Lowest VIX reading since the correction and on track to have Downside Warning canceled today…. UNLESS, we get another round of selling, which might spike VIX right back above 18. 2 hours to go…
Monthly Archives: February 2018
$VIX and /VX are within…
$VIX and /VX are within pennies. We’ll see what happens with the Fed minutes. As long as the market doesn’t freak out, could be in contango very soon.
#pietrade SMH STO the 9…
SMH STO the 9 DTE 103 put at 0.89, 3 contracts so $261 credit.
Trying to collect 900 a week on 3 contracts with 3-4 names. Staying close in the 750-800 range.
SLB
#Fuzzy – BTC SLB Feb23’18 68.5 calls for 0.04, sold on Friday for 0.21. Gonna wait and see how the market reacts to the Fed minutes before selling calls for next week.
Have been tweaking my charts…
Have been tweaking my charts a little to better pick up the reversal points.
The SMI trigger was giving too many signals and too many false signals. Went back to percent r with a setting of 55 based on a netpicks reversal system. Picks up the extremes a little better.
Not quite as good as @fibwizard and still not trading fully directionally but this may help me sell options more accurately at the pivot points.
Any feed back or additional thoughts appreciated.
SVXY
I was exercised over the weekend and last night on a few…
Jun 2018 120 puts (part of 120/105 reverse roll…basis 24.85)
Jan 2019 45 puts (basis 41.52)
Jan 2019 135 puts (part of synthetic with 132 disaster puts….basis 48.55)
$MU #ShortPuts #PIE Trade Sold…
$MU #ShortPuts #PIE Trade Sold to open 1 Feb 23rd 45 Put for 0.50. MU has earnings on 3/22 After market close at 4:30 EST. I will take assignment here and sell calls until the 16th and either be called away or sell the stock before earnings. If not assigned sell another Put.
$SPX Morning all. #SPXcampaign Closed…
$SPX Morning all. #SPXcampaign Closed my Feb 23rd 2840/2860 BeCS for 0.05. Amazing how long that took. This was the cheap side of the IC so not much profit from the 0.40 premium taken in. Hey, buys a beer to drown my sorrows from the stopped out BuPS side.
BABA
I rolled my Feb. 23 190 calls out to March 9, 195 calls for a credit of .34 cents. This is part of a 2019 Fuzzy.
Good morning
I am still getting assignments. Today I was assigned the January 2019, 40 puts.It is reducing my average cost to below $50 so if we can get a stable market I have a chance of breaking even some day.
SPX Campaign / WYNN Strangle /Closed Early NFLX
#spxcampaign
$SPX STO 3/23 2500/2525 BUPS at 1.60 Thank you @jeffcp66
#shortstrangles
$WYNN STO 2/23 160/170 strangle at 1.60 Thank you @honkhonk81
#coveredcalls
$ETE STO 2/23 17 call at .30
$DVN STO 3/2 35 call at .81
Closed Early
$NFLX BTC 3/16 230/240 BUPS @ .40 STO 2/5 for 2.15
$NFLX BTC 3/16 220/235 BUPS @ .40 STO 2/13 for 2.06
XBI
#Fuzzy – I’ve got a LOT going on this week so didn’t even get to watch any of the action today, but I did BTC XBI Feb23’18 95 calls for 0.05, sold for 0.40. Waiting to sell calls for next week…
SPX Did we have any…
SPX
Did we have any news that caused the SPX to drop?
SPX puts closed
#SPXcampaign Heartbreaking… these were trading for 1.50 a couple hours ago… but had to step away and I lost them.
Closed $SPX Feb 20th 2725 puts for 14.60. Sold in the 2700/2725/2765/2790 condor on Friday.
I will get some credit back by selling the 2700 long puts…
VXX
#LongPuts – It’s bouncing so selling my first hedge to begin covering the cost of the long puts. Using a spread just for margin reduction….
Sold VXX MAR 9 2018 38.0/33.0 Bull Put Spreads @ .62
XOM
#SyntheticStock – Different oil stock in a different account. Taking this one way out in time with same size as SLB.
Bought Jan 2020 75/75/72.5 Synthetic Stock @ 7.05 debit
9.55 max loss with 99 weeks to run so .10 per week to cover.
Order in but not filled to sell the hedge for next week…
#shortputspread ANET Sold April 220/230…
#shortputspread ANET
Sold April 220/230 for 2.22
TQQQ fuzzy
I put the trade on for 28.90 and took it off for 30.60 so a small profit.
