Poker Is Hot. Here Are Some ‘Good Bets’ For You
Poker Is Hot–Here Are Some ‘Good Bets’ *
It’s hard to turn on the TV these days without seeing a poker
show or ad. Why? It’s big business, with $300 billion in wagers expected in
2005. Michael Caselli. editor of Bluff and iGaming Business, says
the industry should grow 5% per year. Whether Americans can legally gamble
online is a bit of a gray area, but there’s no law against betting on company
shares. Here are some key players:
PartyGaming–the operator of partypoker.com–saw earnings of $550
million last year. The company is planning an IPO in London.
Sportingbet.com is another big player. Claiming to have over 1 million
customers in 103 countries, the company has set up its Web site to accept 23
currencies. Sales for nine months ending April 30 were $512 million, but
the company estimates that is has captured under 1% of the global market share.
The stock lists in London and goes for just over $5.Â
BETandWIN.com began trading in 2000 at $16.51 and is now trading over $100.
The yearly high was $152.35 and it’s up 300% since December. BETandWIN.com
trades on the Vienna Stock Exchange.
CryptoLogic
(
CRYP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) licenses gambling software to
several large gambling websites. Revenues in 2004 were $63.7 million–about $20
million higher than the prior year.
When it comes to online gambling in the U.S., there is a lot
of uncertainty regarding the law. Congress has tried to pass laws making
Internet gambling illegal. The odds are slim that the average American bettor will go
to jail, but most gambling companies have moved their businesses offshore–to
the Caribbean and Europe–to avoid scrutiny.
Analysts say breaking into Asia and Australia will be key for
the industry. Gambling in these areas can add up to 5.5% of total consumer
spending. Is poker a fad or is it here to stay? If it’s going to stick around,
these stocks might be worth looking at.
*do not take this as investment
advice
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What is Quadruple Witching?
Today was quadruple witching. You know it’s not typically a great day to trade,
but what exactly does it mean? It’s when stock index futures, stock index
options, stock options and single stock futures all expire. It happens four
times a year, on the third Friday of March, June, September and December.
Sometimes you will see wild gyrations, inconsistency and false price moves as
contracts are covered and rolled over. Some traders either trade lightly or not
at all on options expiration days.
So what do you do on quadruple witching days,
like today? TradersWire member Jim Mergy says: ” My experience with options day and also pre-holiday trading is
to not worry about it and follow your signals, but don’t trade in the
afternoon except to exit trades. Today is a perfect example. Normally I like to trade KLAC every
day. There was a gap up to R1 which was faded until the price hit the rising
20 SMA (on the five-minute chart). Price then filled the gap and hit the rising
200 SMA on the 1-minute chart. Price then shot up 60 cents. So, two trades for a
net of 98 cents by just following my rules. If I was worried about options
expiration I might not have taken a
trade. This afternoon I am going to the driving range.”
Or, as TradersWire member Joel said, the best thing to do is “Go
to the beach!”
Â
If You Trade Options…
Try the
TradingMarkets Professional Options Trading College. Â I’ve seen
some of the classes and I can tell you I can’t imagine a better options
education than this .
If You Day Trade…
…the
Alvarez Factor could
potentially really improve your trading!
If You Swing Trade…
Attend the
TradingMarkets Swing Trading College!
See
Steve Primo’s article for a recent trade example.
The New, Improved
TradersWire
If you haven’t been in TradersWire for a while,
swing by next week–you’ll be pleasantly surprised. We’ve made a lot of changes,
including precise buy and sell alerts on stocks and E-minis and Mini-sized Dow
contracts, expanded education and trading tips. And as always, there are some
good traders in the chat room. I’m not ashamed to say that I’ve learned a lot
from some of these traders through the years, and I’m willing to bet you could
learn something, too. So come on by, we’ll
see you in
TradersWire on Monday!
Â
Big Cap
Earnings Announcements for the Week of June 20th
Company |
Symbol |
Date |
| American Healthways |
AMHC | Monday, June 20 |
| Apogee Enterprises |
APOG | Monday, June 20 |
| CarMax | KMX | Monday, June 20 |
| Christopher & Banks |
CBK | Tuesday, June 21 |
| Darden Restaurant |
DRI | Tuesday, June 21 |
| FactSet Research Systems |
FDS | Tuesday, June 21 |
| Jabil Circuit | JBL | Tuesday, June 21 |
| Lennar | LEN | Tuesday, June 21 |
| Bed Bath & Beyond |
BBBY | Wednesday, June 22 |
| Kerr McGee | KMG | Wednesday, June 22 |
| Morgan Stanley | MWD | Wednesday, June 22 |
| The Rowe Price | TROW | Wednesday, June 22 |
| A.G. Edwards | AGE | Thursday, June 23 |
| ATI Technologies | ATI | Thursday, June 23 |
| Omnivision | OVTI | Thursday, June 23 |
Scheduled Stock Splits for the Week of
June 20th
Company |
Symbol |
Ratio |
Payable |
Ex-Date |
| Quest Diagonostics | DGX | 2-1 | Jun 20 | Jun 21 |
| Express Scripts | ESRX | 2-1 | Jun 23 | Jun 24 |
Need more splits information? Click
here.
Upcoming Economic Events for the Week of
June
20th
| Date | ET | Release | For | Consensus | Prior |
| June 20 | 10:00 am |
Leading Indicators | May | -0.3% | -0.2% |
| June 23 | 8:30 am |
Initial Jobless Claims | 06/18 | 330K | 333K |
| June 23 | 10:00 am | Existing Home Sales | May | 7.15M | 7.18M |
| June 24 | 8:30 am |
Durable Orders | May | 1.0% | 1.9% |
| June 24 | 10:00 am | New Home Sales | May | 1325K | 1316K |
Brice
P.S. Stay in touch with the latest happenings at TradingMarkets.com.
Check
What’s New @ TradingMarkets on a regular basis.
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