soul!

Engineer continues in excitement: Also after spending my working life in manufacturing I find it highly improbable that the existing manufacturers will be able to change from ICE to ev technology. There is too much internal conflict and resistance that make such drastic transition uneconomical and not viable for the current stakeholders. Ice car manufacturers will only switch to ev technology when they are forced to and it might be too late then.

Investor also screams in excitement: Aaah first time in my life I get the opportunity to see the huge blue ocean! What a sight, I am blown away with the vastness and blueness of it! Tesla is the only business out there! They do not even have to cast their net, fish is jumping into their boat! And there are no other boats on the horizon! Barrier to entry into ev business is extremely high. Only possible entrants are, imho, cashed up mad philanthropists or cashed up businesses Google or Apple. Even if they decide to enter this blue ocean, Tesla has the huge first mover advantage. This is one in a lifetime investment opportunity, we need to put 2-3 cash equivalents of your yearly salary into this stock. I will sell some of the other holdings. There is a lot of risk as the company is small and fragile but I am willing to gamble on it!

Engineer: Agreed, lets go in with say 3 yearly salaries!

Fast forward 12 months, to now. Engineer calls a meeting.

Engineer: FYI, I got a job offer so we will have an income stream again. I have mixed feelings about this job, commute is long and I am tired of the traffic.

Investor: Good news buddy, I am happy for you. FYI, I learned a lot about options trading by reading few books, taking online classes and mostly by reading TMC Investors discussions. We can generate income that is better than your monthly salary by selling monthly OTM covered calls. There are other ways, but I like this one. If we get assigned, we will just buy leaps on the dip. Tesla is relatively small float with high level of short interest so this ride will be a roller coaster, brace up! There is so much more that we could do with options if you are comfortable with the higher risk.

Engineer: Lets thread carefully, it seems that buy and hold worked quite well so far.

Investor: Best news for last, I think we have made enough that you do not need to take that job if you decide not to. It is your money and your call buddy.

Engineer: Good job buddy, maybe you can take over managing my retirement account as well.

End of meeting.
The story continues and may take sudden unexpected turns. There will be no posts during downturns as both buddies get very depressed and do not feel like posting during downturns. There may be some posts after successful trade executions.
 
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<stuff>

Engineer checks the car online and screams in excitement: Look at the image of the powertrain! No moving parts, no belts, no fluids, only AC motor! That rigid skateboard is an excellent crash protection! Aluminium body! I have spent good part of my working life trying to repair and improve all sorts of weird and complex machinery. When I look at Tesla powertrain, I feel like hearing Beethoven’s Ode to Joy whilst watching Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel Ceiling, o what a wonderful music to my tired soul!

<more stuff>



As an 'engineer' I too recognise how you had your 'religious moment' / epiphany and .. glad it worked out for you too :)

... but hey, maybe put some aside for sorting out the schizophrenia !!
 
This is my first post, but it will certainly not be my last.

I first learned of Tesla while watching a video of Elon showing off the Model S to a reporter. This was back when the stock was in the 20-30s without a hint of the craziness that was to occur. I thought Elon seemed interesting and pretty stylish actually, but didn’t fathom at the time what a beast he actually was. The seed of TSLA was planted in my mind.

I went on a vacation with the family to Santa Monica, CA a few months later. I saw the Tesla store on the 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] street Promenade and was very impressed. That day I asked my wife if I could buy 300 shares for 10K total. It was the first investment I ever made. Most of my other money is in cash.

When the Q1 earnings announcement came, the stock immediately went up to 50. I though I’d buy another 300 shares. If the stock went down to 40, I would see everything and break even. But it kept going up and I kept buying and buying and buying. 30-50-70-82-91-114-121…..the numbers are still imprinted in my mind. I kept buying up to 186 and then lost a good deal of my gains when the stock fell to 120s.

I made a decision after that. I decided to go all out and buy 5000 Jan 16 LEAPS at a 120 strike price for 42 dollar a piece. It cost me 213 K which I knew I could lose. But I felt like Dave T and Sleepyhead and Curt were onto something. So I convinced myself that I support this company and my purchase was a stand for something I believed in. If I lose it, it was for a true cause. I also bought another 125 K worth of shares. This was a large percentage of my net worth.

In January I started trading some amounts of options when sleepy said the 155s were cheap. An initial investment of 5 K eventually went to 442 K at the time of the MS upgrade. Unfortunately, I lost the majority of that because I became greedy and bought a HUGE number of 270 weeklies hoping to hit the ball out of the park and hopefully retire much sooner. Its my biggest mistake and I regret it. But I had to try for a home run because it was an exit. I thought the premarket up 10 dollars was a sign of shorts getting squeezed, but it wasn’t. Most of those profits went into thin air so quickly it really hurt. I think how easily it would have been to get a P85+ maxed out…it still stings.

So I’m waiting, lurking. I have the LEAPS and the shares still for a gain of over 600 K. I may play weeklies in much smaller amounts, trying to claw my way back. I’m constantly waiting to hear the NHSTA results and its my major concern. But I’ll stand by TSLA and Tesla through this and hope that Sleepy’s 400 number is in the not so far horizon. I’m no financial wizard but I know 60-70 K cars can be a reality next year at 30K profit a car which equals 2B revenue and maybe 1B profit. I think a 50 PE is reasonable. That gives me a market cap of 50B and a share price of over $350.

I hope I get a chance to meet you guys sometime. Cheers!