BTC May 11, 157.5 calls and STO May 25 162 calls for a credit of .10 cents. Not much premium but I did pick up 4.50 points.
Monthly Archives: May 2018
Can we get bullish yet?
#Market Watching multiple indicators today… the SPX daily squeeze may fire long; Sue’s 3-out-of-5 day 1 SD indicator may fire, and the #VIXIndicator is poised to cancel the Downside Warning if we close at 12.61 or lower.
ROKU again…
#ShortPuts – Still a little bit of juice in these. Let’s see if the breakout holds. Not doing anything on the call side since we could wake up any day and see they’re being bought out for 50 bucks.
Sold ROKU JUN 8 2018 33.0 Puts @ .85
Good Morning
Good Morning
ROKU Earnings
#Earnings – In and out and forget about it. On to NVDA now…
Bought to Close ROKU MAY 11 2018 35.0 Puts and 41.0/44.0 Bear Call Spreads (Jade Lizards) @ .48 (sold for 2.55)
Bought to Close ROKU MAY 11 2018 31.0 Put @ .05 (sold for .60)
Sold Early / Rolling / SPX Campaign / Short Puts
Closed Early
#shortputs
$WYNN BTC 5/18 170/180 BUPS at .20 STO at 2.92 Inspired by @fuzzballl
$PE BTC 5/18 30 put at .10 STO at 1.70
$NVDA BTC 5/18 190/200 BUPS at .20 STO at 2.40
$SPX BTC 5/18 2510/2535 BUPS at .30 STO at 1.70 Thank you @jeffcp66
#rolling
$LABU BTC 5/11 85 call and STO 5/11 81.50 call at 1.00 added credit. Credit up to $8.20
$SPLK BTC 5/11 108 call and STO 6/1 110 call at 1.00 added credit.
#spxcampaign
$SPX STO 5/18 2745/2720 BECS at 2.45 Finger on trigger already to BTC
#shortputs
$GOOGL STO 5/18 1047/50/1055 BUPS at 2.60 (Sold on Monday)
SVXY I sold my stock…
SVXY I sold my stock last week out (5/2) of frustration and the opportunity to put the cash elsewhere. I had bought a LEAP 30 call the day before the repricing at 3.35 back on 2/28 where upon it dropped to .30. Last week I sold a May 18th 13 call against it for 0.11. Figured I might as well since it never moves. A bit of lunch money at a cheap bistro. This stock hates me and is out to get me. At this rate I’ll be eating out of the dumpster. Argh!
PEP
STO October 85 puts @1.26
STO October 80 puts @.68
Thanks to Ramie for the idea
.TNX
Watch the yield on the ten year note.
DIS
BTO May 18 99/100 BuCS .53
1/1 R:R
EA
STC EA MAY 11 122/123 BuCS .96 BTO yesterday for .53
SPY
BTC SPY May 11 255 .02 & May 14 255 .03 both were BuPS
CELG
#LongCalls #LEAPS – Another one getting close to fully covered on the max loss but time is dwindling. Getting a bounce here so paying the 2 cents in order to get the next one sold sooner.
Bought to Close CELG MAY 11 2018 89.0/94.0 Bear Call Spreads @ .02 (sold for .56)
Sold CELG MAY 18 2018 85.5/91.5 Bear Call Spreads @ .54
Whipsaw risk is high here and need 25 cents per week out to July expiration to break even. This has been a nearer term position I tried just to see how they trade close to the end. Would love a few more months…
#earnings #ironbutterfly ROKU Chickened out…
#earnings #ironbutterfly ROKU
Chickened out on a straddle, sold a 25/35/35/45 iron fly/iron condor for 6.05, June 15. A straddle brings in 7.45 or so, merging Fuzzball and Mike at Tastytrade
Closing some profitable positions into strength
BTC $PYPL Jul 20 62.50 puts @ .32. Sold for 1.30 on 2/1.
BTC $MS Jul 20 46 puts @ .25. Sold for 1.04 on 3/23.
BTC $DUST Sep 21 46 call @ .30. Sold for 2.50 on 2/27.
