STOCKCHASE

iUnits Real Return Bond ETF

0.020

Diversification: ETFs are inherently diversified. He looks at having 6 equity and 3 income ETFs.

2012-03-28

Comment

XRB-T

25.190

He is not a big fan or real return bonds. Often finds they are not that liquid.

2012-03-28

TOP PICK

16.060

A Core Holding. Hedged to Canadian Dollars. It was one of the first things he bought in Feb., 2009. He continues to be bullish on the US. Employment is improving, increasingly independent in terms of Energy. This rally could last for some time.

2012-03-28

BUY

iShares 1-5 yr Government Bond ETF

16.060

S&P 500, US$ hedged. It is the grand daddy of them all.

2012-03-28

Comment

CLF-T

20.040

1 - 5 Year government bonds. You want to keep the duration less than 3 years.

2012-03-28

DON'T BUY

HBP NYMEX Nat'l Gas Bull+

HNU-T

2.910

There is no reason to be buying Nat Gas right now. Also, it is only meant as a short term trading vehicle.

2012-03-28

BUY

iShares Gold Bullion ETF

CGL-T

14.890

US dollar hedged.

2012-03-28

TOP PICK

BMO S&P/TSX Base Metals ETF

ZMT-T

15.550

Partially a China play and a recovery play. A good quality ETF.

2012-03-28

DON'T BUY

iShares Advantage High Yield Bond ETF

CHB-T

20.440

A number of bonds came off in the last week or so. But this one is also based on some junk bonds. Thinks a lot of people are buying this because they see the high yield and you wont always have that.

2012-03-28

PAST TOP PICK

BMO Equal Weight US Banks Hedged to CAD Index ETF

21.330

(Top Pick Jan 28/11, Up 21.28%) BMO has brought in many sectors, Cad$ hedged. A lot of ZQQ is Apple. He may be looking at selling some since Apple has done so well.

2012-03-28

DON'T BUY

ZUB-T

13.830

Equal weight US banks. A little reluctant because of litigation issues involving the US banks.

2012-03-28

BUY

BMO Covered Call Cdn Banks ETF

ZWB-T

14.730

Likes it. Great for do it yourselfers. Good when you only have a few 10s of thousands of dollars. A very good product.

2012-03-28

WEAK BUY

iShares Adv. Convertible Bond ETF

CVD-T

19.960

He holds a very little bit in large portfolios. All the conversions are taken care of for you.

2012-03-28

BUY

Vanguard MSCI Emerg. Mkt. ETF

VEE-T

25.910

The US MERs are much lower because they don’t yet have the economies of scale. But if you buy the US product in US dollars, you could get caught in the wrong side.

2012-03-28

TOP PICK

iShares China ETF

CHI-T

18.140

Has more of a consumer exposure to others. The Chinese are huge consumers.

2012-03-28

DON'T BUY

iShares Natural Gas Commodity ETF

GAS-T

10.260

whenever he buys this he loses. No upside.

2012-03-09

PAST TOP PICK

iShares S&P 500 E.T.F.

IVV-N

138.050

Recommended at $14.97, now $15.64 up 6.19% The US has a lot of things going for it right now. Bullish on US.

2012-03-09

DON'T BUY

iShares S&P/TSX Information Technology Capped

XIT-T

6.160

A lot of this is RIM. Only six stocks contained, and doesn't like it, too concentrated. Prefers ZQQ but at this point is looking at selling ZQQ.

2012-03-09

DON'T BUY

iShares S&P/TSX Capped REIT

XRE-T

16.350

Nobody wants to trade options on it. Not very liquid.

2012-03-09

Comment

0.020

Growth has been tremendous on apple which has boosted the smp. Not expecting a correction. Maybe 5%, but nothing major.

2012-03-09

Comment

iShares S&P/TSX Income Trust ETF

0.020

Due to technological improvements in drilling, (Sideways drilling and fracking) The US oil reserves are starting to look good. Is becoming more independent as far oil is concerned.

2012-03-09

BUY

XTR-T

12.400

Is a basket of a whole bunch of different income products. 44% is equity, the rest is bonds.

2012-03-09

TOP PICK

iShares S&P/TSX Preferred ETF

15.640

Is bullish on the US economy.

2012-03-09

VAGUE

CPD-T

17.370

Not a huge fan of preferreds, due to interest rate volatility. If the interest rates go up, the preferred share price drops off. But doesn't have a problem with them as a smaller component of a larger portfolio.

