SPX Resistance at 1905-1908 and 1915-1920; The strongest is the 1920 where there is a k-node and symmetry.
Monthly Archives: January 2016
Selling puts on AAPL
Seems like everyone thinks Apple will never go up again. Sounds like a good time to sell more puts.
Sold $AAPL Mar 18 85 puts @ 1.12.
Earnings today
#Earnings, here are the stocks to consider today…
I consider these the “rock stars,” symbols that have worked before and typically have juicy OTM options:
BABA, CELG, FB, SNDK, UA, VLO, and with monthly options only: NOW
Also to look at, these have weeklys and high volume, but premium may be lower:
BMY, BRCM, BX, CAT, CTXS, EBAY, F, LLY, LVS, PYPL, QCOM, URI, V
STO AAPL IBF 103/100/100/97 2.54…
STO AAPL IBF 103/100/100/97 2.54 for this week
$AAPL Good luck to everyone…
$AAPL Good luck to everyone with Apple
UA puts
Taking advantage of the high pre-earnings IV to sell some puts in July. Strike is below the 2 year low for the stock.
Sold $UA Jul 15 45 puts @ 1.20
$HYG Over 55,000 calls Feb….
$HYG Over 55,000 calls Feb. 19 strike price of 81 traded today, I moved the market by buying 2 at .16
Puts closed
#SPXcampaign Bought to close $SPX Feb 12th 1650/1625 put spreads for .30. Sold for 1.30. Closed a bit earlier than usual to keep put side manageable.
STO SPX JAN5 16 (1/29/2016)…
STO SPX JAN5 16 (1/29/2016) IC 1960/1985/1830/1805 @2.30
BIB stock
Love flipping this thing when it sells off early. Nearly always get a chance to get out with a nice gain in a few hours.
Bought this morning in first few minutes at 48.50, 48.00, 47.50, 47.25, and 47.00
Just stopped out at 49.26…nice gain while running errands!
/VX Futures…I’m an idiot! LOL
Yesterday:
Taking a shot for a quick scalp…
SOLD FEB /VX @ 24.00
Looking to close it below 23.50 or so. I’d take 50 ticks…
Then last night I watched a doom and gloom video put out by one of John Carter’s people. Didn’t like the price action so closed it at even. Now it would be profitable by 115 ticks (10 bucks per tick)…learned (again) not too take the news or random opinions too seriously. Should just trust the chart which says shorting this any time in the 24-25 range is a pretty good bet.
Grrr!
$SPY #ironcondor March 4 196/199/178/175…
$SPY #ironcondor March 4 196/199/178/175 for 1.31
KOLD strangles
#ContangoETFs On the swings today, STO $KOLD August 80 put for 2.55 and Feb 220 call for 4.00.
$SVXY
$SVXY Was early assigned a Jan 29th 45 Put this morning. Originally sold for 3.00. Covered up the stock with Feb 26th 42.5 Call @ 1.30. Will take assignment.
STO SPX 1840/1835 this week…
STO SPX 1840/1835 this week .60 makes an IC 1960/1965 130.00 cr
Same-week call spread
#SPXcampaign Sold to Open $SPX Jan 29th 1955/1980 call spreads for 1.45. These expire Friday, or I will roll if they get threatened. I do not believe this rally will get past 1920 before retracing or collapsing.
ETF Webinar…
If you haven’t watched yet, catch it soon as this is final two days it will be available on the site! Click here for details: https://optionsbistro.wordpress.com/2016/01/21/webinar-recording/
AAPL iron butterfly
#Earnings Sold to Open AAPL 95/100/105 iron butterfly for 3.85. Max profit 3.85, max loss 1.15. I may sell OTM options as well, but for now I am selling this while AAPL is pretty close to the center strike. These have worked before because although AAPL may move 5-10% tomorrow, it will often drift back to the mean by Friday expiration.
Trade details: Buy (1) 95 put, Sell (1) 100 put, Sell (1) 100 call,, Buy (1) 105 call. If you’re not sure about how to exit these, watch for my comments now through Friday, or ask any time.
