The last of my SPY puts expired yesterday so dipping my toe in again:
Sold 1 SPY 09/20/2024 460/515 Bull Put Spread at $0.72 Credit
Sold 1 SPY 09/13/2024 465/520 Bull Put Spread at $0.54 Credit
Monthly Archives: August 2024
TQQQ and GLD
Sold 1 TQQQ 87/73 Diagonal Bear Call Spread at $0.75 Credit
Sold 1 TQQQ 86.5/74 Diagonal Bear Call Spread at $0.42 Credit
Sold 1 GLD 08/21/2024 240/235 Bear Call Spread at $0.51 Credit
High premiums because of the JHole speech
SOXL
#coveredcalls
Sto SOXL 6 SEP 2024 52 CALL @.68
SPX 0-dte for 8/20/24
#SPX0dte Sold to Open $SPX 5545/5565-5645/5665 condors for 1.30, deltas -.09 +.07, IV 15.80%
These trades have already returned to their anemic premium and width from before the mini-crash. After yesterday’s strong move higher I am going more aggressive with higher deltas, thinking that a ninth straight day of gains is less likely than an eighth, but also assuming there won’t be any dramatic collapse.
Tiny Puts for this week
Sold 1 VFC Aug 23 2024 15 Put at $0.06
Sold 1 TQQQ Aug 23 2024 55 Put at $0.07
Sold 1 SOXL Aug 23 2024 26 Put at $0.07
Sold 1 AAP Aug 23 2024 40 Put at $0.10
Sold 1 LABU Aug 23 2024 97 Put at $0.20
#Tiny99PercentPuts
SPY Expiration
1 SPY 500/537 Bull Put Spread
1 SPY 520/538 Bull Put Spread
I had to roll all my calls for today up and out (again)
VXX Long Term Puts
Bought VXX Jan 17 2025 24.0 Puts at $0.15
#VXXContango
TLT
Rolling covered calls and selling more calls against synthetic stock. Still short 93.5 strike puts in same expiration. Keeping everything in the week before the Fed meeting.
Rolled TLT Aug 21 2024 97.0 Calls to Sep 13 2024 97.0 Calls @ .95 credit (1.65 total now)
Sold TLT Sep 13 2024 100.0 Calls @ .71
TQQQ,
BTC August 23, 66 puts at .74, sold at 1.05and held through the decline.
I added to my September 20, $65 call position
SPX 0-dte trades 8/19/24
#SPX0dte Sold to open $SPX Aug 19th 5480/5500-5605/5625 condors for 1.072, deltas -.07 +.05, IV 19.02%
Earnings 8/19 – 8/23
Economic Calendar 8/19 – 8/23
OptionsExpiration
Not as many fireworks this week:
Expired:
#Tiny99%Puts
1 AAP 50 Put
1 ALB 67 Put
1 CMCSA 37 Put
1 CSCO 39 Put
1 INTC 18 Put
1 PFE 27 Put
1 SOXL 27 Put
1 TPR 32 Put
1 VFC 15.5 Put
1 WBA 10 Put
#EveryLittleBitHelps
1 BOIL 12 Covered Call
1 FCX 46 Covered Call
1 SOXL 24/29 Bull Put Spread
1 VXX 45 Diagonal Put
1 VXX 105/74 Bear Call Spread
1 VXX 100/72 Bear Call Spread
1 VXX 89/57 Bear Call Spread
1 VXX 82/72 Bear Call Spread
1 VXX 80/50 Bear Call Spread
1 VFC 21/18 Bear Call Spread
1 INTC 16/19 Bull Put Spread
SPY 500/538 Bull Put Spread
PLTR Put
$PLTRSTO 8/23 32 put at .77
SOXL
#shortputs
STO SOXL 23 AUG 2024 39 PUT @1.84
#assignment
soxl 19 call 8.16.2024 could not roll for credit
VXX Put Rolled down
Rolled down 1 VXX 08/16/2024 45.5 Diagonal Put to 1 VXX 08/23/2024 43.0 Put at $0.16 Credit
SBUX Call Assigned way early
Back on August 8th I sold 1 SBUX Sep 06 2024 81.0 Covered Call at $0.52 with the stock around 74.75
After the giant move higher on 08/13 and to get the dividend, someone exercised it.