2012-03-09

HOLD

iShares Oil Sands Sector ETF

CLO-T

16.650

Has no issues with it.

2012-03-09

VAGUE

iShares Global Agriculture ETF

COW-T

21.280

Not being performing well. Is a feed and seed etf, as well as John Deer and so on. He likes it though.

2012-03-09

PAST TOP PICK

CASH

0.010

Always has cash on the side, 30 to 40% of the portfolio. Invests in a very measured way, trying to capitalize on the panic of others.

2012-03-09

WEAK BUY

iShares Gold Bullion ETF

CGL-T

15.300

Likes the Canadian dollar hedge, as opposed to GLD in New York. as a etf gold play. He's not a gold bug but does hold it.

2012-03-09

DON'T BUY

iPath DowJones-UBS Natural Gas

GAZ-N

5.150

Whenever he buys it he loses. No upside.

2012-03-09

VAGUE

BMO Equal Weight Bank ETF

20.360

Likes this, but is currently looking to reduce his position.

2012-03-09

BUY

ZEB-T

17.530

Likes this product. Will normally use this on his own. Does covered call ratings on individual bank stocks.

2012-03-09

BUY

BMO Covered Call Cdn Banks ETF

ZWB-T

14.370

Is ok. They are selling the options out of the money and more frequently so you aren't getting the buying protection you would get if you were buying the Royal bank and selling the 6 month option. But does like it.

2012-03-09

PAST TOP PICK

iShares TSX Venture Index ETF

XVX-T

19.550

Recommended at $19.83, now %17.82 down 7.9% The oils have been disappointing.

2012-03-09

TOP PICK

Vanguard MSCI Emerg. Mkt. ETF

VEE-T

26.380

Substantially below the Ishares product. (or BMO is good)

2012-03-09

TOP PICK

iShares China ETF

CHI-T

18.970

Claymore China ETF, They've got from 8% to 7.5%, so a bit of a downturn, but the domestic consumption is huge. He's buying on the lows.

2012-03-09

BUY

BMO EqWt US HthCare Hedged CAD

ZUH-T

18.540

American health, 31% healthcare products 28% pharmaceuticals. A US sector with a Canadian dollar hedge. Likes it.

2012-03-09

Comment

iShares Nasdaq BioTech ETF

IBB-Q

120.640

Nasdaq BioTech ETF. Certainly looks like it is breaking out. About 60% Biotech and 40% Pharma. Would have no problem going into this sector. Ilways a little concerned about going into something like this with US’s but with the Cdn$ doing so well, it might not be a problem.

2012-02-03

BUY

18.000

S&P/TSX Energy ETF. Has been positive on this one for some time. Wouldn't have any problem buying this one.

2012-02-03

PAST TOP PICK

18.000

(A Top Pick Jan 28/11. Down 11.74%.) S&P/TSX Energy ETF. Underlying shares have not been following the commodity.

2012-02-03

PAST TOP PICK

iShares S&P/TSX Capped REIT

18.010

(A Top Pick Jan 28/11. Down 4.66%.) S&P/TSX 60 ETF. Still very comfortable with this one.

2012-02-03

Comment

XRE-T

15.800

S&P/TSX Capped REIT. Long-term hold writing covered calls or a short-term trade? He doesn't look at it as short-term. Also not sure you can do covered calls on it. Yield is about 5%. About 25% RioCan (REI.UN-T) whereas the Equal Weight REITs Index (ZRE-T) is equal weighted.

2012-02-03

Comment

0.020

Markets. Not expecting any great plunges. If there is any weakness, he sees it as a buying opportunity. Europe has been doing the right things and it takes a great deal of time to finally resolve all these things. There are strong directional indicators that things are getting sorted out. Currently he is about 65% equities and 35% cash and fixed.

2012-02-03

Comment

0.020

What happens if an ETF company goes bankrupt? These are trusts, which means that the money is kept separate from the corporation that is issuing it. In this case, somebody will probably just take over the assets. You are okay.

2012-02-03

Comment

0.020

For every stock the caller owns, he always sells a Covered Call at something like 15%-20% for a period of 6 months. For every stock you would like to own, he sounds a Put. What Puts selling today and how many months out do you typically try to strategize and what percentage do you try to strategize? Not quite sure where he is getting 15%. He normally like to sell the Calls out 6 months which gives him more downside protection. On the naked Puts, it depends on what your objectives are.

