— Expiring —
NUGT 36 & 40 calls
SPX 2150/2125 put spreads
— Assignment —
NUGT 22 put – one I forgot to close, so taking some stock
— Full Loss —
DG 93.5/95.5/97.5 call butterfly. Did I say bullish? I meant bearish. .30 loss.
Escrow closes in two weeks. Until then we are staying in a friend’s basement. See you Monday everyone!
#SPXcampaign Sold to Open Sept 9th 2210/2235 call spreads for 1.70.
#SPXcampaign Bought to close $SPX Sept 2nd 2140/2165 call spreads for 19.10. Sold last Friday for 20.45. Sold to Open $SPX Sept 9th 2145/2170 calls for 17.50.
#Rolling myself out one week at a time, one strike higher each time. Making up the loss in the roll (in this case 1.60) by adding an extra put spread.
$SPX Aug 26 2145/2140 put spreads opened yesterday @ .25 expired worthless.
Have a great weekend everyone. #optionsexpiration
Here are my expirations for this week. If it hadn’t been for the $NUGT meltdown, would have been a pretty good week.
$NUGT $16 puts
$NUGT $38 calls
$NUGT $50 calls
$SVXY $40 puts
$SVXY $45 puts
$UVXY $27 calls
$UVXY $34 calls
$UVXY $58 calls
$NUGT #ShortPuts – Bought to close NUGT Aug 26 2016 21.8 Puts (the old 109 Puts) @ 0.05 to avoid possible assignment
I have no expirations this week so everyone have a nice weekend.
$UVXY #ShortCalls #VXXGame – sold these on the move to 22 in UVXY
Sold UVXY Sep 2 2016 32/32.5/33 Calls – all at 0.22
Sold UVXY Sep 16 2016 45/46 Calls @ 0.37
Sold this morning Sept 16th 18 Puts for 0.60 on a smarty pants idea. Well I closed them out at 1.05 to insure a peaceful weekend.
Yowser! I went to run errands after the morning’s non-event and came back to the pullback. I elected to buy back my Aug 26 67 calls for 2.40. Originally sold for 6.10 on a roll out and up from Aug 5th 65 Calls. I’m still not premium even on these yet but I will cover these up again next week if appropriate. The puppy is profitable with 2 new squeaky balls so all is good in the hood.
SVXY #CoveredCalls – in my account with the 3:1 short call to stock ratio, I rolled this week’s calls out to a new week to keep my #OptionLadder going.
Bought to close SVXY Aug 26 2016 65.0 Calls @ 5.56
Sold SVXY Oct 07 2016 73.5 Calls @ 5.66.
Covered commissions on the switch and moved the strike price up 8.5 points.
One of these days I’ll let one of these weekly calls get assigned — or — one will actually expire.
Taking advantage of PRVtrader’s colorful chart, sold Sept 16 230/240 for 1.23 with TSLA at 220.
#ContangoEYFs was hoping to get out of these at expiration but having to pay a bit for it. Originally sold for 1.20, effective price (pre-split).
BTC NUGT Aug 26th 22 puts for .25, .70, and possibly more for the rest off it keeps dropping.
Meantime, STO NUGT Sept 23rd 18 puts for 1.50.
STO Sept 9 $34 calls @ $0.41
$SVXY #ShortPuts – more gifts 🙂
Sold SVXY Sep 2 2016 57.5 Puts @ 0.20 with the stock at 69.45
Sold SVXY Sep 2 2016 57.0 Puts @ 0.20 with the stock at 69.20
Sold SVXY Sep 2 2016 56.5 Puts @ 0.20 with the stock at 69.17
Finally breaking below the trading level of the past 2 weeks. How low can we go? Let’s get that VIX up and away.
Can’t believe how lucky I’m getting here. Right at the close yesterday sold a boatload (an NS term…LOL) of 22 strike calls for today @ 1.05. Only in my wildest dreams would I think that 22 would be anywhere close after the “Uncle Janet piehole situation”. Apparently J-hole is a no go but the market is still concerned keeping gold confused. I’m looking to roll staying aggressive with the 22 strike to protect my Sep ITM puts. Building a nice cash cushion here to decide what to do with the puts at Sep expiration.
