Week 29 of 2008 trading marked the beginning of earnings season. Google, Microsoft and a whole lot of banks announced this week and caused sector rotation within the market. Examine the following year-to-date performance.

Apple	NASDAQ	S&P 500	Dow Jones
-13.26%	-12.51%	-13.15%	-12.31%

Now, compare that performance to the AppleOption Portfolios!

AppleOption Short-Term Portfolio (STP)
      Started the January 2008 with $10,000
      Current portfolio value $12,001.89 (after commission/fees)
      Year-to-Date Gain 20.0%

AppleOption Long-Term Portfolio (LTP)
      Started the January 2008 with $25,000
      Current portfolio value $23,158.12 (after commission/fees)
      Year-to-Date Loss -7.4%

AppleOption Auto-Trade Portfolio (ATP)
      Minimum Allocation: $1,500 per trade or max of 12.5% of account value
      Minimum Account Value: $12,000 provides 8 allocations
      Average Percentage Gain per Trade: 32.0%
      Performance since Inception: 77.7% Winning Trades
      Number of Open Trades: 4

** Members can view all current portfolio holdings by viewing the Members-Only Page then selecting the Account View: Current Portfolio.

If you are not yet a member of AppleOption, sign-up today and discover how we trade. We’ll teach you by showing all of our portfolio trades in real-time. Join AppleOption Now!
 

Weekly Review of Portfolio Trades
     

AppleOption Short-Term Portfolio

The AppleOption STP had a very active week. All members received email trade alerts for all of the following trades:
7/15 rolled $180 put down to $170 during the sell off for $7 credit
7/16 bought back 5 contracts of the July $185 call for $0.12
7/16 bought back 2 contracts of the July $145 call for $0.05
7/16 sold 1 contract of the July $175 call for $1.25
7/17 bought back 3 contracts of the July $180 call $0.25
7/17 bought back 1 contract of the July $160 Put $0.05
7/17 rolled the July $170 put up to $175 put for $1.60
7/17 bought 2 contracts of the July $175 Call for $0.75
7/17 bought back 2 contracts of the July $160 Put for $0.05
7/18 sold for the July $175 put for $6.00
7/18 sold for the July $170 put for $1.75
7/18 bought 1 August Butterfly 185/200/210 for $1.75
7/18 bought 2 contract of the July $165 Put $0.05

AppleOption Long-Term Portfolio

The AppleOption LTP was less active than the STP but during option expiration week this is when the action happens in this portfolio. We placed the following trades:
7/15 sold 1 contract of the July $160 Put $1.20
7/16 bought back 2 contracts of the July $185 call for $0.12
7/17 bought back 1 contract of the July $160 Put
7/18 sold 1 contract of the July $165 Put $0.70

AppleOption Auto Trade Portfolio

Simply an amazing week! Monday’s huge rally lead to an 83.4% profitable trade. This portfolio opened two additional positions (Aug $180’s Wednesday and Aug $170’s Friday) during the massive sell off this week. We are looking to capitalize on them heading into Apple earnings report Monday after the bell.

There is a lot of excitement about our newest portfolio. The AppleOption Auto Trade Portfolio (ATP) is offered through ThinkorSwim. Investors interested in following the AppleOption Auto Trade Portfolio will need to open a ThinkorSwim brokerage account as well as need an active AppleOption Membership. After both of these are set-up, then investors will be ready to activate the auto-trading service through ThinkorSwim. Each trader determines his/her individual risk tolerance by selecting a specific allocation type. For more information please refer to the AppleOption Auto-Trade Portfolio (ATP) page.

 
Technical Apple Review
     
  

Key Reference Points:
5-EMA: $169.99
20-EMA: $173.21
50-MA: $179.58
200-MA: $164.77
1st Resistance: $170.90 - double
2nd Resistance: $179.20 - triple
1st Support: $161.80 - double
2nd Support: $148.30 - double

Well Google’s “miss” pulled Apple down to $165.15 which is a GIFT! Has anyone noticed how packed the Apple and AT&T stores are with people buying the iPhone 3G? They sold 1 million phones in the first weekend. While the stock is sitting at the 200-MA, traders have another fantastic entry point. Just realize that Apple will announce earnings on Monday this week and the “proof is in the pudding,” Apple fundamentally is solid and they have fantastic sales and growing market share. We should see a nice rally this coming week.

