I got this new job at Salesforce, so I’m avoiding trading $CRM due to legal ramifications.  I read an article on Zuora, $ZUO, late last week and decided to go long 100 shares at $15.87 and sell a Feb 21 $16 Call at $0.65.  Sold a Feb 21 $15.00 Put a day or two later at $0.45.  I guess employee #11 at Salesforce founded the company, and Marc Benioff invested $6MM in first found of funding, which is now worth about $40MM.  Article said it would be a probable target for M+A, both due to Benioff’s familiarity with the company as well as it’s total compatibility with Salesforce’s software.  It’s been trading in a range, so I think I’m going to sell puts, and covered calls against it for a medium-long term range.  Salesforce has acquired well over 50 companies in the past 14 years or so.

Still got the other biotech plays on deck, but read up on $AIMT a couple of days ago.  I went long a Feb 21 $35.00 Call at $3.10 on Tuesday.  They are awaiting word from FDA on approval for the only “drug” for Peanut Allergy.  Their main competitor failed Phase 3, and they had an Advisory Committee meeting recently which voted 7-2 in favor of it.  It’s a specific dose, de-fatted peanut protein which is given in increasing titrating amounts until the patients can have no adverse effects from eating about a single peanut.  Figured I’d throw my hat in the ring– FDA is expected to give thumbs up or down late January, so maybe hold it for a week or so.

BTO $SPCE 14/16/18 Put Butterfly for Feb 21.  This thing has been ridiculous this past week and I can’t afford to short TSLA.  $0.36 debit, for a one deep butterfly.

Haven’t been doing any trading lately, both due to the holidays and I’ve been interviewing and preparing for a new job I just started yesterday!

I dipped my toe back in with a long one lot $X 11 Call Feb 21 expiration.  Underlying at $11.20 at time of trade.

Both of my $AGRX calls are up about $0.50 a piece, holding through their delayed approval date.

$ADMP calls are still down as well, but planning on holding those same as the Agile calls for now.

Can’t wait to start trading my 401k from my last position once the ACAT goes through!

Closed out $X $13.50 puts expiring today at $24 loss.  Didn’t want to commit $2700 in capital for an unknown amount of time to break even.

$AGRX is down 30% this morning on news that Twirla review will be extended 90 days.  Unrealized loss is only $2.00 right now, and I picked up an additional June $2.5 Call at $0.75.  Planned on holding through Jan anyways so no change in plans.

$ADMP still holding, no word from FDA yet on their Naloxone high dose drug.

Have a good weekend!

Apologies in advance if this was already discussed previously.  Didn’t know how  many of you traded on TastyWorks– I finally read up a bit on their trading challenge and took a leap this morning.  They give you $5,000.00 in capital to paper trade Stocks and ETFs only for two trading sessions, and any gains you make up to $250.00 are added to your individual account as soon as it’s funded with $2,000.00.  Any losses are ignored.

I decided to roll dice on $JD earnings tomorrow before open with 149 shares at $33.39.  I have a GTC order online already at $35.25 to capture the $250.00 if it swings up at least 5.57%.

Been pretty quiet on trading this week.  Aside from wishing I took long calls in $DIS prior to earnings and Dis+ launch, I sold two Nov 15 $13.50 Puts in $X yesterday at $0.21 x 2.  I’ve never had stock put to me or called away yet, and there are weeklies in the underlying so figured I’d give it a try.  Sold puts with stock around $13.75 or so, and it dipped past my strike today.  I’ll update if I get stock with covered call for next week.

Two small caps have some binary events coming up, and I wanted to play them.

$ADMP – Adamis Pharmaceuticals has a delayed PDUFA response from FDA on a higher dose Naloxone injection.  Supposed to come out Oct 31st, but has been delayed.  Open interest on the $2.50 Calls for Dec 2019 and March 2020 are over 19,000 this morning, but going out all the way to June didn’t cost much.  BTO 5x $2.50 Call 6/19/20 at $0.20 at $1.00 debit.  Price target for next few months would be $3-4.00 on the stock with approval, expecting total loss/lottery ticket with a CRL or other bad news.  Stock is trading at about $1.00 this morning.

$AGRX – Agile Therapeutics has a contraceptive patch Twirla, with a PDUFA date of Nov. 16th.  They’ve had two previous CRLs in the past years on the patch, but an advisory committee met late October and overwhelmingly supported it due to a lack of similar products.  BTO 1x $2.50 Call 6/19/20 at $0.90.  Price target would be $4.00, I will keep this one into next year most likely regardless of outcome.  Stock is at about $2.24 at time of post.

There’s a great website I use that summarizes upcoming Biotech/Pharma dates, pipelines, etc. if anyone is interested: https://www.biopharmcatalyst.com/

Disclaimer: I’ve only used free services on this site, like their FDA calendar and weekly watch lists.  Never paid money for subscription services as I’ve seen mixed reviews online.

Bought the following on 11/6 in anticipation of BIDU earnings after hours same day:

1x 11/8 $120 Call, 1x 11/8 $125 Call, 2x 11/8 $130 Call at Debit of: $1.19.