STO Sept 2 $27 calls @ $0.35
Looking for some additional short term entries. I think there is a lot of resistance to chew through between $22 and $27. Will roll up if needed. Not sure yet if I will pair these off with short puts or not. If $NUGT starts to firm up, I might, otherwise I’m sticking with short calls. I don’t know if $NUGT has a further big short term drop coming as it already has had a sizable one. I just don’t know what the catalyst is for a move much higher. Wednesdays sell off was on very high volume. Thursday’s bounce was on barely average volume and today looks to be another big red high volume candle. So people were selling into strength. If gold drops below $1320’ish, then I think we are looking at another leg lower in the miners.
#SPXcampaign Bought to close $SPX Sep 16 2250/2275 call spreads @ .20, sold @ 1.35 on Aug 15. Calls all gone, remaining three positions are puts!
STO Sep 9 $58 puts @ $0.50
I missed the whole move while I was in meetings. STC $NUGT $23.5/$25.5 call spreads @ $0.55 (Bought for $0.65 yesterday). This would have been nicely profitable for a while it looks like. But as was my plan, I’m out. Took a shot and only cost me $0.10.
#SPXcampaign Sold to Open $SPX Sept 23rd 2040/2015 put spreads for 1.40. Sold the second half of the weekly campaign today; calls earlier on the pop up and now the puts on the drop down.
$SVXY #ShortPuts – more gifts 🙂
Sold SVXY Sep 2 2016 58.0 Puts @ 0.25 with the stock at 70.64 and a week to go until expiration.
$SVXY #CoveredCalls #Rollup – did the following rollup with the stock at 71
Bought to close SVXY Aug 26 2016 69.0 Calls @ 1.94
Sold SVXY Sep 02 2016 71.0 Calls @ 2.19
I bumped the strike price up 2 points and added a 0.25 credit to my account while only adding one week to my holding period.
I was going to let this position get assigned but the collapse in the stock from 74.24 to 71 made the roll too attractive. And I made money on the calls that I covered. Win-Win
#SPXcampaign Bought to close $SPX Sept 9th 2240/2265 call spreads for .20. Sold for 1.35 on Aug 9.
Bought to close $SPX Aug 31st 2210/2235 call spreads for .20. Sold for 3.60 on Aug 11.
Sold Sept 16 300/310 for 1.03. IBB has touched 300 recently but hasn’t been above since January, currently at 284.
I traded out of my short Aug 26 $28 puts to Sep 09 $20/28 call spread 0.60 db and 1.5:1 size reduction (in IRA), and Sep 16 $20/33 call spread 1:1 size for 0.45 db. I expect NUGT to continue decline eliminating/reducing my giant losses. to be continued…..
$SVXY #LongStock – an old GTC order with a limit at the old YTD high of 74.16 filled during the Yellen madness.
Sold SVXY @ 74.16. This sale was 10% of my remaining position.
#SPXCampaign
Bought to Close SPX Sep 9 2240/2265 call spreads @ .20 sold on Aug 9 @ 1.35.
$DUST #ShortCalls #Rollup – the split complicated matters but this roll was still also slightly cash flow positive.
Bought to close 10 DUST(ns) Aug 26 2016 5.5 Calls @ 0.90
Sold 2 DUST Sep 09 2016 30.0 Calls @ 4.60
This one was harder because it was further in the money.
$GDX #ShortPuts – Bought to close GDX Aug 26 2016 28.0 Puts @ 0.18 to avoid assignment.
Originally sold for an average of 0.22, so a slight profit on the trade. Thanks Janet.
$DUST #ShortCalls #Rollup – the split complicated matters but the roll was still slightly cash flow positive
Bought to close 10 DUST(ns) Aug 26 2016 6.0 Calls @ 0.40
Sold 2 DUST Sep 02 2016 33.0 Calls @ 2.30
$SVXY #CoveredCalls #Rollup – did the following rollup with the stock at 73.86
Bought to close SVXY Aug 26 2016 69.0 Calls @ 4.58
Sold SVXY Oct 07 2016 75.0 Calls @ 5.13.
I bumped the strike price up 6 points and added a 0.55 credit to my account.
My first trade in this new weekly contract and the strike price is above the YTD high.
