#SPXcampaign Sold $SPX June 22nd 2610/2585 put spreads for 2.30, with 1.33x-position size. Not much lower on the strikes than the spread this replaces, but it’ll do.
Author Archives: Jeff
UVXY calls
#VXXGame Yesterday, Sold $UVXY July 20th 20 calls for 1.20.
SPX trades
#SPXcampaign These two also got stopped yesterday, orders filling on the end of the day bounce. The May 31st one kinda sucked, since it is much cheaper this morning, but it was too close to expiration to risk a further drop. I am mapping out rolls for everything today… some in calls, some in puts, some in condors.
Stopped: $SPX May 31st 2675/2650 put spreads for 6.50. Sold in a #CondorRoll for 6.70.
Stopped: $SPX Jun 14th 2610/2585 put spreads for 2.90. Sold for 1.65 on May 14th.
New downside warning
#VIXIndicator… for perspective, when this happened on Feb 28th (another warning firing a few days after the previous one had been canceled), the SPX closed at 2713. We hit the low of 2553 on April 2nd, so a full month later. During that month, we also reached a high of 2801.
SPX trades
#SPXcampaign STOPPED: $SPX June 22nd 2620/2595 put spreads for 4.10. Sold for 1.70 on Thursday.
Closed on GTC order: SPX June 14th 2810/2835 call spreads for .20. Sold for 1.80 on May 15th.
I will probably be stopping a couple more put spreads before the close, especially if no rally develops soon.
SPX calls closed
#SPXcampaign. Closed on GTC order: $SPX June 1st 2750/2775 call spreads for .40. Sold in a #CondorRoll for 8.00 on May 15th.
Dump
Looks like I picked the wrong hour to be away from my desk!
AMAT covered call
#PieTrades #CoveredCalls Sold $AMAT June 1st 52 covered call for .75.
SQ covered call
#CoveredCalls #CoveredCallCampaign
Sold $SQ June 29th 61.5 covered call for 1.60
OLED, boom!
iPhone may use their screens… https://seekingalpha.com/news/3359877-universal-display-plus-12_4-percent-iphone-oled-report
Italy this time
#VIXIndicator In pre-market we have a signal on the VIXIndicator which indicates to be wary of new downside risk, this time due to Italy’s political crisis causing a big drop in the Euro. Whether we get a new Downside Warning will depend on the VIX closing price.
Econ Calendar for week of 5/28/18
May jobs report is Friday at 8:30am ET.
Be sure to periodically click “Home/REFRESH” to keep Bistro features updated.
SPX calls sold
#SPXcampaign Sold $SPX June 22nd 2795/2820 call spreads for 1.70. No upside warning so I’m still selling both sides of this market.
Upside Warning data
#VIXIndicator Looking less likely we’ll get an Upside Warning today, but in any case here’s an updated version of the chart I posted months ago. The blue bars with numbers on top represent the percentage move UP from the close of an Upside Warning day to the eventual SPX high before another pullback. The numbers at the bottom of each bar are the percentage move DOWN from the preceding correction, and the date of the Upside Warning. Please ask any questions you have! (you can click on the chart to see it full screen)
Squeezing to explode, or collapse?
Interesting look at the VIX chart… I think today’s close will be telling.
Fascinating. Tags on both sides this week. $VIX pic.twitter.com/XpfPoGHlhh
— Sven Henrich (@NorthmanTrader) May 25, 2018
SPX long calls added
#SPXcampaign Added another batch of long $SPX June 15th 2825/2850 call spreads for .40. I now have a triple-sized position at avg price of .743
It’s a long shot, but no so outlandish as to be called a lottery ticket. I think we’ll get an Upside Warning today which gives us a good shot at a new all-time high on SPX. $RUT is already doing that, and $VIX is telling us these intraday swoons aren’t causing any panic.
GUSH blow off top?
#ContangoETFs $GUSH topped out early this week at 47, which triggered my rolling of several ATM positions… then it did what a ContangoETF is supposed to do… dropped dramatically. Bummer that its highs had to be right around my strikes, forcing the rolls. I rolled one into a strangle that may soon have its 31 puts breached. I waited on another, which was a mistake as it is now too low to roll into a higher call. Such is the folly with these ones destined toward zero.