Call spread
#SPXcampaign Sold to Open $SPX Feb 26th 2015/2040 call spreads for 1.40.
NUGT calls
#ContangoETFs STO $NUGT Jun 65 calls for 1.50
Earnings candidates today
Today earnings season kicks into high gear. Here are key symbols reporting #Earnings tonight or Wednesday morning:
AAPL, ANTH, BA, BIIB, EBAY, EMC, T, UTX, VMW
All of these have weekly options.
$CMG #ShortPuts – Sold 1…
$CMG #ShortPuts – Sold 1 CMG Jan 29 2016 390.0 Put @ 1.15, adding to my position. These expire Friday
/VX Futures
Taking a shot for a quick scalp…
SOLD FEB /VX @ 24.00
Looking to close it below 23.50 or so. I’d take 50 ticks…
Short-term put spread
#SPXcampaign Sold to Open $SPX Feb 5th 1750/1725 put spreads for 1.50.
UVXY opportunist
#VXXGame Sold all of these in $UVXY in the last hour:
Jan 29th 60 calls for .50
Feb 19th 70 calls for 2.75
Feb 26th 95 call for 1.75
Feb 26th 110 calls for 1.20
March 18th 120 call for 2.60
June 17th 110 call for 9.50
Tracking Rolls
#Rolling #ReverseRoll
I got this question via email: “…with all my rolling of short positions, I’m having a hard time keeping track of each position. I’ve had to roll some positions 4-5 times, and more, especially SVXY, so that my cost basis seems to get lost in all the mess. I currently use an Excel spread sheet that I listed monthly trades, but then I found I had to search for the strike, then enter the roll position, and it just keeps going. Finding each position after a few rolls has been difficult. Any good way that you have found to keep track of the position when you roll, especially numerous rolls?”
I can’t do you much better than Excel, but maybe others can reply with their methods. I track each trade on Excel, and if I roll the position, I will extend that trade’s Excel row to the right, adding and subtracting the costs of each roll into the P/L for that trade… goal is to come out with a profit, or at least breakeven in the end. I can provide more detail if that’s not clear, but it can be a bit confusing with multiple rolls.
SBUX stopped
#Earnings Sold to close $SBUX stock for 58.02. Stopped out on my final batch, bought for 57.52 avg price after hours on earnings day last week. Not going to hold it through more potential market ugliness.
$TWTR I sure hope this…
$TWTR I sure hope this guy is wrong
http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/2016/01/25/why-nobody-is-going-to-buy-twitter.html
UVXY 110 strikes
As Iceman pointed out last week, the new highest strike for Feb expirations is 110. I dipped my toe in.
Sold $UVXY Feb 26 110 call @ 1.15.
UVXY call spreads
Full position now in both months…
Sold UVXY FEB 19 2016 60/70 Bear call spreads @ 1.10
Sold UVXY MAR 18 2016 65/75 Bear call spreads @ 1.25
Testing
Testing
#VXXGAME
Taking advantage of this down move.
BTC UVXY Feb 21 put @.08
BTC UVXY Feb 22 put @.11
STO SVXY Feb 29 put @.60 This effectively balances my SVXY positions on each side.
Both UVXY positions would likely close with full profit, but I am choosing to be nimble in this market and take it when it gives it to me.
Put spread
#SPXcampaign Sold to Open $SPX Feb 26th 1675/1650 put spreads for 1.25. This is really my first “normal” put sale in January, where I am selling on a typical down day rather than a violent down day, 5 weeks out.
GM
GM
Friday trades and Psychology
Couldn’t post these due to my other real job.
STO Feb2 UVXY 27 put strike @.40
STO Feb ’16 SVXY 45 call @.60
STO Mar 1 UVXY 23 put @.65
STO Feb2 UVXY 29 put @.65
BTC Jan5 UVXY 82 call @.18-Probably would expire worthless, but nice two day gain and in this market I choose to error on the side of caution and take it when I have the nice gain.
BTC Feb1 25 put @.06
STO DUST Feb4 12 put @.55 I now have equal calls and puts on both sides for February.
