Not done with the Mark…

Not done with the Mark Sebastain book but a few things about adjustments, may need them. Unfortunately I have a few trades that will take me a while to unwind so won’t be able to do these for a while.

Butterflies, adjust once you are at the long strike. Basically buy some more and the ratio will boost returns.

Credit spreads, leave enough space between the strikes so you can buy in between. Usually a 3-4 contract buy on a 10 lot will flatten your deltas. If it then keeps moving you have a back ratio and any further movement will increase your profits. Other option is just back ratio the spread, say buy back 1 short for every 3-4 long contracts.

Naked options, the best way we have found is to turn them into a #fuzzy.

Full disclosure, I have not had time or the opportunity to do any of these real time, but they look like they will work in thinkback. Most of the time it flattens your loss but don’t expect a huge profit on an adjustment except in the case of a continued move if you ratio it.

Some people may get margin calls over the weekend, Sunday open could be interesting and I might take a directional trade then. Have to see.

Have a good weekend.

#spycraft

Options Expiration and Final Trades 3/23/18

#SPXcampaign. Cleared out most put spreads for expected lower levels Monday. I only rolled one as I’d like to sell based on Monday’s open.

Stopped $SPX Apr 19th 2540/2515 put spreads for 5.40. Sold for yesterday for 2.85.
#CondorRoll: Sold Apr 6th 2700/2725 call spreads for 3.10, and Apr 6th 2475/2450 put spreads for 2.80.

Stopped Apr 19th 2475/2450 put spreads for 3.10. Sold yesterday for 1.80.

Closed Mar 26th 2680/2705 for .30. Sold this morning for 3.10.

Stopped March 26th 2575/2550 put spreads for 6.05. Sold yesterday for 1.75.

Bought to Open March 29th 2475/2450 LONG put spreads for 2.15. Will take profits with any big gap or move down Monday.

Bought to close March 23rd 2585 puts for .35. Sold in a #Condor Roll on Monday. Thought I didn’t need to worry about this one.

#VXXGame: Sold $UVXY Jan 2019 65 call for 3.75… thanks @optioniceman and @ramie77 for the idea

#Earnings BTC $FDX Mar 23rd 240 puts for 6.50. Sold in a strangle for 1.75 on Tuesday. Missed my chance to close for cheap on Wednesday. #Rolling: Sold Apr 20th 235 puts for 6.75. Also sold a Apr 20th 255 call for 1.15. Will add more calls on strength.

#OptionsExpiration
$SPX 2790/2815 call spreads
$VRTX (formerly covered) 177.5 call

Still about 40 points from…

Still about 40 points from the Feb lows but they ripped /ES down into the close. However, momentum shifted on the 15 minute on the last candle. I am not the directional guy so who knows what it means for futures open Sunday night 🙂

#spx Close below 200 MA…

#spx

Close below 200 MA is not a good sign.

#UVXY Probably should have waited…

#UVXY
Probably should have waited for Monday
STO UVXY Jan18’19 75 CALL 2.90

KHC

New low on this dividend stock.

#short put Taking a chance…

#short put
Taking a chance on UVXY Sell to open March 23 $19,50 put for 0.15. I expect to get assigned at net cost 19.35 when asking price was 19.75

UTX strangle

Rolled the 28 DTE 134 call down to 130 for 0.56 credit. Now have the 125/130 strangle.

Ever notice how loosing trades take up way more time and energy than trades you just leave alone?

Goal is to close early for profit in 1-3 weeks.

Did not watch the market today, big swings still.

UVXY calls

I know I said I was limiting the naked call selling in volatility but this one just seemed too good.
Sold $UVXY Jan 18 2019 75 calls @ 2.75.
Highest strike. Thanks for the idea @optioniceman.

AMZN

#SyntheticStock – Big change today….finally deciding on booking this after being in it for quite a few months. It’s a margin hog in the #IRA so I’m hoping for better places to put the cash to work on this pullback. It’s been a struggle working the ITM weekly up but finally got an acceptable profit out of it…(nothing like it could’ve been though).

Sold AMZN JUN 21 2019 1350.0/1350.0/910.0 Synthetic
Bought AMZN APR 27 2018 1350.0 Call

Total gain of 61 points…

New lows in…

$FB since July
$AAPL since mid Feb

and probably just about every other stock.

MHK Aug puts

Sold $MHK Aug 17 175 puts @ 2.00. Delta 9 with a strike below the 2 year lows in the stock.
#FallingKnife

Not good

#VIXIndicator Just a heads up that closes like this on a Friday don’t make for great Mondays. This will make 2 uglies in a row after yesterday… similar to that fateful weekend in August 2015.

Oct AMGN adding at a lower strike

Sold $AMGN Oct 19 130 put @ 2.00

DWDP Sep puts

Sold $DWDP Sep 21 55 puts @ 1.45
#FallingKnife

#longstock Sold UVXY for $18.82…

#longstock
Sold UVXY for $18.82 couple of hours ago, bought yesterday for 17.82.

I also rolled up my UVXY March 23 #17.5 call to March 29 $19 call (now naked),
I’ll wait for a solid buy point point – FALLING FAST.