STC 165 put
BTC 165 call
STC 170 call
BTC 155 put
Trying some short term long puts on VXX
Not adding to short UVXY calls for now. Instead I want to try buying some short term puts on VXX and give it about 3 trading weeks to come in some more. Bought $VXX Mar 9 40 puts @ 1.57.
SPX
STO 2 Mar 02 2650/2550 BUPS, at 7.70 credit, earlier this morning at the 10am Lows..
SJM
BTC April 20, 85 puts @.10, sold @ 1.25
I am slowly covering my naked put positions at .10 or better to free up more margin and waiting for a further decline.
Covered Calls
#CoveredCalls #CoveredCallCampaign
Sold $AAPL March 16th 180 call for 1.70
Sold $AAPL March 9th 170 put for 1.72
Closed on GTC order: $VRTX March 2nd 177.5 covered call for .15. Sold for 1.75 on Feb 6th.
Sold VRTX March 23rd 177.5 call for 1.60
XLV & UPS
Rolled UPS Feb 23 111 Call to Mar 2 109 .48
Rolled XLV Feb 23 87.5 Call to mar 2 87 .25
#Hedge for additional credits
#shortputs SVXY Sold March 9,…
#shortputs SVXY
Sold March 9, 12 put for .74. TDA still requiring $1200 for margin. To compare, I am short a March 67.50 put in UAL, margin is $1577, UAL is at 66.49
#pietrade STO FAS 3 DTE…
STO FAS 3 DTE 69 CC for 68.4. Anyone following this trade really work the order the MM being greedy.
3 contracts, $180 max profit for 3 days or 45% annualized ROI without margin.
Lately with these I am finding better to let be called out and then reset each week. If you roll the option lose a little on the bid-ask spread if ITM. If OTM or ATM roll it to bring in more cash.
$BAC Sold the Mar 2nd…
$BAC Sold the Mar 2nd 31 Put at 0.21. Not such a great fill.
WMT
#ShortPuts – Thanks guys! I’d go synthetic down here. Selling half size puts now and if it gets there I’ll roll to synthetic. If it doesn’t get there then still make a little.
Sold WMT APR 20 2018 85.0 Puts @ .84
SPX puts sold
#SPXcampaign Sold to Open $SPX March 23rd 2525/2500 put spreads for 1.70.
$BAC #PIE Trade Morning all….
SPX
#RocketManHedge – Still leaving plenty of downside room…core position is a May 2640 long put…
Bought to Close SPX FEB 23 2018 2575.0 Put @ 1.40 (sold for 7.25)
Sold SPX MAR 2 2018 2640.0 Put @ 11.40
CELG
STO June 115 covered calls @ 1.32
CTRP
#SyntheticStock – Could be interesting with earnings this week…
Bought Jan 2019 47/47/45 Synthetic @ 5.50
Max loss 7.50 with 47 weeks to run so 16 cents per week to cover…
So:
Aggressive sale the week after earnings with great premium…
Sold CTRP MAR 2 2018 48.0 Calls @ .75
HRL
STO March 35, covered calls @ .65
WMT
WMT #FallingKnife Sold: $WMT Jun…
WMT #FallingKnife
Sold:
$WMT Jun 15 82.50 puts @ 1.24
$WMT Sep 21 75.00 puts @ 1.15
CME fuzzy
STO March 2, 170 call @ .55 cents, replacing the 167.5 call that expired on Friday. The Fuzzy is 160 calls,160 puts and 155 puts.
WYNN
STO March 2, 175 calls @.90 cents , replacing the 170 calls that expired on Friday. This is my Fuzzy 165call,165 put,160 put
Econ Calendar for week of 2/19/18
Be sure to periodically click “Home/REFRESH” to keep Bistro features updated
#UVXY I noticed that calls…
#UVXY
I noticed that calls on UVXY still have high premium. The highest point was $30 and APR $31 calls are about $2.00. Is there a trade here or am I missing something?
#pietrades and skew I have…
#pietrades and skew
I have noticed over the last few weeks that a lot of tickers have one sided skew. Just something else for us to take advantage of and increase returns.
For instance, SPY and all the other indexes seem to have put skew meaning the puts are worth more than the calls. Makes sense, a lot of people are hedging and buying protection. So makes more sense to sell puts on these.