At least I got most of my cash back.
SPY Long Calls rolled out
Sold today’s SPY 555.0 Long Calls at $0.44, 0.45 and $ 0.46 before they expire worthless.
Buying more time as I roll some short ITM Calls paired against these.
Bought 1 SPY 08/19/2024 560 Call at $0.14
Bought 1 SPY 08/20/2024 560. Call at $0.26
Bought 1 SPY 08/21/2024 560.0 Call at $0.42
VXX Puts closed
Bought 1 VXX 08/16/2024 44.0 Diagonal Put at $0.01
Bought 1 VXX 08/16/2024 44.5 Diagonal Put at $0.01
TLT
Covered calls rolled out a few more days for more “divvys”. First time in a Wed expiration.
Rolled TLT Aug 16 2024 97.0 Calls to Aug 21 2024 97.0 Calls @ .28 credit (.71 total now)
BA SNOW
Sold against synthetic stock. Small positions. SNOW was rolled into earnings week.
Rolled BA Aug 16 2024 170.0 Calls to Sep 20 2024 175.0 Calls @ .75 credit (3.55 total now)
Rolled SNOW Aug 16 2024 120.0 Calls to Aug 23 2024 128.0 Calls @ .10 credit (3.60 total now)
BTO, a starter position, Sept….
TQQQ, BTO, a starter position, Sept. 20, 65 calls at 6.35
VIX
STO Sep 14.5/13 BuPS @0.59
Help to finance Sep 21/30/39 call BF bought earlier @0.61 avg.
A contrarian trade, not a prediction, but if market goes down in Sep, VIX could easily get back to 30.
SPX 0-dte 8/16/24
#SPX0dte Just after the open, Sold to Open $SPX Aug 16th 5435/5455-5585/5605 condors for 1.15, deltas -.06 +.06, IV 25.99%
SOXL SGOV BIL YMAG YQQQ CRSH MSTX
#shortputs
BOT to close SOXL 16 AUG 2024 34 PUT @.05 sold for $12.97
———
#smallbuy
#dividends
BOT SGOV @100.51
BOT BIL @91.605
BOT YMAG @18.89
BOT YQQQ @19.68
BOT CRSH @15.15
BOT MSTX @21.94
NVDA SPY
These were yesterday….a day too soon. LOL Recovering from my trip so not doing too much.
Bought to Close NVDA AUG 16 2024 100.0 Put @ .09 (sold for 2.40)
Bought to Close NVDA AUG 16 2024 110.0 Put @ .78 (sold for 2.50)
Bought to Close NVDA AUG 16 2024 115.0 Puts @ 2.47 (sold for 2.60)
Bought to Close SPY SEP 20 2024 490.0 Put @ 1.38 (sold for 3.30)
Bought to Close SPY SEP 20 2024 505.0 Put @ 2.27 (sold for 3.30)
VKTX Put Roll
$VKTX BTC 8/16 55 put and STO 8/23 55 put at added credit of 1.08. Total credit so far 3.33
VIX
Fastest decline ever
SPY Expiration
1 SPY 515/527 Bull Put Spread
1 SPY 543 Diagonal Put.
I had to roll all my calls for today up and out
TQQQ,
STO September 6, $60 puts at 1.15
NVDA Puts
$NVDA BTC 8/16 110 put at .10. STO at 3.40. Thank you @fuzzballl
SPX 0-dte 8/15/24
#SPX0dte Sold to Open $SPX Aug 15th 5495/5525-5530/5560 condors for 12.30, IV 19.02%
What a sea change across the week. Less than 2 hours after open and the ATM condor only around 12 bucks. Last Friday this didn’t happen until 45 minutes before close.
TQQQ
Sold 1 TQQQ 08/23/2024 80/71 Bear Call Spread at $0.54 Credit
SPY Expiration
1 SPY 515/531 Bull Put Spread
1 SPY 535.0 Diagonal Put
1 SPY 550/547 Bear Call Spread
VXX Puts
I have so many Bear Call spreads for this week and next that this didn’t seem like a big risk.
