If you have a volatile portfolio, puts are worth getting comfortable with for downside protection or to "lock in" a price floor on a position without selling and triggering taxes. Otherwise you are driving fast without insurance.
On my own volatile holdings, I buy puts instead of selling when I want to keep the position long term. When I see an asymmetric catalyst coming, I'll often buy puts on something like QQQ or ARKK instead.
Right now almost no one is buying downside protection, which makes it cheap insurance for when the need arises.
If it wasn't needed then you've kept the stocks you wanted and you're only out some premium (the cost of the insurance).
If it was needed then the puts pay off and hand you cash to buy the dip.
That compounding effect gets significant over time if your portfolio is volatile.
I highly recommend opening a free account at IBKR or Schwab (thinkorswim), switch to paper trading mode, and practice for a month or two. Load in your current positions, buy puts against them when things feel extended, and watch how the account value diverges over time. It will also start to hone your ability to sense danger instead of having an "up only" mindset.
This is one of several ways to start to employ risk management instead of being an ape and then panicking on market swings. But it takes practice. So start practicing.
Not financial advice. Long puts can expire worthless, so it is important to learn to size accordingly.
@FeroceResearch I sold calls on my $OUST shares for July and it seems that I'll part way with them. I think the valuation is getting slightly ahead of itself. Might wait for Q2 to see progress towards profitability in 2027.
@The_StockDoc They confirmed that incremental growth will accelerate in H2. I bought some shares around 200 in the after hours, which I think is around fair value for now.
@optionscjp I can't decide whether to deploy some cash into $NOK tomorrow or try to get onto the SaaS momentum in $RDDT or $DDOG. The insider purchases keeps on coming and it feels stupid not to make it at least 5% position. Too obvious even?
@StanphylCap What if that drastic change won't come so soon, because the demand will outpace supply? "Cyclical" $NVDA historically had even higher P/S ratios (30+) than $MU. For now forward PS is around 7. We dance until the music stops. I don't need to sell my positions at the absolute top.
@StanphylCap By that argument you'd miss the rally since 2023. Last quarter showed accelerated growth from $NVDA. We are seeing growing demand and even if we are in a cycle we're not at the top yet.
@babyfolio I personally like $RELY if you're looking to diversify from AI. You get a boring remittance service, revenue growing double digits, improving margins and already profitable. Currently 14x forward PE. My base case is $31.50 by EoY26 based on 15x EV/FCF and 22% EBITDA margin.
Chris Camillo explains why he does NOT use price to trade stocks
"I don't trade price and I don't have price targets. I exit my positions when the market at large uh agrees with me.”
@StockStalkk@optionscjp $PLTR and $HOOD are already profitable. $NBIS is EBIDTA profitable. But you see a lot of names that are performing well because the market is pricing a great story and perfect execution. The point is that in a long term some of these story companies might not succeed.