#Earnings Selling a condor at its average move and close to a 1:1 risk/reward. Took awhile to get filled. Only selling a 2-lot as I like to limit my max loss to $500-600 on earnings spread trades.
Sold to open $ULTA 212.5/217.5/252.5/257.5 iron condors for 2.20. Biggest UP move: 17.9%, Biggest DOWN move: -6.1%, Average move: 6.9%. This trade is -6.7% and +8.3% OTM.
STO 9/29 SVXY 50 put at 1.00 in IRA.
More trades and expirations tomorrow and will update the VXX synthetic trade. Still hanging on to a lot of time value because the short call is ATM on SVXY. Was hoping to roll today but will wait until tomorrow.
See @fuzzballl comments below but I think we are on to something. If it closes same as right now tomorrow works out to 2.86% return in 1 week. Carried out 52 times a year that would be awesome, of course not every week will be a winner and there will be a lot of adjustments along the way but theoretically can double money every 6-8 months or so with very little risk. Debit was 16.06 and max risk to downside $1000 on 1 contact. Should be able to reduce cost basis $1-2 each week through call sales.
#ShortCalls #VXXGame – Just for good measure since I’ve got some decent size short volatility trades going…come and get this Mr. Market!
Adding one strike higher than yesterday…
Sold SVXY DEC 15 2017 102.5 Call @ 2.00
#LongPutDiagonals #SyntheticShortStock – Adding a position on VXX similar to the UVXY position. I’ll let ’em race each other down and see what works the best.
—————
Synthetic short stock with disaster long calls (16.60 debit)
Sold VXX JAN 18 2019 50.0 Calls
Bought VXX JAN 18 2019 50.0 Puts
Long call for possible disasters capping potential losses:
Bought VXX JAN 18 2019 55.0 Calls
Buying the disaster calls pretty close to help with margin requirements if she spikes…
—————
Weekly put sale against synthetic short stock to really boost the profits on this trade:
Sold VXX SEP 1 2017 46.0 Puts @ .60
—————
So now what? Two extremes examined here….
VXX goes to 100 and stays there:
I lose my 16.60 debit and an additional 5 dollars to the upside capped by the disaster calls. But…selling premium at 60 cents a week until Jan 2019 brings in 43.80 points so still a net gain of 22 points for the whole ordeal. Margin requirements for now are 7 points per spread. Not a bad return even in worse case scenario.
VXX does what it usually does:
So VXX eases it’s way down to 10 again. Synthetic stock makes 40 points and weekly premium sales at just a measly 60 cents brings in another 44 points for a gain of 84 points minus the 17 debit (rounding) works out to a 67 point winner.
I expect this one to be easier to manage since the VXX drop isn’t as severe as the amount UVXY can tank. Might actually work out better in the long run due to the weekly premium sales…
#Shortputs Morning All. Back from a very enjoyable hiatus with my daughter through the western side of Florida. I was assigned #SVXY at 85 back on Aug 11th. I covered it this morning @ 1.15. I’m still wrapping my head around my Aug 25th 80 and 75 Puts.
STC Sep 15 $35 call @ $4.00 (bought for $2.70 yesterday). Nice little kicker to my short puts. Likely could have held longer but that wasn’t my plan.
Nibbled when /ES firmed up. Small positions.
STO Sep 1 $50 calls @ $.52
STO Sep 1 $55 calls @ $.31
#Earnings Sold to Open $AVGO Aug 25th 245/240 put spreads for 1.20. Biggest UP move: 14.7%, Biggest DOWN move: -2.2%, Average move: 6.4%. This trade is -3.7% OTM.
I’m playing these two bullish even though NDX under pressure. Historical performances on ADSK and AVGO are very positive on earnings, and both of my trades are outside their 12-quarter/one-day negative max move.
UVXY #shortcalls
STC Aug 25 $32 call for $1.50, sold Tuesday for $1.98, closing ATM options if profitable. I fear a continuation of the downtrend in the market.
SVXY #shortcalls
STC Sept 15 $90 call for 0.30, bought Aug 21 for 0.18, small but steady in the right direction.
UVXY #shortcalls
BTC Sept 15 $35 calls for $2.65, sold Aug 10 for $10.65
#Earnings Sold to Open $ADSK Aug 25th 103 puts for 1.07. Biggest UP move: 14.7%, Biggest DOWN move: -6.4%, Average move: 5.0%. This trade is -7.1% OTM.