BTC $BIIB Jun 15 235 puts @ .81. Sold for 2.50 on 4/24.
LUV
#SyntheticStock #LongCalls #LEAPS – If next week’s 53.5s expire I’ll officially have the core synthetic cost of 5.52 covered. That will leave the max loss of 2.50 to take care of. Since I’m not sitting at max loss yet I’m converting to plain long #LEAPS and saving .65 of recovery that would be required.
Bought to Close LUV JAN 18 2019 60.0/57.5 Bull Put Spreads @ 1.85 (better than 2.50!)
So….the new projections are this on one of my first ones to approach the land of #PureProfit .
Averaging 45 cents per week conservatively the final debit (max loss) will be covered by June monthly expiration. At that point the position will still have 31 weeks to run. From there on, assuming 45 cents per week until the end, the trade should make about 14 dollars. On a 10 lot that’s a pretty good return on something that could possibly end up well below the original starting point. This is the power of basis reduction (I hope!)
🙂 🙂
SPX calls stopped & rolled
#SPXcampaign First spread stopped on the highest day in $SPX since April 19th. Last time we topped at 2717. Will we break through this time? I’m using a #CondorRoll because VIX is still in Downside Warning. If we push higher than 2702, more spreads will be stopped, and I may reverse roll some.
Stopped SPX May 25th 2745/2770 call spreads for 4.35. Sold in a roll for 1.75 on May 4th.
Rolled to: SPX June 1st 2585/2610/2775/2800 condors for 4.70.
2 of 5? It’s looking…
2 of 5? It’s looking like we’ll get 2 of 5 consecutive bars hit a 1-SD up move. I’m jumping the gun a tad and putting on a “melt up” #Fuzzy. I’m going out a little longer on this since it could still fail.
QQQ June 167/167/164 @ 2.82 debit. Prices on fuzzies have come in a lot today. No hedge, for max delta, right now. This is already up 15% since I placed it about an hour ago.
sue
PYPL
#LongCalls #LEAPS – Approaching resistance but rolling a little anyway. Correcting my fat finger to get everything back together again.
Rolled 1 PYPL MAY 11 2018 74.0 Call to MAY 25 2018 75.5 Call @ .06 debit
Rolled 9 PYPL MAY 11 2018 74.5 Calls to MAY 25 2018 75.5 Calls @ .43 credit
#ironcondor AMZN Sold June 15…
#ironcondor AMZN
Sold June 15 1495/1500/1710/1720 for 2.51, around 100 points either direction.
SPX puts closed
#SPXcampaign Closed on GTC order: May 17th 2540/2515 put spreads for .20. Sold for 1.60 on April 17th.
Today’s another demonstration that I am NOT a master of timing, rolling into call spreads earlier that have now almost doubled…. as I said then, these can bowl you over quickly, which is why I rarely do them. We go much higher today and these will have to be stopped and rolled again.
VIX getting to new lows not seen since beginning of February.
EA strangle
#Earnings #ShortStrangles
Closed $EA May 11th 115 put for .05. Order in to close 132 calls for same, but did not fill and now ATM. Will wait. Strangles sold yesterday for 1.60.
TQQQ roll
#LongLEAPs #SyntheticCoveredCall
Short call got breached so executed #StrangleRoll
Closed $TQQQ May 18th 160 call for 5.00. Sold for 1.60 on Friday.
Sold TQQQ June 1st 140/170 strangle for 5.00.
ERX #Short Call covered my…
ERX #Short Call covered my long stock with May 18th 40 call @ .50.
ROKU Earnings
#Earnings #JadeLizard (sort of) – Having a great earnings season so almost decided to sell very aggressive strangles in this. Common sense took over but still staying aggressive while limiting upside risk to 45 cents with a Jade Lizard style trade…(sell puts and call spreads where the call spreads are narrow enough to eliminate or minimize up side risk).
Sold ROKU MAY 11 2018 35.0 Puts and 41.0/44.0 Bear Call Spreads @ 2.55
Eliminates most of the upside risk and brings breakeven on the put side down to 32.45 which is near the expected move and below the 20 and 50 day moving averages.
