#SPXcampaign Bought to close $SPX March 11th 2000/2025 call spreads for 5.90. Sold for 1.30 on Feb 8th. Uptrend knocking’ down my spreads like dominos! Will work on rolls in coming days.
Also, earlier today, forgot to post
STO $SPX March 11th 1900/1875 put spreads for 1.80.
#SPXcampaign Sold to Open $SPX March 4th 1935/1910 put spreads for 1.60. Playing it a bit close but strength seems to continue, so not expecting a collapse this week. Plan to be out of this today if the rally continues.
#SPXcampaign BTC $SPX March 4th 1980/2005 call spreads for 7.40. Will implement rolls in the coming days.
#SPXcampaign #Rolling Selling the other half of my roll; closed 1960-1985 call spread last week for 7.70. Sold new call spread earlier today for 5.50, selling this one, double-size, for 1.30; so netting additional .40 on the roll (added to the 1.25 initial spread was sold for).
STO $SPX March 24th 1825/1800 put spreads for 1.30.
Also need to stop out of the March 4th 1980/2005 call spread… ripped past my stop point while I was away from the desk this morning. Been closing and rolling anything that gets within 20-points.
#ContangoETFs Since these positions are all doing pretty well, I’m closing down my entire TZA position to clear margin. All of these are at a profit (except for puts), but the expensive ones were sold as rolls, so overall positions are less profitable. I will look to sell calls again on this in subsequent spikes.
BTC TZA March 18th 80 calls for .18. Sold for 7.15
BTC TZA March 18th 50 calls for 4.30. Sold for 20.60
BTC TZA April 15th 85 calls for .60. Sold for 5.05
BTC TZA July 85 calls for 3.20. Sold for 5.90
BTC TZA Jan ’17 80 call for 7.60. Sold for 14.00
BTC TZA March 18th 50 puts for 1.24. Sold for 1.00.
#ContangoETFs Closing out my last remaining positions in $ZSL to clear out margin. First time I’ve had no position in this name in years, but since the split it has been pretty boring.
BTC ZSL May 40 puts for 1.00. Sold for 1.30 on Dec 4th
BTC ZSL May 80 call for .60. Sold for 3.00 on Dec 30th
BTC ZSL May 82.5 calls for .55. Sold for 2.30 (effective price) on Nov 4th.
#VXXGame #Rolling First time I’m having to roll ATM short puts in about a year.
BTC UVXY March 4th 35 puts for 1.70.
BTC UVXY March 11th 35 puts for 2.84
Replaced all of the above with enough contracts of the following to net a credit…
STO UVXY April 15th 24/75 strangles for 2.52
Also:
BTC UVXY March 11th 75 calls for .07. Sold for .55 on Feb 23rd
BTC UVXY March 18th 80 call for .22. Sold for 4.40 on Dec 3rd
#Earnings Bought to close $AZO 710/850 strangles for 1.85. Sold yesterday for 5.00. Would have preferred to hold on, but it was using 15K in margin that I need to manage the SPX uptrend.
#SPXcampaign This is probably the last time I can sell call spreads on this trend. I will start to have a lot of stop-outs if we continue toward 2000. VIX hits a new 2016 low and heading toward the key 16.93 level.
STO $SPX March 17th 2005/2030 calls for 5.50, as a roll from spread stopped last week.
STO $SPX April 1st 2070/2095 calls for 1.25.
#ContangoETFs Scaling into several short-term puts which are all margin free (offsetting calls)
STO NUGT March 4th 47 puts for .75
STO NUGT March 11th 40 puts for .75
#VXXGame STO $UVXY March 4th 50 calls for .47
NOTE: UVXY and SVXY options are tradeable until 4:15et each day, so you can still sell these.
#SPXcampaign STO $SPX April 1st 1735/1710 put spreads for 1.25, with SPX at 1937.
#SPXcampaign Sold to Open $SPX March 11th 1840/1815 put spreads for 1.70, with SPX at 1937. Trying to sell another spread but chasing the bounce.
#Earnings This one has been a very solid stock with small, controlled moves on earnings. 7.5% (up) is its biggest move over a 21-day period after earnings (there are 19 days left until March expiration). You have to go back to the financial crisis to find anything bigger. Its average move over 21 days is only 2.9%. This trade has strikes that are over 8% OTM. If you want to play it safer and go for a condor, you might want to try a closer strike on the puts, so 710/720/850/860 (in a bullish trend and moves after earnings are usually to upside).