Two down, one to go
#VIXIndicator Another somewhat volatile day capped with a plunging VIX. That’s two consecutive days below the Fib 78.6% line… if it happens again tomorrow we shall be entering next week with an Upside Warning.
SPX trades
#SPXcampaign
Closed $SPX May 25th 2700/2675 put spreads for .45. Sold as a #ReverseRoll for 7.60 on May 10th.
Sold $SPX June 22nd 2620/2595 put spreads for 1.70.
Sold $SPX June 15th 2700/2675 put spreads for 5.25.
Wango Contango
#ContangoETFs Closed these positions yesterday, leaving me flat in all three tickers.
BTC $KOLD Nov 68 call for .25. Sold for 2.50 on March 23.
BTC $NUGT Jan 2019 50 call for .98. Sold for 5.025 (avg price) in Dec/Jan.
BTC $DUST Jan 2019 45 call for 1.05. Sold for 4.80 on Feb 9.
Morning dip
Most of these news driven pullbacks have been buying opportunities lately.
Dow falls nearly 120 points after Trump sends letter to North Korea's leader calling off the upcoming Singapore summit https://t.co/aUSrApFtNK pic.twitter.com/oZvmYK3FxC
— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) May 24, 2018
Downside Warning Canceled
#VIXIndicator I did a double-take when I looked at my screen. Wouldn’t have thought a day opening as negative as we did would finally get us across the threshold, but looks like the official close on VIX is 12.58. That’s the first close this low since January 26th.
If we close below 12.61 for two more consecutive days… tomorrow and Friday, that will be an Upside Warning.
SPX trades
#spxcampaign
Bought more $SPX June 15th 2825/2850 call spreads for .60. A double position now, so I can sell half for maybe 3.00 or 4.00 and then wait to see how far we go up.
Closed on GTC order: June 8th 2820/2845 call spreads for .20. Sold for 1.65 on May 11th.
Sold June 22nd 2810/2835 call spreads for 1.80.
SPX calls closed
#SPXcampaign Closed $SPX May 25th 2745/2770 call spreads for 1.15. Sold for 5.80 last Wednesday (I posted this at the time as 2750/2775, but it was actually the 2745/2770).
SPX puts sold
#SPXcampaign Sold to Open $SPX June 22nd 2585/2560 put spreads for 1.75.
Gush dump
#ContangoETFs Closed $GUSH Dec 46 call for 9.90. Sold on Apr 4th for 4.00.
Order filled on the way down, and then it dropped a lot more. Using a #StrangleRoll on this… it’s quite doubtful that both of these strikes will expire, but I’ll take the premium now and deal with any breaches later.
Sold GUSH Dec 32/57 strangle for 10.55.
AZO
wow… can you say “intraday”?
TQQQ trades
#LongLEAPs #SyntheticCoveredCalls
Closed $TQQQ June 1st 140 put for .35. Sold in 140/170 #StrangleRoll for 5.00 on May 9th.
Gush rolls
#ContangoETFs Closed $GUSH June 15th 45 call for 3.50. Sold for 1.05 on April 19th.
#Rolling: Sold July 50 call for 3.90.
Closed GUSH Sept 45 call for 8.20. Sold for 2.75 on May 4th.
#Rolling to the Dec 55 call, not yet filled.
Also stopping the Dec 46 call, not yet filled.
SPX trades
#SPXcampaign
Stopped: $SPX May 31st 2750/2775 call spreads for 7.20. Sold in a #CondorRoll last week for 6.70. Will roll later.
BOUGHT to Open $SPX June 2825/2850 call spreads for 1.15.
(Yesterday) closed on GTC order: June 8th 2510/2485 put spreads for .20. Sold for 1.65 on May 8th.
Have not yet sold the standard weekly spreads (for June 22nd). Missed fills at the highs.
AMBA long
#LongCalls Bought $AMBA June 15th 50 call for 3.90. Following a trade from SimplerOptions… their entry was on the rally day and they paid over 7.00. AMBA has been in a wide range and I think we’re nearing a short-term bottom.
