$AAPL : What are you doing with your $AAPL holding

With the stock down 35% from top what are "real people" doing?

Buy, Hold, Sell, Short?

It is no secret yesterday's price down in AAPL was dramatic. Very high volume traded and the stock dropped nearly $63, largest absolute drop (in % terms there have been bigger drops in past) in a single day. Market cap equivalent to many NFLX, RIMM, even some countries GDP was wiped out.

But so far, it seems the pain is felt by over leveraged, momentum chasers, hedge funds type OR computers churning stock from one register to another. I am interested in knowing what are real people doing? People like you and me. 

I am sure you would have stories to say. When you bought AAPL? What was the lowest price you paid? Are you still holding that?

$AAPL : Don't count on the boom from the cash pile.

Why AAPL cash pile will not be enough to bring it to former glory.

How AAPL is a "value" stock and not a "growth" play. 

Disclosure : Last legs of shorts running on trailing stops as per this post.

After a record quarter last night and subsequent after hour crash of nearly 10% (I see a quote of 464 just now, having touched a low of 457 earlier) it is not entirely surprising that the internet and social streams are filled with $AAPL news. Visit social sites for traders and you are bound to find many traders and investors plainly disgusted and disappointed with the results so far. AAPL is present in almost every single active trading account in US. It has long been a hedge fund darling for sometime and main driver of alpha (over performance over benchmark) and therefore a source of popular trade - long AAPL short SPX. This trade is unwinding for a long time.

$AAPL – 480-460 next target

Short setup is still in play

Disclosure : Last set of shorts remaining on trailing stops.

AAPL seems to be losing its magic. Since hitting all time high at 705, the stock is lagging the broader market. Technically the charts have turned bearish with the stock well below its 200 DMA. On relative strength basis too the stock is lagging with broader market putting an impressive rally since 31st December 2012 but AAPL has already given up all the up move from that day. There was a time when AAPL was a key stock for “alpha” – to catch market out performance and several traders used to be long AAPL and short S&P as hedge. Those trades are underwater for sometime.

Fundamentally there is nothing wrong with AAPL. In fact AMZN is making new highs on lousy fundamentals but hey – who said stock markets are “rational”.
With AAPL likely to close below 522 today, the short setup is still firmly remains in play even though AAPL is currently trading in strong long term support area and merits a caution in carrying large positions. 507 area has acted as strong support in past but at the same time its been attacked vigorously and each bounce has produced lower highs, increasing the probability that next attack at support is likely to breach.
As long as AAPL is below 550-560 area, shorts are safe and next target for profit taking on shorts is 480-460 region. For a long side, one of the on going short setup needs to break first before fresh new long positions can be created. May be earnings on 24th Jan can create such catalyst. Who knows.

Is $AAPL ripe for another bite on long side?

Does the turn around from 507 area signifies a trend change?

Disclosure : No position now but on watch for long.
EDIT 14.Dec.2012: The long set up in AAPL did not play out. As mentioned in comments below, the trend is still short.

I am not a stock trader but I do dabble into some popular US stocks from time to time with small position as a proxy for broader market investor sentiment. I have mainly traded AAPL from short side for sometime with reasonable success. Of course, there will be charts on internet which will show that $10,000 invested in AAPL 10 year ago would have been $667,000 by now. Well hind sight is beautiful, but neither was I trading 10 years ago nor did I have $10,000 to invest/trade.
Before the option expiry on 16th November 2012, I have been commenting about a lot of puts being purchased on AAPL to protect from downside. AAPL was in down trend since 25th September 2012 after hitting its all time high and progressively the options skews were indicating that lot of protection being bought.

$AAPL - Another day another support broken

550 Support is now broken.... 520-500 is next possible area to watch.

The trend remains firmly short for the stock market darling $AAPL. In some sense, the success of the company has somehow become the curse for it. On fundamental ground there are still some good reasons to buy AAPL given the cash pile, low forward earning multiple and the relentless growth story. However nothing can go on increasing at exponential pace, except Fed balance sheet :-). AAPL as a stock is present in practically every US investor account including leveraged to the hilt hedge funds. Also it would be one of the few things showing healthy profit if it was bought at good time - something which can be liquidated easily in case of the dreaded margin call. Being high beta, it has been a popular proxy stock for chasing market performance. So when the time to exit comes, the exodus is not expected to be smooth.