Bought 1 VXX 08/23/2024 40.0 Put at $0.02 and sold 1 VXX 08/16/2024 45.5 Put at $0.17 for a $0.15 Diagonal Credit.
#EveryLittleBitHelps
Broker question
I am wondering what are people’s brokers of choice for option trading.
I mostly trade options on SPX and stocks in some sort of spreads, in a portfolio account with Etrade. I use ToS for chart and TA, also checked out Tasty, but nobody could match Etrade on fee (a grandfathered deal, 0.3/contract, closing short @0.1 or less no fee).
A few months ago, Etrade took away stop order on spreads, just market or limit… Though I don’t use stop order often, but it could be handy when needing to be away from desk during the day and for peace of mind sake.
what broker would you recommend?
allowing stop on spread, and with reasonable fee, and any bonus features…
Thank you for your advice.
CRWD
taking partial
STC CRWD 8/16 250/260/280 1:3:2 call BF @1.29, opened last Thursday @0.42 credit
STC CRWD 8/16 8/23 260 call calendar @3.28, opened last Thursday @2.0
SPY Calls and Puts
After a calm opening:
Sold 1 SPY 08/14/2024 547.00 Call at $0.24
Sold 1 SPY 08/14/2024 535.00 Put at $0.27
#EveryLittleBitHelps
TQQQ Calls
Bought 1 TQQQ 09/06/2024 80.0 Call / Sold 1 TQQQ 08/30/2024 71.0 Call for a $0.82 Diagonal Credit
Also, I’m still long 1oo shares of the stock, put to me at $71.00
SPX 0-dte trades for 8/14/24
#SPX0dte Sold to Open $SPX Aug 14th 5345/5365-5510/5530 condors for 1.30, deltas -.08 +.05, IV 29.51%
Bullish leaning.
Upside Warning in effect
#VIXindicator Expect higher levels in the market over the coming days or weeks.
CRWD BUPS Close
$CRWD BTC 8/16 210/225 BUPS at .15. STO at 1.35. Thank you @ramie77 for the trade
SPY Expiration
1 SPY 485/531 Bull Put Spread
1 SPY 505/532 Bull Put Spread
Rolled my SPY 545/541 Bear Call Spread to a new diagonal for a $1.19 Credit
Bought 1 SPY 08/21/2024 555 Call and Sold 1 SPY 08/20/2024 547 Call
At least the Puts worked 🙂
SPY
Bought 1 SPY 08/14/2024 551.0 Call / Sold 1 SPY 08/13/2024 541.0 Call for a $0.24 Diagonal Credit.
Bought 1 SPY 08/14/2024 515.0 Put / Sold 1 SPY 08/13/2024 531.0 Put for a $0.24 Diagonal Credit.
#EveryLittleBitHelps
VXX Long term Puts
Bought 1 VXX Jan 17 2025 24.0 Put at $0.20
#VXXContango
SBUX
Slowing selling off excess SBUX
Sold tiny bits at 91.16, 91.96, 92.01, 92.10, 93.52, 94.01, 94.11, 94.25, 94.45, 94.66 and 94.88
#FormerFallingKnife
SPX 0-dte trades for 8/13/24
#SPX0dte Sold to Open $SPX Aug 13th 5265/5285-5420/5440 condors for 1.20, IV 28.26%, deltas -.07 +.05
SPY Expiration
1 SPY 545/538 Bear Call Spread
1 SPY 545/539 Bear Call Spread
SPY for tomorrow
Bought 1 SPY 08/14/2024 550.0 Call / Sold 1 SPY 08/13/2024 540.0 Call for a $0.18 Diagonal Credit.
#EveryLittleBitHelps
Also rolled 1 short SPY 08/12/2024 535.00 Put to 1 SPY 08/13/2024 532.00 Put at $0.07 Credit
SPY Calls
Bought 1 SPY 08/13/2024 545.0 Call / Sold 1 SPY 08/12/2024 539.0 Call for a $0.13 Diagonal Credit.
#EveryLittleBitHelps
VXX Calls
Sold 1 VXX 08/16/2024 72.0 Call at $0.43.
