#shortcallspreads TSLA
Sold Feb. 16 380/390 for 1.85, stock at 351, earnings Feb. 20
Monthly Archives: January 2018
SVXY
#SyntheticStock – Weekly sales…
Bought to Close SVXY JAN 26 2018 139.0 Calls @ .10 (sold for 1.85)
Sold SVXY FEB 2 2018 136.0 Calls @ 1.40
NUGT
#SyntheticShortStock – Selling cautiously against the short. Getting close to adding to it…
Bought to Close NUGT FEB 2 2018 28.0 Puts @ .05 (sold for .55)
Sold NUGT FEB 9 2018 32.5 Puts @ .45
SPX puts sold
#SPXcampaign I have tried since Monday to sell my normal 5-week put spread, but keep missing a fill on the lows, only to see us ratchet higher. Finally just forced a fill. I don’t blame the market. Who wants to be on the other side of being long this market?
Sold $SPX Feb 23rd 2735/2710 put spreads for 1.60.
STO LNG Feb 2 55/53…
STO LNG Feb 2 55/53 BuPS .16 #Bitty
STO IP Feb 2 67…
STO IP Feb 2 67 .30 #Hedge
SVXY Feb
Following @optioniceman from yesterday.
Sold $SVXY Feb 16 98 put @ 1.10.
UAL puts
On the 10% move down, sold $UAL Sep 21 50 puts @ 1.10
FFIV earnings
#Earnings Sold $FFIV Jan 26th 130/155 strangles for 1.60.
Biggest UP move: 9.6%, Biggest DOWN move: -10.0% , Average move: 6.0%.
Expected move: 8.90
My strikes are +/- 8.8% OTM
NUGT calls
Sold at the highest strikes:
$NUGT Jun 15 54 call @ 2.60
$NUGT Sep 21 49 call @ 5.00
$NUGT Jan 18 2019 65 call @ 5.00
Per the prof. these are…
Per the prof. these are the points for trading SPX BuPS 100 points difference
Trade 4 weeks out
Sell BuPS on the SPX
The short put is around a delta 12
The long put is around a delta 5
Usually time trades with a 5 minute ES chart and PP’s (pivot points)
It is a known fact that the ES on normal days, moves up or down 2 PP’s
On the low, enter a trade
At the high, exit trades
Usually exit the short sides on 60-80% profit
If you have the margin, you can roll the short to the next Delta-12 in the same week
If not, exit the short for your profit
you can either sell the long back or let it expire
Then trade the next 4 week BuPS
Repeat the same strategy
Usually the BuPS can be exited within 2-3 weeks
Maximum loss SHOULD be $500
#spycraft Since the market only…
Since the market only goes up now, sold a 35 DTE 2675 put for 4.65. No short the 2675 and 2615 puts for 35 DTE after closing the call side of the strangle yesterday. Easier to defend in 1 direction as well.
Airlines
#FallingKnife possibilities tonight. I think the UAL conference call mentioned a slight increase in capacity and everything sold off after hours…
AAL UAL LUV DAL all down…
FWIW
Jan 23 #Fuzzy Land 45…
Jan 23 #Fuzzy Land
45 order fills for me today, whew! A lot of it was NFLX defense on a diagonal, managing deltas back and forth to orchestrate a nice landing (I hope!). It’s ok if you think I’m nuts. Last week I was contracting my holdings, reeling in profits for protection. But I got lured back in this week. So now I’d like to once again pare down a little as the week progresses. 80% of my trades now are some kind of Fuzzy. Unhedged Fuzzies for runners, straight up Hedged Fuzzies for consolidations (hedges are still getting steamrolled), Fuzzies for momo, Fuzzies for pullbacks, Fuzzies for pre-earnings run ups, Gorilla Fuzzies (unhedged) waiting for their moves.
1. New Hedged Fuzzy on AMTD Mar2 57.5/57.5/55.5 @1.14 with Feb 2 58 hedge for -.62 I used the Mar2 expiration to get 2.5-wide strikes.
