Covered Calls

#CoveredCalls #coveredcallcampaign

Stopped: $BABA March 16th 177.5 put for 5.85. Sold for 1.35 on 2/21.
#Rolling: Sold BABA April 20th 170 put for 5.60.
Sold BABA Apr 6th 197.5 call for 1.70

Closed on GTC order: $FB Mar 9th 187.5 call for .14. Sold for 1.45 on 2/14.

SPX trades

#SPXcampaign With Futures down and a weak open, I rotated some positions out of puts. I may only be talking my book, but I still sense we have lower to go. The chart I posted yesterday shows most of these double-header downside warnings take us down to the previous low (2532) or lower. Yesterday’s low was still 5% above that low.

Sold $SPX March 23rd 2790/2765 put spreads for 22.00. This is the ITM position I originally sold in early Feb. Closed the March 9 roll yesterday and now rolling 2-weeks further.

Stopped Apr 6th 2550/2525 put spreads for 4.30. Sold for 2.00 as a roll on Wednesday.
#ReverseRoll Sold March 5th 2700/2725 call spreads for 3.10, 1.44x position size.

Stopped March 23rd 2525/2500 put spreads for 3.15. Sold for 1.70 on Feb 20th. Cued up some March 29th lower put spreads for a roll. Will fill if we go lower.

Sold March 2nd 2660/2685 call spreads for 8.25. Nail-biter of a day trade.

SPX short

#SPXcampaign #Market I will post trades soon, but I switched more put spreads to calls and I believe we will be going further down today.

The New SVXY: A Comparison

The New SVXY: How Will The Revised ETF Perform Compared To ZIV And To The Old SVXY?

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4152553-new-svxy-will-revised-etf-perform-compared-ziv-old-svxy?auth_param=bf3bv:1d9ikf5:969d59d3332385040c89b89bf109e8a1&uprof=37#alt1

#VXXGame

SPX trades 2

#SPXcampaign
Sold $SPX March 15th 2750/2775 for 3.50, as a #ReverseRoll from March 23rd puts stopped earlier.
Closed March 2nd 2710/2735 call spreads for 2.80. Sold for 9.20 this morning.
Closed March 16th 2820/2845 call spreads for .65. Sold in a #CondorRoll for 7.85 on Tuesday.

Could be a bounce here, folks.

UVXY call

#VXXGame Sold $UVXY May 18th 25 call for 3.75

SPX trades

#SPXcampaign Spent the morning converting the account to be short on $SPX. Took most action before the spike higher, so not ideal entries and exits, but good enough now that were down almost 2%.

In chronological order:

Bought to Open LONG March 9th 2625/2600 put spreads for 2.60.
Sold to Open March 29th 2840/2865 call spreads for 1.60.
Closed March 9th 2800/2775 put spreads for 23.00. Sold ITM for 19.70 last Friday. #ITMroll coming
Sold March 2nd 2710/2735 call spreads for 9.20. #ReverseRoll
Closed March 9th 2725/2700 put spreads for 11.05. Sold for 4.05 on Monday. (rolled to spread above)
Sold March 23rd 2775/2800 call spreads for 5.25
Closed March 29th 2610/2585 put spreads for 3.15. Sold for 1.50 on Monday.
Closed March 16th 2695/2670 put spreads for 7.96. Sold in a #CondorRoll for 7.85 on Tuesday.
Sold March 28th 2525/2500 put spreads for 2.20, 1.5x pos size, #Rolling from Mar 29th puts closed above
Stopped: March 23rd 2530/2505 put spreads for 2.90. Sold for 1.60 on Friday. No roll yet.

SPLK earnings

#Earnings Sold to Open $SPLK Mar 2nd 84/112 strangles for 1.20. Biggest UP move: 17.9%, Biggest DOWN move: -10.1%, Average move: 5.9%. My strikes are +19.8% and -10.2% OTM.

Double-header data

#VIXIndicator Below is some data on the previous times this has happened. There was actually once a triple-header, which I missed yesterday. The columns to look at are:

Column D: the number of days between the cancelation and a new Downside Warning. The one we just experienced was only 3 days.