I just wanted to comment on what I feel is the most important part of trading and that is psychology. Hopefully this spurs a continued theme here whereby we can notice certain traits with each other and help with self-coaching in this area as it can make you or break you as a long term and profitable trader.
My 3 main areas I am focusing on as strengths and weaknesses right now:
- Position sizing-Strength – I have made some erroneous trades this last year and what has saved me is my position sizing based on my rules per my account size
Goal-Continue with proper position sizing going forward
2. Discipline-Big Weakness- This is an area whereby I need to really focus my self-coaching. I make impulsive direction trades sometimes that are based on “gut” and not a plan or a setup.
Goal: I’ve started to create a set of daily trading plans using Evernote on my phone (Since most of my trades are via phone due to work) The plan includes If/Than statements same as an Algo would have setup in a trading strategy.
3. Stop/loss– Moderate weakness- Sometimes I have good stops and sometimes I let it go too far taking a larger loss than I should before an adjustment.
Goal-Write a plan for each month in my #vxxgame #miners and #/esfutsoptions of what my stops are targets are for each position.
Jeff and everyone,
I hope I did not clutter the site too much with this post and want to keep a continued #tag going on various #psychology self-coaching cues and strategies that could benefit everyone.
Enjoy your weekend!
Options Expiration for 1/22
Expiring:
$AMZN 01/22/2016 740.00 calls (covered)
$AMZN 01/22/2016 540.00 puts
$NFLX 01/22/2016 115.00 calls
$NFLX 01/22/2016 120.00 calls
$NUGT 01/22/2016 45.00 calls
$SPX 01/22/2016 1745/1720 put spreads
$UA 01/22/2016 70.00 puts
$UVXY 01/22/2016 80.00 calls
$UVXY 01/22/2016 97.00 calls
No assignments this week.
Have a great weekend everyone. I hope you avoid the brunt of the storms on the east coast.
Options Expiration 1/22/16
Just one this week
$SVXY 55 Calls expired.
Have a great weekend all
Options Expiration 1/22/16
#OptionsExpiration
Expiring with max profit…
$ISRG 480/620 strangles
$UVXY 20 & 30 puts
$UVXY 70, 75, 80 calls
$VLO 74 call and 67 (covered) puts
$SPX 1995/2020 call spreads
$SPX 1750/1725 put spreads
No assignments – also, after hours fill on UVXY Feb 12th 29 put for .75
Have a great weekend everyone!
TOS doing an update tomorrow….
TOS doing an update tomorrow. save desktops
#OptionsExpiration – very good week…
#OptionsExpiration – very good week with the late week recovery. No assignments this week. Posting early today. Spending the weekend in NYC enjoying the snow 🙂
— Expirations —
CMG (Weekly) Jan 22 2016 407.5 Puts
CMG (Weekly) Jan 22 2016 410 Puts
CMG (Weekly) Jan 22 2016 412.5 Puts
CMG (Weekly) Jan 22 2016 415 Puts
CMG (Weekly) Jan 22 2016 417.5 Puts
CMG (Weekly) Jan 22 2016 420 Puts
CMG (Weekly) Jan 22 2016 422.5 Puts (Covered)
CMG (Weekly) Jan 22 2016 425 Puts (Covered)
CMG (Weekly) Jan 22 2016 427.5 Puts (Covered)
NFLX (Weekly) Jan 22 2016 134 Calls
NFLX (Weekly) Jan 22 2016 135 Calls
NFLX (Weekly) Jan 22 2016 136 Calls
NFLX (Weekly) Jan 22 2016 137 Calls
NFLX (Weekly) Jan 22 2016 138 Calls
NUGT (Weekly) Jan 22 2016 45 Calls (Covered)
UVXY (Weekly) Jan 22 2016 20 Puts
UVXY (Weekly) Jan 22 2016 24 Puts
UVXY (Weekly) Jan 22 2016 80 Calls
UVXY (Weekly) Jan 22 2016 85 Calls
UVXY (Weekly) Jan 22 2016 97 Calls
WYNN (Weekly) Jan 22 2016 61 Calls (Covered)
WYNN (Weekly) Jan 22 2016 65 Calls (Covered)
$CMG #ShortPuts – With a…
$CMG #ShortPuts – With a number of short puts expiring today, I’m replacing them at a lower level. These expire before the next earnings report, which may be nasty.