Econ Calendar week of 5/21/18
Be sure to periodically click Home/REFRESH to keep Bistro features updated.
Final trades and Options Expiration, 5/18/18
#SPXcampaign
Sold $SPX June 14th 2795/2820 call spreads for 1.75
Sold $SPX May 31st 2650/2675/2750/2775 #CondorRoll for 6.70
#OptionsExpiration Expiring at full loss: Long 2770/2790 call spreads, bought for 1.29… Made a couple of profitable rounds with this spread but the remaining ones fizzled out.
#IronButterfly Sold to close $AMZN 1575/1600/1625 butterfly for .84. Bought for 2.95 on May 3rd.
#Earnings Closed remaining $A 65 puts for .75. Avg closing price: 1.10. Strangles (65/75) sold for .77 on Monday.
Closed $OLED May 18th 100 put for 5.70. Sold for 3.50 last week. In the hole on the rolls here… need to assess next week.
#VXXGame BTC $UVXY Jan 2019 70 call for .45. Sold for 6.50, avg price.
Expiring are long calls used as hedges, UVXY 40 calls (bought for .45) and 44 calls (bought for .21).
Expiring at full loss: a bunch of $VXX 30 puts, bought for the avg price of .12
#Assignment $AMAT 54.5 put, taking stock, will sell call next week. #PieTrades
Amazon’s weakness today…
Amazon briefly hit session low after report that Trump pushed the USPS to double shipping rates https://t.co/IfTJ8e1NSp
— CNBC (@CNBC) May 18, 2018
KOLD closed
#ContangoETFs BTC $KOLD Aug 60 calls for .15. Sold for 1.50 and 1.75 in March.
Spamming
Click Home/REFRESH if you’re still seeing the spam comments.
DE closed
#Earnings Closed $DE May 18th 140/135 put spreads for .05. Sold for .85 yesterday.
SPX puts sold
#SPXcampaign Sold $SPX June 14th 2590/2565 put spreads for 1.65.
Trade jitters again
BREAKING: President Trump says he doubts that trade talks with China will be successful https://t.co/vccLO1oIe9
— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) May 17, 2018
DE earnings
#Earnings Fairly bullish history on earnings, with small drops and big gains.
Sold $DE May 18th 140/135 put spreads for .85. Biggest UP move: 13.5%, Biggest DOWN move: -8.1%, Average move: 5.9%. This trade is -6.3% OTM.
Kicking A
#Earnings Starting to peel off $A 65 puts at a small loss… big rally today but don’t want to leave full position on overnight with risk of early assignment or a big drop tomorrow. Won’t work for #PieTrades or #CoveredCallCampaign since there are no weeklys and weak premium.
Closed $A May 18th 65 put for 1.23; 65/75 strangles sold for .77 on Monday.
Calls sold
#Earnings #Rolling Sold $OLED June 15th 110 call for 1.95
#CoveredCalls #CoveredCallCampaign Sold $SQ June 15th 60 call for 1.40
SPX calls sold
#SPXcampaign Sold $SPX May 25th 2745/2770 call spreads for 5.80. This offsets aggressive put spreads sold for this expiry last week.
EDIT: strikes were previously entered incorrectly as 2750/2775
BABA covered call
#CoveredCalls #CoveredCallCampaign
Sold $BABA Jun 22nd 215 call for 2.00.
SPX trades
##SPXcampaign Sold a couple before and after the closing bell.
Sold $SPX June 1st 2625/2650/2750/2775 #CondorRoll for 8.00.
Sold $SPX June 14th 2810/2835 call spreads for 1.60.
SPX puts closed
#spxcampaign
Yesterday: Closed $SPX May 31st 2570/2545 put spreads for .35. Sold for 2.85 on May 4th.
This morning, pre-market: Closed SPX June 1st 2610/2585 put spreads for 1.30. Sold in a #CondorRoll last Wednesday, for 2.45 for the put side. I closed this to lighten the load if we get crushed today, and to give myself a nice chunk of buying power back.
A-bomb
#Earnings Big drop in $A this morning… I called my strangle “super-safe”… it has only ended the day after earnings over 10% down twice in 16 years, and exceeded 10% intraday one additional time. So this is an unusual move, but we have until Friday for recovery.
