#Earnings #ShortStock. In LAX for our connecting flight to Tokyo. Closed the second half of the $SNA short stock for 166.89. Assigned Friday at 170… closed half yesterday for breakeven, but this second lot turns it into a higher profit trade than originally expected. Nice drop on an otherwise strong day for the market.
Author Archives: Jeff
LMT pre-earnings closed
#PreEarnings Sold to close $LMT July 27th long 330 calls for .85. Bought for 1.40 last week. Small loss on this batch, but with previous call spreads included I netted 5.90 profit on multiple spreads in multiple accounts. Thanks for leading the way, MamaCash!
SPX puts closed
#SPXcampaign Closed $SPX July 25th 2750/2725 put spreads for .20. Sold for 4.50 on July 11th.
Snap judgement
#Earnings #ShortStock Covering $SNA short stock, assigned at 170 on Friday. I have covered half, buying to close at 171.40, which makes that batch breakeven since the earnings strangle was sold for 1.40.
Leaving the rest for hopefully lower prices.
BIIB earnings
#Earnings Sold $BIIB July 27th 300/415 strangles for 2.40.
FIVE-DAY MOVES: Biggest UP move: 9.5%, Biggest DOWN move: -16.9%, Average move: 5.7%. These strikes are +15.9% and -16.2% OTM.
Econ Calendar for week of 7/23/18
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Options Expiration 7/20/18
#OptionsExpiration #Earnings #ContangoETFs
— Expiring w/max profit —
$COF 93.5 puts, sold yesterday for 1.40
$GUSH 48 call, sold for 1.05 last month
$ISRG 520/525 call spread, sold yesterday for 2.75 (wish I’d waited on both!)
$NFLX 475 call, sold Monday for 1.00
$SNA 145 puts, sold Wednesday
— Assignments —
$MU 54 and 54.5 #CoveredCalls #PieTrades Originally assigned via 55 puts, after a few weeks of call sales, exiting with cost basis around 51.
$SNA 170 calls, going short the stock. No weekly options on this so I think it will be quicker to get out on a dip next week.
NVDA super-charger
#SuperCharger Following Mama and Mort:
Bought to open $NVDA Aug 17th 230/240 bull call spread for 7.55.
FB covered Call closed
#CoveredCallCampaign BTC $FB July 20th 210 #CoveredCall for 1.00 to avoid assignment. Sold for 2.00 on June 20th.
Bring on the earnings!
PYPL puts closed
#LEAPs Another one I’m closing early to avoid any intraday surprises.
BTC $PYPL July 20th 87.5 puts for .11. Sold for 1.26 (avg price) last Friday.
I’m trading short term around PYPL against Jan 2019 100 long calls.
NFLX put closed
#Earnings $NFLX has not recovered from its drop strongly and I don’t want to mess with this if it drops into the close.
BTC NFLX July 20th 360 put for .27. Sold for 3.46 last week. Leaving 475 call to expire.
ISRG half closed
#Earnings Closed one of my $ISRG 520/525 call spreads for 4.49. Saved 51 bucks from allowing it to expire ITM. I’ll wait longer on the other one in case the stock starts dropping. Sold them yesterday for 2.75.
AMAT roll
#PieTrades BTC $AMAT July 20th 46 #CoveredCall for .80. Sold last week for .75
Sold to Open AMAT July 27th 46.5 covered call for 1.05.
ISRG overdone?
#Earnings I sold two (2) $ISRG July 20th 520/525 call spreads for 2.75. Max loss 2.25. Chart looks over done. Better than 1:1 so why not?
COF earnings
#Earnings Sold to Open $COF 93.5 puts for 1.10.
Biggest UP move: 8.6%, Biggest DOWN move: -13.1%, Average move: 4.0%. When filled, this trade was 1.8% OTM. Chart looks decent, and the strike is below the 200 dma. I can take assignment and sell calls if necessary.
Also considering a similar trade on $CTAS.
I might BUY a strangle on $SKX, since it often moves big.
SNA victory
#Earnings Finally, an earnings trade that works like they’re supposed to. $SNA July 20th 145/170 strangle sold yesterday for 1.40. Dead centered. Will close for cheap or allow to expire.
SNA earnings
#Earnings Put in this order hours ago and it just filled:
Sold $SNA July 20th 145/170 strangles for 1.40.
Biggest UP move: 6.7%, Biggest DOWN move: -7.4%, Average move: 4.2%. My strikes are +7.3% and -8.5% OTM.
Joining EOG trade
#PreEarnings Bought to Open $EOG Aug 3rd 128 calls for 1.30. See MamaCash’s post from yesterday for more details on the strategy.