STO $AZO March 18th 710/850 strangles for 5.00.
#ContangoETFs Been selling 15-25 points higher for same week expirations each week…
STO NUGT March 4th 70 calls for 1.00
#LongCalls
BTO TLT March 18th 130 calls for 1.84. Cost basis now 1.93
BTO TLT April 15th 133 call for 1.56. Cost basis now 1.61
#SPXcampaign Put in an order to close in case we dropped into the close, and it filled after the close;
BTC $SPX March 4th 1960/1985 call spreads for 7.70. Will work on rolls next week. I think a pullback happens next but had to clear this one away in case we awake Monday to another rally.
#OptionsExpiration 2/26/16
— Expiring w/ max profit —
NUGT 30 puts
NUGT 68 and 70 calls
My lightest expiration in many weeks, since I closed or rolled several things early.
Have a great weekend all!
#Earnings Bought to close $BIDU Feb 26th 175 calls for .20. Sold yesterday as part of a condor for 1.15. Closing early to avoid any last minute eruptions. Patience paid for me on this one; congrats to those that had the proper patience on PANW!
#ContangoETFs STO NUGT March 11th 40 put for 1.70 (adding)
STO NUGT April 1st 30 put for 1.30
#SPXcampaign #Rolling Sold to Open $SPX March 24th 2005/2030 call spreads for 7.20. Part of a roll from this morning’s stopped spread.
#SPXcampaign Bought to close $SPX March 4th 1800/1775 puts for .15. Double position sold as part of a roll for 1.45 on Feb 18th.
#LongCalls Adding to my TLT position on pullback to 21 dma:
BTO TLT Mar 18th 130 call for 1.70
BTO TLT April 15th 133 call for 1.42
#Earnings Bought to close PANW Feb 26th 144/149 call spreads for 3.80. Sold as part of condor for 1.55. I got out for less than the 5.00 I would be charged if I allowed to expire ITM. You could also wait to see if it drops, or leg out for even better prices.
#SPXcampaign Bought to close $SPX March 4th 1975/2000 call spreads for 9.00 in premarket. Started already with some roll positions and will add more in coming days.
#SPXcampaign The VIX closed below a key support level of 19.20, signaling the bulls are proving themselves further. VIX is at a decision level; will it proceed down to 16.93, signaling an end to near-term downside risk, or bounce off the B-bands and signal more volatility? SPX call spreads have been under pressure and I will be executing some rolls today. To start, I sold a put spread in pre-market:
Sold to Open $SPX March 18th 1850/1825 put spreads for 2.00. This is an aggressive position designed to offset my call spreads.
#Earnings jumps 9% 20 minutes before close. Looks like trading halted.
Earlier today, made some adjustments for margin purposes…
BTC UVXY Feb 26th 60 call for .03. Sold for .30 yesterday
BTC UVXY Feb 26th 58 calls for .04. Sold for .35 yesterday
BTC UVXY Mar 11th 80 call for .34. Sold for 2.17 on Feb 2nd
BTC UVXY June 110 call for 4.50. Sold for 9.50 on Jan 25th
STO UVXY April 1st 29 puts for 1.50
STO NUGT March 11th 40 put for 1.55
STO NUGT March 11th 37 put for 1.05
#Earnings Sold to Open $PANW Feb 26th 110/115/144/149 iron condors for 1.55. Over its 11 past earnings reports, PANW’s Biggest UP move: 10.6%, Biggest DOWN move: -10.8%, Average move: 6.0%. These strikes are both 11.2% OTM.
#Earnings Sold to Open $BIDU Feb 26th 135/140/175/180 iron condors for 1.15. Over last 12 earnings, BIDU’s Biggest UP move: 11.0%, Biggest DOWN move: -15.0%, Average move: 7.8%. Short strikes are about 11% OTM.
#Earnings #ShortStock
BTC $FB Feb 26th 105 put for .50. Sold for 1.60 on 2/3. Clearing puts so I can release this short stock position at lower levels. I think FB will be fine in long run but expect another trip down to 90’s in coming weeks.
