Although I think it's way overpriced, I went ahead and did a day trade on Tesla after it got a couple of upgrades. http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/Stock/TSLA It opened higher at $230 and kept going up on high volume. I grabbed 100 shares five minutes after the open at 8:35am for right at $235 at the market. I held on until about 10am when the volume started to dry up a bit and sold at the market again at just under $250. Made nearly $1500 there. Those don't come around too often these days. I also have puts on it.
I sold after earnings and I am very happy about it, I made quite a lot of money and it was a very stressful stock to own. I have a track record of being early to sell like this, I accept it and it's far better than to be too late. I don't think you are a tool, next stock you might hang on to and it tanks, Tesla is due for a correction, a lot of the smart money will be taking profit as the mom and pop investors get caught up in the hype and buy in. Yesterday was some hype and a short squeeze, I am actually considering buying $230 puts right now, see how it goes. I'm an old dude that has been a trader for a long time, I've seen this game play out before, there is a chance Tesla will snap back soon and when one big player leaves, the rest will follow soon after leaving mom and pop wondering what happened. So while you think you sold early, look at the shorts, they considered it overvalued and it didn't work out for them.
Not sure where the "tool" comment is coming from, and I'm not trying to brag. I've invested my own and others' $ long enough to know that the market will humble the very best of us. I'm all about following my own investment discipline and risk management strategies and not worrying about how I may stack up to others or kicking myself if I may have left a little $ on the table or whatever. I want to avoid losing very much of my principal at any one time, protect it over time, and make lots and lots of money (mostly a little at a time) over the long haul. This is not a stock I want to own much of for very long, nor would I want to have an actual short on it. It's purely a speculative play that I put a few bucks in here and there. Not a core holding by any stretch. I've been investing for a long time myself, and actually invest other peoples' $ for a living as well. For me, this kind of stock is too volatile to have very much $ in for any length of time, and not something I'd put a retired person's $ in or even the $ of an otherwise fairly conservative investor. I rarely have more than 5% of my $ in any stock for any length of time, and those are typically more stable names with much more favorable fundamentals. And an infrequent trade such as this one is typically done with 2% or less of my $. I'm a fundamentalist and VERY big on risk management. I've made lots of money by the "get rich slowly" mantra, and I'm not the kind of guy who can go into work every day knowing that I literally could lose it all on any given day - that's too risky for me. I'm much more "moderately aggressive" than "gunslinger". It's a high-beta stock that doesn't seem to stay put for very long either way. I've had puts on it for a while now, but I wouldn't want to have an actual short position on it. The recent upgrade in the price target to $320 that caused this big spike the other day is a perfect example of why I'd rather have puts on it than actually short it. But these high-beta names with very high PEs, little or no actual earnings, high volatility, etc can be very good in modest amounts. Certain techs, biotechs, energy plays, etc. For these I may buy puts AND calls, or perhaps have a small long stock position in a more fundamentally sound name with puts as insurance against things like bad reactions to earnings. But such a selloff in a core holding that I likely own more of is usually an opportunity to buy more of that core holding, assuming the fundamentals are still strong in such a core holding. I may perhaps write a few covered calls here and there as well, usually on more stable stocks that I may be holding longterm that I don't think will likely go up much anytime soon. But mostly longer term investing with an emphasis more on bottom-up than top-down.
While I think their products are great, I've stayed away from this stock. It's very expensive, and while they do start to show signs of being profitable, they have a lot of hype around them. In a couple of years most car manufacturers will have similar vehicles and spend a lot in marketing them, how well will Tesla do then? Doing short trades such as yours seems to be the best thing to do with this stock. I definitely won't be buying TSLA, too risky for me.
I'm new to this forum thanks for the info learning a lot about this stock and about the stock market. Keep up the good work.
Congratulations on your gain. Personally I prefer to buy and hold. I rarely buy anything that doesn't pay a dividend and I never buy a company that isn't turning a profit, so TSLA is a no go for me.
I put 95% of my money, time, and energy into longer term fundamentals-based investing. I occasionally see pretty much a gimme opportunity to make a quick buck and take it.
Tesla is due for a correction without a doubt. It's not a matter of if, just a matter of when. It's already showing signs of correcting but I feel we're only just starting. That being said, I think tesla is a worthwhile stock to have but if you haven't bought in yet, I'd wait for now and buy in below 200
Some see it as a $50 stock, and a couple of institutions see it over $300 in the next year or so. I still have puts on it, and will probably buy more put options if it does get anywhere near $300 anytime soon.