ROLLED
#shortputs
$SVXY 8/25 75 put to 9/15 for additional 3.60
SOLD
#shortcalls
$LABU STO 9/1 63 call and 62 call @ 1.50 and 1.60 (covered)
#shortputs
$AMZN STO 9/15 900/925 BUPS @ 2.45
#spxcampaign
$SPX STO 9/22 2305/2330 BUPS @ 1.60 Thank you @jeffcp66
$SPX STO 9/25 2525/2500 BECS @ 2.00 Thank you @jeffcp66
FOLD
SOLD Early $SPX 8/23 2405/2440 @ 66% profit. (Getting paranoid)
#spxcampaign
sto sep 22 put 2330/2305 @ 1.50
thanks jeff
$CMG #ShortPuts – Sold 1 CMG AUG 25 2017 290.0 Put @ 1.20 with the stock at 296.87. This expires Friday
#shortcallspreads BA
Sold 245/250 BeCS Oct. 20 for 1.51, TT follow
I wonder how many shorts there are in the VIX and how many longs there are in the SVXY.
#earningstrade
Closed Sept. 15 CRM 90/85 put spread for .44 sold yesterday for 1.02, thanks Jeff. I’d hang on for more, but the stock is barely up today around 93.50.
LOW, Sept. 15, closed the 80/85 call side of an IC for .06, sold for .66 yesterday, the 65/70 put side is close to even with the stock seemingly solidifying around 72.50.
$PETS #FallingKnife
STO $PETS Sept 15 $25 puts @ $.50
#VXXGame $SVXY Taking a cue from @optioniceman‘s move yesterday, rolling some ITM puts:
BTC SVXY Sept 1st 80 put for 5.35. Sold for 2.80 on July 27th.
BTC SVXY Sept 15th 77.5 put for 5.45. Sold for 3.70 on July 27th.
#Rolling both to: Sold to Open SVXY Oct 20th 68 puts for 5.55.
$CMG #ShortPuts – Sold 1 CMG AUG 25 2017 292.5 Put @ 1.20 with the stock at 300.16. This expires Friday
I want to free up margin in case yesterday was a head fake like Jeff said.
BTC
TRIP Sep.15, 35 puts @.10
MU Oct. 20, 28 puts @1.02
TSCO Oct. 20, 55 puts @1.40
TSCO Oct. 20, 50 puts @.37
ALXN Nov. 17, 70 puts @.09
ADI Sep. 15, 67.5 puts @.10
#ShortStrangles – New position selling well before next earnings. Strangling near the 200ma and above all time high.
Sold TSLA SEP 29 2017 300.0/400.0 Strangle @ 4.20
#ShortCalls – January positions look pretty safe so let’s take a small shot in Dec and give it something to shoot for. Gonna take a lot of work and repair to get back to all time highs and to exceed the trend line that’s stood the test of time as a guide to my call selling. Still some nice premium in these but going with a starter for now…
Sold 1 SVXY DEC 15 2017 100.0 Call @ 2.60
#SPXcampaign Sold to Open $SPX Sept 22nd 2330/2305 put spreads for 1.50, with SPX at 2445.
Anyone know a good ETF with weeklies and decent volume? XTN no options and IYT no weeklies. Anything else?
Taking Iceman’s trade from yesterday. Risky, since the stock is a lot closer to the strike today but any kind of move up in the next 2 days will deflate the premium quickly. If I’m wrong, I’ll roll out.
Sold $CMG Aug 25 295 puts @ 1.20.
On vacation but at home and market is giving some opportunities.
Rolled WDC this week cc at 84 and 85 to 9/8 for 0.25 credit rolling up to 85 and the others were rolled to 84 at 0.90-0.97. Cost basis now under strike, will probably let assignment happen in 2 weeks if we are still above and then restart put ladder.
Will update the VXX synthetic on Friday, so far so good……….
#ShortStrangles – Back into an old favorite…filled at the open but could do better now.
Sold REGN SEP 29 2017 430.0/530.0 Strangle @ 7.00
#Earnings Bought to close $CRM Aug 25th 90 puts for .10. Sold yesterday in the 90/85 put spread for 1.00. I will keep the longs as lottery tickets.
$UVXY #ShortCalls – mid week sales for this week’s expiration with the stock at 33.08.
Sold UVXY AUG 25 2017 46.5 Calls @ 0.25
Sold UVXY AUG 25 2017 47.0 Calls @ 0.24
Strikes are above the stock peak on 8/11 of 45.73
This could be an interesting day.
$DVN #ShortPuts #FallingKnife – Sold 1 DVN JAN 19 2018 26.0 Put @ 1.12 with the stock at 30.20.
The 1-year low is 28.79
$GWW #CoveredCalls – Sold GWW SEP 15 2017 175.0 Calls @ 0.45 with the stock at 163.94
$SVXY #CoveredCalls – after hours fills as the stock rises above the 79.18 HOD.
I’m done selling covered Calls for now.