SPX roll
#SPXcampaign Can’t shake these SPX spreads before I leave. Doubling size and rolling to the same expiration on this one:
Stopped $SPX July 27th 2825/2850 call spreads for 6.50
Sold July 27th 2750/2775/2860/2885 #CondorRoll for 3.40, double position size.
Tech bulls
Looks like the $QQQ, $XLK, and several tech stocks are forming bullish engulfing candles today. Look out above.
On the open today, closed on GTC order: $AAPL July 20th 195 call for .14. Sold for 1.37 on June 21st.
NFLX spreads closed
#Earnings Bought to close $NFLX July 20th 360/350 put spreads for 1.00. Sold for 1.70 on Friday.
BTC NFLX July 20th 360 put for 1.43. Sold for 3.46 last week.
I have a single strangle remaining, 360/475, sold for 4.46 total. I will leave it to expire.
Low VIX
#VIXIndicator Lowest intra-day VIX level since 6/15 (excluding pre-market spikes).
NFLX put closed
#Earnings Closed 1 of my 3 $NFLX July 20th 360 puts for breakeven, 3.40 (covering commissions). I’ll leave the other two.
Looking to close my 360/350 spread for breakeven or small profit, too. The spreads are in smaller accounts and don’t want to risk full loss if NFLX peters out and reverses down.
AZO supercharger closed
#SuperCharger Sold to close $AZO July 20th 660/670 bull call spread for 9.75. This was purchased last Wednesday for 7.39 as an ITM long call spread. Thanks to MamaCash for the idea!
I am looking to do it again, but could use a bit of downward action in the stock. Looking at an ITM spread for August 3rd expiry.
MRVL pre-earnings
#PreEarnings This one has had a tendency to drift higher into earnings. Low-priced stock so the 37-delta options are cheap. Earnings estimated Aug 23-30, so I have room to roll once or twice.
Bought to Open $MRVL Aug 10th 22 calls for .45.
Covered Calls
#CoveredCallCampaign Had a couple calls breached so I exited on the intraday pullbacks. Will look to re-enter OLED but probably leave the other two until earnings.
BTC $AAPL July 27th 192.5 call for 1.95. Sold for 1.55 on July 2.
BTC $SQ July 27th 68 call for 1.70. Sold for 1.53 on July 6.
BTC $OLED July 27th 97 call for 2.15. Sold last Thursday for 1.50.
Also:
Closed on GTC order: $BABA July 27th 205 call for .16. Sold for 1.57 on June 28th.
NFLX earnings
#Earnings I sold $NFLX July 20th 360 puts last week, avg price 4.07.
Looking at the stock’s move over the last 12 quarters, with the stock right now at 400, its
ONE-DAY max UP move would take us to 476.08 (19.0%), max DOWN move would take us to 347.52 (-13.1%)
FIVE-DAY max UP move would take us to 511.00 (27.8%), while max DOWN move is the same, 347.52.
I may sell 475 calls if I can get a buck or more.
Econ Calendar for week of 7/16/18
Be sure to periodically click Home/REFRESH to keep Bistro features updated.
SPX trades
#SPXcampaign Closed $SPX July 20th 2685/2660 put spreads for .25. Sold in a #CondorRoll last week. The call side was stopped earlier this week. Rolled half of that into a put spread on Tuesday, and now the second half into this:
#Rolling. Sold $SPX July 25th 2830/2855 call spreads for 4.35.
So I’m presuming we will stall or pullback from here. We’ll see if I’m wrong next week!
RH bummer
#Earnings #Rolling. I was looking for a gap fill on this, and mostly got it, but instead of exiting when I should have, I’m getting torn up today, adding to the depth of the hole. Trades on this one never go smoothly for me.
Buying to close $RH July 20th 120 call for 18.55-19.80. I’ll pay more for the remainder if I can’t get more pullback.
Sold for 12.40 last week. Could have gotten out for 8-9 dollars earlier this week. Came close to doing it but decided to wait. This morning’s huge rally slammed me.
Not sure what I will do to get back. I may just sell strangles, a bit at a time.
2800, hello again
#Markets First time hitting 2800 since March 13th.
NFLX, adding
#Earnings Sold another $NFLX July 20th 360 put for 4.00, adding to the ones sold for 3.25 yesterday.
In smaller accounts, sold NFLX July 20th 360/350 put spreads for 1.70.
AMAT roll & PYPL rolls
#PieTrades On Tuesday’s down open, I closed $AMAT July 13th 46 #CoveredCall for .57. Sold for .70 last week. It had been ITM so the pullback helped, and I planned to sell the new one on the bounce.