#SPXcampaign Bought to close $SPX Feb 26th 1850/1825 put spreads for .20. Sold this morning for 1.30.
#ContangoETFs STO NUGT March 11th 37 put for 1.20
STO NUGT March 11th 35 puts for 1.05
STO NUGT March 18th 30 puts for .80
#SPXcampaign Sold to Open $SPX Mar 24th 2025/2050 call spreads for 1.60, with SPX at 1910.
#SPXcampaign I have joked for awhile that with the advent of weeklys we would eventually see “Dailys”, where stocks like AAPL and SPY and indices like SPX will have different options series expiring EVERY trading day. Well, it looks like we’re getting closer to that craziness…. (thanks to @alsumde for bringing this to my attention):
Extended Listings For Equity, ETF, ETN And Index Weeklys Options. Check Wednesday rule starting on 2/23/2016
In January 2014 CBOE issued Regulatory Circular RG14-010 re: “Expansion of Number of Expirations Listed in S&P 500 Index Weeklys Options (SPXW).” The circular provides that CBOE will list out and maintain six consecutive SPXW expirations at once, not counting the current expiration.
SPX Weeklys options (part of SPXW) are options that are listed to provide expiration opportunities every week. SPX Weeklys expiring at the end of each week (End of Week – EOW) are typically listed on Thursdays and expire on Fridays. As of February 23, 2016, CBOE began offering Wednesday Weeklys (also part of SPXW), which are typically listed on Tuesdays and expire the following Wednesday. (Note that EOW Weeklys or Wednesday Weeklys are not listed if either would correspond with a currently listed option, i.e. regular 3rd Friday or SPX End of Month – EOM options).
SPX Weeklys are PM-settled on the last trading day, typically a Friday for SPX EOW Weeklys, or a Wednesday for SPX Wednesday Weeklys. As with other PM-settled index options, the exercise-settlement value is calculated using the last (closing) reported sales price in the primary market of each component stock. On the last trading day, trading in expiring SPX Weeklys closes at 3:00 p.m. (Chicago time). All non-expiring SPX Weeklys continue to trade until 3:15 p.m. (Chicago time). For standard PM-settled, S&P 500 options that expire on 3rd Fridays, see ticker SPXPM.
These options are already tradeable at Interactive Brokers. They will be nice to use for rolls or occasional short-term spreads. This morning I sold the 1850/1825 spread for 1.35… got up toward 2.00, now is only .70. With the Wednesday options, there will be more opportunities for short-termers in these volatile markets.
#Earnings STO PNRA March 18th 190 put for 1.50. Partially offsets my 210 calls. Squeezing a bit of premium out of this one after taking a small loss on an earnings play. It seems to be hitting resistance but also has remained resilient through market turmoil.
#VXXGame STO $UVXY Feb 26th 60 call for .30
STO UVXY Feb 26th 58 calls for .35
STO UVXY March 4th 70 calls for .63
#SPXcampaign Sold to Open $SPX Feb 26th 1850/1825 put spreads for 1.30, with SPX at 1899. These expire Friday.
#SPXcampaign In pre-market fill, bought to close $SPX Feb 26th 1980/2005 call spreads for .20. Sold for 1.35 on Feb 10th.
SPX resistance at 1950 and VIX support at 19.20 both held like clockwork and markets start tumbling again. TLT resuming its uptrend, and Gold also spiking again, with NUGT hitting its highest level since July 2015 at the open. Trade safe!
Just add the WordPress app to your mobile device! #Welcome
#ContangoETFs Threw some out there as it has come down off its highs:
STO NUGT March 11th 35 puts for 1.10
STO NUGT March 18th 30 puts for .85
Each put I sell gives me a margin credit since I’m short so many calls. I will add more if premium rises. Need to be ready for a quick drop in NUGT but these are easy to roll or reverse-roll to calls once the inevitable down move begins.
#VXXGame Closed down some winners so I could start new positions:
BTC UVXY March 18th 110 calls for .47. Sold for 2.90 in early Feb
BTC UVXY March 18th 120 call for .38. Sold for 2.60 on Jan 25th
BTC UVXY March 11th 90 call for .28. Sold for 2.50 on Feb 5th
and starting…
STO UVXY March 11th 75 calls for .55
#SPXcampaign, showing down the gauntlet and selling a put spread, which will probably allow this market to start dropping precipitously. This is the first 5-week put spread I have sold in two weeks.
