HOLY SMOKE!!  It appears that a Hidden Pivot target that took 14 weeks (!!) to reach is about to be eroded away in the space of just two days.  Since I’d advised tying our two February 310 puts to a break-even stop-loss, you might have covered them as early as Tuesday when they relapsed to 2.79; but in any event no lower than  2.65, Wednesday’s opening price.  Although a profit was possible for the nimble, the maximum loss on the position would have been $44 plus commissions.  Apple would now appear bound for a minimum 383.50, pending a two-day close above 344.61.  (Use the daily chart, where A=235.56 on August 27.)

I received an e-mail from a subscriber who apparently made money on the initial trade, but he couldn’t have made much, and the position may have turned into a loser if he was busy patting himself on the back as Apple began to climb yesterday.  He wrote as follows:  “I shorted AAPL stock at your ‘D’ and unlike the folks who today have been raped by the option floor, I’m looking at a very nice profit. Another great pick.”  Here’s my reply:  “Hope you were able to cover some of the position on the dip, since there’s always the chance we’ve been premature in anticipating the Mother of All Tops – especially in the shares of a company that will be raking in money by the zillions, one measly iTune dollar at a time, even if the economy sinks into Depression.  This aspect  of Apple’s business model is the retail world’s equivalent of nickel slot machines.”