Bought $VIX Oct 30th 16 puts for 1.25, adding to my position.
Author Archives: Jeff
Tools of the trade
#PreEarnings Added final batch to $SWK Oct 26th 140 calls for 1.65. I was early, much cheaper now.
Long a strangle
I ended up legging into a long SPY strangle, playing for opening gap or big move in either direction tomorrow.
Previously, BTO $SPY Oct 12th 270 puts for 1.55
Just now, BTO 276 calls for 1.04
SPX put spread closed
STC $SPX Oct 12th 2725/2700 bear put spread for 4.35. Bought this morning for 1.90. Missed the lows, waited for the bounce to fade, then it didn’t fade, so I bailed. Still have some SPY puts down at 270 which will work if we can get another flush.
Day trade shot
Bought $SPY Oct 12th 270 puts for 1.55. Will sell it if we get another flush down, or hold overnight if we don’t.
A few trades
#ContangoETFs
BTC $GUSH Dec 57 call for .75. Sold in May and July for 5.35 (avg price)
BTC $DUST Nov 16th 60 call for .15. Sold for 1.95 on Sep 5th.
#VXXGame
STO $UVXY March 95 call for 10.15
#CoveredCalls
BTC $PVTL Oct 19th 20 covered calls for .05. Sold for .45 last week.
SWK pre-earnings
#Pre-Earnings Bought $SWK Oct 26th 140 calls for 2.00. Earnings are Oct 25th. This looks like the top performer on Mama’s chart. Starter position, will add more.
SPX call spread closed
Bought to close $SPX Oct 12th 2800/2825 call spreads for 5.40. Sold this morning for 9.00. Holding on to the long puts for another drop.
TOS question
For small accounts, where can I see my day-trade counter?
New UVXY strikes, hedging
#VXXGame UVXY added strikes up to 95 in all expiries. $VXX up to 58 or 60.
Bought $VXX Nov 2nd 58 calls for .62
Bought $UVXY Nov 2nd 95 calls for 2.09
These are a minor hedges against UVXY short calls. I don’t have many yet but will add more if it gets higher.
SPY long
#LongCalls Bought to open $SPY Nov 16th 285 calls for 2.71. This is grounded in the belief we’ll be reaching for new highs by the end of October. Pretty cheap play that will be a double if we get back to 2900 on SPX.
SPX short
#SPXcampaign Sold $SPX Oct 12th 2800/2825 bear call spreads for 9.00. Short-leash idea that we’ll go lower today.
Fugly
#VIXindicator An additional triple warning at the close, following through on Friday’s first warning.
Adding to SOXL
#ContangoETFs This is one of the few short options positions I’m managing in this correction…
I have a few #VXXGame positions, but other than that my shorts are mostly calls in commodity ETFs that aren’t as affected by the selloff.
Sold $SOXL Dec 85 put for 5.40.
Sold that for 1.60 more than I sold the Dec 90 put on Monday.
VIX long puts
#VXXGame Not something I’ve done before,
Bought to open $VIX Oct 30th 16 puts for 1.30. A bet we’ll be back below 12 by the end of the month. I’ll add more if I can get the price down closer to 1.00.
Dump!
Big day. Time to turn on CNBC and watch them all freak out. The British host seems so calm, though.
UVXY adding
#VXXGame Sold $UVXY Jan 2020 85 call for 14.15. Highest available strike.
SPX-it
#SPXcampaign Stopped out, $SPX Oct 19th 2790/2765 put spreads for 6.05. Sold this morning for 3.25.
Basically I just lost the same amount that my call spread is winning me.
Will look for better entries at a better time. Now is not it!
Doubling Down
#PreEarnings Well, you gotta pick a bottom sometimes… actually, you don’t really, but I did. Doubling down on my two lowest priced long options trades. These report Oct 23 & 24, respectively.
Bought $CAT Oct 26th 165 calls for .29. Avg cost now .827 on a double sized position.
Bought $VALE Oct 26th 15.5 calls for .44. Avg cost .477 on a double size.
Adding to TQQQ
#LongLEAPs Bought $TQQQ Jan 2020 66.67 call for 12.60, adding to my first one I bought for 17.60 last Thursday.
XLF flat
Financials are flat on a 1% down day.
Pre-Earnings long call update
#PreEarnings Bought my last batch of $VFC Oct 26th 95 calls for 1.05. Avg price on full position, 1.20.
The remainder are all under water. Holding up best are $GPC And $VALE. $CAT and $MSFT hobbled.
$JPM not too bad… since I sold half, the position has only a small max loss… I may keep this second half past Friday morning earnings in case we get a gap open.