Sold to Open $SPX March 24th 1750/1725 for 1.35, with SPX at 1931.
#Earnings FSLR reports after the bell, but I’m not seeing enough premium for a safe neutral play. It has had fairly decent moves on earnings, meaning an iron butterfly would likely fail, but there isn’t enough premium in adequately far OTM strikes to sell a strangle or condor. Over the last 12 earnings, Biggest UP move: 17.6%, Biggest DOWN move: -13.8%, Average move: 10.2%. Staying outside its biggest move would mean you assume a Max Proj UP move to: 74.64, and a Max Proj DOWN move to: 52.36. Not enough premium for me so I’ll skip it. Would love to see anyone else’s ideas if they’re out there.
#LongCalls Added to the positions started yesterday:
BTO TLT March 18th 130 call for 1.75
BTO TLT April 15th 133 call for 1.48
#ContangoETFs While volatility has relaxed, NUGT has replaced UVXY for same-week, far OTM call sales. Added some more:
STO NUGT Feb 26th 70 call for .50 (added)
STO NUGT Feb 26th 68 calls for .65
I’ll add another to each if they go up by a nickel.
As I posted yesterday, VIX has reached support level of 19.20. Yesterday’s close was lowest in 2016 and the 6th straight day lower, which we hadn’t seen since the October rally. Today should be a key day.
#VXXGame I have a put spread in a smaller account, so before it gets ATM I wanted to roll, since spreads are harder to roll than naked:
BTC $UVXY March 18th 35/33 put spread for 1.05. Sold for .52 on Feb 12th
STO UVXY April 1st 30/28 put spread for .77.
Plan to make it an iron condor once we get some upside.
#LongCalls Opened new positions in March & April after doing well with long calls in Jan & Feb. I think this will continue higher and that rates still go lower.
BTO TLT March 18th 130 call for 2.40
BTO TLT April 15th 133 call for 1.95
I will add more, hopefully on pullbacks.
1950 a key level in SPX… not only a K-node for the Fib lines (Robert’s post below) but also the Feb 1st swing high. Also, VIX coming down to 19.20 level, which is the 100%-mark above Oct 28th low. This was support on Feb 1. If we can break these SPX and VIX levels decisively, it’s quite bullish.
STO PNRA March 18th 210 calls for 3.20. Making up for some losses on the earnings play last week. Seems to be fairly murky getting through the 200-210 level, but only using half-position thus far. #Earnings
#ContangoETFs Slowly adding safer positions to make up for the 30-handle calls that ripped my face off.
STO $NUGT March 11th 75 calls for 1.80
— Expiring w/max profit —
BOIL 22 calls
DUST 21 calls
EQIX 240/260/320/340 iron condors
KOLD 215 call
KOLD 110, 115, 123 puts
NUGT 58 calls
NUGT 28, 33, 34 puts
ZSL 70 & 75 calls
ZSL 45.5 puts
— Assignment —
NOW 60 puts, assigned long stock
— Expiring w/max loss —
HYG 81 long calls, followed a big spec trade on this for .16
FOSL 28/32/36 earnings put fly; I went bearish, stock went bullish
Have a great weekend everyone!
#Earnings Since I sold too many puts after being assigned, I’m taking off a couple today to leave my short stock position on:
BTC FB Feb 19th 108 put for 3.50. Sold for 1.10 on 2/2
BTC FB Feb 19th 105 put for .50. Sold for .70 on 2/1
BTC FB March 18th 100 put for 2.10. Sold for 2.30 on 2/5
STO FB April 1st 112 call for 1.50
BTC PNRA Feb 19th 200 calls for 3.45. Sold as part of a condor for 1.95 on Wednesday. Patience didn’t work with this one. May look to sell a roll next week.
#LongCalls STC $TLT Feb 19th 123 call for 8.10. Bought for 2.13 avg in December. Got one more left so I will try to top-pick.
#Earnings Bought to close $JWN Feb 19th 45 puts for .15. Sold yesterday in a condor for .50. Wanted to let this expire but I don’t trust it or the market, especially with any big drops in retail stocks on earnings lately.
#SPXcampaign Although we barely notched above 1930, I am closing my lowest strikes call spread and #Rolling into an iron condor at the next expiration. This is to exit now rather than risk a push up to 1950, making things hairy.