Sold CMG Jan 29 2016 400.0 Puts @ 1.15/1.20/1.25 then dropped down a strike and
Sold CMG Jan 29 2016 395.0 Puts @ 1.15/1.20/1.25 then dropped down a strike and
Sold CMG Jan 29 2016 390.0 Puts @ 1.10
$UVXY #ShortPuts – Sold UVXY(Weekly)…
$UVXY #ShortPuts – Sold UVXY(Weekly) Jan 29 2016 31.0 Puts @ 0.11. Offsetting calls I’m holding for next week
UVXY calls closed…
VLO short
I am still short stock from $VLO #Earnings play… assigned at 65.00, cost basis now 68.00.
Yesterday, Bought to close 100 shares for 64.00.
Today, STO VLO Feb 5th 73 call for .60.
Also have 74 call and 67 puts (likely) expiring tonight.
I will carry the position as more market volatility could bring lower stock prices to sell more puts or cover the stock position
STO Jan5 SPX 1960/1965 .75
STO Jan5 SPX 1960/1965 .75
UVXY puts
#VXXGame STO $UVXY Feb 12th 29 puts for .60
STO $UVXY Feb 19th 29 puts for 1.05
$UVXY
Besides having numerous short calls that will expire worthless today, I have a good number of contracts that will expire next week. With today’s drop in $UVXY, I can now close out all of next weeks short calls for a total of $60. I might just do that this afternoon and just close them down. They are spread from $80 up to $95, so little chance of getting hit even if volatility spikes back up. If volatility does spike up, that money is available to be put to work in new positions instead of tied up waiting for them to expire.
Puts closed
#SPXcampaign Bought to Close $SPX Feb 5th 1615/1790 put spreads for .15. Sold on Wednesday for 1.25.
SVXY, I rolled all of my covered call positions from the 37 call to the 37.5 call for.90 to 1.00 in premium. I am under water on these but intend to roll up and out every week.
OptionsBistro.com – new shortened URL
#Welcome – Hello, all… I’m proud to announce you can now enter simply “optionsbistro.com” (without the wordpress part) to navigate here. And the old way will still work so no need to change your bookmarks.
Also, please become a Member/Contributor if you are not already! Simply reply below or email me any time and I will send you an invitation. You can then make your own Posts and be part of the action.
Thanks all for your involvement and enthusiasm. Much more to come, and I’m always open to suggestions!
Jeff
Test
$SPY STO March 18 200/205…
$SPY STO March 18 200/205 BeCS for .94
New call spread
#SPXcampaign, since I just closed the Feb 12th 2070 spread this morning, rolling it down with a new position.
Sold to Open $SPX Feb 12th 2015/2040 call spreads for 1.25, with SPX at 1903.
BIB stock
Taking a little profit on the bounce. Most biotech earnings still a week or so away. I may miss an earnings run but still happy with this.
Sold BIB stock @ 50.60
Bought earlier this week and last week @ 49.25, 47.90, and 45.50
After hours Earnings trading
#Earnings, last night I bought $SBUX stock as it spiked down after the close, at 57.90, 57.48, and 57.20. I have sold half of the position today at 58.00, 58.50, and 59.00. Holding the rest for now. This is a John Carter technique, the idea being that stocks can often have sharp spikes in both directions in the first minutes after release. You can thus set buy orders at the expected move area on stocks you believe should react positively to earnings, then sell once it moves up. In this case, SBUX didn’t recover after hours and stayed down overnight, but is now benefitting from a rallying market today, not to mention a record quarter (lower guidance was the reason for the dip).
$SPY STO Feb 19 198/203…
$SPY STO Feb 19 198/203 BeCS @.76
STC SBUX BF 2.10 Bought…
STC SBUX BF 2.10 Bought last evening for .97
/VX VIX futures….