VXX Game
#VXXgame I was early on this but sold $UVXY March 75 call for 7.25, adding to my position.
SPX puts sold
#SPXcampaign Sold to Open $SPX Oct 19th 2790/2765 put spreads for 3.25. Offsets the call spread I sold Monday.
REGN holding up
Everything I dumped on Friday is lower now, except $REGN. The only one holding up.
New lows
$SPX just exceeded Monday’s low, but VIX is a full point lower than Monday’s high.
Adding to VFC
#PreEarnings Bought phase 2 of $VFC Oct 26th 95 calls for 1.40. Started yesterday at 1.00.
GPC long calls
#PreEarnings Bought to open $GPC Oct 19th 100 calls for 1.75. Starter position.
VALE pre-earnings
#PreEarnings Bought to Open $VALE Oct 26th 15.5 calls for .50, following @kathycon. Thanks!
Killing me SOFTly
#PreEarnings All of my long pre-earnings trades are sinking, but it gives me the chance to add my final leg to $MSFT:
BTO $MSFT Oct 26th 116 calls for .88. Avg price of full position: 1.17.
MSFT has not confirmed earnings date, but the expectation is Oct 25th.
SPX calls sold
#SPXcampaign Sold to Open $SPX Oct 19th (Friday PM) 2935/2960 call spreads for 2.90. For a move further down in the next few days, or at least weakness that I can close by end of this week. I’ll look to see a put side on any deep dip.
BOILing over
#ContangoETFs At the bell, filled on my next $BOIL Jan 45 call for 3.00. Put in my next for 3.75
UVXY
#VXXGame new higher strikes added in most expiries.
Econ Calendar for week of 10/8/18
Be sure to periodically click “Home/REFRESH” to keep Bistro features updated.
Downside Warning
#VIXindicator A downside warning is enacted today, since we closed at over 25% of Wednesday’s close (2-day closing low).
This new Warning resets VIX levels. The Warning would be canceled with a new SPX high above 2,940.91, or a close of the VIX of 12.44 or lower, with three consecutive closes leading to an Upside Warning.
MU expires
#LongCalls My shot at a long trade didn’t pan out. This is why I never used to buy options; too hard to determine when to close. Could have taken only a small loss had I sold at the right times Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday! How many times does the market have to tell me before I’ll make the move?
Expired: $MU Oct 5th 45 long calls, bought for 2.02 on Sep 14th.
PVTL covered calls
#CoveredCalls Sold to Open $PVTL Oct 19th 20 calls for .45.
Adding to MSFT
#PreEarnings Bought to open $MSFT Oct 26th 116 call for 1.15, adding to the position started yesterday.
SuperChargers stopped
#SuperCharger STC $REGN Oct 26th 380/390 BuCS for 5.57. Bought for 7.35 on Tuesday.
STC $AMZN Oct 19th 1880/18890 BuCS for 5.00. Bought for 7.25 yesterday.
I’ll look to add these or others back when it appears a bottom is in.
New VIX highs
Intraday levels highest since late June.
Downside Warning in effect if we close at 14.52 or higher.
SQ long calls sold
#LongCalls A bright spot, sold $SQ Jan 2019 60 calls for 35.25. Bought for 3.51 average price between last November and January. My attempts at short term diagonals ended up being a loss overall since this stock had such wild swings and blew through my calls a few times. So cost basis is actually increased to around 5.50.
Liquidate!
Had a come to Jesus moment at about 2 in the morning. I realized I needed to consider dumping a lot of positions. My account size has not budged much in the last couple months… money I’ve made in options has been sucked away by too many crappy stock positions. Other than AAPL and SQ, stock has not been good to me, all #PieTrades I have tried, rather Earnings repair or from scratch, have been huge dogs.
So I just dumped almost all stock positions.
Winners: $AAPL, $SQ
Losers: $FB, $BABA, $OLED, $MU, $OLED, $YY, $AMAT
Fortunately, other than $FB, the losers were all only 100 shares. AAPL and SQ were both 200. My FB losses were minimal since I have sold covered calls for a year on 100 shares, getting that lot down to 105.00 cost average. I then had more shares added in August earnings dump.
Now I can focus on strategies that I have more control over, rather than the whims of stock prices.
I’m still in options positions in $BOIL, $GUSH, $DUST. Also long calls in $PYPL (Jan 100’s, not doing well). Sticking with pre-earnings trades in $CAT, $JPM, and $MSFT. Long stock in $PVTL, since its so cheap. And a few #VXXGame short calls, and my long running long puts, the $VXX Jan 20 puts, which have lost so much potential in this volatile year.
