Monthly Archives: February 2016
$NUGT $UVXY
STO $NUGT Feb 26 $33 puts @ $0.30
STO $UVXY Mar 11 $30 puts @ $0.45
Resistance for Monday Feb 22, 2016
GM
Resistance for Mon Feb 22, 2016
1934
1945-50 K-Node
1960
1970-72
1977-80
2000-2002
2009-2010
2023-25
Expiring
$ULTA 190/180 BECS
$UVXY 70/60 BECS
$KMI 15 Put
$LULU 52.5 Put
$UVXY 29 Put
$SVXY 30 Put
$NUGT 58 Call (covered)
$BOIL 22 Call (covered)
$RLYP 25 Call (covered)
$MBLY 33 Call (covered)
$KMI 15 Call (Buy/Write)
$GPS 26 Call (Buy/Write)
Assignments
$THC 25 Puts (going long)
$RLYP 25 Puts (going long)
$RLYP 22.5 Puts (going long)
Compromised Spreads (ouch)
$NFLX 2/19 95/100 BUPS Total Loss
$GOOGL 2/19 710/720 BUPS STO 2.05: BTC .2
$AMZN 2/19 530/535 BUPS STO .6: BTC 3.78
$AMZN 2/19 530/540 BUPS STO 1.55: BTC 7.4
#OptionsExpiration for Feb 19 Expiring:…
#OptionsExpiration for Feb 19
Expiring:
$AMZN 02/19/2016 485.00 puts
$AMZN 02/19/2016 600.00 calls
$CMG 02/19/2016 400.00 puts
$DUST 02/19/2016 36.00 calls
$FB 02/19/2016 118.00 calls
$GOOGL 02/19/2016 687.50 puts
$KMI 02/19/2016 15.00 puts
$KOLD 02/19/2016 215.00 calls
$KOLD 02/19/2016 115.00 puts
$KOLD 02/19/2016 123.00 puts
$LNKD 02/19/2016 125.00 calls
$LNKD 02/19/2016 95.00 puts
$LNKD 02/19/2016 100.00 puts
$LULU 02/19/2016 58.50 puts
$MAT 02/19/2016 23.00 puts
$NFLX 02/19/2016 109.00 calls
$NFLX 02/19/2016 110.00 calls
$NUGT 02/19/2016 58.00 calls
$NUGT 02/19/2016 60.00 calls
$NUGT 02/19/2016 15.00 puts
$NUGT 02/19/2016 33.00 puts
$RRC 02/19/2016 20.00 puts
$SVXY 02/19/2016 35.00 puts
$SVXY 02/19/2016 63.00 calls (covered)
$SVXY 02/19/2016 65.00 calls (covered)
$SWHC 02/19/2016 20.00 puts
$TWTR 02/19/2016 15.00 puts
$TZA 02/19/2016 80.00 calls
$UVXY 02/19/2016 66.00 calls
$UVXY 02/19/2016 85.00 calls
$WFM 02/19/2016 31.00 puts
$WHR 02/19/2016 110.00 puts
$WMT 02/19/2016 65.00 calls (covered)
$XOP 02/19/2016 34.00 calls
$ZSL 02/19/2016 75.00 calls
$ZSL 02/19/2016 97.50 calls
Assignments:
$RIG 02/19/2016 18.00 puts (going long stock)
$WFM 02/19/2016 31.00 calls (stock getting called away)
Have a great weekend everyone.