Still messing around with these a little.
Overnight fill:
Bought to close /VX @ 23.75 (sold for 24.25)
Earlier in the week picked up 35 ticks on another one so 85 ticks for the week is not bad. Trying to sell another one up in the 24.75-25.00 range. These seem to work pretty good especially against fairly aggressive sales of UVXY puts.
Calls closed
#SPXcampaign BTC $SPX Feb 12th 2070/2095 call spreads for .20. Could have closed for less but was going to let expire. Now I just want it out of the way with profit.
UVXY puts
Against a bunch of call spreads…
Sold UVXY FEB 19 2016 29.0 Puts @ 1.11
Good morning…
Wednesday’s VIX candle shows a high-spike wick, which is often a sign of a correction bottom. Since we exceeded the Oct 2014 SPX low of 1820 on that day, watch for a possible recovery. Until we have multiple days of lower VIX closes, I will remain protective of downside risk and will sell call spreads. The true sign that new market highs could be coming will be VIX closing below 16.93 for three consecutive days.
Webinar Recording – Contango ETFs, Jan 20, 2016
This recording has expired. It was I held on Jan 20th and was posted here for one week. It will return, as we’ll as other webinars. If you have questions or comments, you can reply to this post. Thanks.
Some additions
Added some Feb UVXY montly 25 put strikes. @.35 avg.
This market is a bear until it shows me otherwise so trying to add negative spy weighted deltas to my #vxxgame positions.
Also, took my short 50 WMT puts when I had .35 profit back on the pop. Playing conservative and taking positive detas off the table in some areas.
Looking for that maple tree…
Looking for that maple tree ETF ticker
$BIDU #ironcondor STO Feb. 5…
$BIDU #ironcondor STO Feb. 5 180/185/165/160 for 2.14. Earnings are the week after according to TDA
BTO SBUX BF Jan4 61/58/55…
BTO SBUX BF Jan4 61/58/55 Puts for .97 earnings trade
BTO SPX Feb4 1675/1650 Puts 1.00
$SWN $RRC – huge moves…
$SWN $RRC – huge moves in these today
$UVXY
BTC Jan22 $60 calls @ $.25, sold this morning for $1.00
Got 75% of max profit in a few hours so took these back off the table so in case oil does something crazy tomorrow, I won’t have to worry about these.
$NFLX put spread closed.
Closed $NFLX Jan 22 92/90 put spread that I sold yesterday for 0.25 and closed today for 0.04.
Might expire all worthless tomorrow, but would rather take it off for this profit as this market is still very nervous.
To calculate the probability of…
To calculate the probability of winning of any vertical spread use the following:
Prob Win% = Max Loss per position / Strike Difference.
So Jeff spread at 1990/2015 is a 25 pt. spread his max loss = 2500 – 125 = 2375.
His prob of Win = 2375/25 = 95%
another call spread
#SPXcampaign Sold to Open $SPX Feb 5th 1990/2015 call spreads for 1.25. In this market I have been making many round trips in each expiration, as the wild swings allow entry then a cheap exit a few days (or hours) later.
$UVXY #ShortCalls #VXXGame – Sold…
$UVXY #ShortCalls #VXXGame – Sold 1 UVXY Jun 17 2016 110.0 Call @ 11.20. Unable to resist the urge to sell these.
$SVXY Closed the short leg…
$SVXY Closed the short leg for .10 of a Jan 22 32/28 BuPS, I’m keeping .70 of the .80 I received yesterday.
LONG put spread
#SPXcampaign Bought to open $SPX Feb 5th 1675/1650 put spreads for 1.10. This is for our possible trip below 1800 tomorrow or next week. This spread should at least be a double if we go there. If not, it is a smaller loss than all of the credit spreads I have been selling.
ISRG Earnings
#Earnings Sold to Open $ISRG Jan 22nd 480/620 strangles for 2.40. Over last 12 earnings, Biggest UP move: 17.7% , Biggest DOWN move: -11.5% , Average move: 6.9% . These strikes are 11.4% (puts) and 14.4% (calls) OTM.
Options Bistro 