LOT
Lotus Technology Inc.
stock NASDAQ ADR

This feels a LOT like very early COVID. People from the "covid cruise" were starting to drop dead, we were seeing all sorts of alarming news about the virus and how contagious and deadly it might be. But the market was climbing higher. Until it wasn't. But then it just kept on climbing.
I figure if COVID shutdowns didn't take the wind out of the market's sails nothing will. Not an oil crisis, not even Musk using passive indexers as exit liquidity. Money hits the market every two weeks, and MUST be deployed.

Obviously, since I'm just posting this here -- I lay no claim to be an Oracle (of Omaha or otherwise). If I were? I'd be sipping cocktails on a beach.
Other folks can and will point you to more more -- perfectly and I agree, correct - order of operations, so I'll just note two precursors:
1) **DO** do your homework on tax-advantaged accounts. No Exceptions. The only people who don't need to care aren't reading Reddit. Before you "invest" - if your circumstance allows, consider your ESP/401k/IRA options.
2) **The best and easiest way** \- and most long-term, safest advantageous way - is still simple ETFs. Over the long haul - spanning decades? It's gonna win, you'll end up happy, and -- let me emphasize, *especially nowadays - it so, so easy*. Even once you expand beyond tax-advantaged accounts? There's no real reason you need to create a new path.
**But** \- for me? And maybe for you as a beginning investor? There's a ton of brute force advice: Learn how to read a 10-Q/10-K, which you can get freely from Edgar/ [https://www.sec.gov/search-filings](https://www.sec.gov/search-filings) Understand all the little metrics *any* trading platform makes readily available -- P/E or fwdP/E... Debt ratios. Sector comparisons. Obviously, you can begin to see why people make a LOT of money to run funds!
I'm just a simple retail investor with a few bucks beyond my 401k/IRA to toss "at the market"! I'm *woefully* over-simplistic. I love looking at charts, but I'm not a "charts guy". I've *learned* to grasp sectors and understand how cyclical they can be - but I'm **investor** not a **trader**.
***However*** \- if/when you're going to nibble into "investing", where investing means "I'm going to start buying individual stocks"?

My advice is to go slow and track/keep yourself honest. The best advice I ever got? "Keep a table of why you bought X". I've expanded over time -- now, I like to capture to things like 52 wk hi/lo/avg in my ever-growing XLS -- but my basic table is below.
Sure, ***every*** trading platform now would allow to create such a thing -- but I like to keep it separate. It forces me to record both data and thoughts. And then I can review. And LEARN.
And *LEARN* is a never-ending path, that is multi-factored:
\- I learn what kind of investor I truly am. I say I'm a buy-and-hold guy, but how patient am I?
\- I learn what sectors I do well in, and which ones I don't
\- I learn what "tips" or interest piques I should ignore
\- I learn - not to the exacting, fund-manager level - but more generally - how all the many many (many) factors bake into a stock price.
My core 6 column table is below -- I've expand to 15 now! - but these are still the basic elements I learn from....
|Stock|Date/Price|Why I Bought it|What my Expectations Are|Sources (links to whatever piqued my interest)|Lessons Learned|
|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|
|CVS|1/17/2022 - 79.21|I like the play into RX more generally over brick and mortar. Might be a growth move. They're already beating the Walgreens/etc competition|Via consolidation and other factors - this seems like there might be an add-on if CVS successfully expands. Maybe 90-100? Spend some time on the sector math|[https://s206.q4cdn.com/752775519/files/doc\_financials/2021/ar/CVS2021\_Annual-Report.pdf](https://s206.q4cdn.com/752775519/files/doc_financials/2021/ar/CVS2021_Annual-Report.pdf)|Not so easy as hoped. |
|INTC |2/28/2025 - $25.48|Somebody is gonna buy it. By pure math - never mind any premium - it's worth more than that.|No idea on price, but it's big enough that a buy-out/merger almost HAS to be 30 or higher?!?!|[https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/18/intel-nvidia-investment.html](https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/18/intel-nvidia-investment.html)|Don't count on buyouts. But damn, chips are still super-valuable|
|NVDA|4/30/2020 - $7.40|NVDA is outpacing competition and everybody will need a GFX soon|Overperform the competition in a growing market. $15 or so within a year seems reasonable|N/A|High-powered/gfx chips are more than just gaming!|
|CENX|10/24/2022 - $6.42|Politics agnostic - CENX seems like they're investing in nexten production and the climate is rewarding US/on-shore production|Feels like $20 is reasonable. Monitor politics - but more importantly, sweat the 10-Q/10-Ks|[https://www.projectfinance.law/tax-equity-news/inflation-reduction-act-of-2022-new-tax-credits-for-manufacturers-of-clean-energy-equipment](https://www.projectfinance.law/tax-equity-news/inflation-reduction-act-of-2022-new-tax-credits-for-manufacturers-of-clean-energy-equipment)|Materials are VERY sensitive to prevailing global market conditions|
|OXY|3/28/2022 - $56.84|Should I "template" against geniuses? Warren Buffett loves OXY under 60, it seems...|No idea - energy/oil stocks are tightly aligned to commodity pricing, but I'll trust Warren to pick an "out-perform"|[https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/17/warren-buffett-scoops-up-another-1-billion-in-occidental-shares-bringing-total-stake-to-7-billion.htm](https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/17/warren-buffett-scoops-up-another-1-billion-in-occidental-shares-bringing-total-stake-to-7-billion.htm)|D'oh. Don't cheat off someone else. Do your own homework. Warren/BSH have different timelines and thoughts.... UGH. DON'T CHASE! ANYONE!|