2012-02-03

Comment

0.020

Buying Puts on a stock in a downtrend has been running up before reporting orderly numbers? This would obviously be for a short term hold. Not sure how successful this strategy would be on an ongoing basis for a whole bunch of different companies. This is into the gambling area.

2012-02-03

Comment

iShares DEX Short Term Bond

0.020

How do Puts work? A Put is similar to shorting a stock. You are buying the right to Put the stock to someone. The difference from shorting is that your losses are restricted to the cost of the Put. In other words, if you buy a $50 Put and the stock goes down to $45, you have the right to Put it to them at $50 so you make $5 minus the cost of the Put. If you had shorted you got a problem.

2012-02-03

BUY

XSB-T

29.170

DEX Short Term Bond ETF. If interest rates go up over time, will payment per month go up as new issues come in? He always has these in his clients and personal portfolios. About2/3rds government and 1/3 corporate. If rates go up in the longer ones, you will get hurt. Duration is around 2.6-2.7 years.

2012-02-03

TOP PICK

iShares Global Agriculture ETF

15.300

S&P 500 (CAD-Hedged) ETF. Always has this one in his portfolio. You want to be in the S&P which is a broad market index.

2012-02-03

BUY

COW-T

21.590

Basically feeds and seeds and he likes this sector. There will be increased demand for that kind of product.

2012-02-03

Comment

HBP NYMEX Nat'l Gas Bull+

HNU-T

4.570

NYMEX Nat'l Gas Bull+. These are for short-term trading. Maximum hold would be one week. You have to be on top of it all the time.

2012-02-03

TOP PICK

BMO S&P/TSX Base Metals ETF

ZMT-T

17.570

S&P/TSX Base Metals ETF. With the recovering economy, he feels this will do quite well. Basically based on futures contracts.

2012-02-03

PAST TOP PICK

iShares Broad Commodity ETF

19.450

(A Top Pick Jan 28/11. Up 11.28%.) NASDAQ 100 Equity Hedged-Cdn$. Still likes.

2012-02-03

Comment

CBR-T

22.750

Broad Commodity ETF. He includes this in some of his more aggressive portfolios. Likes the product and the fact that it is global and commodity-based. Tends to be bullish on commodities right now.

2012-02-03

BUY

BMO Covered Call Utilities ETF

ZWU-T

15.390

Covered Call Utilities ETF. Likes this one. What they do is right Calls against individual stocks, not against the index. He uses it for some of his smaller accounts where he can't adequately diversify among 3 or 4 different covered individual bank stocks. You have to realize that if the yield is 8%, that is not what you are going to get.

2012-02-03

BUY

Vanguard MSCI Emerg. Mkt. ETF

VEE-T

26.420

MSCI Emerging Mkt. ETF. Certainly likes emerging markets. Pretty interesting one to have. Lower costs.

2012-02-03

BUY

BMO Dow Jones Indus. Avg. Hedge ETF

ZWA-T

16.470

Dow Jones Indus. Avg. Hedge ETF. Likes this one. They sell the Calls on individual Dow stocks and hedged into Canadian dollars.

2012-02-03

TOP PICK

iShares China ETF

CHI-T

19.140

China ETF. Amongst China ETF's, you have the ones that are trading off ADRs with a little more emphasis on domestic consumption rather than the export trade. This one is not an ADR, but trades in Hong Kong rather than New York.

2012-02-03

PAST TOP PICK

16.770

(A Top Pick Dec 8/10. Down 12.16%.) S&P/TSX Energy ETF. Energy has been down but is now rising and he would be buying this one. Anything commodity-based, he is interested in.

2011-12-22

TOP PICK

17.030

(A Top Pick Dec 8/10. Down 7.91%.) S&P/TSX 60 ETF. Still likes. Banks have been clobbered, which is one of the reasons it has been hurt. Now that it is down, he is happy to be buying this.

2011-12-22

Comment

0.020

Identifying a high data stock and buying a Put and Call at same strike price on the stock ahead of earnings announcement? A really good idea if you are not afraid of losing money. What happens on these is that the option buyer’s enemy is time. You have to know the option expiry date relative to the earnings announcement. Also, what is the X-dividend date? If you are buying both sides of the option, the time value can erode very quickly.