Took a couple days for the bounce!
Today, sold AMAT July 20th 46 call for .75.
#LEAPs #SyntheticCoveredCalls
Stopped $PYPL July 20th 87 calls for 2.16 and 88 calls for 1.50.
Sold July 20th 87.5 puts for 1.10 and 1.35.
Earnings on July 25th. I believe this one will consolidate or run higher from here into earnings. If it surges I may try to squeeze in some more short calls, or just wait for an earnings strangle.
LMT pre-earnings closed
#PreEarnings #Earnings Sold to close $LMT July 27th 317.5 calls for 6.85. Bought for 2.40 on Tuesday. Adding the first round, that’s 6.45 profit in this one… thanks MamaCash for finding us this ticker! May try for another round on a pullback.
NFLX puts sold
#Earnings Using today’s pullback to start my earnings trade on $NFLX. I only play this bullish on earnings (or perhaps way OTM calls if I can get enough premium). It has had huge up moves but only modest down moves in recent quarters.
Sold $NFLX July 20th 360 puts for 3.20.
Biggest UP move: 19.0%, Biggest DOWN move: -13.1%, Average move: 9.4%. This trade is -12.4% OTM.
SQ calls sold
#LEAPs Sold $SQ July 27th 68.5 #SyntheticCoveredCalls for 1.11. These are against my long January 60 calls.
Puts closed
#CoveredCallCampaign
BTC $AAPL July 20th 180 put for .15. Sold for 1.44 on June 20th.
BTC $FB July 20th 190 put for .16. Sold for 1.60 on June 20th.
A few trades
#LEAPs BTC $SQ July 20th 71 #SyntheticCoveredCalls for .15. Sold for 1.35 in June.
#CoveredCallCampaign BTC $BABA July 20th 202.5 #CoveredCall for .21. Sold for 2.05 in June
#VXXGame Sold $VXX Dec 50 call for 3.50
SPX roll
#SPXcampaign Monday I closed $SPX July 20th 2810/2835 call spreads for 4.20, which was the call side of a #CondorRoll from the week before. Much of the reason I have mostly paused selling spreads is that the call side has never been more difficult to manage that it has this year.
Today I rolled half of it into puts: Sold SPX July 25th 2750/2725 put spreads for 4.50.
MU pie-roll
Mmmmmm… pie rolls….
#PieTrades Bought to close $MU June 13th 54 #CoveredCalls for 1.17. Sold for 1.28 on July 2nd.
#Rolling Sold June 20th 54.5 calls for 1.53.
Bought to close $MU June 13th 53.5 #CoveredCalls for 1.44. Sold for 1.00 on Friday.
#Rolling Sold June 20th 54 calls for 1.77.
LMT pre-earnings
#PreEarnings #Earnings #Rolling
Sold to Close $LMT July 20th 310 calls for 3.00. Bought for 1.00 last week.
Rolled to: Bought $LMT July 27th 317.5 calls for 2.40.
BABA put
#CoveredCallCampaign Earlier, closed on GTC order: $BABA July 20th 180 put for .29. Sold for 2.88 on June 26th as part of a #StrangleRoll. Looks like the 202.5 call side will probably close on its GTC order in a couple days.
More GUSH
#ContangoETFs
Sold $GUSH Dec 57 call for 5.20, adding to my position
Sold $GUSH July 20th 48 call for 1.05
GUSH reaching new highs
#ContangoETFs Sold $GUSH Aug 17th 50 call for 2.15.
Econ Calendar for week of 7/9/18
Be sure to periodically click Home/REFRESH to keep Bistro features updated.
Call sales
#LEAPs #SyntheticCoveredCall Sold $PYPL July 20th 87 calls for .90
#PieTrades Sold $AMAT July 13th 46 call for .70.
#CoveredCallCampaign Closed $SQ July 6th 66.5 put for 1.35 to avoid assignment. Sold for 1.43 on June 21st.
#Rolling to: SQ July 27th 68 call for 1.53.
SPX calls stopped
#SPXcampaign Stopped $SPX July 13th 2765/2790 call spreads for 8.55. Sold Monday for 3.65.
Since I have a total of one other position in SPX, I have the margin to roll this not a double sized spread. I’m looking at a July 20th condor for 4.30 or more.
A few trades
#Earnings #Rolling BTC $RH 150 puts for 13.65. Sold July 20th 125 calls for 12.40. I’m actually looking for this one to fill the gap. It has tended to do that often after a big rise on earnings. I will add puts to this if we trade lower. I almost never get away from an earnings trade on this one easily.