     
Up-Coming Earning Reports:

Apple will announce Quarter 3 earnings on Monday July 21.

View which other companies releasing earnings next week

Monday, July 21st
    - Bank of America - BAC
    - Downey Fincl - DSL
    - Merck - MRK
    => Apple - AAPL
    - Boston Scientific - BSX
    - Texas Instruments - TXN
Tuesday, July 22nd
    - Caterpillar - CAT
    - Halliburton - HAL
    - OptionsXpress - OXPS
    - UPS - UPS
    - Wachovia - WB
    - Western Union - WU
    - XTO Energy - XTO
    - Intuitive Surgical - ISRG
    - VMware - VMW
    - Washington Mutual - WM
    - Yahoo! - YHOO
Wednesday, July 23rd
    - Allegheny Tech - ATI
    - Boeing - BA
    - ConocoPhillips - COP
    - EMC Corp - EMC
    - GlaxoSmithKline - GSK
    - PepsiCo - PEP
    - Whirlpool - WHR
    - Amazon.com - AMZN
    - Baidu.com - BIDU
    - Teradyne - TER
Thursday, July 24th
    - Ford Motor - F
    - Goodrich - GR
    - RadioShack - RSH
    - TASER - TASR
Friday, July 25th
    - Black & Decker - BDK
    - Netflix - NFLX

     
Analysis Reports:

American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu: reiterated his Buy rating and $220 price target on AAPL

     
Apple News:

Apple press release: “The App Store is a grand slam, with a staggering 10 million applications downloaded in just three days,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Developers have created some extraordinary applications, and the App Store can wirelessly deliver them to every iPhone and iPod touch user instantly.”

AppleInsider reports: Only 10-days after iPhone 3G sales began, virtually all Apple retail stores are sold out in 38 states!

Gartner Report estimates that Apple’s Mac computer sales growth was 38.1% for Q2 2008 compared to last year’s Q2.

Bloomberg.com reviews AAPL stock and earnings estimates heading into the big day.

Week 28 of 2008 trading brought volatility back to the market with major swings. Examine the following year-to-date performance.

Apple	NASDAQ	S&P 500	Dow Jones
-9.35%	-11.71%	-13.67%	-14.27%

Now, compare that performance to the AppleOption Portfolios!

AppleOption Short-Term Portfolio (STP)
      Started the January 2008 with $10,000
      Current portfolio value $13,770.95 (after commission/fees)
      Year-to-Date Gain 37.7%

AppleOption Long-Term Portfolio (LTP)
      Started the January 2008 with $25,000
      Current portfolio value $26,097.64 (after commission/fees)
      Year-to-Date Gain 4.3%

AppleOption Auto-Trade Portfolio (ATP)
      Started the June 2008 with $10,000
      Average Percentage Gain per Trade: 18.9%
      Performance since Inception: 100% Winning Trades
      Number of Open Trades: 3

Members can view all current portfolio holdings by viewing the Members-Only Page then selecting the Account View: Current Portfolio.

If you are not yet a member of AppleOption, sign-up today and discover how we trade. We’ll teach you by showing all of our portfolio trades in real-time. Join AppleOption Now!
 

Weekly Review of Portfolio Trades
     

AppleOption Short-Term Portfolio

The STP started the week by rolling our Puts during an early week rally. The trade modification goals posted for Tuesday’s trading never filled as they were a little too optimistic. During Thursday’s sell-off the STP was able to sell puts. Then finally during one of the bottoms on Friday we were able to buy back callers. All in all, the week improved the portfolio by $500.

AppleOption Long-Term Portfolio

Another patient week for this portfolio brings us within 5-days of option expiration. We did buy back one of the callers for profit on Friday. This portfolio improved it’s balance by $1,300.

AppleOption Auto Trade Portfolio

The ATP continued fantastic trading this week! We closed trade 6 & 7 down on Tuesday at even ($36 dollar gain). Then on Wednesday locked in a 58.3% profit on trade 8 which only lasted 4 days. Friday provided a 26-min day-trade which produced a 20% profit early in the morning. The ATP then opened a new trade with the same position traded earlier in the day $0.15 above the low of the day. We close the week with three open positions. We should be able to take one quick gain early next week, the other two will be held to till after the financial sector finishes earnings. The portfolio maintained a 100% winning trade status with an average gain of 18.9%.