2. BABA Earnings run-up Fuzzy was closed for 40% profit, then re-entered again when I saw a lot of bullish option activity. New fuzzy, which must be closed BEFORE the report is Feb2 192.5/192.5/190 @4.70, 40% target for profit. These pre-earnings fuzzies are unhedged. @MamaCash is due total credit for earnings run up trades, and figuring out that Fuzzies worked better than long calls is all due her.
3. MSFT Earnings run up fuzzy closed for 40%, this is the one I opened yesterday based on UOA, but since it hit 40% so quickly I took the profit.
4. Here’s a loser Fuzzy: HTHT was really running yesterday so I put on a momo fuzzy, Feb 160/160/155, only a 3-lot, but it quickly lost 70% today before I cut it loose. About a $1600 loss.
5. IBM new fuzzy Mar2 162.5/162.5/160 @3.21 with Feb2 167.5 hedge @.74, thanks to @Kathy1111 for finding the turn around today on IBM.
6. VZ new fuzzy Mar 52.5/52.5/50 for 1.54 with Feb2 54 hedge @.47, UOA on this, buyers came looking for the 52.5 calls this morning.
7. Closed all the 4-lot SPY unhedged fuzzies for a net $1225 profit. Was ready to just sit for a bit until I saw some big SPY buyers come into the market with a Feb 286+ target (look at that volume today, 265,000, they were actually buying 286/291 bull call spreads). So new Unhedged (for now) SPY Fuzzies Feb 282/282/279 @2.40 x 5 lots
8. IWM Fuzzies….hedges got run over today, so I closed just half of the hedge, which eliminates the ceiling for it to run, but leaves just a little hedge protection still on.
9. EA Earnings run up Fuzzy Feb2 117/117/115 @2.75, 40% target
10. FLIR–This is both Gorilla and Earnings Run up. Feb 50/50/48 @1.77. 40% target.
Hedges to manage for this week: AXP, DIS, EXAS (ITM after a nice move today), IWM, JPM, MU. There’s some really nice profits here that haven’t been obliterated for once, but there’s lots of time left in the week.
$SPX SPXCanpaign Opened two additional…
$SPX SPXCanpaign Opened two additional spreads today. Filled while I was away.
Sold to open SPX Feb 02 2750/2730 for 0.65 credit when SPX was at 2837.05.
Sold to open SPX Feb 09 2730/2710 for 0.80 credit when SPX was at 2836.93
SAGE
Another big #Squeeze setting up. Kinda scary though with the move it’s already had but looks like it wants to go up…
MAT
@Iceman – Nice catch on this one!
NUGT and SVXY
#ContangoETFs #VXXGame Following @optioniceman in spirit:
Sold $NUGT Jan 2019 50 call for 5.95, adding to my position.
Sold $SVXY Feb 16th 120/100 put spread for 2.15. Margin cost to sell naked is too steep.
BTC SPX 23 FEB 18…
BTC SPX 23 FEB 18 2635/2535 BuPS @1.45 sold on 1/10/2018 @ 5.00
BTC SPX 23 FEB 18…
BTC SPX 23 FEB 18 2630/2530 BuPS @1.40 sold 1/10/2018 @ 5.00
BTC SPX 23 FEB 18…
BTC SPX 23 FEB 18 2650/2550 BuPS @1.65 sold on 1/19/2018 @5.00
#spycraft BTC the 36DTE 2910…
BTC the 36DTE 2910 call on the strangle for 7. Sold for 2 so total loss on that half is $102. Total on the strangle was $400 so can still make close to 300 on the put side.
This stupid market just won’t stop, annoying really 😦
I would have left it, but have you ever had one of those days where everything on your screen is red!? I just need the SPX to not go up anymore, GILD to go back down, SWKS to go up, and WDC to pull back a little. Every stinking one of them is going the wrong way, so I really did this to keep from getting a margin call. I can recover the other 3 now.
The other issue is my theta is high but because everything is in the wrong direction it is not making a difference, at least I flattened the deltas buying back the /es call.