Column N (and Q): this is how much lower we went below the first Warning’s lows. As you can see, all but two occurrences we went lower than the first warning.

Let me know if you have questions!

Screen Shot 2018-03-01 at 8.51.33 AM

Double-header

#VIXIndicator Since 2000, what happened today has happened 8 times previously: a Downside Warning going into effect after it had been canceled, with no Upside Warning in between. On half of those occasions, the subsequent drop in the SPX was lower than the first warning, and in the other half, it was roughly the same. So in other words, every occurrence resulted in at least a test of the lows, and half of those times we went significantly lower.

SPX trades

#SPXcampaign
Stopped: $SPX March 29th 2625/2600 put spreads for 2.85. Sold yesterday for 1.45.
#Rolling: Sold April 6th 2550/2525 put spreads for 2.00, 1.5x position size.

Stopped: March 2nd 2725/2700 put spreads for 9.60. Sold for 5.20 on Friday.

Downside Warning reinstated at close

#VIXIndicator A rare occurrence so soon after a cancelation.

AAPL covered call

#CoveredCalls #CoveredCallCampaign

Sold $AAPL March 29th 187.5 call for 1.50

SPX calls sold

#SPXcampaign Sold $SPX Mar 9th 2775/2800 call spreads for 6.25.

AZO closing

#Earnings Just like last May, when this stock dipped over 10% on day 1, it is retracing higher on day 2.

BTC $AZO March 2nd 660 put for 1.00. Sold in 660/790 strangles for 4.225 (avg price) on Monday. I’m putting an order in to close the the other put for .50. Calls I will allow to expire.

SPX calls sold

#SPXcampaign With a second day of weakness I’m looking at call spreads now (after spending Friday and Monday stopping several). I’m offsetting put spreads at the same expiry.

Sold $SPX March 2nd 2775/2800 call spreads for 3.30. Expire this Friday.

Upside Warning denied

#VIXIndicator The clock resets. We need three consecutive closes below 17.76, so Friday is the earliest this may happen. A close above 19.75 tomorrow will mean the Downside Warning is reinstated.

SPX rolling

#SPXcampaign In light of the weakness and possible failure of Upside Warning, I stopped nearest put spread and rolled into equal-sized, same date condor. Likely I’ll have to roll one of these sides, but better then waking up tomorrow with a large gap down.

Stopped: $SPX March 16th 2750/2725 put spreads for 8.30. Sold yesterday for 5.80.
#CondorRoll: Sold March 16th 2670/2695/2820/2845 condors for 7.85.

UVXY trades

#VXXGame BTC $UVXY June 55 call for .76. Sold for 11.00 on Feb 6th.
STO UVXY March 16th 16 call for 1.95.

Looking more like no Upside Warning today… going to have to roll some put spreads if we creep closer to 2750.

Bad news for being long SVXY

Bad news for those of us holding and hoping with SVXY
#VXXGame Starting tomorrow, $SVXY will be -0.5x and $UVXY will be +1.5x

http://www.tradingvolatility.net/2018/02/svxy-and-uvxy-to-be-re-purposed-feb-28.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TradingVolatility+%28Trading+Volatility%29

#fuzzy, #pietrades

Covered Calls

#CoveredCalls #CoveredCallCampaign
BTC $BABA March 2nd 202.5 call for .15. Sold for 1.75 on Feb 6th.
Stopped: $AAPL March 16th 180 call for 2.65. The stock breached my strike then immediately offers a nice pullback so I could exit. Sold for 1.70 on Feb 20th.

I will sell new calls on both when we reach new highs.

SPX trades

#SPXcampaign Stopped: $SPX March 15th 2850/2875 call spreads for 2.90. Sold for 1.60 on Feb 15th.

Bought SPX March 7th 2810/2830 call spreads for 3.45. This anticipates an Upside Warning going into effect today, and will profit from the probable strong push higher over the next week.