There is a lot of excitement about our newest portfolio. The AppleOption Auto Trade Portfolio (ATP) is offered through ThinkorSwim. Investors interested in following the AppleOption Auto Trade Portfolio will need to open a ThinkorSwim brokerage account as well as need an active AppleOption Membership. After both of these are set-up, then investors will be ready to activate the auto-trading service through ThinkorSwim. Each trader determines his/her individual risk tolerance by selecting a specific allocation type. For more information please refer to the AppleOption Auto-Trade Portfolio (ATP) page.

 
Technical Apple Review
     
  

Key Reference Points:
5-EMA: $174.31
20-EMA: $175.07
50-MA: $180.38
200-MA: $164.38
1st Resistance: $178.90 - triple
2nd Resistance: $187.80 - triple
1st Support: $161.80 - double
2nd Support: $148.70 - double

This week marked the beginning of Apple’s next rally. The bears have done everything they can to sell-off this stock all the way down to the 200-MA in the last few weeks. Meanwhile, Apple brought the iPhone 3G to the market on Friday. Again another record sell-out, except this time it wasn’t “just” the US, multiple other countries also sold-out. Next Friday Google announces earnings, then the following Wednesday Apple. The “proof is in the pudding,” Apple fundamentally is solid and they have fantastic sales and growing market share. The next two weeks will prove how strong the rally will be.

     
Up-Coming Earning Reports:

Apple will announce Quarter 3 earnings on July 24 (after July option expiration).

View which other companies releasing earnings next week

Monday, July 14th
    - Genentech - DNA
    - M&T Bank - MTB
Tuesday, July 15th
    - Charles Schwab - SCHW
    - Johnson & Johnson - JNJ
    - US Bancorp - USB
    - Intel - INTC
Wednesday, July 16th
    - Downey Fincl - DSL
    - Wells Fargo - WFC
    - eBay - EBAY
Thursday, July 17th
    - Bank of NY - BK
    - Coca-Cola - KO
    - Ford Motor - F
    - JP Morgan Chase - JPM
    - TD Ameritrade - AMTD
    - Capital One - COF
    - Google - GOOG
    - IBM - IBM
    - Merrill Lynch - MER
    - Microsoft - MSFT
Friday, July 18th
    - Citigroup - C
    - Honeywell - HON
    - Schlumberger - SLB

Notice the shear number of financial companies that will be reporting earnings next week. GE brought good news to the market Friday. Q2 profits fell but met expectations. “We believe we had a solid performance in a tough environment,” GE Chief Executive Jeff Immelt said in the conference call. They proceeded to provide flat to 5% upward guidance. GE is a major financial company, and thus paves the way for all other financial stocks to lead us out of the recent sell off. Major market direction will be determined next week.

     
Analysis Reports:

No new changes in July yet.

     
Apple News:

Everything focused on the iPhone 3G release on Friday, which sold-out all across the world.

Week 27 of 2008 trading was a short holiday week as we celebrate Independence Day on July 4th. Examine the following year-to-date performance.

Apple	NASDAQ	S&P 500	Dow Jones
-11.81%	-12.84%	-13.16%	-14.43%

Now, compare that performance to the AppleOption Portfolios!

AppleOption Short-Term Portfolio (STP)
      Started the January 2008 with $10,000
      Current portfolio value $13,359.49 (after commission/fees)
      Year-to-Date Gain 33.5%

AppleOption Long-Term Portfolio (LTP)
      Started the January 2008 with $25,000
      Current portfolio value $24,686.64 (after commission/fees)
      Year-to-Date Loss 1.3%

AppleOption Auto-Trade Portfolio (ATP)
      Started the June 2008 with $10,000
      Average Percentage Gain per Trade: 18.4%
      Performance since Inception: 100% Winning Trades
      Number of Open Trades: 4

If you are not yet a member of AppleOption, sign-up today and discover how we trade. We’ll teach you by showing all of our portfolio trades in real-time. Join AppleOption Now!
 