One of the best TT episodes was titled “I am not greedy, I just want it faster”. I think that was when they discovered 45 DTE is best decay rate for OTM options. That’s how I feel this week, huge decay but not doing me any good because they are all ITM now.
I think time to close everything out at break even or a slight profit and reload 🙂
VXX call
#VXXGame #LongPutDiagonals #SyntheticShortStock
Sold $VXX Feb 2nd 26 call for 1.35.
With VXX perpetually headed to zero, I am selling short-term puts AND calls against my Jan 2019 long 25 puts.
AMZN
#SyntheticStock – This trade makes me a little queasy thinking about how much the weekly sale has cost me…LOL. The synthetic originally started at 1000 and has been blocked ever since after a few initial call sales. Rolling up again to keep some long deltas but leave a lot of downside room. Should make weeklies easier to roll up IF the stock ever quits going up.
Rolled Jun 2019 1150/1150 synthetic up to 1250/1250
Rolled Jun 2019 760 disaster put to 810
Rolled Feb 1110 short call to Feb 1210 short call
Whole package cost 1.63 debit but gets the position sitting a little better for rolling…
UNP
Bearish UOA alert…I see lots of calls being thrown around in March. Not sure what’s going on.
STO MYGN Feb 45 .70…
STO MYGN Feb 45 .70 #Hedge
GS
#SyntheticStock – He’s got me convinced…LOL. Staying small so not a lot of risk.
Sold GS JAN 18 2019 260.0 Puts @ 22.50
Bought GS JAN 18 2019 260.0 Calls @ 25.35
Bought GS JAN 18 2019 250.0 Puts @ 18.08
This gives a net debit of 20.93 for the Jan 2019 position. Add the 10.00 point max downside and get a max loss possibility of 30.93. Based on that, and the 51 weeks remaining in the trade I only need to average about 61 cents per week in sales to cover the absolute worst case scenario.
Giving it a lot of breathing room in the beginning until I see how the squeeze plays out:
Sold GS FEB 16 2018 275.0 Calls @ .95
JPM GS
Whiz still big time bullish on banks and still telling people to get in JPM. GS in a pretty tight squeeze here. Maybe take a small shot? JPM just looks too extended…
SVXY
#SyntheticStock #IRA – Posted the details last week with all the nuts and bolts. Adding 1 for fun…
Bought Jan 2019 SVXY 135/135/132.5 Synthetic Stock / Disaster Put @ 38.35
About 80 cents a week to cover worse case scenario…
Sold SVXY FEB 2 2018 138.0 Call @ 1.80
LH
BTC February 16, 135 puts @.05, sold @ 1.15
UVXY
#BearCallSpreads #IRA – Closing some more that are using a lot of margin without much profit left to make.
Bought to Close UVXY JAN 18 2019 45.0/55.0 Bear Call Spreads @ .33 (sold for 1.32)
Bought to Close UVXY JAN 18 2019 60.0/75.0 Bear Call Spreads @ .32 (sold for 1.73)
#Pietrades Somewhat volatile, but works…
#Pietrades Somewhat volatile, but works for me. NKTR
Rolling XBI
Rolled puts from my Feb 16 strangle up to 94 to go inverted (with 91 calls) for 1.02 credit.
Total premium taken in so far: 3.88, keeping me at a profit if XBI finishes between the strikes.
XBI, NFLX
#Fuzzy – I REALLY wanted to ride this one for awhile but it has shot to the moon so I sold my XBI Jun’18 88/88/83 Fuzzy for 9.60. Also BTC XBI Jan26’18 90 calls for 5.60. After all said and done made 1.78 on 10 contracts. I will go back into this one on a pullback (hopefully?)
Also I did a couple of 59 minute trades on $NFLX this morning, bought some puts then sold em all within about a 30 minute period, made 1.97 combined on both those. My track record on these type trades is not good at all so I’m thankful for the green!
SVXY
In my IRA, sold to open January 2019, 60 puts @8.90
BTO LNG Feb 16 57/57/55…
BTO LNG Feb 16 57/57/55 1.22 not hedged at this time #FUZZY
SPX puts sold
#SPXcampaign Sold $SPX Feb 2nd 2830/2805 put spreads for 6.75.