BIDU failed to break some overhead resistance after hours, so I figured I’d get out with a small win– sold all positions for $1.72 about an hour after open on Thursday– should’ve hung on a bit more as the stock blasted about $6 higher during midday trading and my $120 Call would’ve been closer to $4.85 or so by itself.  That’s one thing I love about options trading as you get lessons everyday!

Took a position in $DERM for earnings on 11/5 (stock around $6.80 or so)- BTO 3x $8.00 Calls exp. 11/15 at $0.13.  Stock didn’t pop too much after earnings, but their biggest competitor $ANAB failed on their Phase 2b.  STC the same calls on Friday for $0.97 a piece, for a net profit of $252.00.

Earnings week was going a little rough for me– lots of one-lot or cheapo OTM puts and calls aren’t high probability for profit.  Made about $100.00 at open today with some $X calls for earnings.  But finally landed a whale in $ANET.  BTO $ANET 11/1 $200 Put at $0.15 debit yesterday, STC same at $26.25 a few minutes after open.  Have a great weekend everybody!

BTO Oct 25 Strangle in $ILMN $345 Call at $1.10/$280 Put at $0.85.

BTO 2x $ITW 10/25 $150.00 Puts at $0.33.

BTO 5x $V Nov 1 $160.00 Puts at $0.21.  Reports after the bell today.

$WBA reporting earnings before market open on Monday, took opportunity today since stock’s down to buy some OTM $61.50 Calls Exp. Nov 8th as a 10-lot at $0.07 a piece.

Had a similar play in $T on Tuesday afternoon, bought 15x $37.50 puts for 10/15 exp. for $0.07/put as I got the earnings date mixed up, closed at a scratch yesterday, now stock is down and they’re worth $0.85-0.90 a piece…

Sorry for the late post, I BTO 4x $LLY Oct 25 $100 Puts at $0.11 Debit on Tuesday near the close, and STC 4x $LLY Oct $100 Puts at open yesterday for $0.33 Credit.

$SFIX has had a good run in the past week, so I’m taking profits.  I entered into a Synthetic Long Call $21.00 with Nov 15 expiration on 10/10 for $0.25 debit.  I closed the Nov 15 $21.00 put side yesterday at a $0.50 debit.  Day traded a Nov 8 $22.00 call today at the lows (BTO $1.60) and closed it with my Nov 15 $21.00 Call for credit of $4.80 – so net profit at $2.45.

Still bullish on this one long term, but it looks like a pattern is forming, and while not overbought yet, I could see it dipping back down over the next few days.  I’m a “TastyBites” guy as well, so I don’t have the margin to trade multiple lots and take profits off of table a bit at a time!

All cash going into weekend– have a good couple of days off and see you next week.

I trade a relatively small account and have never really traded cash-secured Puts before, so I decided to dip my toe into that as well as prepare to be assigned, since I’ve never gone down that road before.  Here’s summary of trades since $SFIX earnings went down:

10/1 BTO Oct 11 $23.00 Call $1.40 Debit (Expiring worthless today)

10/2 STO Oct 4 $17.00 Put: $0.26 Credit

10/3 BTC Oct 4 $17.00 Put: $0.10 Debit

10/3 STO Oct 11 $17.50 Put: $0.55 Credit

10/4 BTC Oct 11 $17.50 Put: $0.25 Debit

10/4 STO Oct 11 $20.00 Put: $0.70 Credit

10/7 BTC Oct 11 $20.00 Put: $0.50 Debit

10/8 STO Oct 11 $19.50 Put: $0.42 Credit

10/9 BTC Oct 11 $19.50 Put: $0.15 Debit

10/10 Nov 15 Synthetic Long (ish): STO $20 Put/BTO $21 Call: $0.25 Net Debit (Stock right around $21.00 at time of trade)

Bullish on SFIX, price target for the next week or two will be $23.00.  I’ll hold for at least a a week or until that hits and scoop a couple hundred out of it.  Volume profile has a gap with some slight resistance at $23.00, but it’s pretty open until about $27.00.

Have a good weekend!

BTO $SFIX Oct 11 $23 Call at $1.40

Volume profile has a huge pocket above current price to about 26.50 or so, with Point of Control around 27.50.  TOS has expected move at 4.33 or so at time of trade.  We’ll see what happens this afternoon.  YOLO!

Closing $PCTY Nov 1 $80 Put for a scratch at $1.40.  Bought last week looking for a downward shift.  May revisit bearish play here, but looks like it needs more room to run up first.

STC $LULU Oct 18 $192.5 Call for $5.20.  Bought on Friday for $4.05.

BTO $LULU Oct 18 Call 192.5 at $4.05 – slightly Bullish, buying a call on dip today, looking to hold for a day or two and see what happens.  Probably close out at $100-200 profit if and when market wakes up after the last few down days.  No specific price target, looking for +$2-4 dollars in the underlying.  Have a good weekend!

BTO $PCTY Nov 15 Put @ 1.40

Bearish on this one due to Volume Profile and software in general.  Price target for next couple of weeks would be $90 – roughly a 100% return.  Volume profile has resistance at $85-80 and a huge open gap until about $63.00 or so.

Thanks for the add Jeff, and thanks to everyone else for the great ideas over the years!  Looking to learn and contribute as much as possible!