Weekly Review of Portfolio Trades
     

AppleOption Short-Term Portfolio

Despite a large swing in Apple from a low of $164 to a high of $177, the stock finished slightly up for the week at $170. Our portfolio has been patiently awaiting option expiration as we have several fantastic positions that are collecting great premium.

AppleOption Long-Term Portfolio

Similar to the STP, the LTP has a strong July position. Patience is the key in this portfolio and over trading is potentially be detrimental to the LTP. Thus we will sit tight until option expiration unless a great opportunity arises.

AppleOption Auto Trade Portfolio

The first five trades of this portfolio 21.7%, 42.8%, 0%, 0%, and 27.5% collectively add up to an average gain of 18.4% per trade. These winning trades have provided members of the ATP enough profit to join AppleOption for two years! We are excited by the entry point of our two most recent trades. These should pay off quite well in the next few weeks. We also have a full two-allocation trade remaining from last week which missed a profitable exit on Wednesday by $0.25.

There is a lot of excitement about our newest portfolio. The AppleOption Auto Trade Portfolio (ATP) is offered through ThinkorSwim. Investors interested in following the AppleOption Auto Trade Portfolio will need to open a ThinkorSwim brokerage account as well as need an active AppleOption Membership. After both of these are set-up, then investors will be ready to activate the auto-trading service through ThinkorSwim. Each trader determines his/her individual risk tolerance by selecting a specific allocation type. For more information please refer to the AppleOption Auto-Trade Portfolio (ATP) page.

 
Technical Apple Review
     
  

Key Reference Points:
5-EMA: $170.53
20-EMA: $174.82
50-MA: $180.02
200-MA: $163.62
1st Resistance: $178.40 - triple
2nd Resistance: $187.50 - triple
1st Support: $161.90 - double
2nd Support: $148.80 - double

Apple continues a healthy consolidation pattern. Traders are being offered multiple chances to enter at or near the 200-day moving average (200-MA) before the next rally of this stock. Potential catalyst include the first day of 3G iPhone sales next week and Apple earnings at the end of the month.

     
Up-Coming Earning Reports:

Apple will announce Quarter 3 earnings on July 24 (after July option expiration).

View which other companies releasing earnings next week

Tuesday, July 8th
    - Pepsi Bottling - PBG
    - Alcoa - AA
Thursday, July 10th
    - Marriott - MA
    - Progressive - PGR
Friday, July 11th
    - General Electric - GE
    - Rockwell Collins - COL

     
Analysis Reports:

No new changes in July yet.

     
Apple News:

3G iPhone will go on sale Friday July 11th @ 8:00am, A Guide for current and non-current AT&T customers is available (click to watch video). For more information about purchasing the 3G iPhone from AT&T. Apple also offers A Guided Tour of the iPhone 3G.

AppleInsider.com describes How to hand-down your old iPhone after upgrading to iPhone 3G.

Week 26 of 2008 trading was a major sell off prompted by Goldman Sachs down grading everything as they transition out of the oil bubble. Examine the following year-to-date performance.

Apple	NASDAQ	S&P 500	Dow Jones
-10.45%	-14.58%	-12.02%	-13.46%

Now, compare that performance to the AppleOption Portfolios!

AppleOption Short-Term Portfolio (STP)
      Started the January 2008 with $10,000
      Current portfolio value $13,380.20 (after commission/fees)
      Year-to-Date Gain 33.8%

AppleOption Long-Term Portfolio (LTP)
      Started the January 2008 with $25,000
      Current portfolio value $24,427.65 (after commission/fees)
      Year-to-Date Loss 2.3%

AppleOption Auto-Trade Portfolio (ATP)
      Started the June 2008 with $10,000
      Average Percentage Gain per Trade: 20.5%
      Performance since Inception: 100% Winning Trades
      Number of Open Trades: 2

If you are not yet a member of AppleOption, sign-up today and discover how we trade. We’ll teach you by showing all of our portfolio trades in real-time. Join AppleOption Now!
 

Weekly Review of Portfolio Trades
     

AppleOption Short-Term Portfolio

Again, another difficult week of trading Apple. This type of week causes the average trader loses all their gains, typically in the panic as Apple fell from $179 to $164 in two days! During this slide it is very easy to lose focus on the long-term plan with Apple and place compromising trades. AppleOption’s mission is to help educate our members about options trading and illustrate how we maneuver the market in real-time. This is an invaluable resource, as money management is the key to long term success in options.