However, a lot of individual names skew to the call side. Even AAPL which drags the rest of the market has a little call skew even in the weeklies. Makes more sense to sell CC or set up #fuzzies on these. Most of the leveraged ETFs skew to the upside/call side.
So going forward the #pietrades will be set up taking advantage of this skew. In a limited back test it looks like it could result in an additional 15-25% returns annualized. Not chump change!
So in the future #pietrades will either be CC, naked puts, or covered straddles depending on direction but also where I see an edge in the put/call skew. However, where I may normally sell a put, I may do an ITM CC if it looks like the skew will give an advantage. Also if I have a strong upside directional bias may set the initial trade up as an ATM covered straddle.
If anyone else finds additional ways to suck more premium out of the market on a weekly basis please post.
Taking advantage of this with synthetics aka #fuzzy may work as well.
SVXY assignments
January 2019, 45 puts
January 2019, 50 puts
January 2019, 55 puts
Expirations
CELG, 115 covered calls
CME 167.5 calls, fuzzy
DGX, 100 covered calls assigned
HRL, 35 covered calls
SVXY assignments: 80 puts, 65 puts, and 55 puts
Short Puts / Closed Earlies / Expirations / Assignments
#shortputs
$ANET STO 3/16 220/230 BUPS @ 2.35
Closed Early
$GS STO 2/16 255/270 BUCS @ 13.50 BTO at 6.00
$AAPL BTC 3/16 140/150 BUPS @ .15 STO at 1.40
$SQ STC 2/16 40/45 BUCS @ 4.25 BTO at 1.70
#optionsexpiration Full Profit
$AMZN 1345/1350 BUPS
$GS 240/250 BUPS
$AMAT 45/50 BUPS
$BIDU 210/220 BUPS
$FB 165/175 BUPS
$SPX 2640/2665 BUPS Thank you @jeffcp66
$FISV 125 put Earnings trade
$CVX 135 Short Call
$DVN 45 Short Call
$EXAS 45 put
$NKTR 75 put
#optionsexpiration Full Loss
$CMG 315/325 BUPS Yuck
$CMG 325/335 BUCS Yuckier
$CMG 340/350 BUCS Yuckiest What was I thinking (perhaps not)
$CVX 125 Long Call
$ICHR 30 Long Call
$MHK 270 Long Call
$EXAS 60 Long Call
$LRCX 202.5/212.5 BUCS
$OLED 190/195 BUCS
$WYNN 180/190 BUCS
$PETS 45/55 BUCS
#Stock Called Away
$AVGO 247.50 Call Earnings strangle residue at profit
Stock Assigned
$CRZO 22.5 put
$MZOR 65 put
$TRTN 35 put
$DVN 44 put
$NTNX 37.5 put
$GDI 35 put
Have a great three day weekend everyone. Rest up and back to battle for a short week.
Happy New Year to all our Lunar members.
@jeffcp66 Thanks for our very own Hall of the Presidents. Makes Disney look shabby.
Is Iceman ok? He hasn’t posted in a week, maybe he’s on vacation?
Options Expiration… VIX Indicator
#OptionsExpiration #VXXGame
Only one #Assignment, my final $SVXY 90 put
#VIXIndicator — The VIX is reacting strongly to the upside at any sign of volatility. Although we spent the morning in cancelation territory, the Mueller spike sent up back above 19.00. So although we’ve been steadily rising, volatility is still hanging around.
Love the presidents
Meant to mention earlier, but I love the rotating presidents on The Bistro. Great idea. Thanks @jeffcp66.
Options Expiration for Feb 16
$AAPL Feb 16 135 puts
$AGN Feb 16 150 puts
$AMZN Feb 16 1575 call (covered)
$AMZN Feb 16 1250 put
$BA Feb 16 375 calls
$CAT Feb 16 175 calls
$FCX Feb 16 18 puts
$IYR Feb 16 70 calls
$KOLD Feb 16 50 calls
$KOLD Feb 16 55 calls
$QQQ Feb 16 156 puts
$SVXY Feb 16 130 calls
$TXN Feb 16 114 calls
$UVXY Feb 16 18 calls
$UVXY Feb 16 26 calls
$UVXY Feb 16 35 calls
Inverted strangles that expired (will be assigned both sides):
$SQ Feb 16 40 calls/45 puts–total premium taken in 5.82 less 5.00 strangle width=.82 profit
$XBI Feb 16 91 calls/94 puts–total premium taken in 3.98 less 3.00 strangle width=.98 profit
Assignments
Stock being called away:
$X Feb 16 37 calls (covered)
Stock being assigned:
$SVXY Feb 16 73 put
$SVXY Feb 16 75 put
$SVXY Feb 16 80 put
Just about done with the outstanding short SVXY puts. I am now long…let me think…I believe the official term is “a f***ton”. I haven’t written any calls against the position yet but hopefully can start next week, targeting the ones with the lowest basis.