#optionsexpiration BWLD Feb. 19 iron…
#optionsexpiration
BWLD Feb. 19 iron condor
DDD Feb. 19 12 call (covered)
AMZN Feb. 19 long call spread loser, hoping for a bounce
HAL Feb. 19 32 call (covered)
HYG Feb. 19 long call loser
IWM Feb. 19 iron condor 93/90/105/108
QQQ Feb 19 iron condor 95/92/107/110
SPY Feb. 19 BuPS 173/178
SPY Feb. 19 BuPS 179/184
SPY Feb. 19 BeCS 197/203
SUNE feb. 19 5 calls (covered)
SHWC Feb. 19 23 covered call, called away
USO Feb. 19 10.50 covered calls
S
Thank you to all
#Options Expiration
$NUGT $33 puts
$NUGT $35 puts
$NUGT $40 puts
$NUGT $55 calls
$NUGT $65 calls
$UVXY $66 calls
$UVXY $75 calls
$UVXY $80 calls
$UVXY $85 call
$UVXY $90 calls
$UVXY $95 calls
$UVXY $100 calls
OptionsExpiration 2/19/16
— Expiring w/max profit —
BOIL 22 calls
DUST 21 calls
EQIX 240/260/320/340 iron condors
KOLD 215 call
KOLD 110, 115, 123 puts
NUGT 58 calls
NUGT 28, 33, 34 puts
ZSL 70 & 75 calls
ZSL 45.5 puts
— Assignment —
NOW 60 puts, assigned long stock
— Expiring w/max loss —
HYG 81 long calls, followed a big spec trade on this for .16
FOSL 28/32/36 earnings put fly; I went bearish, stock went bullish
Have a great weekend everyone!
FB and PNRA earnings mgt
#Earnings Since I sold too many puts after being assigned, I’m taking off a couple today to leave my short stock position on:
BTC FB Feb 19th 108 put for 3.50. Sold for 1.10 on 2/2
BTC FB Feb 19th 105 put for .50. Sold for .70 on 2/1
BTC FB March 18th 100 put for 2.10. Sold for 2.30 on 2/5
STO FB April 1st 112 call for 1.50
BTC PNRA Feb 19th 200 calls for 3.45. Sold as part of a condor for 1.95 on Wednesday. Patience didn’t work with this one. May look to sell a roll next week.
$DUST #ShortPuts – Bought to…
$DUST #ShortPuts – Bought to close DUST Feb 19 2016 5.0 Puts @ 0.05 to avoid possible assignment tonight.
Sold these a few days ago for 0.15.
$NUGT #ShortCalls #Rollup – As…
$NUGT #ShortCalls #Rollup – As VXXKelly and Ramie have been pointing out, NUGT is bound to pull back at some point, or maybe just fall because of the normal drag on these kinds of stocks.
The trick is sticking around long enough to take advantage of the pullback. When rolling an ITM short call position there are two objectives:
1. Bring in more cash on the new position than you spend getting rid of the old position
2. Increase your likelihood of an expiration down the road by selling at a higher strike price
There is no way to predict with accuracy where this stock will go tomorrow much less a month from now, but using the chart you can get a feel for the likely trading range.
I made the following roll today and I think it has a better than even chance of being successful. The new position will not take too much monitoring on my part because it will run for two weeks, and I likely will be able to sell two sets of weekly puts against these calls, bringing in even more premium dollars.
Bought to close NUGT Feb 19 2016 40.0 Calls @ 10.92
Sold to open NUGT Mar 04 2016 42.0 Calls @ 11.55
I have bumped my profit point about 2 1/2 points higher between the higher strike price and the extra premium dollars.
Hope laying out my thinking helps others in a similar circumstance,
Riding out KOLD
I’m short 215 calls for today’s expiration. With KOLD at the 210-211 level, I’m watching closely. If this shoots up this afternoon I may employ the Iceman strategy of buying the stock and allowing it to get called away instead of trying to get out early and getting jammed on the market maker’s wide bid/ask spread. White knuckling it for now.
$NUGT
Ramie posted some info this morning on the performance drag between $NUGT and $GDX during 2015. Here’s a recent example.
2/12 GDX closed at $18.84 $NUGT closed at $56.87
2/18 GDX closed at $18.90 $NUGT closed at $54.72
So in just a few days, GDX returned to basically the exact same level but NUGT was more than $2 lower.