Dumped underwater short puts in $RH. That symbol has simply killed me, I must quit it!
Also, closed $SPX Oct 12th 2825/2850/2960/2985 condor for breakeven at 4.15.
I’m looking to exit the #SuperChargers since short strikes have been breached, in $AMZN and $REGN.
Addtacat
#PreEarnings Bought $CAT Oct 26th 165 calls for 1.20, adding to the position started yesterday.
September Jobs Report
#Jobs Lower than expected, but previous months boosted higher, and unemployment reaches historic lows.
+134,000 non-farm payroll jobs, vs. 180K expected
Unemployment falls to 3.7%, down 0.2%, lowest since 1959
U6 unemployment at 7.5%, up by 0.1
Wages up 0.2%, 2.8% year over year, 0.1 lower than August
Labor force participation 62.7%, no change
July increased 147K to 165K
August increased 201K to 270K
Calls closed
#CoveredCallCampaign
BTC $FB Oct 12th 172.5 call for .14. Sold for 1.20 on 9/20
BTC $FB Oct 19th 172.5 call for .40. Sold for 2.00 on 9/26
Earlier in the day:
Stopped $AAPL Oct 26th 232.5 call for 4.50. Sold 220/232.5 #StrangleRoll for 4.76 on 10/1
#StrangleRoll Sold Oct 26th 222.5/235 strangle for 5.01
Joining the TQQQ Queue
#SyntheticCoveredCalls #LongLEAPs
Bought $TQQQ Jan 2020 66.67 call for 17.60. Plan to sell calls against it.
Perspective
Today could be the first 1% drop for the S&P 500 in 70 trading sessions.
That might feel bad, but remember 4 years ago this month there was a legit fear that ebola was going to spread over the globe.
The SPX is up 55% since those October '14 lows.
— Ryan Detrick, CMT (@RyanDetrick) October 4, 2018
Stopped out
#CoveredCallCampaign
Strikes breached so stopping out. I will wait to consider rolls tomorrow. The bottom could be in at any second here, but since it looks like we’re entering a Downside Warning, I have to be ready for more downside in the coming days.
BTC $SQ Oct 26th 94 puts for 4.65. Sold in 94/105 #StrangleRoll for 5.50 on Friday. Will leave the 105 calls in place.
BTC $FB Oct 19th 157.5 puts for 3.90. Sold for 2.30 on Tuesday.
A Soft spot
#PreEarnings Bought to Open $MSFT Oct 26th 116 calls for 1.40, starter position.
A (very) quick aside…
#OffTopic I was pretty sure they had that wrong…
TSLA stopped
#Earnings repair Stopped $TSLA Oct 12th 285 put for 11.95. Sold for 4.15 on Tuesday.
Flat in TSLA. My earnings repair has done well after being whipsawed in August; reduced my losses by more than half. But the last week has been another whipsaw, with the wins being canceled by losses, so I’m taking a break. Margins are jacked up on this one anyway.
VIX stops being boring
#VIXIndicator… new highs today, 15.19 highest since Sep 10th. If we close the day above 14.51, it will be a new Downside Warning. This just one day after the lowest close since August 9th.
UVXY sold
#VXXGame Sold to Open $UVXY Jan 2019 70 calls for 4.25. Filled on the way up, not the top.
Copy CAT
#Pre-Earnings Bought to open $CAT Oct 26th 165 calls for 1.80. Starter position, following MamaCash. Will add up to two more lots.
JPM, half closed
#PreEarnings Put in my order near the highs but then the flush came. Closed half my position.
Sold to close $JPM Oct 12th 116 calls for 1.43. Avg purchase price .83
AMZN Super Dooper
#SuperCharger Kind od surprised this is available for such a low price, expiring before earnings.
Bought to Open $AMZN Oct 19th 1880/1890 bull call spread for 7.25.
Could this be the reason…
…for this afternoon’s drop? The Presidential test tweet caused the algos to freak out?
Looks like somebody forgot to tell the algos it was only a test. pic.twitter.com/YNhf7hgLH9
— Bespoke (@bespokeinvest) October 3, 2018
Afternoon dump
#Market We just hit the lowest $TICK since mid-May. It seems every day we start the day strong, and then hit volatility in the afternoon, before closing out on a mini-rally.
New Bistro features!
Click “Refresh” to load these new features in the right-hand column.