The week started with $13,745.77 and finished at $13,380.20 a loss of 2.7% despite the $15 plummet in stock price! The busy week was started by selling in-the-money calls and then subsequently taking profit on them. On a rally, the STP again sold at-the-money calls as well as purchased put protection. The following day continued to rally to $179 so we were forced to roll our put protection and added to them. At the top we again sold at-the-money calls. Thursday during the sell off, the STP created two vertical put spreads (one $10 and the other $15 window) by selling puts during the fall. This is a perfect example of money management. The STP sold against previously bought puts for nearly the same price they were purchased. This trade removes initial capital from the market, while leave a strong hedged position if the fall continues. Friday was a similar sell-off that the STP used to step-wise enter a put butterfly. In the end, the STP walked away from a dangerous week relatively unharmed.

AppleOption Long-Term Portfolio

The LTP had two trades this week, both gear to protecting capital. Wednesday during the rally we sold calls which were helpful in the sell-off. Then on Friday, the LTP purchased put protection with the goal of a put butteryfly but missed the fill. While the portfolio balance is at loss of 2.3% for the year, this is solely due to depreciation of LEAPS during a major $15 sell-off. We have a fantastic position for the long-term and should start to see benefit in the next few weeks.

AppleOption Auto Trade Portfolio

The ATP had two trades this week. Wednesday’s technical analysis created an entry point prior to the close. Unfortunately, RIMM earnings, multiple stock downgrades by Goldman Sachs and reactions to FOMC produced the sell-off on Thursday/Friday. Trading rules have a 3% of total portfolio equity stop loss, which was never reached so the ATP added to our position. For momentum trades, AppleOption does not favor the idea of “doubling down.” The portfolio always looks to step-wise enter into a good position. The ATP buys 1/2 a position, if Apple rallies we take our gains. However, if Apple falls initially though maintains above the stop loss limit and the technicals look good, the ATP will purchase a second 1/2 position. At this point a full position is established and will only be closed for gain or at the stop loss. This is the case with the currently open position. Given the strong Apple close, we should see continuation rally on Monday, so trade was left open.

There is a lot of excitement about our newest portfolio. The AppleOption Auto Trade Portfolio (ATP) is offered through ThinkorSwim. Investors interested in following the AppleOption Auto Trade Portfolio will need to open a ThinkorSwim brokerage account as well as need an active AppleOption Membership. After both of these are set-up, then investors will be ready to activate the auto-trading service through ThinkorSwim. Each trader determines his/her individual risk tolerance by selecting a specific allocation type. For more information please refer to the AppleOption Auto-Trade Portfolio (ATP) page.

 
Technical Apple Review
     
  

Key Reference Points:
5-EMA: $172.32
20-EMA: $177.13
50-MA: $179.45
200-MA: $163.00
1st Resistance: $178.50 - triple
2nd Resistance: $182.30 - triple
1st Support: $161 - double
2nd Support: $148 - double

As mentioned last week, investors looking to “time” an entry into Apple stock, were provided an excellent opportunity this week. The stock fell as low as $164.24 which is only a dollar above the 200-day moving average. Traders interested in Apple have a historically rewarded for entry points at these levels. However, this will likely only last until July 3rd as after that the market will enter the earnings cycle.

     
Up-Coming Earning Reports:

Apple will announce Quarter 3 earnings on July 24 (after July option expiration).

View which other companies releasing earnings next week

     
Analysis Reports:

Morgan Stanley: Raised its price target to $210 from $185, but stated in a bullish market shares would be trading at $278.
   - Wednesday June 18th

Citigroup: Increased its price target from $248 to $287 and has a “buy” rating.
Lehman Brothers: Raised its price target from $202 to $234 and kept its “overweight” rating.
   - Tuesday June 10th

     
Apple News:

Fairly quiet week.

     
Tesla Motors:

The maker of the Tesla Roadster is in the development process of a sports sedan code named WhiteStar. The electric car company is eager to bring this 4-door, 5-passenger vehicle to the market. Tesla Motors is allegedly planning an IPO to raise $100-250 million.