BTO $CBP 3/18 $61 put…
BTO $CBP 3/18 $61 put @ $1
Another AMZN spread closed.
Closed another AMZN spread. Feb 19 540/545 call spread. STO yesterday for .80 and BTC now for .06.
92.5% of max profit in a day.
UVXY BIB
Just checking in…not much going today. UVXY 45/55 call spread in #IRA I’ll be watching closely this afternoon. Picked up a little BIB stock at 40.25 for a flip on the next nice up day also. Was in and out of a /VX VIX future this morning for a scratch at 23.15.
Good luck everyone…looks like it’s shaping up to be a quiet day. (famous last words…LOL!)
$AMZN call spread closed
$AMZN call spread closed
UVXY STO call MAR2 2016…
UVXY STO call MAR2 2016 (3/11/2016) 95 at 0.62
$GPRO #coveredcalls #rolling Rolled Feb….
$GPRO #coveredcalls #rolling Rolled Feb. 19 12.5 to March 18, 14 call for .46
TLT long calls
#LongCalls STC $TLT Feb 19th 123 call for 8.10. Bought for 2.13 avg in December. Got one more left so I will try to top-pick.
JWN earning closed
#Earnings Bought to close $JWN Feb 19th 45 puts for .15. Sold yesterday in a condor for .50. Wanted to let this expire but I don’t trust it or the market, especially with any big drops in retail stocks on earnings lately.
$NUGT #ShortCalls – Missed posting…
$NUGT #ShortCalls – Missed posting one yesterday – Sold NUGT(Weekly) Feb 26 2016 76.0 Calls @ 0.55. These expire next Friday and are the highest available strike price.
$NUGT
Unless there is a pullback into the $40’s today, I’m going to need to roll a couple of positions. With the big up and down moves this thing has been making, I’m not liking that there aren’t near term higher strike prices available. So my plan is to split the roll, I’ll roll 1/2 of the calls up and out, and reverse roll the other half of the calls into puts. They can’t both be losers and over the next month or so, should help me slowly reduce total exposure.
Support and Resistance Levels for Friday Feb 19, 2016
Good Morning.
Resistance Levels are the same as yesterday’s
1930-35; 1945-49; 1958-61 etc…
Support Levels are:
1884.62 (38.2%) and 1866.16 (61.8%) of previous up move. The 50% (not a Fib level) is at 1870.39
There is the high of Feb 10 at 1881.60 which is very close to the 1884.62 (38.2%); so that area could hold the market.
1850 could be psychological level, but it is not a Fib Level.
Below that we have: 1810-1806; 1800-1803; 1730-1728 and 1690-85
Keep in mind that these levels could hold the market but may or may not be reversal levels.
I failed to post the 23.6 Level of the previous move at 1902.22 and that one as you can see is very close to the 1900 psychological level…
GM
GM
$/GC $NUGT
Gold futures are down about $10 since the markets closed @ 4pm. If that holds up, should see some pull back in $NUGT in the morning. A lot can change between now and then, but would like to see it pull back $4 or $5 bucks for tomorrow’s Opex.
$NUGT #ShortCalls – hoping to…
$NUGT #ShortCalls – hoping to make back my NUGT losses slowly with small #OptionLadder trades –
Sold 1 NUGT Mar 04 2016 75.0 Call @ 2.05
Sold 1 NUGT Mar 11 2016 75.0 Call @ 2.80
Sold 1 NUGT Mar 24 2016 75.0 Call @ 4.30
All are weekly expirations and all are at the highest available strike price. Pretty decent premiums with the stock twenty points below the strike.
By staying small and spreading out the risk across multiple expirations, only one of these gets in trouble at a time, and this stock is volatile in BOTH directions. The stock was just over 17 a little over a month ago.
STO QQQ BeCS 101.5/103 .70 for tomorrow
STO SPY IBF 192/190/190/188 1.63 for tomorrow
Closing BA
Taking more than 70% max profit on an April position I put on last week. With this market I’m keeping a tight leash on things.