#Earnings #Assignment #PieTrades Assigned $YY stock when July 6th 110 put was assigned early. Sold July 13th 97 call for 1.25. I’ll turn this into a PieTrade for recovery.
#PieTrades Sold $MU July 13th 53.5 #CoveredCalls for 1.00
June Jobs Report
#Jobs Better than expected.
+213,000 non-farm payroll jobs, vs 188K expected
Unemployment up 0.2 to 4.0%
U6 unemployment at 7.8%, up by 0.2
Wages up 0.2%, 2.7% year over year
Labor force participation 62.9%, up 0.2
May revised up from 223K to 244K
Apr revised up from 159K to 175K
Joining LMT rocket
#Earnings #EarningsRunUp
Bought to open $LMT July 20th 310 calls for 1.00. I will assess the trade’s performance next Friday, 7 dte.
Adding to PYPL
#LongCalls #LEAPs This is not the typical high-delta LEAP play… I first bought some of these calls back in November, and adding today at a slightly lower price.
Bought $PYPL Jan 2019 100 calls for 2.20.
Selling short term calls against it.
AAPL covered calls
#CoveredCallCampaign Sold $AAPL July 27th 192.5 #CoveredCalls for 1.55.
SPX calls closed, calls sold
#SPXcampaign Closed on GTC order: $SPX July 19th 2835/2860 call spreads for .25. Sold for 1.90 on June 22nd.
Sold $SPX July 13th 2765/2790 call spreads for 3.65.
I remain short-term bearish as tariffs start kicking in this week, and VIX above 14.00. However, as always, I’m ready if I’m wrong. Also only playing short-term spreads to avoid complications when my Japan trip starts.
NFLX call spreads closed
#SuperCharger Thanks to Iceman, this spread saved me from a loss on my first Supercharger… brings me a slight profit overall.
BTC $NFLX July 13th 450/500 call spreads for .20. Sold for 1.90 last week.
MU covered calls
#PieTrades Sold $MU July 13th 54 #CoveredCalls for 1.28. Assigned Friday at 55.00. With this sale, cost basis 52.02 in some accounts, and 56.44 in another.
SPX calls closed
#SPXcampaign Closed on GTC order: $SPX July 6th 2775/2800 call spreads for .25. Sold last week for 3.00.
Econ Calendar for week of 7/2/18
Jobs Report is this Friday 8:30am ET
Be sure to periodically click Home/REFRESH to keep Bistro features updated.
Stall
#Markets… looks like major indices will be closing lower than the open….
MU calls, STZ puts closed
#Earnings #PieTrades
Closed $STZ June 29th 220 puts for .65, .45, .20, and one left. Scaling out of my naked puts over the day. I also have some spreads, but I think we will close above 220. Watching closely to avoid assignment.
BTC $MU June 29th 52.5 covered Call for .15 to avoid assignment. Sold for .80 on Wednesday. Trying to sell a call for next week.
SPX calls sold
#SPXcampaign Selling this under my normal strategy as it is set to expire at the start of my trip. Depending on the number of positions I have, I plan to sell some spreads through the vacation, keeping it manageable.
Sold $SPX July 27th 2825/2850 call spreads for 1.85
BABA covered call
#CoveredCallCampaign Sold $BABA July 27th 205 covered call for 1.57.
STZ earnings
#Earnings Sold to Open $STZ June 29th 220/245 strangles for 1.43.
Biggest UP move: 6.4%, Biggest DOWN move: -7.1%, Average move: 3.9%. Fairly minor mover, with upside bias.
In smaller accounts also trying for a 2.5 pt. condor at the same short strikes.
Moving a lot to cash
I’m starting to take a lot of trades off and putting fewer new ones on. I am doing this for these reasons:
1. The #SPXcampaign has not been working well in 2018. It was my core strategy starting in January 2015 and worked well through 2016. In 2017, I got crushed a little too much on the upside, and now this year’s whipsaw has been too difficult. I’m going flat in $SPX. Currently I only have a couple of OTM call spreads which I’ll be closing a bit cheaper. I will look to start fresh in the coming weeks or months after I assess the strategy.
2. I have been long a few tech stocks and selling calls. I was also rolling into strangles when calls got breached. In the last week the puts have been getting hit. So I’m keeping the stock for now but have closed most puts. I will sell covered calls if we move higher, or stop myself out if we move much lower or go into more serious correction.
3. I’m not feeling positive about the market. Of course, me typing this paragraph will likely mean today is the bottom! But the market action, the tariff fears, and other reasons for 2018 volatility do not seem to be abating. Plus record low unemployment is often what precedes a recession, and the nation’s debt and deficits are flying to new highs. I by no means am certain of a crash, and I wouldn’t be including this in my decision if it weren’t for #4.