Tumbling
Volatility has not left the building
TQQQ & SQ rolls
#LongLEAPs Closed $TQQQ June 1st 170 #SyntheticCoveredCall for 6.00. Sold in a #StrangleRoll on May 9th.
Sold $TQQQ June 8th 157.5/177.5 strangle for 6.30.
Closed $SQ June 8th 56 call for 1.60. Sold for 1.88 last Thursday. Will wait to roll on the next move up.
SPX puts sold
#SPXcampaign Sold $SPX June 14th (monthlys) 2610/2585 put spreads for 1.65.
A earnings
#Earnings I don’t remember ever trading $A before, so I took an extra-safe position.
Sold $A May 18th 65/75 #ShortStrangles for .77. Biggest UP move: 4.6%, Biggest DOWN move: -3.5%, Average move: 2.5%. My strikes are +/-7.1% OTM.
Econ Calendar for week of 5/14/18
Be sure to periodically click “Home/REFRESH” to keep Bistro features updated.
Almost but not
#VIXIndicator Official close for the VIX (and LOD) was 12.65… .04 shy of canceling the warning. Not an exact science, so things looking strong for next week.
Have a great weekend y’all
Happy Mother’s Day
VIX plunging
VIX plunging
Strategies on Bistro
Hello all… I just updated the “Hashtag Strategies” Menu item (top-center of this page). I’d like your feedback on anything that should be added. I’m working on one sheet explanations of each strategy, so members will have an overview explanation and not just a link to old posts.
Let me know what you think!
SPX puts sold
#SPXcampaign Sold $SPX June 8th 2600/2575 puts sold for 1.60.
SPX calls stopped
#SPXcampaign Stopped $SPX June 1st 2775/2800 for 4.50. Sold in a #CondorRoll for 4.90 on Wednesday.
Other than the June 8th calls I sold this morning, all my previous call spreads have hit their stop levels and are closed. I have reverse-rolled some, but need to do more. I’d prefer the VIX to be lower before going to heavy to the long side.
SPX calls sold
#SPXcampaign Sold $SPX June 8th 2820/2845 call spreads for 1.65.
NVDA earnings closed
#Earnings Closing $NVDA mainly to get back some buying power but also to avoid surprises. Closed the 242.5 short puts for .15 and the 272.5 short calls for .04. I’ll leave the lottery-ticket long legs.
Sold condors yesterday for 1.65
Gushing
#ContangoETF’s New highest strikes added to $GUSH… 57 across all expiries.
Rally time?
#Market SPX daily squeeze fired long, and 3 of the last 5 closes were over 1 SD. That’s two out of three signals that the rally will continue… #VIXIndicator didn’t quite make it low enough.
No one got my “Mowing down” reference?
A little 90’s nostalgia, anyone? (skip to 3:15 for the reference, if you ain’t into the beat)
Covered Calls
#CoveredCalls #CoveredCallCampaign #Rolling
It’s all fun and games until you get blown out to the upside. It’s a nice problem to have, however, as stock holdings nice for the portfolio.
BTC $BABA May 25th 197.5 covered call for 4.95. Sold Friday for 1.70.
#StrangleRoll Sold BABA Jun 8th 190/207.5 strangle for 5.28.
BTC $FB May 18th 180 call for 5.72. Sold in a strangle-roll after earnings for 1.40. I don’t know how I missed this one going so far ITM this week. Confusing with FB, AAPL, and BABA all near the same price.
STO $FB June 8th 180 put for 2.40. Waiting to sell call.
BTC $FB May 18th 165 put for .07. Sold after earnings for 1.50.
BTC $SQ June 1st 52.5 call for 2.75. Sold for 1.35 on Monday
STO $SQ June 8th 56 call for 1.88
STO $SQ June 8th 50 put for 1.05
VXX gamin’
#VXXGame Bought some cheap protection for future call sales… doing so also gives me more buying power against current positions. All highest strikes.