Bought to close $BA Apr 15 90 put @ .53. Sold for 1.95 on 2/11.
$NUGT #ShortCalls #ScalpTrade – Sold…
$NUGT #ShortCalls #ScalpTrade – Sold NUGT Feb 19 2016 60 Calls @ 0.65 with the stock at 54.
These expire tomorrow
SPX roll
#SPXcampaign Although we barely notched above 1930, I am closing my lowest strikes call spread and #Rolling into an iron condor at the next expiration. This is to exit now rather than risk a push up to 1950, making things hairy.
BTC $SPX Feb 29th (monthly) 1950/1975 call spreads for 5.70. Sold for 1.45 on Feb 11th.
STO $SPX March 4th 1975/2000 call spreads for 4.00.
STO $SPX March 4th 1800/1775 put spreads for 1.45 (double position size)
$AMBA As I’ve said in…
$AMBA As I’ve said in the past, I’m under water in AMBA from put spreads gone bad. AMBA went down so far so fast rolling was not possible. I’ve been selling calls and fully intend to make money on this someday, right around the time our country has a balanced budget I suppose. I bought back Feb. 19. 44 calls for .12 that had been sold for 1.00 and sold Feb. 26, 46 calls for .37. I stayed short term because earnings are March 3, maybe catch a run up March 1 or 2 and go out further, maybe get burned. AMBA was over 44 yesterday.
#VXXGame STO UVXY March 4th…
#VXXGame STO UVXY March 4th 35 put for .87 (adding)
BTC UVXY March 4th 95 calls for .15. Sold for 1.05 on Feb 2nd
$SPX closing early
Closed $SPX iron condor Feb 26 2005/1995/1740/1730 for 0.30.
Originally had STO 10 days ago for 1.25.
I am starting to close positions early for good profit instead of trying to wring out every dime to expiration. That has gotten me in trouble in this volatile market so I will gladly take 76% max profit any time. This is working far better than trying to get to expiration date intact.
$AMZN is Prime!
Risky one day trade…STO AMZN Feb 19 540/545 BeCS for 0.80 when AMZN trading about 530.
I think it has met resistance at 540 and will continue down a while. Will certainly watch this closely and would close if debit was 1.20.
$NUGT #ShortCalls #ScalpTrade – Sold…
$NUGT #ShortCalls #ScalpTrade – Sold NUGT Feb 19 2016 58.0 Calls @ 0.55. This strike is above last Friday’s YTD High of 56.89 and the option expires tomorrow.
$NUGT adding in 3/11
I don’t have any positions on in 3/11 so I’m adding one, at the highest strike.
Sold $NUGT 3/11 75 call @ 2.20.
$QQQ biught diagonal, following Robyn…
$QQQ bought diagonal, following Robyn at TastyTrade sold March 18, 99 put, bought April 15, 99 put for .99.
DUST and UVXY mgt
BTC $DUST June 23 calls for .30. Sold for 1.75 on Feb 2nd
BTC $UVXY March 18th 105 call for .80. Sold for 4.05 on Feb 9th
PUT Diagonals IWM and SPY
Opened 2 Put Diagonals…BTO IWM Apr1 105.5 Put and STO IWM Mar18 96 Put for $5.16.
BTO SPY Apr1 199 Put and STO Mar 18 186 Put for $6.64
My stops will be if the SPX breaks above 1948….
#Markets TLT really spiking as…
#Markets TLT really spiking as SPX falls back.
JWN earnings
#Earnings Sold to Open $JWN Feb 19th 42.5/45/57.5/60 condors for .50. Max gain .50, max loss 2.00. Biggest UP move: 14.7% , Biggest DOWN move: -15.0% , Average move: 4.6% . Nordstrom’s has had these two large moves, but all other moves over the last 12 were under 6%. So I’m willing to go a bit inside the extremes, as the short strikes are 14% (puts) and 10% (calls) OTM. Stock rallied a bit since I got my fill, so you may want to skip the call side. But in any case, max loss is manageable.