What’s the plan then? Lots of possibilities here. Stock blows out to the upside could book long calls and roll short calls into a new strangle or just sell a few puts right at the open to bring in 45 cents and get out even.
If the stock blows out to the downside could sell more calls near the short puts and wait a couple days and see what happens. Could then roll or ultimately turn this into a Jan 2020 LEAPS style position.
QQQ Short call BTC my…
QQQ Short call BTC my May 11th 167 Call @ .85 when QQQ was zeroing in 167. Originally sold for .55. This is a brake above the high on 4/18.
REGN
#LongCalls #LEAPS – It’s still dropping and I’m still selling. Has to bottom eventually. Fairly aggressive roll for additional premium this week.
Rolled REGN MAY 11 2018 300.0 Calls to MAY 11 2018 290.0 Calls @ 1.25 credit (4.65 total on these now)
#ironcondor XOM Idea from TastyTrade…
#ironcondor XOM
Idea from TastyTrade sold June 8, 75/77/83/85 for .64
TSLA
#BearPutSpreads #LEAPS – Still selling against 300/200 Bear Put Spreads. Sold aggressively through earnings and continuing that until it decides where it wants to go. Rolling up this week trying for a little more premium.
Rolled TSLA MAY 11 2018 285.0 Puts to MAY 11 2018 295.0 Puts @ 1.40 credit (13.15 total on these now)
by Bobbie
Notable Earnings PM Wed:
ALB, ANGI, ATUS, AYX, BLDR, CTL, CVNA, DAR, EEP, ETE, ETP, EVH, FNGN, FNV, FOXA, FTI, FTK, GKOS, IAC, INFN, MBI, MELI, NUAN, PAAS, PBYI, PTCT, PTLA, RLJ, RNG, ROKU, RUN, SAIL, SEDG, SEP, SIEN, SNH, TROX, TWNK, WMGI, WRD, ZTO
Notable Earnings AM Thurs:
AMCX, BAM, DEPO, DUK, ENB, HIMX, KLIC, MDP, MGA, NOMD, OMI, PBH, PEGI, RDUS, SND, TGI, TRCO, UNVR, WP
Notable Earnings PM Thurs:
AL, CASA, DOX, FATE, FLS, HALO, HUBS, JAG, KTOS, NKTR, NVDA, NWSA, PPC, RDFN, SSRM, SYMC, TIVO, TTD, UNIT, WPM, WTTR, XON, YELP
Notable Earnings AM Fri:
TRI
EWW
#SyntheticStock – STO EWW May18’18 48.5 calls for 0.31
MU #Shortcall Rolled my short…
MU #Shortcall Rolled my short May 11th 50 Call out and up to May 18th 52 for .09 debit. This is covered by my June 15th 50 long call. MU has pushed above the 20dma and I expect it to continue toward the 50dma at 52.
ERX
#LongCalls #LEAPS – Even with my rollout the other day this thing is still approaching negative deltas. (great call by Whiz on the Iran/Trump/oil prices!). With this kind of gain on a 10 lot in a week just gotta book it and wait for a pullback or move on to something else.
Sold to Close ERX JAN 17 2020 36.0 Calls
Bought to Close ERX MAY 25 2018 39.0 Calls
Not much for weekly sales…nearly all directional gains of 1.21 per contract. I’ll say it again…playing just the LEAPS only instead of synthetic is the reason these scalps are possible.
FB
BTC June 130 puts @.05, sold at 1.20
SPX call roll sold
#SPXcampaign Sold $SPX May 17th (monthly) 2720/2745 call spreads for 3.15. #Rolling from the spread stopped for 3.90 on Monday, with 1.6x position size. I don’t often do this type of roll on the call side, as rallies can bowl me over quickly. But it seems we’re still in a range, and these expire next Friday (am), so I will close them Thursday at latest.
EA Earnings
#Earnings – In and out and forget about it. On to ROKU now…
Bought to Close EA MAY 11 2018 118.0/131.0 Strangles @ .58 (sold for 2.45)
SPX calls sold
#SPXcampaign Sold to Opne $SPX June 8th 2775/2800 call spreads for 1.75.
