The $5 Print

[barn32]

I was messing around with AAPL all day, in and out, trying to outguess the market. At two minutes to close I was down $65 for the day--day trading AAPL.

The last fifteen or twenty minutes to close AAPL started trending down toward -$4.00 for the day.

I thought this was a bit much and didn't consider it out of line to spec with a small position (100 shares) overnight, because I thought there could easily be a bounce in the morning. If not, I'd just take whatever loss...but a bounce did seem likely.

Well, one or two minutes into after hours I was looking at the price of IB on one screen and the chart on another screen, and all of a sudden it spiked up $5 in one print!

I couldn't hit the sell button fast enough. But IB wouldn't let me! It said I had to wait until 6:30 am the next morning! Get me out of this trade!

I was on hold for 50 minutes with IB, after which they explained to me how to check a box so I could trade after hours.

Fortunately, AAPL trended sideways until I could sell.

Plus ~$540 in one print. I'm outta here.

[barn32]

,

[badcompany]

Aapl reported killer earnings which caused the spike. Even if you had to wait until the morning, you were gonna make money.

[_______]

Nice commissions! Is there a minimum number of trades/month for those rates?

Paying $8.95 on mine but my holding period is a lot longer so I'm not going to generate any volume.

AAPL has been a nice stock to own. Going to be hard for them to beat comps this time next year.

[badcompany]

I never studied the stats, but, it seems like whenever the market opens up .5%, it will, way more often than not, come back to flat or down.

[Robert Goren]

It was reported by CNBC that Apple has enough cash on hand to buy Bank of America or Disney at their current stock prices. Simply amazing.

[barn32]

Originally Posted by _______

Nice commissions! Is there a minimum number of trades/month for those rates?

IB (Interactive Brokers) [Click on commissions>required minimums]

I'm not sure why it was $1.25 to sell and only $1.00 to buy, but yes there is a minimum number of commissions that have to be generated to avoid the $20 monthly fee (waived the first three months) and for live market data.

It used to be $30, but I think they just raised it to $50. Not exactly sure though. Their website still says $30.

[reckless]

Originally Posted by barn32

IB (Interactive Brokers) [Click on commissions>required minimums]

I'm not sure why it was $1.25 to sell and only $1.00 to buy, but yes there is a minimum number of commissions that have to be generated to avoid the $20 monthly fee (waived the first three months) and for live market data.

It used to be $30, but I think they just raised it to $50. Not exactly sure though. Their website still says $30.

The reason could be the bid-ask spread when on the buy trade. Sometimes that spread, while it could seem small on the surface, actually could cost the buyer more than what a flat fee cost.

Never buy (or sell) a stock with a market order price. Always use a limit order if you don't mind my unsolicited suggestion.

[barn32]

Originally Posted by reckless

Never buy (or sell) a stock with a market order price. Always use a limit order if you don't mind my unsolicited suggestion.

With a stock like AAPL, highly liquid, and penny spreads, rather than chase pennies to get a fill I'll use market orders. (Especially when day-trading and I want to get filled fast.)

Everything else, options especially, I use limit orders.