Thanks for the comment. If you look at last year, February was my best month, but there is a good reason for that. That was the expiration month for 1,500 shares of Excel Maritime Carriers (EXM) that I bought (I did buy-writes). The volatility was through the roof and the premiums were huge. Then the bottom fell out of the stock and I took the loss in July when I sold the stock. I was writing calls against them up to May, but the premiums dried up and I decided I needed to free up some capital. That was the trade that really hurt me last year and it’s the one that got me to make adjustments to my Trading Plan and started me down the path of Credit Spreads.

I think that 2010 is going to be a great year, not matter what the market does – as long as it doesn’t totally crash. I hope it good to you too.

- Jeff

There are many reasons to be optimistic, but there are many chilling statistics that don’t let you stray too far from the panic button.

I feel I was quite unprepared a year ago and stood by like a deer in the headlights as my portfolio dwindled. Though I have come back quite a bit I am still not back to pre-Lehman days.

My faith in buy and hold is over. But I think that basic rules of investing still prevail and there is a need to embrace both fundamentals and technical analysis. I need trends to be my friend, but I need to do my homework so that I don’t end up owning stocks of companies of questionable character. Not all good companies are good stocks, but I want all my stocks to be good companies.

I enjoy your blog Option Guru.

Bruce

Check out this method to calculate portfolio returns:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modified_Dietz_Method

Hope this helps