BTC $SPX Feb 29th (monthly) 1950/1975 call spreads for 5.70. Sold for 1.45 on Feb 11th.
STO $SPX March 4th 1975/2000 call spreads for 4.00.
STO $SPX March 4th 1800/1775 put spreads for 1.45 (double position size)
#VXXGame STO UVXY March 4th 35 put for .87 (adding)
BTC UVXY March 4th 95 calls for .15. Sold for 1.05 on Feb 2nd
BTC $DUST June 23 calls for .30. Sold for 1.75 on Feb 2nd
BTC $UVXY March 18th 105 call for .80. Sold for 4.05 on Feb 9th
#Markets TLT really spiking as SPX falls back.
#Earnings Sold to Open $JWN Feb 19th 42.5/45/57.5/60 condors for .50. Max gain .50, max loss 2.00. Biggest UP move: 14.7% , Biggest DOWN move: -15.0% , Average move: 4.6% . Nordstrom’s has had these two large moves, but all other moves over the last 12 were under 6%. So I’m willing to go a bit inside the extremes, as the short strikes are 14% (puts) and 10% (calls) OTM. Stock rallied a bit since I got my fill, so you may want to skip the call side. But in any case, max loss is manageable.
#Earnings A bit of a crazy fill I got on this.
Sold to Open $EQIX Feb 19th 240/260/320/340 iron condors for 1.80. The long strikes are illiquid, so the fills were at the ask where there is no current bid, as follows:
240 long put 1.57
260 short put -2.61
320 short call -3.77
340 long call 3.01
If I try to sell the 320 naked, even at 3.20 I get no fill; so the 3.77 is due to the spread only. If you’re interested, might be worth watching during the day. But the short strikes are outside normal earnings moves. I added longs due to market environment and recent slaps from naked earnings plays.
Over the last 12 earnings, Biggest UP move: 7.8%, Biggest DOWN move: -3.7% , Average move: 2.9%. These strikes are both about 10.3% OTM.
#Earnings STC DATA stock for 41.78. Had a trailing stop from yesterday’s rise. Leaves me with only a small part of my original trade, which was put assignment at 62. This and NOW are ones which I’m taking some losses and not waiting out, due to uncertainty with the companies and the overall market.
$SPX Earlier spike in futures was sold. now opening almost flat
#ContangoETFs Followed @iceman and @fuzzballl at highest available strikes:
STO NUGT March 4th 75 calls for 1.00
STO NUGT March 18th 80 calls for 1.85
FOMC minutes a big snore… now what? If we go any higher from here I will look to take my first stop on a call spread, the Feb 26th 1950/1975. Likely will roll one week further out into a far OTM put spread and a slightly higher call spread
#Earnings Still working around a short stock position with numerous short puts and a few short calls.
STO FB June 130 call for 1.23
#Earnings Bought to close $PCLN 1275/1300 call spread for .90. Sold yesterday as part of condor for 1.35. Taking this off to avoid possible tendency to run higher into week’s end.
#VXXGame BTC $UVXY March 18th 165 calls for .26. Sold for 2.70 avg price in January.
#VXXGame BTC $UVXY Feb 26th 35 puts for .18. Sold for 1.15 on Feb 1
The VIX move down has been fairly lackluster during this rally… we are not seeing the falling knife that often forms. This may be because there was no capitulation low last week. This may signal a bear market rally that won’t hold, or it could be a stealth rally that just keeps going up even though no one believes in it. Watching Robert’s resistance levels; I’m bullish for this week into OpEx, cautious after that.
#SPXcampaign Sold to close $SPX March 11th 1895/1880 bear put spreads for 5.20. Bought for 8.00 on Friday. If we have more downside coming, my timing was definitely off.
NUGT opener
#ContangoETFs STO NUGT Sep 80 call for 11.20 (highest strike). First of several rolls I owe myself from closed underwater positions.
#Earnings – PCLN’s move up is highest on earnings since Aug 2012. I will look to close the call spread today, at breakeven or small loss if necessary, as this one could definitely be a runner.
FOSL also broke its downward trend to pop on earnings… I have the rest of this week to see if it can drift below 35, which is breakeven area on my put butterfly.
Options Bistro 