Have a great long weekend everyone.
Afternoon all. I’ve been tied…
Afternoon all. I’ve been tied up on this part time gig I took on so my activity has been minimal. Great info on the SVXY trade management going forward. I am leaning at selling calls once SVXY crawls out of the pits.
$SQ Bought to close my Feb 16th 44 Put @ .03 off a day order. Debated on turning this into a PIE trade but earnings are in a week and didn’t want to get caught holding stock.
$SPX Expiring Feb 16th 2910/2930 BeCS. Originally sold for .65 as part of an IC.
Today was in the mid 70’s here in the heart of NC. Tomorrow looks to be rainy and in the mid 40’s. Just like this market. Have a great three day weekend all. See you Tuesday.
Taking some short UVXY exposure off
Reducing size where I can.
Bought to close $UVXY Feb 23 26 calls @ .26. Sold for .53-1.20 on 2/2-2/5.
Bought to close $UVXY Mar 16 70 calls .32. Sold for 1.00 on 12/1/17.
Have a nice weekend
I am signing off early so see all of you on Tuesday.
Taking some March/April positions off
Bought to close $DUST Mar 16 44 calls @ .10. Sold for 1.00-1.20 on 12/5/17-12/6/17.
Bought to close $NUGT Mar 16 60 call @ .04. Sold for 5.70 on 9/5/17.
Bought to close $KR Apr 20 18 puts @ .05. Sold for 1.15 on 9/25/17.
#shortstraddle XOP Following a TT…
#shortstraddle XOP
Following a TT trader sold April 33 straddle for 3.48
BABA BIDU CELG MU
#SyntheticStock – Rolling weeklies…
BABA: Feb 16th 182.5 to Mar 9th 187.5 @ .66 credit
BIDU: Feb 16th 242.5 to Mar 2nd 247.5 @ 1.40 credit
CELG: Feb 16th 95.0 to Feb 23rd 96.0 @ .05 credit
MU: Feb 23rd 41.5 to Mar 29th 44.0 @ .23 debit
XOM
BTO Mar 29 76/76/74 Long #Fuzzy 1.89
Un-Hedged at this time
Expired
SHOP IC Thx Jeff
KSS BuPS This was rolled from last week
Sell BeCS as IWM approaches…
Sell BeCS as IWM approaches 20 and 50 daily ma Feb 23 $153.5/157 for $1.05 credit. I noticed ATM puts are much more expensive than calls, so sell call spread risking 2.45 to make 1.05.
#coveredcalls Rolled NUGT Feb 16…
Rolled NUGT Feb 16 $27 call to Mar 16 $30 call for $1.10. I entered trade about 11 am when NUGT was about $28, looking now I could have held till expiration (worthless.)
ETFs closed
#contangoetfs
Closed on GTC orders:
$KOLD Feb 16th 50 call for .05. Sold for 2.95 on Oct 5th.
$NUGT Mar 16th 44 calls. Sold for 1.50 and 1.22 in January.
SPX puts closed
#SPXcampaign When SPX got up to 2748 I closed this spread to take some profits…
Closed $SPX Feb 21st 2700/2675 put spreads for 1.75. Sold for 14.00 on Monday.
XLV
BTO Mar 16 86/85/83 The Call a bit more ITM 3.25 P/P/C #Fuzzy Un Hedged at this time
WDAY
BTC March 16, 80 put @.10, sold @ 1.45
I am slowly clearing up a lot of my small put shorts.
AAPL
#ShortPuts #Earnings – Three weeks to go and a nice rally. Consdering where these were last week I’m booking. Leftovers from an earnings trade…
Bought to Close AAPL MAR 9 2018 165.0 Put @ .89 (sold for 3.50)
Bought to Close AAPL MAR 9 2018 167.5 Put @ 1.27 (sold for 4.10)
#pietrades for next week. Will…
#pietrades for next week.
Will be assigned on AAPL today at 165, cost basis 161. Will re-load next week or when we have a little pull back (everything extended again).