Bot to close March 4, 1675/1700 bull put spread @0.25, sold at 1.25
#Panera ;>) My Wi-Fi is…
#Panera ;>) My Wi-Fi is down again, AT&T, so I’m sitting in Panera’s using theirs, having coffee and a Danish. Life is good. Good luck everybody. I’ll trade if an opportunity presents itself. $KMI still moving. Will it hit 16.0 again? Maybe. If not, I’ll roll up and out, my 2/26/16, 16.50 Calls.
EQIX earnings
#Earnings A bit of a crazy fill I got on this.
Sold to Open $EQIX Feb 19th 240/260/320/340 iron condors for 1.80. The long strikes are illiquid, so the fills were at the ask where there is no current bid, as follows:
240 long put 1.57
260 short put -2.61
320 short call -3.77
340 long call 3.01
If I try to sell the 320 naked, even at 3.20 I get no fill; so the 3.77 is due to the spread only. If you’re interested, might be worth watching during the day. But the short strikes are outside normal earnings moves. I added longs due to market environment and recent slaps from naked earnings plays.
Over the last 12 earnings, Biggest UP move: 7.8%, Biggest DOWN move: -3.7% , Average move: 2.9%. These strikes are both about 10.3% OTM.
$SPY #ironcondor Closed Feb 26…
$SPY #ironcondor Closed Feb 26 197/200/177/174 for .39, originally sold for 1.30
DATA dump
#Earnings STC DATA stock for 41.78. Had a trailing stop from yesterday’s rise. Leaves me with only a small part of my original trade, which was put assignment at 62. This and NOW are ones which I’m taking some losses and not waiting out, due to uncertainty with the companies and the overall market.
$AMZN bear call spread
$AMZN at resistance at the 200 day and pulling back.
STO Mar 18 600/610 BeCS for 0.88
If AMZN closes above the 200, then I’ll be out of this trade.
#Gold $NUGT
Watching market today to see how these react on a potentially down day. Gold stabilized above $1200 and I want to see if people rush back to gold again if the market shows weakness.
$SPX Earlier spike in futures…
$SPX Earlier spike in futures was sold. now opening almost flat
Resistance Levels for Feb 18, 2016
1930 – 1935; 1945-49; 1958-61; 1972 and then 2010.44 2028.38 and 2047-53;
Levels to watch are the resistance at 1947.20 which was the high of Feb 1st, and also the 1945-49 which falls on the triangle trend line and the 100% extension of a previous move (Low of 1/20 to high of 2/1).
Yesterday’s move was the expansion of the squeeze on a daily chart. According to theory the move could run from 6 to 8 bars following yesterday’s high. If this is the case the SPX could run up to the Dec Highs and beyond.
I believe that the 1945-49 level may hold the market for this week though…that an $10 will get you a starbucks latte…
Followed Fuzzball:
$NUGT STO 3/18/16 80.0 CALLS @1.70 Thank you sir. ;>) It’s paired with my 3/11/16 30.0 short Puts.
NUGT calls
#ContangoETFs Followed @iceman and @fuzzballl at highest available strikes:
STO NUGT March 4th 75 calls for 1.00
STO NUGT March 18th 80 calls for 1.85
$SPY BeCS sold March 4…
$SPY BeCS sold March 4 197/200 @ .75. My thinking is we will stall or go down tomorrow or the next day.
Closing $BA rollout
On 2/11 I rolled out my Feb 110 puts to March for a nice credit. This allowed me to use today’s up move to exit the trade early for an overall profit.
Bought to close $BA Mar 18 110 puts @ 2.05. Sold for 7.05, as a rollout on 2/11.
Loss on original roll was 3.18, so with this 5.00 profit, overall profit on the position is 1.82.