SQ covered calls
#CoveredCalls #CoveredCallCampaign #Rolling
BTC $SQ June 1st 52.5 call for 2.75. Sold for 1.35 yesterday.
STO $SQ June 8th 56 call for 1.88.
Also plan to sell a put on the next pullback.
GUSH Dec
Got filled about 30 seconds before the bell.
Sold $GUSH Dec 21 46 call @ 5.00. Adding to position at the highest strike.
AMZN
BTC May 18, 1800/1850 bear call spread @ .05, sold @ .77
NOC
#LongCalls #LEAPS – Following Whiz here…he’s using RTN but I prefer weeklies.
Bought to Open NOC JAN 17 2020 330.0 Calls @ 41.50
Sold NOC MAY 11 2018 330.0 Calls @ 2.70
89 weeks so 47 cents per week required to cover max loss…
DISH #FallingKnife Adding a ladder…
DISH #FallingKnife
Adding a ladder rung.
Sold $DISH 12/21 22.50 puts @ 1.20.
EA earnings
#Earnings I sold slightly more conservative than fuzz:
$EA May 11th 115/132 strangles for 1.60. Biggest UP move: 13.7%, Biggest DOWN move: -7.5%, Average move: 5.0%. My strikes are +7.5 and -6.4% OTM.
EA Earnings
#Earnings – I’ll take a small shot. Selling the 200ma and the all time high. Leaning slightly bullish…
Sold EA MAY 11 2018 118.0/131.0 Strangles @ 2.45
#shortcallspreads TSLA A Tradewise recommendation…
#shortcallspreads TSLA
A Tradewise recommendation from yesterday, June 1 317.50/320 that I sold today for .94. I am still in need of TSLA falling below 300 by the 18th.
SPX puts sold
#SPXcampaign Sold $SPX June 8th 2510/2485 put spreads for 1.65.
CVS, thanks for the idea
STO November 50 puts @ 1.20
STO November 45 puts @ .57
COO
BTC May 18, 190 put @.05, sold at 3.00
I love Z earnings trades that work
#Earnings Closed $Z May 11th 60 calls for .05. Order in to close the 51 puts for the same. #ShortStrangles sold yesterday for 1.09 (avg price).
Closing MLM
Bought to close $MLM Jul 20 170 put @ .60. Sold for 3.10 on 4/9.
EWW
#SyntheticStock – BTC EWW May11’18 50 calls for 0.03, sold for 0.25. Waiting a bit to sell for next week, hoping as usual that dogs can bounce?
#callbutterfly CMG Tastytrade idea, near…
#callbutterfly CMG
Tastytrade idea, near the close yesterday, sold May 18, 430/435/435/445 for .21, profitable below 440
Fuzzballl….XLY Fussballl, did you originally…
Fuzzballl….XLY
@fuzzballl, did you originally hold XLY as a synthetic stock and if so have you converted to #Long Calls #Leaps?
I’m presently holding Jan 2019 101/101/99 and am tempted to convert. Would appreciate your thoughts on this.
