STOCKCHASE

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

Claymore 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

Claymore 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

Claymore 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

Claymore 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

Claymore 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

Claymore 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

Claymore 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

iShares S&P/TSX Capped REIT

17.580

(A Top Pick Sept 3/10. Up 1.59%.) S&P/TSX 60 ETF. He always has this in all of his portfolios and they all did quite nicely until they started hitting August. Everyone should have something based on an ETF on Toronto.

2011-09-16

PAST TOP PICK

XRE-T

14.880

(A Top Pick Sept 3/10. Up 17.25%.) S&P/TSX REIT ETF. With the US plazas coming into Canada, this will look very good on Canadian real estate.

2011-09-16

Comment

0.020

Markets - He has a feeling that the US markets want to rise. Whenever there is some European statistic, it knocks the US down. Feels the Europeans are on their way to trying to sort this out. Heard that the US had junk and fraudulent mortgages. In Europe, you are dealing with real assets.

2011-09-16

Comment

0.020

Strategy of selling an option on a dividend paying stock you own? It's a great idea and he does it all the time. He goes 6 months out. It not only gives you your dividend, but an additional amount. Be aware that it is based on the volatility of the underlying shares.

2011-09-16

Comment

0.020

How do covered call ETFs (ZWSB-T) or (HEX-T) react in a tanking market? The price of these is dependent on the volatility of the underlying security. If you are looking at posted year was out 10%-12%, you are not necessarily going to get these.

2011-09-16

Comment

0.020

Is there an ETF that trades pairs, short and long? Horizon Beta Pro has several of them. This is for the pretty sophisticated investor.

2011-09-16

Comment

0.020

Would the caller be wise in buying an ETF on Brazil at this time? It was you would be better buying a country rather than a BRIC at this time. Brazil is growing very quickly and is probably not a bad place to be.

2011-09-16

DON'T BUY

0.020

Buying a 6 months put on a broad market or sector ETF. Good way to protect a portfolio from large downside risk? What sector would retreat the most in a double dip? Would rather Sell options. If you are buying 6 month options, it is costing you a lot of money.

2011-09-16

BUY

iShares Cdn Dividend ETF

XDV-T

20.240

Cdn Dividend ETF. Likes this one but frankly will often use Claymore’s instead because if he is writing covered calls on banks, this one is more bank weighted which would make him overweight on the banks. Nothing wrong with this one.

2011-09-16

TOP PICK

BMO Equal Weight Utilities Index ETF

13.990

S&P 500 (CAD-Hedged) ETF. This is one that he keeps in his portfolios all the time. Thinks the US market wants to run a little bit here.

2011-09-16

Comment

HBP Nymex Oil Bear+ ETF

HOD-T

7.510

Nymex Oil Bear+ ETF. You have to be aware that these are intended for short-term trading. If you hold this for 3 months, you are going to lose because of the way the prices are calculated on a daily basis.

2011-09-16

BUY

ZUT-T

15.950

Equal Weight Utilities Index ETF. Likes this one but a few months ago, one of the component’s stocks blew up and lost about 7%. Thinks it's a lot safer now. Good yield of around 6%. Will be subject to interest rates if they go up dramatically.

2011-09-16

PAST TOP PICK

BMO Equal Weight Bank ETF

17.910

(A Top Pick Sept 3/10. Up 23.28%.) NASDAQ 100 Equity Hedged-CAD ETF. Still likes this one.

2011-09-16

TOP PICK

ZEB-T

16.350

Equal Weight Bank ETF. You currently get around 3.75% dividend. This is a way of investing in the banks without having to pick an individual one. You're basically getting paid while you wait.

2011-09-16

Comment

BMO Junior Gold Index ETF

ZJG-T

22.260

Junior Gold Index ETF. This is a good way to play the juniors. Has a lot of well-known companies. He would be a little hesitant right now buying golds. Sensing the market, at least in the US, is going right rise a bit and possibly some strength in the US$.

2011-09-16

BUY

HBP S&P/TSX 60 Index ETF

HXT-T

10.100

S&P/TSX 60 Index ETF compared to S&P/TSX 60 ETF (XIU-T)? Because it is a swap and a total return ETF, you are not going to be getting the distributions but you could possibly get a better return. Good product.

2011-09-16

BUY

HAP Enhanced Income Equity ETF

HEX-T

8.510

Enhanced Income Equity ETF. Likes this one. Similar to BMO’s Covered Call Cdn Banks ETF (ZWB-T) and is primarily based on the financials. Always keep in mind that the quoted yield you see on any of these covered call products are very much dependent on the underlying security.

2011-09-16

DON'T BUY

Global X Fertilizers ETF

SOIL-N

14.500

Fertilizers ETF. Doesn't follow this very much. If you are looking at something like this, why not just buy a couple of the majors? For agriculture, he would prefer Global Agriculture ETF (Cow-T).

2011-09-16

BUY

Claymore Global Balanced Income ETF

CBD-T

18.770

Global Balanced Income ETF. Holds several ETFs in a single ETF fund. This is a good idea. Fees are a little bit high. Good product for the smaller investor, especially those having difficulty deciding which ETF.

2011-09-16

PAST TOP PICK

19.430

(A Top Pick March 4/10. Up 11.44%.) Since energy has come back, he would consider buying this at around this level.