BTO $VXX June 15th 70 call for .20
BTO $VXX July 20th 90 call for .25
BTO $UVXY June 15th 60 call for .07 (adding)
BTO $UVXY Sep 59 calls for .26
And took profits:
BTC UVXY Sep 30 call for .79. Sold in March for 3.425 (avg price)
SPX trades
#SPXcampaign
Stopped: $SPX May 18th 2725/2750 call spreads for 7.85. Sold for 3.65 as a roll on Monday.
Stopped: $SPX May 31st 2765/2790 call spreads for 4.85. Sold for 1.60 last Friday
#ReverseRoll: Sold June 1st 2675/2650 put spreads for 4.40.
Closed June 1st 2435/2410 put spreads for .20. Sold in a #CondorRoll for 2.90 on last Thursday.
That leaves only one short call spread that is almost at its stop level.
NVDA earnings
#Earnings Followed @fuzzballl‘s cue but made it a broken-wing condor… more down side risk.
Sold $NVDA May 11th 237.5/242.5/272.5/275 condors for 1.65. Downside risk 3.35, upside risk .85. Call me crazy, but I’m assuming a more muted move since stock is extended but it rarely moves bearishly on earnings.
Biggest UP move: 29.8%, Biggest DOWN move: -7.4%, Average move: 10.9%. Strikes are +/-5.8% OTM.
Mowing down My C’s like I’m mowing a lawn
#SPXcampaign My calls are getting killed one at a time… reverse rolled one, waiting on the others.
Stopped: $SPX May 17th 2720/2745 call spreads for 7.15. Sold yesterday for 3.15.
#ReverseRoll Sold May 25th 2700/2675 put spreads for 7.60.
Stopped: June 1st 2760/2785 call spreads for 3.90. No roll yet. Sold on May 3rd for 1.75.
Closed SPX May 25th 2525/2500 put spreads for .35. Sold as a roll for 2.30 on May 4th.
Closed on GTC order: June 1st 2450/2425 call spreads for .20. Sold for 1.70 on May 3rd.
Can we get bullish yet?
#Market Watching multiple indicators today… the SPX daily squeeze may fire long; Sue’s 3-out-of-5 day 1 SD indicator may fire, and the #VIXIndicator is poised to cancel the Downside Warning if we close at 12.61 or lower.
SPX calls stopped & rolled
#SPXcampaign First spread stopped on the highest day in $SPX since April 19th. Last time we topped at 2717. Will we break through this time? I’m using a #CondorRoll because VIX is still in Downside Warning. If we push higher than 2702, more spreads will be stopped, and I may reverse roll some.
Stopped SPX May 25th 2745/2770 call spreads for 4.35. Sold in a roll for 1.75 on May 4th.
Rolled to: SPX June 1st 2585/2610/2775/2800 condors for 4.70.
SPX puts closed
#SPXcampaign Closed on GTC order: May 17th 2540/2515 put spreads for .20. Sold for 1.60 on April 17th.
Today’s another demonstration that I am NOT a master of timing, rolling into call spreads earlier that have now almost doubled…. as I said then, these can bowl you over quickly, which is why I rarely do them. We go much higher today and these will have to be stopped and rolled again.
VIX getting to new lows not seen since beginning of February.
EA strangle
#Earnings #ShortStrangles
Closed $EA May 11th 115 put for .05. Order in to close 132 calls for same, but did not fill and now ATM. Will wait. Strangles sold yesterday for 1.60.
TQQQ roll
#LongLEAPs #SyntheticCoveredCall
Short call got breached so executed #StrangleRoll
Closed $TQQQ May 18th 160 call for 5.00. Sold for 1.60 on Friday.
Sold TQQQ June 1st 140/170 strangle for 5.00.
SPX call roll sold
#SPXcampaign Sold $SPX May 17th (monthly) 2720/2745 call spreads for 3.15. #Rolling from the spread stopped for 3.90 on Monday, with 1.6x position size. I don’t often do this type of roll on the call side, as rallies can bowl me over quickly. But it seems we’re still in a range, and these expire next Friday (am), so I will close them Thursday at latest.
SPX calls sold
#SPXcampaign Sold to Opne $SPX June 8th 2775/2800 call spreads for 1.75.