GME #earnings
sold Sept 16 GME 32 put for 2.75, bought yesterday for 1.89, need GME to come back some, have a 32/36 BuPS for Sept, not looking good.
BTC September 2, 57 puts @0.10
#SPXcampaign Bought to close $SPX Sept 2nd 2225/2250 call spreads for .20. Sold for 1.50 on Aug 2nd.
I closed my JPM BuCS for a huge profit of 7 cts pp….So now I’m totally flat.
We’ll trade again on Monday.
#ContangoETFs Starting to replace the puts I closed earlier: STO NUGT Sept 23rd 30 calls for 1.70.
#SPXcampaign Sold to Open $SPX Sept 23rd 2240/2265 calls for 1.65
Bought to close $SPX Aug 29th 2140/2115 put spreads for .20. Sold on Wednesday for 1.50.
After taking some initial hits, Gold, S&P, Bonds, and Financials are all up now.
Following Iceman, STO December 52 calls @1.30
This is much ado about nothing.
Yellen: “Case for raising rates has strengthened in recent months but no signal of September move…” USA Today
Thanks, Robert, for helping me with my post’s title…
#ContangoETFs BTC NUGT Sept 9th 24 puts for 2.70. Sold for 1.18, effective price. I have a few short puts near the money, so just closing this strike before she speaks. NUGT has been known to go nuts after Fed.
BTC Sep 23 GOOGL 830/840 BeCS for $0.90 Sold for $2.65
STC Sep 9th TSLA 230/220 BePS for $6.00 Bought for $5.00
Now I only have a JPM Debit spread left…
$NUGT #ShortCalls – Sold 1 NUGT Dec 16 2016 52.0 Call @ 1.35. Highest available strike.
$SVXY #ShortPuts – Sold SVXY Sep 2 2016 59.0 Puts @ 0.20 with the stock at 72.38 and a week to go until expiration. A gift 🙂
Bought another $VIX Sept 20th 14 call for 1.50, adding to my position.
Janet will speak at 10:00AM ET in Jackson Hole Economic Symposium. There is a 50/50 chance for a Dec interest rate hike by the Fed. The odds for a Sep hike are just 30%….This looks like Vegas, not like a stock market. Her speech is titled “The Federal Reserve’s Monetary Policy Toolkit” It sounds like some product from a software company….:-)
There is a squeeze on the 5, 195, and daily chart which should fire down.
Sorry I’ve been MIA much of yesterday and today. We bought a house in north Portland and have been moving out of our rental house. Not trading much today.
GME earnings today after close.
Trying for 35/33/31/29 IC for 1.10. No fill yet.
#SPXCampaign STO Aug 26 2145/2140 put credit spread @ .25
Sorry about another update…LOL Skip to the next post if you’re sick of these. 🙂 🙂
OK…here we go. Have to admit I wasn’t expecting a 40 percent drop in a week (although I knew it was possible) but here we are. The price fell through my entire inverted and regular strangles obviously putting the puts deep underwater. Due to the upcoming “Uncle Janet piehole situation” I was reluctant to roll down any calls to help with the long deltas so the calls are basically all gone now. I’ll wait for tomorrow and hope for a bounce to sell calls but in the mean time I bought some GDX puts in case the “J-Hole is a go”…LOL
Also today to help a little with the deltas and to simplify things I rolled all the puts out and slightly down so they are all in the same month. (Sep monthly for now). Paid a little debit but that can come out of this week’s call profits.
So currently: (all split adjusted)
Sep 28 puts @ 2.20
Sep 31 puts @ 3.70
Sep 32 puts @ 6.65
Obviously DITM but breakeven is a little lower. My goal now is to keep the premium received so far while getting these puts to a more reasonable level. So what to do? I’ll keep selling the weekly premium but what should I do with it?
1. Pocket it and keep rolling the puts each month? That’s risky the way this thing can tank.
2. Use the premium to roll the puts down each week? Seems reasonable especially if I take them out to October.
3. Use the premium to buy back some puts to reduce size? A possibility for sure.
4. Use one week’s worth of premium and buy some put spreads for protection? Maybe…
5. Close it all for a manageable loss? That would be a lot of work down the drain…LOL
Whaddya guys think? Lesson learned so far is to be careful with the depth of your inversion…although NUGT could just as easily have been at 200 yesterday instead of 100 so it’s toss up there. Sure has been an interesting experiment…so far!