Then added:
Sold 1 VXX 08/16/2024 74.0 Call at $0.52
Both are re-writes against leftover long calls from last week’s diagonal spreads
#DoubleDip
SPX 0-dte trades for 8/12/24
#SPX0dte Sold to Open $SPX Aug 12th 5255/5275-5415/5435 condors for 1.15, deltas -.06 +.05, IV 26.88%
Earnings 8/12 – 8/16
(Previous post was in error and was deleted)
Highlights: WMT, BABA, HD, DE, AMAT
Economic Calendar 8/12 – 8/16
CPI on Wednesday and Retail Sales on Thursday
Downside Warning canceled*
#VIXindicator This cancelation comes with an asterisk*…. the Fib retracement of recent $VIX low and high was abnormally high (22.42) due to Monday’s extreme VIX high over 65. Based on past performance, I still believe this signal is likely to work, but perhaps just less likely than normal. The recovery after Monday was remarkable, so Monday was probably just a temper tantrum and we will now resume the steady tick higher.
OptionsExpiration
A couple of mid week early assignments on spread positions had me scrambling to raise some cash.
Had to close some positions early
Here’s what I had left
EXPIRED:
AAL 9 Put
ALB 73 Put
BOIL 6.5 Put
EQT 28 Put
HAL 29.5 Put
HAL 29 Put
INTC 18 Put
MOS 23.5 Put
OXY 52 Put
PARA 10 Put
SOXL 19 Put
WYNN 65 Put
ALB 70/73 Bull Put Spread
BOIL 11 Covered Call
BOIL 11.5 Covered Call
CLF 17.5 Covered Calls
COP 99/105 Bull Put Spread
INTC 19 Diagonal Put
SOXL 25/30/35/40 Iron Condor
SOXL 54 Covered Call
SPY 515/5190 Bull Put Spread
SPY 515/521 Bull Put Spread
SPY 525 Diagonal Put
SPY 541/537 Bear Call Spread
SPY 541/535 Bear Call Spread
UPS 120/123 Bull Put Spread
UPS 121/124 Bull Put Spread
UPS 121/125 Bull Put Spread
VFC 19/17.5 Bear Call Spread
VXX 47.5/51 Bull Put Spread
VXX 72 Diagonal Call
VXX 75 Diagonal Call
VXX 80 Diagonal Call
ASSIGNMENTS:
VFC 15.0 Covered Call
INTC 28 and 29 Puts (on Thurs and sold the stock for a loss)
SOXL 49 and 50 Puts (on Thurs – Writing covered Calls)
New VXX Calls
Sold 1 VXX 08/16/2024 82/72 Bear Call Spread at $0.53 Credit
The spike high after the temper tantrum on Monday of VXX was $71.80 on 08/07
VXX Call Rollout
Rolled 1 VXX 08/19/2024 90/56 Bear Call Spread out to 1 VXX 08/16/2024 89/57 Bear Call Spread at $0.21 Credit
My VXX short 72 and 80 Calls should expire
SPY Trades
Sold 1 SPY 08/09/2024 519.0 Put at $0.31
Bought 1 SPY 08/12/2024 500.0 Put / Sold 1 SPY 08/09/2024 521.0 Put for a $0.31 Diagonal Credit
Bought 1 SPY 08/12/2024 545.0 Call / Sold 1 SPY 08/09/2024 537.0 Call for a $0.24 Diagonal Credit
SPX 0-dte trades 8/9/24
#SPX0dte Sold to Open $SPX Aug 9th 5190/5170 put spreads for 1.00, delta -.07, IV 43.78%
After three straight days of being stopped on call side I’m going to try to leg in today, and since we are down a bit now starting with put side. Of course, this likely means today will NOT see a spike higher.
CRWD
BTO CRWD 8/16 250/260/280 1:3:2 call BF @0.42 credit
BTO CRWD 8/16 8/23 260 call calendar @2.0
Did both for comparison and learning, and the credit from BF help to finance the calendar partially.
CRWD has come back quite a bit, seems 260 then 280 could be the targets for the next few weeks.