STO KSS Feb 2 65/63…
STO KSS Feb 2 65/63 .26 #Bitty
Rolled MU Feb 2 44.5…
REGN
#SyntheticStock -Got a little cash to put to work now and this one is finally starting to perk up. Not the strikes I would normally use but since it’s an add to an existing position I’ll use the same ones but getting in for about 3 dollars less.
Bought REGN Jan 2020 400/400/390 Synthetic Stock / Disaster Put @ 66.25
Sold REGN FEB 2 2018 395.0 Call @ 2.50
Posted all the details in the original trade but about 90 cents a week to cover worse case scenario.
Earnings Prayer FCX / Long Calls XLE / Short Puts DVN
#longcalls
$FCX BTO 2/2 19 call at .88 Earnings on Thursday – downgrade today.
$XLE BTO 3/15 77 call at 2.30
#shortputs
$DVN STO 2/16
SPX calls stopped
#SPXcampaign Flubbed this one up… too distracted by earnings trades to get long at the bottom this morning, now I’m chasing.
Closed $SPX Feb 23rd 2900/2925 call spreads for 3.90. Sold for 1.60 yesterday. I have no more call spreads.
I want to sell put spreads and buy call spreads, but hate doing it at all-time-highs.
#fallingknife #shortputs SIG On Nov….
#fallingknife #shortputs SIG
On Nov. 24, sold an April 40 put for 2.39, following Iceman, closed today for .70.
NFLX mgt
#Earnings Closed last $NFLX Jan 26th 250 call for 5.65.
Sold Feb 16th 240 put for 3.30. I will sell a few more puts over the next week or two.
Closed these to free up margin:
Jan 26th 200 put for .02
Jan 26th 205 put for .03
$SPX SPXCampaign Sold Feb 16th…
$SPX SPXCampaign Sold Feb 16th 2730/2710 BuPS @ 1.10. Used weekly by accident instead of the monthly.
WYNN so long old friend
#PerpetualRollingStrangles – Well…it’s with a heavy heart I bid farewell (for now) to an old friend. Been in the starting lineup for about 15 months. Just a little ‘ol 3 lot strangle that’s been rolled around and rolled around plugging away day after day. Reversed it into a bull put spread and now with the big run up I’m booking the whole thing.
Great trade on the reverse roll but not so hot on selling the calls above it yesterday. Still a nice winner…
Bought to Close WYNN FEB 16 2018 200.0/170.0 Bull Put Spreads @ 5.81 (sold for 16.70)
Bought to Close WYNN JAN 26 2018 195.0 Calls @ 5.75 (sold for 1.00)
Net gain of 6.14 on this 5 lot. The (very good) news is the total profit this ticker has generated since the beginning. Averaging a 3 lot the entire time premium received was just north of 40 points carrying about 5k margin during the run.
RIP WYNN (for now)
Short Calls EXAS Short Puts NKTR
#shortcalls
$EXAS STO 2/9 50 calls at 1.87 These are covered. Put to me last week
#shortputs
$NKTR STO 2/16 75 puts at 4.20 Backing in to position is the goal, but I cannot chew gum and walk forward at the same time. We shall see.
$SVXY #shortputs Sold Feb 2…
$SVXY #shortputs Sold Feb 2 120 Put @ 1.26. Stepping lightly.
NFLX earnings
#Earnings – Going aggressive here. Premiums are nice in this thing so wouldn’t mind rolling it into synthetic stock if I have to. For now going inverted on the earnings strangles. Closing the original put sales also. Definitely early if the stock stays weak the next 3 days but plenty of premium to work with…as I’m typing it’s selling off so not a great adjustment yet. LOL
Bought to Close NFLX JAN 26 2018 200.0 Put @ .05 (sold for 1.68)
Bought to Close NFLX JAN 26 2018 202.5 Put @ .05 (sold for 2.13)
Bought to Close NFLX JAN 26 2018 205.0 Put @ .03 (sold for 2.69)
I’ll roll all those into the basis of the new strangles.