— for this week —
Sold SVXY Aug 25 2017 81.5 Calls @ 0.38
Sold SVXY Aug 25 2017 82.0 Calls @ 0.52
— for next week —
Sold 1 SVXY Sep 1 2017 83.0 Call @ 1.17
Sold 1 SVXY Sep 1 2017 83.5 Call @ 1.02
Sold SVXY Sep 1 2017 84.0 Calls @ 0.80
Sold SVXY Sep 1 2017 84.5 Calls @ 0.70
did not want to roll this either had 10 days to go..
rolled call 2450/2475 from sept 1 to sept 29 2.95 credit total collected so far 6.55.
$SVXY #ShortPuts #IRA – I’m rolling more puts with big gains in them.
Bought to close SVXY Aug 25 2017 80.0 Puts/Sold SVXY Sep 8 2017 75.0 Puts @ 0.50 Credit
Originally sold at 11.42 on a rollout on Aug 11.
$SVXY #ShortPuts #IRA – echoing Jeff’s concerns about this being a head fake rally I’m rolling more of my ITM and near ITM puts with big gains in them.
Bought to close SVXY Aug 25 2017 79.0 Puts/Sold SVXY Sep 15 2017 69.0 Puts @ 0.20 Credit – a 10 point improvement.
Originally sold at 10.32 on another rolldown
#SPXcampaign Closed on GTC orders:
$SPX Aug 25th 2380/2355 put spreads for .20. Sold for 1.40 on July 27th.
$SPX Aug 28th 2385/2360 put spreads for .20. Sold yesterday as part of a #CondorRoll for 4.40 (the call side has gone above 7.50, however).
#SPXcampaign Is this a head-fake rally? Quite possibly. But that has not been the case in the last several volatility spikes. When the market starts going up strongly, it keeps going. So I’m forced to roll this second #ITMroll.
Closed $SPX Aug 25th 2450/2475 call spreads for 8.25. Sold for 16.25 on Aug 14th.
Rolled to Sep 1st 2460/2485 call spreads for 7.85.
Rolled up 10 points for only a minor debit. Will be looking for the direction tomorrow.
#VXXGame Closing some profitable short vol positions:
BTC $SVXY Sep 15th put for .41. Sold for 1.90 on Aug 10th
BTC $UVXY Sep 15th 68 call for .45. Sold for 4.70 on Aug 10th.
BTC $UVXY Sep 15th 91 call for .18. Sold for 1.85 on Aug 17th.
BTC $UVXY Sep 1st 68 call for .15. Sold for 1.50 on Aug 17th.
$M #CoveredCalls – Sold M AUG 25 2017 21.0 Calls @ 0.11. Not much premium but these expire in 3 days and I can do it again.
Or … I’ll accept assignment
#LongPutDiagonals – Impressive volatility collapse. Making an adjustment here.
Rolled UVXY SEP 1 2017 31.0 Puts to SEP 22 2017 29.0 Puts @ .96 credit
#ShortStrangles – Current position nicely profitable so adding one a couple weeks further out.
Sold NVDA SEP 29 2017 150.0/180.0 Strangle @ 4.65
$SVXY #ShortPuts #Rolldown – after a double dip below 70 last week I’m rolling down my highest strike puts for this week.
Bought to close SVXY Aug 25 2017 79.0 Puts/Sold SVXY Sep 15 2017 74.0 Puts @ 1.10 Credit.
With the extra income from the roll I’ve lowered my breakeven 6 points.
These 79’s were rolled down from Aug 11 81’s on 8/11 for a credit and were sold at 7.37.
So far, rolling SVXY puts is working because of the big forward premium.
Following Iceman’s lead and thinning out short calls at some of the lowest strikes I have in some of these expiration cycles. All nicely profitable.
Bought to close:
$UVXY Sep 22 64 calls @ 1.10. Sold for 4.95 and 6.00 on 8/10.
$UVXY Sep 22 55 calls @ 1.38. Sold for 3.13 on 8/9.
$UVXY Sep 15 68 calls @ .46. Sold for 2.85 and 4.10 on 8/10.
$UVXY Sep 15 65 calls @ .54. Sold for 2.27 on 8/9.
#earningstrade LOW
Sept. 15 IC 65/70/75/80 for 1.04
$SVXY #CoveredCalls – Adding to my trades from this morning with the stock nearing 79
Sold SVXY Sep 1 2017 83.5 Calls @ 0.90
Sold SVXY Sep 1 2017 84.0 Calls @ 0.70
Sold SVXY Sep 1 2017 84.5 Calls @ 0.60
$UVXY #ShortCalls #ClassicVXXGame – on 08/09/2017 I sold the first of several UVXY Mar 16 2018 60.0 Calls @ 10.10.
I’ve covered the first of those at 8.50, since I was also able to sell Mar 82 Calls and Mar 91 Calls for more than 8.50.
I’ll try to cover another one a point lower.