Notable Earnings AM Mon:
CTSH, GPRE, LPX, PETS, SRE, SYY, TSEM, TSN, WBT, WLTW, XRAY
Notable Earnings PM Mon:
AIV, AMC, ANDV, ANDX, ATSG, BHF, BKD, BKI, CRZO, DK, DPLO, EQC, EVHC, FN, HTZ, LCI, MOS, NTR, OAS, OHI, PINC, REN, RYAM, SHO, SJI, TRMB, ZG
Notable Earnings AM Tues:
ACM, ARMK, ATHM, BR, CROX, CWH, DF, DISCA, DISH, DSKE, EGN, ENDP, ETM, EXPD, FI, GCP, GTN, HAIN, HSIC, ICPT, IT, JD, JEC, JELD, MCHP, MLM, MNK, MNTA, PRGO, SEAS, SGMO, SUM, TGNA, USFD, VRX, VSH, VSM
Notable Earnings PM Tues:
AAOI, AAXN, ARNA, BECN, CA, CLVS, CORT, CTRE, CVG, DEI, DIS, DVAX, EA, ESIO, ETSY, EXTR, FANG, FOSL, GDDY, GPOR, GWPH, HDP, HPR, ICHR, INSY, KAR, LQ, MAR, MNST, MTCH, NEWR, NPTN, O, OCLR, OSTK, OXY, PAA, PAGP, PLNT, PRTA, PUMP, PZZA, SEMG, SLF, SOI, SPWR, SUPN, TRIP, TRUE, TWLO, WEN, WR, WTR, XEC, XOG
Notable Earnings AM Wed:
ADT, AEE, ARRY, BUD, CARS, CNDT, CNK, COTY, DLPH, HPT, HZNP, JHG, MYL, NXST, PFGC, PRTY, SBGI, SINA, SYNH, WB, WWW
Notable Earnings PM Wed:
ALB, ANGI, ATUS, AYX, BLDR, CTL, CVNA, DAR, EEP, ETE, ETP, EVH, FNGN, FNV, FOXA, FTI, FTK, GKOS, IAC, INFN, MBI, MELI, NUAN, PAAS, PBYI, PTCT, PTLA, RLJ, RNG, ROKU, RUN, SAIL, SEDG, SEP, SIEN, SNH, TROX, TWNK, WMGI, WRD, ZTO
Notable Earnings AM Thurs:
AMCX, BAM, DEPO, DUK, ENB, HIMX, KLIC, MDP, MGA, NOMD, OMI, PBH, PEGI, RDUS, SND, TGI, TRCO, UNVR, WP
Notable Earnings PM Thurs:
AL, CASA, DOX, FATE, FLS, HALO, HUBS, JAG, KTOS, NKTR, NVDA, NWSA, PPC, RDFN, SSRM, SYMC, TIVO, TTD, UNIT, WPM, WTTR, XON, YELP
Notable Earnings AM Fri:
TRI
Z earnings
#Earnings An old favorite; first time I’ve traded it since 2014.
Sold $Z May 11th 51/60 strangle for 1.05. Biggest UP move: 12.1%, Biggest DOWN move: -9.1%, Average move: 5.4%. My strikes are +/-8.1% OTM. I’ve had the order in most of the day, and was just filled on 1 spread. Don’t know if the other 4 will go through.
SPX trades
#SPXcampaign Stopped: $SPX June 1st 2740/2765 call spreads for 3.90. Sold Thursday in a #CondorRoll for 2.90. No decision on how to roll yet.
Closed on GTC order: May 18th 2465/2440 put spreads for .20.
Sold $SPX May 18th 2725/2750 call spreads for 3.65, as other half of the #CondorRoll I started earlier.
IFF
STO August 120 puts @2.20
STO November 110 puts @2.10
DG
#LongCalls #LEAPS – Adding on the weakness. Position size is now 80 percent leaving room for one more add if this thing is headed to the 200ma. Earnings estimated on May 31 so wanting to capture all that when the time comes…
Bought DG JAN 18 2019 95.0 Calls @ 7.60
Sold DG MAY 18 2018 95.0 Calls @ .95
SLB
#LongCalls #LEAPS – Now that I’m out of XOM and established in ERX I’m getting rid of some more “single stock” risk. This thing has risen enough now to put me into negative deltas so booking some gains and moving on. Also, this makes room for some possible earnings plays in ROKU and NVDA this week.
Sold to Close SLB JAN 18 2019 67.5 Calls
Bought to Close SLB MAY 18 2018 69.0 Calls
Lots of nice weekly premium sales and when all said and done made .63 per contract.