2011-12-22

Comment

0.020

ETF for the fixed income portion for a RESP account for a 4-year-old child? There are a lot of products out there but you might consider either the Royal Bank’s or BMO’s Target Maturity Bond. They go on to a specific date and as they approach the maturity date, they start rolling the bonds over into T-bills. That tends to eliminate a lot of the risks.

2011-12-22

Comment

0.020

Naked Put Writing strategy? Identifying a stock, selecting an entry price and then writing put options, backed by cash or margin for that strike price. This is a really good idea. If you are buying $50,000 worth of stock, you should have $50,000 in cash minus the value of the put premium. A lot of people use margining, which is a really good idea unless the market drops.

2011-12-22

Comment

0.020

In an RRSP or TFSA, can we only write covered calls and not puts? You can only write covered calls on any registered account because there is no way of separating out the money. And what do you think of the strategy of writing deep in the money covered calls when we feel a stock is toppy? If you already own the stock, and you feel it is toppy, just sell it.

2011-12-22

Comment

0.020

Buy a stock for around $10 and sell a Covered Call about 3 months out for roughly $1 and then sell a Naked Put for $1, 3 months out with the same Strike so if the caller gets called away, it is like getting $12 for a $10 stock. If he gets Put he is buying a $10 stock for $8. Good strategy? To do this, you have to have a marginal position for the Naked Put, which always makes him feel a little uncomfortable. This is essentially a straddle. There is an element of risk if you are using margin. Good strategy but it has risks.

2011-12-22

Comment

0.020

Straddle? Fairly simple strategy where on a $50 stock you buy a $50 Call and a $50 Put. Whichever way it goes, hopefully you will make money, provided that whichever direction it heads, it moves enough to cover the costs of both sides of the trade. He uses these but only around a particular event where there is going to be extreme volatility and you know roughly what day it is going to be such as a court decision, etc. If you are buying out a couple of months, you will get killed because of erosion of time.

2011-12-22

Comment

iShares DEX Universe Bond ETF

0.020

Selling Short or using a Put Option. What's the difference? It depends on what you could benefit and how much you are willing to risk. When buying a Put you at least know up front how much you are going to lose. With shorting, you don't know. A Put is a lot less risky than Shorting.

2011-12-22

Comment

XBB-T

31.550

DEX Universe Bond ETF. It’s around 65% government and 35% corporate. Likes this, but he tends to look at the DEX Short Term Bond ETF (XSB-T) right now because the duration is shorter. It's about 2.7 years as opposed to 4.5 years on the XBB. This is important, because if rates start to go up you don't want to have longer-term bonds.

2011-12-22

TOP PICK

BMO S&P/TSX Base Metals ETF

14.410

S&P 500 (CAD-Hedged) ETF.

2011-12-22

TOP PICK

ZMT-T

15.390

S&P/TSX Base Metals ETF. This is global. He is expecting a recovery and he wants to be in base metals. (Not precious metals.)

2011-12-22

Comment

BMO Equal Weight Utilities Index ETF

ZUT-T

15.920

Equal Weight Utilities Index ETF. Price of utilities have been pushed up quite a bit because of 5% yields so from that point of view, this may not be the best time to buy. Now that they have the covered call component on it, it makes it a little more interesting because the covered call premium generation can help offset the too high prices it is at. Likes it.

2011-12-22

PAST TOP PICK

BMO Equal Weight Bank ETF

17.540

(A Top Pick Dec 8/10. Up 2.72%.) NASDAQ 100 Equity Hedged-Cdn$. Happy with this. Market has been pretty rough and this is still up. We consider this as a Buy simply because the US, in spite of Europe, is starting to recover nicely.

2011-12-22

BUY

ZEB-T

16.410

Equal Weight Bank ETF. This has all 6 of the major Canadian banks and is a good one. About 3.5% yield.

2011-12-22

Comment

BMO Covered Call Cdn Banks ETF

ZWB-T

13.850

Covered Call Cdn Banks ETF is rather appealing but right now you might just want to be long on the banks and just buy the Equal Weight Bank ETF (ZEB-T).

2011-12-22

TOP PICK

17.740

(A Top Pick Oct 22/10. Down 0.15%.) S&P/TSX 60 ETF. Always has this in his portfolio and can write options on it.

2011-11-04

Comment

0.020

How does an Exchange Traded Receipt differ from an ETF? Basically you have a piece of paper for the gold you have in the vault as opposed to having a piece of bullion held elsewhere or a futures contract.