$SVXY #CoveredCalls – Adding to my trades from this morning with the stock nearing 78
Sold SVXY Sep 1 2017 83.5 Calls @ 0.70
Sold SVXY Sep 1 2017 84.0 Calls @ 0.60
$SVXY #CoveredCalls – Adding to my trades from this morning with the stock peeking above 77
Sold SVXY Aug 25 2017 81.0 Calls @ 0.37
Sold SVXY Aug 25 2017 82 Calls @ 0.21
Sold SVXY Sep 1 2017 83.0 Calls @ 0.80
UVXY #shortcalls #longput
Took a flyer selling $32 call and buying $32 put for 0.60 credit, expires Friday so if no downward movement let’s just stay about $32.
edit credit value.
#Earnings Sold to open $CRM Aug 25th 90/85 put spreads for 1.00. Bullish trade due to historical perfomance and current trend.
Biggest UP move: 11.7%, Biggest DOWN move: -4.5%, Average move: 5.0%. This trade is -2.4% OTM.
sto call, sept 22, 2505/2530 @ 1.90
I did the same with my December 65 short calls. BTC At 5.95 where I sold them and sold the December 91 calls @4.40,picking up a better strike price.
Gartman says he is uneasy being short.
BTC January 2018, 65 call @ 6.95 for the same price I sold them at and, STO January 91 calls @5.35 picking up 26 points in the strike price.
$SVXY #CoveredCalls – sold some to replace the ones that expired last week.
Sold SVXY Aug 25 2017 81.0 Calls @ 0.26
Sold SVXY Aug 25 2017 81.5 Calls @ 0.26
Sold SVXY Sep 1 2017 83.0 Calls @ 0.70
Sold SVXY Sep 1 2017 83.5 Calls @ 0.60
After I win the powerball I will take a vacation from trading unless I get bored.
#CoveredCalls – This roll puts the position back in the green…
Rolled ISRG SEP 1 2017 900.0 Call to SEP 22 2017 902.5 Call @ .65 credit.
Planning 2 more rolls on it. Next one will be into first or second week of October just prior to earnings. Then the final roll will be into earnings for a nice credit. I’ll keep the strike well in the money for downside protection and gather up some premium and then ship it!
#ModifiedVXXGame – Last week sold some 11/13 VXX call spreads for a buck. Sold them in a size where after the split they’ll be one tenth of a full position. Didn’t quite make it back to profitability so closed the long 13 calls on Friday and accepted the short assignment at a basis of 12.30
Then:
Sold VXX AUG 25 2017 12.0 Puts @ .13
I’ll be shorting the stock or selling aggressive call spreads to establish a short position after the split. Working towards a long term short position with protective calls to match up with a similar trade on UVXY.
Just a few thoughts. Since the high on August 8, we have retreated a bit more than 20% from the high. It seems to me that if we ever got a real correction or panic in this market, we could see this ETF down in the 20 to 25 range. I am not predicting but looking over my shoulder.
#LongCallDiagonals – Lots of overhead resistance. Rolling down this week for additional credit.
Rolled AMZN AUG 25 2017 975.0 Call to AUG 25 2017 957.5 Call @ 3.60 credit.
Total credit on this one now up to 13.50
Taking this off for 55% of the potential profit:
Bought to close $PYPL 9/15 55/62.50 strangles @ .60. Sold for 1.33 on 8/2.
Took advantage of some strength today to exit the last of my UVXY call spreads.
BTC Sep 1 $35/$36 Call Spreads for even
BTC Aug 25 $30/$35 Call Spreads for $400 loss, was only short a couple and loss was manageable.
I “hoped” that we’d see a nice rebound this morning and I’d be able to exit these for even better prices. I just don’t trust the market right now, don’t like that it just can’t rally. I put on the spreads as a defined risk way of playing the decay of $UVXY, and it worked just as expected limiting the impact on the account during a spike. What is different this time was the 2nd spike very close to the first one, and now it would appear that everyone is timid and the market is just not able to rally. Volatility is remaining somewhat elevated for a longer period of time causing these positions to be problematic. When these stay in the money and get near expiration, theta is really working against you and to roll as a vertical for a credit you have to make the spread incredibly wide, so I just cleared out of these.
I am getting nervous about this market so, BTC December 70 puts @2.48, Sold @ 4.60
$FLR #ShortPuts – Sold FLR(Weekly) Sep 29 2017 35.0 Puts @ 0.60 with the stock at 37.14
$HES #ShortPuts – with the stock at 37.94
Sold HES(Weekly) Aug 25 2017 36.5 Puts @ 0.25
Sold HES(Weekly) Sep 22 2017 34.0 Puts @ 0.53
$CMG #ShortPuts – Sold CMG(Weekly) Aug 25 2017 295.0 Puts @ 1.20 with the stock at 308.48
Options Bistro 