*Upcoming #Earnings – shows the tickers reporting earnings over next 7 trading days. Included are stocks with weekly options, at least $5.00 stock price, and significant volume. Tickers that are commonly traded by the Bistro community are highlighted in red. You may click on the chart for a larger view. PLEASE SEND SUGGESTIONS of tickers you think should be included if you notice any missing.
*Mama Cash’s #PreEarnings Trades – this is a link to Mama’s excel sheet for trade ideas and past performance of stocks that perform well leading up to their earnings dates. She will keep this updated as earnings season progresses.
*Countdown – will countdown the days until any significant trading events. Again, open to suggestions.
Let me know if you have any questions!
#Welcome
FDX puts closed
#PostEarnings Bought to close $FDX Oct 12th 240 puts for 1.61. Sold for 2.90 on Sep 18th. This never got scary but was annoying.
Fun stuff to worry about
Here is every time in the past 25 years when the Dow closed at a 52-week high while most of the NYSE was in a bear market. pic.twitter.com/CZNWhZhq30
— SentimenTrader (@sentimentrader) October 3, 2018
AAPL roll & TSLA quickie
#CoveredCallCampaign
BTC $AAPL Oct 12th 215 put for .35. Sold for 2.05 on Sep 25th
Stopped AAPL Oct 12th 227.5 call for 3.65. Sold for 2.13 on Sep 20th.
#StrangleRoll Sold AAPL Oct 19th 222.5/235 strangle for 3.21.
BTC $TSLA Oct 5th 320 call for 1.00. Sold yesterday for 5.75.
Covered Calls
#CoveredCallCampaign
BTC $BABA Oct 5th 170 call for .15. Sold for 1.55 on Sep 19th.
Sold $OLED Oct 12th 126 call for 2.00.
Sold $FB Oct 19th 157.5 puts for 2.30
And #Earnings Repair:
BTC $TSLA Oct 12th 250 put for .93. Sold for 11.30 on Friday.
Rolled to: Sold $TSLA Oct 12th 285 put for 4.15
BOILing over
#ContangoETFs My next order filled; sold $BOIL Jan 2019 45 call for 2.25. Next order in to sell at 3.00.
REGN long
#SuperCharger Replacing the NVDA one that closed yesterday. This expires before earnings.
Bought $REGN Oct 26th 380/390 bull call spread for 7.35. Price target 9.40.
Chips are breaking out
#PieTrades #LongCalls
Sold $MU Oct 12th 47 #CoveredCall for .90.
Still long Oct 5th 45 calls, bought for 2.02 on Sep 20th, which hasn’t worked out yet and probably should have taken a 50% loss last week. But maybe I’ll get the breakout just in time.
NFLX lophir closed
#Lophir Closed on GTC order: $NFLX 300/325/340/350 lopper for 2.50. Sold for 8.35 on Sept 19th. Thanks MamaCash!
NVDA closed
#SuperCharger Sold to close $NVDA Oct 26th 247.5/257.5 bull call spread for 9.50. Bought for 7.25 on Sep 21st.
AAPL roll
#CoveredCallCampaign
BTC $AAPL Oct 5th 215 puts for .15. Sold for 1.78 on Sep 15th.
Stopped: $AAPL Oct 19th 227.5 calls for 3.90. Sold for 2.10 on Sep 25th.
#StrangleRoll: Sold Oct 26th 220/232.5 strangles for 4.75
Added BOIL
#ContangoETFs Sold $BOIL Jan 2019 45 call for 1.75, adding to my position. Order in for another at 2.25.
Econ Calendar for week of 10/1/18
Link to calendar: http://mam.econoday.com/byweek.asp?cust=mam
TSLA call
Sold $TSLA Oct 5th 320 call for 5.75. Expires on Friday. Against a 250 put sold Friday as a roll, (trying to close for 1.00)
SPexcel
$SPX just finished its best quarter since 2013. It didn’t really feel like that.
“For the quarter, the S&P 500 rose 7.2 percent, its best quarterly gain since fourth quarter 2013. The Nasdaq also notched a 7.1 percent quarterly gain, its best since first quarter 2017. The Dow outperformed in the third quarter, rising 9.3 percent.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/28/us-markets-political-turmoil-and-data-take-center-stage.html
Options Expiration 9/28/18
#OptionsExpiration #SPXcampaign
— Expiring —
$SPX 2815/2840/2950/2975 condors, sold for 3.65 on Sep 13th
Double down
#PreEarnings I wasn’t planning on increasing size on this, but I’m getting such a discount today that I figured why not. If we don’t bounce by Monday or Tuesday, this won’t be looking too good.
BTO $JPM Oct 12th 116 calls for .50, adding to my position, started yesterday for 1.14.