Opened ERX CC at 28 strike, cost basis 27.5 on 5 contracts $260 income.
Closed XBI 85 put at 0.06, sold for 1.15.
Staying pretty close to goal of $900 a week income on 50k account.
Next week expirations wil be GILD at 72 CC, GM put at 42.5, and ERX. Will probably add another early next week. Trying to build up to 5 names, 3 contracts each.
SVXY hit 13, only 77 more points to go after calculating my avg. cost around 90! 🙂
PYPL
#SyntheticStock – Carefully easing the weekly up. I can’t see this thing getting back to it’s all time highs so keeping some downside protection but picking up 1.46 of upside
Rolled PYPL FEB 16 2018 75.5 Calls to MAR 9 2018 77.0 Calls @ .04 debit
Anybody remember the good old days when a major moving average, say the 50 day sma, used to serve as resistance when the price moved up to it?
MU
SLB
#SyntheticStock – Been looking to get a new one over in the oil patch. Synthetics are pretty diversified so far and this will help even more. I also looked at EOG and HES. Any of them would probably work. Should act as a hedge for my transport (LUV). It’s sitting down in congestion right now but looks to have some upside room.
Jan 2019 67.5/67.5/65 @ 5.35
Max loss: 7.85
48 weeks so need 17 cents average to cover.
VIX dropping, still in backwardation
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-stocks-volatility/u-s-stock-volatility-shock-wanes-vix-futures-signal-smoother-sailing-idUSKCN1FZ2I2
Stop and roll
#SPXcampaign Stopped $SPX March 15th 2815/2840 call spreads for 4.30. Sold on Monday for 1.75.
#CondorRoll Sold Feb 20th 2700/2725/2760/2785 condors for 8.05. Aggressive strikes expiring Tuesday, which is our next trading day due to the holiday Monday.
Closing Early SQ BUCS (Holy Acronym Batman)
$SQ STC 2/16 40/45 BUCS at 76% of max profit
ANET
STO June 200 put on 1 contract @ 6.90
#earnings ANET Arista Networks down…
#earnings ANET
Arista Networks down $48 (15%) so far
#earnings DE Closed March 16…
#earnings DE
Closed March 16 IC for 1.07, sold yesterday for 1.70.
CC vs naked puts
We all know the graphs look the same but after a year of doing both I discovered something that makes a difference. I set up 1 account and have only traded CC in that account, a combination in the others mostly as #pietrades.
Interesting dynamics, both have performed well but the puts/call account did about 57.7% annualized. The CC only looks like it will be close to 88% annualized. That is a significant difference and the difference between doubling an account in 12-13 months vs. 18-24 months.
Very important now that 2 of my big IRA accounts are now little accounts from the SVXY debacle. At 88% could replace all the lost money in 3 years.
So anyway, selling ATM or even slightly ITM CC may improve returns compared to just selling puts. I think mostly because they are OTM and the ATM options have more premium. They also seem to be easier to roll down and when you roll them up you get appreciation plus extra income.
Feb 15 #Fuzzy Land Whew!…
Feb 15 #Fuzzy Land
Whew! Sea sick anyone?
1. Closed yesterday’s SPY #AtomicFuzzy for 41% profit on the core trade, total of $580. During the brief market swoon today I thought I’d take the profit. I didn’t anticipate the huge up move that followed.
My future Atomics will be set with April expiration unless I specifically want a quick flip.
2. Opened a new AAPL Atomic Fuzzy: Apr 170/170/165 @ 6.39 x 2, 180/185 Call Credit Spread @ 1.35 x 4. AAPL had a nice MACD cross today on the daily.
3. Closed the 15 DIA Fuzzies that I opened yesterday for a $1700 profit.
4. Rolled hedges on the AAPL and FB fuzzy bears that are taking heat.
My CLOSED fuzzy total for the quarter now is $26,454. I sure would like to reclaim that 50-handle…but I’m still being cautious. This string of powerful up moves….not a single one of them is a 1-standard deviation move. How can that be, you ask? The down move on Feb 5 was 5.4 standard deviations….as long as that bar stays in the SD average for compilations, it will affect all other bars printing. So, even though I’m looking for 3 1-SD up bars to confirm the rally, I have to keep in mind that the bars are being tamped down by that massive Feb 5 bar. Any indicators that you use that are tied to standard deviations will be seeing the same skew.
Options Bistro 