My biggest issue is that I'm jealous of people's nicer houses. I have $800k in the bank/invested in my late 40s, on track to retire not wealthy but comfortably. But my starter home really does not suit me or my family anymore, I make great money, and hate seeing other people's houses that are much nicer than mine when I feel like I should be able to afford that too.
What helps is knowing that in at least some cases, those people with the nice houses are never going to retire because they've saved nothing. If I have to choose between a mediocre house for decades and then years of not working, or having to work until I die, I will take retirement every time.
Is it fair that I grew up poor-adjacent? Of course not. But things have turned out better for me as an adult and a lot of people have it a LOT worse than I do. So I think that helps too. Like for every person I know who is legitimately better off than me, I know 10 who are struggling. So I keep thanking r/bogleheads and r/personalfinance for the last 20 years' worth of lessons that got me here.

This might actually be the most hated rally of all time. You can tell a LOT of people got fucked over with their positions.

Gonna have to drop A LOT for my positions to be in trouble

I’ve learned a LOT about stocks, bonds and the macro economy over last couple years and I’ve come to the conclusion that I understand nothing. 

I know a lot about economics and finance and a LOT about how the stock market works. That being said, my strategy is literally just scalping options with momentum. It is as boring as it gets, but it works and takes very little effort or skill. It couldn’t be simpler and I spent so much time looking for some perfect method that had to be somewhat complicated and that’s just not true.

US is a net exporter of energy.
Europe energy prices are insane. Compare electricity prices in EU vs NA and it's easy to understand.
China is technically well diversified, but they also consume A LOT of energy.

Bruh… that’s A LOT of mental gymnastics I just read.. it’s ok to admit you stuffed up..

Im no super invester, im only 26 and have A LOT to learn. But from my experience, I always performed better when limiting how many stocks I hold and focus on just a few. For me that is Nvidia for long hold (5-10 years ideally), Spx500 ETF, Power Plug (my Speculative long term hydrogen play),and Next Era Energy(another long hold for renewable energy).
There was a period in time when I also held about 9 or so different stocks, and i ended up just getting lost..spreading your time reading and staying up to date with 9 different companies and sectors is alot more time and stress than keeping an eye on just 2 or 3 in my opinion. But I mean its possible im just not up to the point of investing in more than 3/4 at a time yet

Tweet Mirror:[FirstSquawk](https://twitter.com/FirstSquawk/status/2044374775997530391)
>UK PM STARMER: A LOT OF US PRESSURE HAS BEEN APPLIED TO ME ON IRAN
Tweet Mirror:[FirstSquawk](https://twitter.com/FirstSquawk/status/2044375015236534572)
>TRUMP SAYS IRAN IS ABOUT TO REACH AN AGREEMENT\.
Tweet Mirror:[FirstSquawk](https://twitter.com/FirstSquawk/status/2044374057274179896)
>TRUMP ON FED: THINK RATES WILL GO LOWER WHEN WARSH GETS IN
Tweet Mirror:[FirstSquawk](https://twitter.com/FirstSquawk/status/2044374279446564966)
>TRUMP, ASKED ABOUT BANKS AND A\.I\. RISKS: A\.I\. COULD LEAD TO GREATNESS IN BANKING SYSTEM \-FBN
Tweet Mirror:[DeItaone](https://twitter.com/DeItaone/status/2044374588537098277)
>TRUMP, ASKED ABOUT BANKS AND A\.I\. RISKS: A\.I\. COULD LEAD TO GREATNESS IN BANKING SYSTEM \-FBN

