What worked in July / What did not

I realize I am a bit absent from the blogosphere  - Great summer in NY, tonight I gave a presentation at the ISE "How to become a professional trader", clean the house for a old time friend coming over from Holland next week, working on a new website - those are the little tidbits which have kept me busy.

I just finished my July administration so here is my monthly what worked and what did not work post.

Worked
Earning trade: AA
Long Term Calendar: AA
Directional vertical: AAPL, AMZN, AU, AXE, BA, FCX, FSLR, GMCR, KO, LLL, MT, VPRT
Calendar: CL, RUT, XSP
Double Diagonal: DIA, IWM
Iron Condor: NDX. RUT
Butterfly: RUT
Pairs trade: FDX/UPS
Directional; TLT

Did not work
Directional vertical: BHP, BTU, CAT, DE, KOL, SNDA
Speculative straddle: BGZ, FAZ
Cash Cover Puts: PCU

BHP run away from me - should have kept it  tighter

All in all July was a good month - I did not hit it out side the park - but close to a 2nd base run - 12 times July would satisfy my appetite.

Comments

[Lawrence]

Thanks for the educational lecture last night. It was helpful.

[Noam]

Hi Ernst,
Are you going to demostrate some more Butterfly spread trading?
i learned a lot from the way you see this kind of trades.

thanks a lot!

[Dave]

Ernst,

How did your butterflies do for August?

Dave