Mylan Pharmaceuticals (MYL) increased the epinephrine (very cheap medication) pen (this is a device) used. MYL brought it from Merk @ $93.88 and selling it at $608.61, that 500% increase. I wonder when these pharma companies stop doing this. There is no justification of selling a cheap medicine which is 50 ml at $20.99, each 1 ml cost 20.99/50= $0.42, so MYL selling it for $608.61. The reality is not 500% increase but it is $1,500.00 of the drug. Let us say the device ONLY cost $20.00, it is syringe. Therefore the pen would cost $20.42 per pen. So how they would justify sell it for $608.61. To prove they are cheating, they reduce the price by 50%, this is even worse, this way they are saying openly that they over price it, and cheating.
Has anyone here read the book Profiting From Weekly Options by Robert J. Seifert? He talks about selling bear calls & bull puts options with a delta of 60/40.
I’m watching $NUGT very closely today, we’ve gotten a bit of a bounce and that is pulling some premium out of my short puts. I’d like to see a more enthusiastic bounce, but without some help from Gold, that’s not going to happen. I only had a small number of puts left. At this point, I’ve made back more than 1/2 of what I lost yesterday. I can close out all of my remaining short puts for about a $2K loss and just get out of the way until after we see what happens tomorrow. Then will re-enter trades as opportunities arise. A $2K loss sucks but I can make that back, just don’t want it to turn into a $5K loss.
As I type this, it looks like Gold is loosing some momentum so I’m going to close out my puts soon.
$MYL #ShortPuts #FallingKnife – Dan mentioned this morning that he thought Mylan may have bottomed. Maybe, maybe not. However, opportunities still exist to sell puts with strike prices below the YTD low of 37.59
$UVXY #ShortCalls #VXXGame – sold all these on the open with the stock at 21.36
Sold UVXY Sep 2 2016 31.5 Calls @ 0.22
Sold UVXY Sep 9 2016 35.0 Calls @ 0.35
Sold UVXY Sep 9 2016 35.5 Calls @ 0.35
Sold UVXY Oct 21 2016 55 Calls @ 1.30
$WYNN #FallingKnife – lots of good opportunities in the October short puts with plenty of room for a further decline
#Earnings Well, looks like I was Wrong-Way McGee on this one. That’s why I keep the directional ones cheap.
GM
$NUGT all options were closed last night. My short puts were assigned, calls closed for value.
NUGT call spread closed Sept 16 240/250 for 7, sold July 29 for 1.29. Many thanks to you NUGT traders.
INTU closed Intuit earnings iron fly put on yesterday, made $33. INTU went way down after earnings, thought it best to exit.
STO December 60 put @6.30
SPX only .5% down… VIX up but not dramatically. Nothing like Aug 24th of last year!
#SPXcampaign Sold to open $SPX Sept 15th 2065/2040 put spreads for 1.30, with SPX at 2175.
$NUGT #ShortPuts
Sold 1 NUGT AUG 26 2016 90.0 Put @1.38
Sold NUGT AUG 26 2016 85.0 Puts @ 0.75
Sold NUGT AUG 26 2016 80.0 Puts @ 0.36
BTC December 185 call @11.10, my cost was 11.24 so I broke even on this one but took the risk off the table.
BTC December 250 call @5.80, sold @21.94
#SPXcampaign Sold to Open $SPX Aug 29th 2140/2115 put spreads for 1.50, with SPX at 2178. My first Monday-expiring SPX spread!
Since most of my long stock has been called away sold 1 Sept 60 Put @ 1.15. Sort of a signal flare to bring my mind back to this.
Wow, total panic selling… 20% down! GDX 6.9% down. GLD only 1.1% down.
GDXJ closed Sept. 50/55 call spread for 50%
TWTR Rolled Sept 18 calls to Oct 20 calls for a debit, time to short TWTR now
SQ bought 100 shares of Square, mobile billing company, for 12.26, I’ll sell when it reaches AMZN numbers.
Bought to close Dec 16 220 call @ 9.00. Sold for 36.00 on 7/5.
Options Bistro 