Be very careful about TTS. I think it comes with so many disadvantages that I refuse to claim TTS and section 475(f). Two reasons why it's bad below.
1. IRS has a LOT of rules and taxpayers have to jump through hurdles to keep TTS. It's easy for the IRS to disagree with TTS status and thus the trader would lose the section 475(f) election if that happened. Publicly available tax court cases show people losing TTS all the time. Taxpayers have the burden of proof and it's somewhat subjective. Have you been keeping time logs of all the specific hours worked to meet the time devoting factor?
2. Much higher audit rates. You put trading expenses on Schedule C, gains and loses either go on Schedule D or Form 4797. What does the IRS dinosaur see? A bunch of loses on Schedule C with no Schedule C income. Schedule C is already known for high audit rates. You might as well wave a giant red flag telling the IRS to please audit me and challenge TTS as I mentioned above. If you lose TTS & made a section 475(f) election - you might have to redo years of taxes and calculate form 8949 without broker help, along with having the burden of proof for deductions, penalties, and interest. Also when they do an audit, they'll look at everything else - businesses, K-1/3's, straddle rules (section 1092), Qualified covered call rules, Form 8621 (Some stocks like CRISPR Therapeutics require this), etc... So I can almost guarantee you that you aren't compliant with their numerous other regulations, some which may leave a year open for audit indefinitely.
You should get educated and do taxes yourself. CPAs in general are horrible. I hired a CPA before (with roughly two dozen employees) and they still made many mistakes. They generally don't know the law well, know what they're doing, know how to reduce liability, and aren't even good at saving you money on taxes either.

I have been getting dick pics on wall street bets for years since the Jerome Powell business card, nothing new. Just a whole LOT of cock.

https://preview.redd.it/2cfxsijmr9vg1.png?width=1231&format=png&auto=webp&s=bb6f2c43abd6258c08911a811c39d637208d7bb1


GameStop Position.
Had been selling covered calls and averaging down. No more now! I expect to swim in a sea of GREEEEEEEEEEEEEN
It came close repeatedly but went red always. FINALLY GREEN and I hope we will never see my cost basis ever again.
I will maybe sell 50 shares at $100 to buy a nice watch for my girl and mom.
Otherwise these shares going with me to VALHALLA!
I'm also FULLY expecting my calls to be DEEP ITM by Sep - 18 - 2026.
Will deposit more money as necessary to buy 15,800 more shares at that time. Or I can be like DFV and sell some calls and exercise the rest.
Ya'll know the deal.
I have full faith in Ryan Cohen. Expecting nothing less than a fking MOON SHOT ON THIS!
I also TRULY hope to see ROARING KITTY involved in the company as he deserves a LOT of the credit whether most of you believe it or not.
CANT STOP. WONT STOP. GAME STOP.

AAAAAAA LOT its about the spread the speed But it’s only if it’s robots that do trade that can last for some minutes if it’s for 1h and plus it’s all good

I have found with higher beta names like BE, ASTS, and AAOI, that I’ve been able to trade covered calls, puts, bear and bull put spreads through 20-30% gap vulnerabilities and still come out ahead. I had sold calls where the share price gapped 15%. I rolled for pennies on the dollar. The put spreads lessened and protected draw downs. I’ve netted over 120% YTD.
A typical wheel doesn’t work long term. You have to be active, rolling on spikes in IV, timing draw downs to place puts, taking assignment and redeploying, using put spreads to net profitable entry points. Studying the charts and news, etc. It takes capital too!
I will admit that it’s a LOT of work and angst at times.
OP: I’d recommend getting an account a Schwab or some system that allows you to do paper trades. This will allow you to learn at no risk. They have great resources and their ThinkOrSwim platform is designed for options trading. Be prepared to be overwhelmed.

LOT of bag holders on this one

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Lol. It means that we're about to see a LOT more loss porn over on the *other* WSB subreddit.

I have been investing since 2007. I have made A LOT of money investing. Below is what I write every time one of these threads are started yet no one believes me...
This is what I have learned about investing ALL THESE YEARS:
1. Stocks go up, down, and sideways ALL THE TIME.
2. No one knows when any of the above is going to happen.
If folks just accepted the two points above it would make EVERYONE a great investor. Why? if the above is true then you eliminate active management (security selection and market timing). This leads investors to the world of passive management.