2011-11-04

Comment

0.020

Is it possible or advisable to write calls from options accounts that are covered by stocks in an RRSP account? It's a bad idea and it is not allowed anyway.

2011-11-04

Comment

0.020

Could a person have a portfolio of nothing but ETF's? John has been doing this for 12 years. A highly desirable thing to do. Doing this, costs are very low. It is more tax efficient and you know what you are paying for.

2011-11-04

Comment

0.020

Sell deep in the money Calls on blue-chip high dividend paying stocks. Good income strategy? Not a good strategy. He always writes options as close to the money as possible. It gives a lot more flexibility and potential gains.

2011-11-04

Comment

0.020

Future for ETF's trading very few shares, sometimes none, on a daily basis? When looking at niche ETF's, it is a problem. You want to keep your portfolio size to a reasonable, understandable level. You don't need to get into the exotic, illiquid stuff.

2011-11-04

Comment

iShares DEX Short Term Bond

0.020

Cdn Banks using covered calls if you own and naked puts if you don't? He uses covered calls on bank stocks and ETF's. Great way to generate very tax efficient income but your return will depend on the volatility of the equity. Wouldn't be too anxious to write calls right now.

2011-11-04

PAST TOP PICK

XSB-T

29.250

(A Top Pick Oct 22/10. Up 3.25%.) DEX Short Term Bond ETF.

2011-11-04

TOP PICK

iShares S&P/TSX Preferred ETF

14.320

S&P 500 (CAD-Hedged) ETF. With this one, you are buying the market. He always has this one in his portfolio. Feels the US market wants to go out but keeps getting whacked down by European concerns.

2011-11-04

Comment

CPD-T

17.100

S&P/TSX Preferred ETF. Is there protection from falling markets? He doesn't do much with preferreds although it is a very valid asset class. Preferreds don't give you upside but give you downside if rates go up. If it's a small portion of your portfolio, there's nothing wrong with it.

2011-11-04

Comment

iShares Equal Weight Bank & Lifeco ETF

CEW-T

6.620

Equal Weight Bank & Lifeco ETF. Doesn't like to hold life insurance companies right now.

2011-11-04

DON'T BUY

iShares US High Yield Bond Index ETF

XHY-T

20.420

US High Yield Bond Index Fund. His concern with any of the high yield stuff is that you are dealing with junk bonds. They are predicated upon an index called JNK. There is a very real default risk on some of these.

2011-11-04

PAST TOP PICK

BMO Equal Weight Bank ETF

18.250

(A Top Pick Oct 22/10. Up 11.8%.) NASDAQ 100 Equity Hedged-Cdn$.

2011-11-04

TOP PICK

ZEB-T

16.210

Equal Weight Bank ETF. He wanted to overweight the banks. Rather than buying individual banks, he bought this and didn't write calls. Also bought some of the Canadian oils and this is how he added about 6% to his overall equity positions.

2011-11-04

BUY

BMO Equal Weight REITs Index

ZRE-T

17.770

Equal Weight REIT ETF. Likes this and the S&P/TSX Capped REIT (XRE-T). The difference between the 2 is that the XRE is about 25% Riocan (REI.UN-T). Either one is good.

2011-11-04

Comment

iShares Cdn Financial Monthly Income ETF

FIE-T

6.280

Cdn Financial Monthly Income ETF. Essentially a basket of ETF type products. Has a higher MER than a standard bond fund. He hasn't used this but in a smaller portfolio, it could be very useful.

2011-11-04

BUY

BMO DJ Industrial Ave Hedged to CAD ETF

ZDJ-T

20.400

DJ Industrial Average Hedged to Cdn ETF. Good way to play the US market. There is now a covered call on this that they have just started in the last few days. If we are having a sluggish economy, this is a good way to play it.

2011-11-04

Comment

Horizons Enhanced Income Gold ETF

HEP-T

8.870

Enhanced Income Gold ETF. This writes covered calls on gold producers. An interesting product. He isn't a gold bug but if they where, they would be interested in looking at it.

2011-11-04

DON'T BUY

iShares Natural Gas Commodity ETF

GAS-T

24.750

Natural Gas Commodity ETF. This trades an awful lot like a commodity because it’s based on Canadian gas contract. He doesn't like it because he just doesn't know what it's going to do.

2011-09-16

TOP PICK

16.870

S&P/TSX Energy ETF. This is a core holding in its portfolio but he can also write options on it.

2011-09-16

PAST TOP PICK