Closing some DUST

Starting to whittle down my exposure.
Bought to close $DUST Jun 15 45 call @ .40. Sold for 2.80 on 12/17.

SPX day trade

#SPXcampaign Closed $SPX Mar 23rd 2550/2575 call spreads for 1.75. Sold for 9.00 earlier today.

Adding CAH

Selling Sep to add to my short Jun 50 put
Sold $CAH Sep 21 50 puts @ 1.35
#FallingKnife

MS July

Sold $MS Jul 20 46 puts @ 1.04 with the stock at 53.25.
#FallingKnife

#ironcondor DIA followed Fauzia at…

#ironcondor DIA

followed Fauzia at TT May 18, 254/264/217/227 for 2.50

Dropbox is trading

under symbol $DBX for about 7 minutes now. Already up 44%!

#earnings MU closed April 20,…

#earnings MU
closed April 20, 59.50 straddle sold yesterday for a gain of .90, concerned the bottom could fall out.

Livin’ on the Edge

#SPXcampaign Although these have not worked out for me this week, need to get my fix. Since I feel we will likely go lower, I…

sold $SPX March 23rd 2650/2675 call spreads for 9.00 when SPX was at 2652. If these expire worthless it will make up for the 2 call spreads that beat me this week.

TLT

#SyntheticShort – The weekly hedge against a small synthetic short I’ve been playing with…

Bought to Close TLT MAR 23 2018 117.5 Puts @ .01 (sold for .49)

Sold TLT APR 6 2018 118.5 Puts @ .41

LUV

#SyntheticStock – Pretty good week in this ticker in spite of the selloff. Booked 80 cents with the double selling. Not bad when only 14 cents is required. Looking to next week now…

Sold LUV MAR 29 2018 58.0 Calls @ .45

GLD

#SyntheticStock – Been trying to get out of this at even or at least reduce the size a little. Fought the hedge the entire time. Until two days ago I thought I was successful but now on another massive run. Rolling the weekly all the way out to May to give it some room. See how the next week or two goes….keeps running I can probably close the position. If it tanks I’ll have to roll it back in and down. Looks to be at resistance but you never know.

Rolled GLD MAR 23 2018 125.0 Calls to MAY 18 2018 127.0 Calls @ .06 credit

AZO

#BullCallSpreads – Letting this week’s expire so selling next week…cost basis reduction in the Jan Bull Call Spread…

Sold AZO MAR 29 2018 660.0/680.0 Bear Call Spread @ 2.12

AAOI

#ShortStrangles #SyntheticStock – Still a dog and I’m still selling. Getting to the point now where a massive whipsaw is a concern (or a big buyout similar to GMCR back in the day). Letting the leash out a little and selling spreads. Still bringing in the min needed to cover the synthetic side of the repair. It’s a little less than I need for the short strange side but those can always be rolled indefinitely. Also letting this week’s short calls expire…

Sold AAOI APR 20 2018 27.0/31.0 Bear Call Spreads @ .65

SPX trades

#SPXcampaign The whipsaw I suffered in the morning yesterday was a buzzkill, because I’ve been correct about direction just horrible at my intraday timing. Here are remaining trades from yesterday and some this morning..

Sold $SPX April 19th 2540/2515 put spreads for 2.85, #Rolling with 1.5x position size.
Sold $SPX March 26th 2575/2550 put spreads for 1.75, expires Monday
Stopped Apr 6th 2550/2525 put spreads for 2.90. Sold for 1.95 on Mar 7th.
#ReverseRoll Sold March 26th 2680/2705 call spreads for 3.10.

Closed on GTC orders:
March 29th 2760/2785 call spreads for .30. Sold for 3.45 on Monday.
April 13th 2850/2875 call spreads for .20. Sold for 1.70 last Friday.

#ITMroll
Sold April 13th 2775/2750 put spreads for 22.25. This is an #ITM roll from the March 29th 2790/2765 spreads I’m currently trying to close. Probably be paying close to 24.00.

SPX

#RocketManhedge – I’m officially retiring this experimental hashtag with good news and bad news. First the bad news…

Was out yesterday and missed my chance to roll out and down my short weekly so the hedge didn’t do any good at all…it was actually down yesterday. So today I closed the whole thing at a loss since it’s not working and is really getting me sidetracked watching other positions.

Did 4 of these in total with 3 winners and one loser but still a net loss of 28 points…

Now, the good news. With my accounts being more heavily weighted in synthetics I’ve found the big overall hedge isn’t really needed since most of these positions have the hedges already built in. It’s really been noticeable during these 2 recent selloffs we’ve had. More good news is the fact Sue mentioned TheoTrade the other day so I’ve been getting his free videos. Came across this one that I really liked and will be putting these on from now on when the market is getting to extremes. I’m also wondering if something similar would work to the long side as well…haven’t even checked and have no idea since that just crossed my mind while typing this…LOL

KOLD call

Adding a position in November at the highest strike (now 68).
Sold $KOLD Nov 16 68 call @ 2.00.

#contangoetfs

TQQQ Bearish Fuzzy

I rolled my March 23, 155 puts out to April 20 for a credit of 3.77 Position is:

long 165 puts

short 165 calls

long 170 calls

short 145 puts