SPY Expiration
1 SPY 08/28/2024 500/519 Bull Put Spread
1 SPY 08/08/2024 516/519 Bull Put Spread
1 SPY 08/08/2024 518/520 Bull Put Spread
1 SPY 08/08/2024 520.0 Diagonal Put
1 SPY 08/08/2024 532.0 Diagonal Call
1 SPY 08/08/2024 533.0 Diagonal Call
SPX BF
BTO SPX Aug-09-24 5400/5420/5460 1:3:2 call BF @ 0.4 credit
With GTC order to close $10.
Value should expand if SPX gets anywhere close to 5400 in the pm tomorrow, just don’t run over too soon ;-).
Similar structures, on call or put side, have been returning up to $15 last few days, or expired worthless.
SPX calendars
STC 1/2 of SPX 5450 call calendars of 8/09 / 8/12 and those of 8/16 / 8/19.
opened last Friday, for a potential bounce, 50% loss for this week’s, and 50% for next weeks. kinda wash % wise, small loss $ wise. should be happy with what’s going on this week…
SPY Calls
Bought 1 SPY 08/09/2024 541.00 Call / Sold 1 SPY 08/08/2024 532.00 Call for a $0.40 Diagonal Credit
Bought 1 SPY 08/09/2024 541.00 Call / Sold 1 SPY 08/08/2024 533.00 Call for a $0.20 Diagonal Credit
VXX Long term Puts
Bought VXX Jan 17 2025 23.0 Puts at $0.15
#VXXContango
TLT
Selling the week before the Fed meeting then maybe be able to do it again during FED week with the elevated IV. I’ll do the same thing with a bunch of covered calls if my current ones expire next week.
Sold TLT Sep 13 2024 93.5 Puts @ .98 (thanks Fidelity for the penny price improvement!)
SPX 0-dte trades for 8/8/24
#SPX0dte Sold to Open $SPX Aug 8th 5115/5135-5345/5365 condors for 1.70, IV 46.46%, deltas -.06 +.07
Waited until after the open today… zero for two this week on these so maybe this will work.
SPX
STO Sep-20-24 4990/5000/5600/5610 Iron Condor @ -3.5 when SPX was near 5300.
May add to each side, as SPX swings…
VIX
STC partial of VIX Aug 15/20/25 call BF @2.0 earlier the day. when bto @0.43 a few weeks ago, I was thinking 20 might a little high as the short strike ;-).
BTO VIX Sep 21/30/39 call BF @0.9.
I have been only trading vertical spreads of VIX, after getting a big ouch with calendar last year.
SPY
Also at the open took another one off for small gain in case this is a DCB.
Bought to Close SPY Sep 20 2024 470.0 Put @ 2.37 (sold for 3.00)
BA SNOW
Also right at the open sold against synthetic stock. Small positions.
Sold BA Aug 16 2024 170.0 Calls @ 2.80
Sold SNOW Aug 16 2024 120.0 Calls @ 3.50
SPX
Learned something very interesting this week about rolling these. With a VIX curve like this the increased short term volatility outweighs the time added so it’s very tough to roll for a credit. With Sep vol much lower went out to Oct to get more even vol and was able to roll down a few strikes. Luckily, this isn’t the norm. Crazy stuff going on and election coming up things might calm down after that and get back into a contango situation.
An increasing VIX without going to backwardation still seems to be great for rolling vs a short term shock to the market with near term super spikes in vol. I am considering only selling put spreads from now on when the market is at nose bleeds. Had that been the case here I would have booked the losses on the spreads and possibly closed the LEAP shorts for bigly gains.
Right at the open:
Rolled SPX Aug 16 2024 5585.0 Puts to Oct 18 2024 5570.0 Puts @ .25 credit (10.05 total now)
SOXL VFC Calls – VXX Puts
Sold SOXL 40/35 Bear Call Spreads at $0.21 and $0.26 Credit
Bought 1 VFC 08/23/2024 22.5 Call / Sold 1 VFC 08/09/2024 19.0 Call for a $0.14 Diagonal Credit
Sold VXX 08/09/2024 47.5/51 Bull Put Spread at $0.14 Credit
SPX 0-dte trades 8/7/24
#SPX0dte Sold to Open $SPX Aug 7th 5150/5170-5370/5390 condors for 1.70, IV 38.77%, deltas -.06 +.06
Options Bistro 