ERX
#LongCalls #LEAPS – This thing is all the way out to 2020 so no need to get too greedy this early. I’m giving it some room until we see what the Donald does this Saturday with the Iran nuke agreement. Can always roll it back in and down…
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-oil/oil-surges-to-fresh-highs-on-growing-supply-worries-idUSKBN1I801Z
Rolled ERX MAY 11 2018 37.5 Calls to MAY 25 2018 39.0 Calls @ .15 credit
EWW
#LongCalls #LEAPS – Trying to squeeze out another double dip…
Bought to Close EWW MAY 18 2018 52.0 Calls @ .05 (sold for .35)
Sold EWW MAY 18 2018 49.5 Calls @ .36
FB
BTC May 18, 150 puts @.05, sold at 2.70
Covered Calls
#CoveredCalls #CoveredCallCampaign #Rolling
Sold to Open $SQ June 1st 52.5 call for 1.35
Sold to Open $AAPL June 8th 195 call for 1.75
Stopped: AAPL June 1st 187.5 covered calls for 3.85. Sold for 1.58 on Friday.
#StrangleRoll Sold June 15th 175/195 strangles for 3.45
GUSH adding
Sold to add to positions at the highest strike:
$GUSH Jun 20 45 call @ 2.25
$GUSH Sep 21 45 call @ 4.00
TRTN #ShortPuts Sold July 20…
TRTN #ShortPuts Sold July 20 35 puts @ 2.65, shares at 34.97.
SPX trades
#SPXcampaign Stopped: $SPX May 18th 2700/2725 call spreads for 7.45. Sold for 3.80 as a #ReverseRoll on May 1st.
Partial roll: Sold SPX May 18th 2630/2605 put spreads for 3.90. I plan to sell the other half as a call spread on strength. I won’t be getting aggressively long unless we can get the VIX lower.
NUGT #ShortPuts Rolled my May…
NUGT #ShortPuts Rolled my May 11th 25 Puts up to May 11 26 strike for a .28 credit.
#Shortcalls Covered #Leaps BTC MU…
#Shortcalls Covered #Leaps BTC MU May 11th 49 Call at 0.98 on a breach of 49. Sold Friday for .50. BTC May 11th 37.5 Call at 0.98 on a breach of 37.50. Sold Friday at .50. I will reload later. I’m trying to manage risk. However am I being overly responsive and should relax giving them more room to flop around? Comments welcome.
Econ Calendar for week of 5/7/18
Be sure to periodically click “Home/REFRESH” to keep Bistro features updated
Closed Early / Rolled SQ /Expiration / SPX Campaign
Closed Early
$SPX BTC 5/11 2375/2400 BUPS at .05 STO at 1.60 Thank you @jeffcp66
$AMZN BTC 5/18 1720/1700 BECS at .40 STO at 3.00 Thank you @ramie77
Still have BUPS 5/18 1310/1360 and 6/15 1460/1500.
#shortputs rolled
$SQ BTC 5/4 50 put and STO 5/18 51 put for additional 1.80 credit
#optionsexpiration
$URI 150/160 BUPS Total Loss
$CBOE 113 call (covered)
#spxcampaign
$SPX STO 6/1 2425/2450 BUPS at 1.60 Thank you @jeffcp66
Have a restful weekend.
No expirations this week
Have a great (hopefully relaxing) weekend everyone.
Option Expiration May 4th
Expiring #ShortPuts
FAS 63 Put
FAS 62.5 Put
ERX 35 Put
OIH 27 Put
Thanks for all the suggestions and letting me learn from you. Have a great weekend.
Options Expiration 5/4/18
#OptionsExpiration #Earnings #ShortStrangles #CoveredCallCampaign
— Expiring —
$BABA 167.5/195 earnings strangles; sold yesterday for 1.50.
$BABA 187.5 put, sold for 9.55 on Apr 19th as a roll
$SQ 55 calls
SPX stop and roll
#SPXcampaign This one went from about 2.10 to 5.10 while I had to be away from my desk today.
Stopped $SPX May 11th 2690/2715 call spreads for 5.35. Sold for 1.90 yesterday.
#Rolling to two spreads:
Sold May 31st 2570/2545 put spreads for 2.85, and
Sold May 25th 2745/2770 call spreads (1.5x position size) for 1.75
Have a nice weekend
I am done for the day and no expirations but a lot of rolls today. I am off to the gym.
Options Bistro 