4. My family is spending a month in Japan from late July to late August (my wife is from there, so we’ll be visiting family and touring). The NYSE opens at 10:30pm Tokyo time… I intend to keep trading lightly, but do not want to be going through volatility with lots of positions and having to stay up all night.
I hope to reset my mind, catch up on bookkeeping (both trading and household), and build out this website a bit more.
So, to summarize: I am closing out SPX, TQQQ
I’m keeping stock in AAPL, BABA, SQ, and FB, all with stops set in not too much lower than current prices. BABA is a bit underwater but the other three are nicely in profit.
I have stock also in these which are currently struggling: #PieTrades in MU and AMAT, and broken earnings trade in OLED. I’ll let these sit, sell calls, and dump them if they can’t recover soon.
The only #VXXGame trades I have are long puts in $VXX, a trade that would have worked every year for the past 9 (except maybe 2011), but is NOT working in 2018. Also long $SVXY stock and short a small amount of $VXX stock. I have way OTM long calls on UVXY and VXX, so I’m prepared to sell volatility should it get expensive.
Still short some puts in RH, YY, and GUSH, which I’ll allow to decay.
Long LEAP calls in PYPL and SQ which were cheap, so no reason to close. I will sell calls against these.
And that’s it! Let me know any questions you have about positions you were following.
NFLX Supercharger
#SuperCharger I dumped out of NFLX, but kept the call-spread hedge to devalue further. Unless we rally to 450 beforeJuly 13th, this trade will end up being breakeven or slightly profitable due to the hedge.
Sold to Close $NFLX July 6th 380/390 BuCS for 6.00. Bought Tuesday for 7.38.
Keeping NFLX July 13th 450/500 BeCS, sold for 1.90 yesterday, now at .94.
Another Downside Warning
#VIXIndicator We got a third warning at the close Wednesday, the second time this week. The low on this round was put it on the day of the first warning, May 29, at 2676. Since then we stayed above 2700 until this week. We could test that low today, and if we go through, the lows for the year are down at 2532. Long way to go from here, so watch to see if we can keep above 2676.
Anyone else looking at technical levels for support?
SPX calls sold
#SPXcampaign Sold $SPX July 6th 2775/2800 call spreads for 3.00.
NFLX Supercharger, partial hedge
#SuperCharger Trying my first supercharger. Thanks to MamaCash on the input… Also, thanks to Iceman for his trade yesterday on NFLX, which I’ve added to the supercharger… a bear call spread above all-time highs that expires before earnings. Do we need a new name for a SuperCharger with a partial hedge?
Yesterday, Bought $NFLX July 6th 380/390 call spreads for 7.38, GTC order to close at 9.40.
Today, sold NFLX July 13th 450/500 call spreads for 1.90.
BABA roll
#CoveredCallCampaign Yesterday, Closed $BABA July 6th 190 put for 4.50. Sold for 1.20.
#StrangleRoll Sold July 20th 180 put for 2.88, and July 20th 202.5 call for 2.05.
MU movin’
#PieTrades Still short June 29th 59 put in $MU, sold last week for 1.28, now underwater. Will either take stock or roll.
In smaller accounts, today I sold June 29th 55 puts for 1.70.
Travelin’ and tradin’
Yesterday… Woke up in my stepson’s college apartment in Eugene… we had to clean the place, donate or giveaway bunch of beat-up furniture, then drive home to Portland. So of course, the market decided to take a dump!
Stopped out of 3 $SPX put spreads, stayed in two others and sold 1 new one. #SPXcampaign
Stopped out of several puts from #CoveredCallCampaigns, and rolled a few of them out and down.
All in all, was not a day I could focus so pretty haphazard. We got another Warning, but often a secondary warning, especially only one, can signal a bottom. If we don’t get any more over next couple days, we’ll likely be rallying… we’ll have to get back to 2800 someday.
NFLX trade time?
@kathycon MamaCash — If I was looking at a #supercharger on $NFLX, would buying the July 6th 380/390 bull call spread for 6.75 be the right idea? How do you choose stop levels?
Down we go
#VIXIndicator has passed an intraday warning level for the first time since the most recent Warning fired on May 29th. Any close above 17.21 will be another warning… which could also be a capitulation low… hard to tell with these secondary warnings. So far the LOD is the lowest point on the S&P since May 31st.
Econ Calendar for week of 6/25/18
SPX calls sold
#SPXcampaign Sold $SPX July 19th 2835/2860 call spreads (monthlys) for 1.90.
GUSH higher
#ContangoETFs. $GUSH moving up in pre-market, above 40 again.