Sold NFLX JAN 26 2018 260.0 Puts @ 9.00
Now 260/252.5 inverted @ 11.05 breakeven 249 to 263.50
FB covered call campaign
#CoveredCalls #CoveredCallCampaign
Closed $FB Jan 26th 180 put for .12. Sold on last week’s dip for 3.55. After getting crushed on my last covered call, I made up most of the loss by selling this put on the news-driven drop. Now I will wait until earnings on the 31st and sell strangles.
BTO IP April 20 62.5/62.5/60…
TLT
#PerpetualRollingStrangles – Using this pullback to get out of a few of my short calls that have been DITM for quite awhile. I’ve got my July #FuzzyBear to help protect to the downside now…
Bought to Close TLT FEB 16 2018 123.0 Calls @ 1.70 (sold for 2.45)
NFLX calls
Sold $NFLX Jan 26 260 calls @ 1.72
NFLX earnings
#Earnings #ShortStrangles
Closed one of my $NFLX Jan 26th 250 calls for 5.05. Letting the other one ride. Sold strangles yesterday for about 3.00.
Good Morning, warm and sunny…
Good Morning, warm and sunny here in So Florida
Jan 22 #PieTrades LMT is…
Jan 22 #PieTrades
LMT is one of my all time favorite tickers. I feel like I’ve been a grimy street urchin staring in the the window of a sweet shop as I missed the last LMT swing, and also w/ earnings next week, been covering my eyes on it. But, today gave a great opp for my first Pie Trades! Sold this week 327 puts for .90 x 8.
Boatloads of #Fuzzy trades
1. Closed all the “twisted fuzzy” trades for small gains/losses (less than $100 per)
2 Opened new unhedged fuzzies on SPY, Feb 282/282/279 for 1.93 (only 4-lots)
3. I’ve mentioned the “Gorilla Trades” service before. Pretty great service. Their picks are very often best played with shares vs. options (monthlies, thin). But I’m tired of getting left behind on the myriad of explosive moves in their portfolio. So I’m using unhedged fuzzies, small lot, to create a shotgun approach in building a Gorilla portfolio. On Friday I put on a 3-lot unhedged fuzzy on Gorilla pick INGN, it was closed today for 357% gain. Additional openings today: BAH, MYGN, IP.
4. Unhedged fuzzy on MSFT from Friday was closed for 40% gain, then placed again immediately after seeing #UOA on it. I now have Apr 90/90/85 for 2.45 x 10.
NFLX Booming AH
Looks like our trades for NFLX earnings might be fine.
Lets hope gravity does not exhibit its charm anytime soon.
SPX trades
Closed $SPX Jan 26th 2790/2765 put spreads for 1.20. Sold for 8.20 last Tuesday.
Closed on GTC order: Feb 2nd 2660/2635 put spreads for .20. Sold for 1.55 on Jan 5th.
Stopped Feb 15th 2890/2915 put spreads for 3.05, sold for 1.50 last Wednesday. Will look to roll tomorrow
Expiration
#optionsexpiration
$SPX 2755/2780 BUPS Thank you @jeffcp66 Sold for 2.20 on 1/18
NFLX earnings
#Earnings Added a Jan 26th 205 put for 1.19 before the bell. Was waiting for a bit more pullback but it went the wrong way. So I have two strangles…
200/250
205/250
SPX Campaign / Short Puts CMG FB / Long Calls PETS CMG
#spxcampaign
$SPX STO 2/7 2765/2790 BUPS @ 3.55
$SPX STO 2/23 2925/2900 BECS @ 1.80 Thank you @jeffcp66
#shortputs
$FB STO 2/16 165/175 BUPS @ 1.55
$CMG STO 2/16 315/325 BUPS @ 3.80
#longcalls
$CMG BTO 2/16 340/350 BUCS @ 4.69
$PETS BTO 2/16 45/55 BUCS @ 4.70 Inspired by @honkhonk81
AGN
#SyntheticStock – Booking this one also. Caught it right at the squeeze and we’re in day 9 now so gotta be close to a rest (or maybe phase 2 ? ) Just crossed into negative deltas so outta here. I’ll get back in on a pullback or sell something for earnings.