NUGT calls
Paired up with 25 strike puts sold yesterday…
Sold NUGT MAR 18 2016 80.0 Calls @ 1.70 (highest available strike)
$UVXY closed Feb. 19 50/55…
$UVXY closed Feb. 19 50/55 call spreads for about half of what they were sold for, too close to expiration, and 50 for comfort still a winner.
$KMI BTC 2/19/16 13.50 PUTS…
$KMI BTC 2/19/16 13.50 PUTS @.01. STO @.37
I sold the SPX 2125/2150 call spread for 1.25 today for April 29 expiration.
FOMC snore
FOMC minutes a big snore… now what? If we go any higher from here I will look to take my first stop on a call spread, the Feb 26th 1950/1975. Likely will roll one week further out into a far OTM put spread and a slightly higher call spread
FB mgt
#Earnings Still working around a short stock position with numerous short puts and a few short calls.
STO FB June 130 call for 1.23
$NUGT #ShortCalls – Sold NUGT…
$NUGT #ShortCalls – Sold NUGT Mar 04 2016 75.0 Calls @ 1.00. Highest available strike price.
edit: Also sold the NUGT Feb 19 2016 35.0 Puts @ 0.15. These expire Friday
$VXX BTC 3/4/16 37.0 CALLS…
$VXX BTC 3/4/16 37.0 CALLS @.11 STO @.74 in early Feb.
PCLN earnings closed
#Earnings Bought to close $PCLN 1275/1300 call spread for .90. Sold yesterday as part of condor for 1.35. Taking this off to avoid possible tendency to run higher into week’s end.
UVXY Puts
Delta beginning to trump IV collapse on these so booking a nice winner. UVXY is actually well below where it was when I sold these on the way up but puts have lost nearly half their value.
Bought to Close UVXY MAR 18 2016 30.0 Puts @ .90 (sold for 1.62 average)
$CMG #ShortPuts – Sold CMG…
$CMG #ShortPuts – Sold CMG Feb 19 2016 465.0 Puts @ 0.28. These expire Friday.
$UVXY BTC 3/11/16 90.0 CALLS…
$UVXY BTC 3/11/16 90.0 CALLS @.77
$UVXY STO 3/18/16 75.0 CALLS @2.27 Hasn’t seen 75.0 since Sept. 2015.
$NFLX Covered Calls
I was assigned early overnight on some deep in the money puts (March 145). I was aware of the risk but was looking for more upside in the stock which would have reduced that risk. But I got clipped so I’m just going to sell calls against this position until called away.
Sold $NFLX Mar 4 100 calls @ 1.21.
Delta 24.
#VXXGame BTC $UVXY March 18th…
#VXXGame BTC $UVXY March 18th 165 calls for .26. Sold for 2.70 avg price in January.
$CNX #CoveredCalls – Sold CNX…
$CNX #CoveredCalls – Sold CNX MAR 18 2016 12.0 Calls @ 0.21
Closing SPX BeCS
I closed some of my Mar 11 SPX 1965/1980 at $4.95 Sold it for $1.25 last week…Ouch! Well now that I did this, you can be sure that the SPX will drop! 🙂
I will roll them once the Market decides to slow down this ride.
$SPX
$SPX Closed my Mar 4th 1980/2005 BeCS when the $SPX was at 1917. I won’t be around to manage any roll outs and decided to not try and be a hero by waiting for the pull back.
$UVXY my UVXY Feb 19…
$UVXY my UVXY Feb 19 50/55 call spreads finally turned positive this morning.
#VXXGame BTC $UVXY Feb 26th…
#VXXGame BTC $UVXY Feb 26th 35 puts for .18. Sold for 1.15 on Feb 1
$NUGT #ShortPuts -Sold NUGT Feb…
$NUGT #ShortPuts -Sold NUGT Feb 19 2016 34.0 Puts @ 0.17 on a market order. These expire tomorrow.
Options Bistro 