2011-07-29

TOP PICK

18.410

(A Top Pick March 4/10. Up 9.9%.) Has this in every portfolio he runs. Very good representation of the Canadian market. He also writes options on it from time to time.

2011-07-29

Comment

0.020

1 month Call options Versus 6 month? Likes 6 month Calls because it gives him downside protection. Example. Buys a bank share at $50 and he can sell a 6 month option for $2.50, plus pick up the dividends. He has basically covered himself for 5% off the Call plus he is getting 2% of the 4% on the dividend. This is 7% over 6 months.

2011-07-29

Comment

0.020

Gold ETFs? The ones that he likes are those that are hedged against the decline in the US$. He likes Claymore Gold Bullion ETF (CGL-T).

2011-07-29

Comment

0.020

Why are Cash Covered Naked Puts considered riskier than buying a straight forward stock in an RRSP? There is no way of segregating the funds. If you put in a naked put, you have to have the cash available if the stock is put to you.

2011-07-29

Comment

iShares DEX Short Term Bond

0.020

30-year-old wants to set up an ETF portfolio. Depends on the size of your portfolio. For example, if you have $25-$50 thousand and every time you buy an ETF there is a commission involved. (Sometimes better for smaller ($10,000?) investor to just go into a bank and buy a Cdn index fund.) You only need 4 or 5 of them.

2011-07-29

PAST TOP PICK

XSB-T

29.030

(A Top Pick March 4/10. Up 4.6%.) Basically holds about 2/3 Canadian government and provincial bonds and the rest is corporate. Likes it because it is a short bond.

2011-07-29

TOP PICK

HBP NYMEX Nat'l Gas Bull+

14.850

S&P 500 (CAD-Hedged) ETF.

2011-07-29

DON'T BUY

HNU-T

4.820

NYMEX Nat'l Gas Bull+. A lot of people buy this without realizing it is a short term hold. This is something he would be very careful of.

2011-07-29

TOP PICK

BMO Junior Gold Index ETF

18.390

NASDAQ 100 Equity Hedged-Cdn$. There are 2 areas that are going to recover in the US. Manufacturing and technology.

2011-07-29

DON'T BUY

HBP Comex Gold Bear+ ETF

HBD-T

3.910

Gold Bear+ ETF. He doesn't do these things because his clients are more conservative. You have to remember when you are doing these things they are designed for very, very short-term trades.

2011-07-29

Comment

ZJG-T

20.900

Junior Gold Index ETF. This has a really good sample of gold market so there is nothing wrong with the product. If the US can't get an agreement, gold will probably continue going up but he doesn't like buying anything that everybody else is buying.

2011-07-29

BUY

BMO Covered Call Cdn Banks ETF

ZWB-T

14.490

Covered Call Cdn Banks ETF. He would consider this as a Hold versus a Trade. He looks at Covered Calls as an opportunity for investors to get into covered calls. If your broker doesn't do covered calls, this is a good way for an investor to get in.

2011-07-29

BUY

BMO DJ Industrial Ave Hedged to CAD ETF

ZDJ-T

21.070

DJ Industrial Ave Hedged to CAD ETF. Good idea and nothing wrong with it.

2011-07-29

DON'T BUY

iSh JPMorgan USD Emerg Mk Bond

XEB-T

20.910

JP Morgan USD Emerging Mkt Bond ETF. This is basically global sovereign debt dominated in US$’s and he doesn't follow it. You do have some credit issues because it is not all investment grade material.

2011-07-29

BUY

HAP Enhanced Income Equity ETF

HEX-T

9.040

Enhanced Income Equity ETF. This one is predicated on the TSX 30. One of the few that he likes.

2011-07-29

Comment

iShares S&P Latin America 40 ETF

XLA-T

20.170

S&P Latin America 40 ETF. Caller is concerned with the disconnect between strong performances of Brazilian stocks and the decline in this ETF. A lot of this is because of currency changes in Brazil and the relationship of the Rial to the Cdn and US dollars. You also have Peru which just went from a pro-business government to and anti business government.

2011-07-29

Comment

Claymore Global Balanced Income ETF

CBD-T

19.260

Global Balanced Income ETF. Does he like the regular rebalancing of the asset allocations? Thinks this is one of those managed core portfolio things, not a straight bond ETF. Think the MER's are getting up around the 75 basis points. Doesn't particularly like these but nothing particularly wrong with them.

2011-07-29

Comment

Microsoft

MSFT-Q

23.705

Naked Put option price. How is price affected in the event of a one-time dividend? The options clearing corporation will adjust the strike price.

2011-06-10

HOLD

19.790

Oil prices went down. Nothing wrong with XEG. It is diversified, but you go down with the sectors. Just wait it out.

2011-06-10

TOP PICK

iShares S&P/TSX Capped REIT

18.880

(Top Pick Jun 8/10, Up 13% total return) A core holding. This is what you buy if you want something for the long term.

2011-06-10

BUY

XRE-T

14.620

Likes the REIT sector. If you are a beginning investor, you would want to look at something broader based, but this is ok. Has more of Riocan than the BMO product.

2011-06-10

N/A

0.020

Market: These are more than summer doldrums. There is some kind of correction going on here. Everyone is negative on the US economy because of the debt and the lack of will politically to do anything. You can buy put options; buy inverse ETFs for a week. You need a portfolio with a sufficient number of bonds.

2011-06-10

Comment