Sold to Close Jan 2019 175/175/170 synthetic
Bought to Close Jan 26 2018 182.5 calls @ 5.30
Net credit including weekly sales (only one sale…LOL) of 20.25 with initial cost of 16.64 for a 3.61 winner.
Anyone knows when UVXY consolidate?
Anyone knows when UVXY consolidate?
NFLX
#Earnings #ShortStrangles – Up 44 percent of max already. Let it ride? 🙂
KR
#SyntheticStock – Just got a UOA bearish alert on KR. Was debating about booking it anyway after this nice run so went ahead and closed it. Of course it’ll now be free to run on to glory…LOL
Sold to Close July 28/28/26 synthetic
Bought to close Feb 9 30.5 calls
Net credit plus weekly premium received totals 2.47 with an entry of 1.87. 60 cents on a decent size position. Quick little trade and on down the road. 🙂 🙂
ADSK
#SyntheticStock – Had two of these going. One as a repair trade and one as a new trade.
Strikes were:
Jan 2019 105/105/100 and Mar 2 111 calls
Jan 2019 115/115/110 and Feb 2 116 calls
With the stock looking a little stronger I rolled all of the lower strike positions up to match the higher strikes in all positions. Did the whole bundle for a 2.85 credit. Much easier to track and trade now and brought in a little cash as well.
#pietrades #coveredcalls #shortputs EXAS Dec….
#pietrades #coveredcalls #shortputs EXAS
Dec. 14 I sold a Jan. 19, 48 put for 1.70. Looked good until Friday afternoon, was assigned. Sold a Jan. 26, 48 call for 1.30, cost basis of 45.. If I wouldn’t have spent the morning in a dental chair I would have done a little better on the call.
#pietrades Others to add, SSO…
Others to add, SSO and UPRO
If and when we ever get a full on reversal, we can then switch to selling puts on the inverse ETFs such as DOG, SQQQ, SDS. I looked at some of the others but these seemed to have the best premiums, weeklies, and tighter bid-ask spreads. I am sure there are others I may have missed.
HRL
BTC 2 months early, March 27.5 puts @.05, sold @ .60
SPX reverse roll
#SPXcampaign Well, it already looks like the possibility for consolidation is a bust. It seems the higher we go with little rest and no correction means the eventual reckoning will be all the more devastating. But until it happens, we ride the rocket ship to the sky.
Closed $SPX Feb 9th 2875/2900 call spreads for 2.75. Sold on Friday for 1.55.
#ReverseRoll Selling the Feb 7th 2790/2765 put spreads. Asking 3.90, which I will get with any slight pullback. If not, I’ll sell it for less.
Unfortunately I have no long call spreads going. Since the Upside Warning is not in effect, it’s tougher to have firm conviction of follow through, so I don’t want to buy at fresh highs.
AMZN rolling covered call
Rolled $AMZN Feb 16 1290 call up and out to Apr 20 1320 call for 9.00 credit. Total credit taken in with rolls so far: 23.65.
STO LNG Jan 26 54/53…
STO LNG Jan 26 54/53 BuPS .15 #Bitty
SVXY
STO June 75 put at 5.45 on 1 contract.
#covercalls $NUGT Sell Feb 02…
#covercalls $NUGT
Sell Feb 02 $35 calls for $0.75. According to my back of envelope calculations if I entered a buy write at that moment it would yield 8% for 2 weeks – too god to be true. My original cost in stock is $38, so continuing to sell options to work down that basis.
SPX calls stopped
#SPXcampaign Closed $SPX Jan 26th 2820/2845 call spreads for 9.20. Sold last Wednesday for 4.25. My plan was to get out around 8.00, but this morning’s price action blew right past that. I feel it’s more likely I’m closing at a short term top, but can’t risk it. With recent action, we could end today at 2830 easily. Good news is I sold the 2790/2765 put spreads for 8.20 and they’re currently trading at 2.00.
Options Bistro 