DUST call

#ContangoETFs Hitting that sell level again…

Sell $DUST Sept 40 call for 3.10.

SPX puts sold

#SPXcampaign Sold $SPX March 29th 2625/2600 put spreads for 1.65.

PCLN now BKNG

Earnings tonight… I didn’t know about the symbol change.

Another reverse roll

#SPXcampaign Closed $SPX March 23rd 2860/2885 call spreads for 3.10. Sold for 1.75 last Wednesday.
#ReverseRoll Sold March 16th 2750/2725 put spreads for 5.80.

Signs are pointing to an Upside Warning tomorrow afternoon, but can’t be certain until it happens. VIX is not dropping much today.

SPX reverse roll

#SPXcampaign Closed $SPX 2845/2870 call spreads for 2.95. Sold Friday for 1.55.
#ReverseRoll Sold March 9th 2725/2700 put spreads for 4.05.

AZO earnings

#Earnings Sold $AZO March 2nd 660/790 strangle for 3.95. Biggest UP move: 5.8%, Biggest DOWN move: -11.8%, Average move: 2.5%. My strikes are +7.2% and -8.7% OTM.

This is a 1-lot. I plan to sell another toward day’s end.

The -11% down move is an outlier from last May. It bounced from there and ended the week down only 6%, and then sunk to new lows a couple weeks later.

chasing puts

#SPXcampaign Determined to sell puts at the open, but I kept having to raise my strikes… this is the bullish action we can expect after a downside warning is cancelled.

Sold $SPX March 29th 2610/2585 put spreads for 1.50. (March 30th is Good Friday and markets will be closed, so final expiration for that week is Thursday the 29th).

SPX puts closed in pre-market

#SPXcampaign Closed in pre-market on GTC orders:

$SPX Feb 28th 2675/2650 put spreads for .30. Sold for 3.80 on Wednesday.
$SPX Mar 2nd 2625/2600 put spreads for .30. Sold for 5.75 on Feb 13th.

Econ Calendar for week of 2/26/18

Be sure to periodically click Home/REFRESH to keep Bistro features updated.
JOBS report will be the SECOND Friday, March 9th.

Screen Shot 2018-02-26 at 6.00.37 AM

Options Expiration 2/23/18

#OptionsExpiration #SPXcampaign #Earnings #ShortStrangles

— Expiring w/Max Profit —
$SPX 2690/2665 put spreads, sold for 5.45 on Feb 15th
$STMP 150/230 strangles, sold Wednesday for 2.30

— Expiring w/full loss —
$SPX 2425/2400 LONG put spreads, bought for 3.00 and 1.50 on Feb 9 and 12.

Downside Warning canceled

#VIXIndicator This is the first day we closed below the VIX Fib 78.6% line. Two more consecutive days will mean an Upside Warning.

SPX puts sold

#SPXcampaign Sold $SPX Mar 2nd 2725/2700 put spreads for 5.20.

VRTX up over 5% today

All my recently assigned stock position up: AAPL, BABA, VRTX, FB. And of course, SVXY.

Also, AZO earnings on Tuesday morning…. now with weeklys!

SPX trades

#SPXcampaign Sold to Open $SPX March 23rd 2845/2870 call spreads for 1.55.

#ITMroll Closed March 2nd 2800/2775 put spreads for 23.60. Sold for 23.80 on 2/14.
Sold March 9th 2800/2775 put spreads for 19.70.

Closed on GTC order: March 15th 2400/2375 put spreads for .20. Sold for 1.60 on Feb 13th.

Stopped Feb 28th 2750/2775 call spreads for 6.50. Sold yesterday for 4.45.

Cancellation of the Downside Warning looking likely. This could mean Upside Warning as early as Tuesday.

Down done?

This is the time of the day where I post that it looks like we’ll be cancelling the Downside Warning today, but then immediately after that post, S&P drops a bit and the VIX quickly frightens itself higher.

OLED earnings repair

#Earnings #ShortPuts #ShortStrangles #StrangleRoll
Yesterday, sold $OLED Feb 23rd 140 puts for 2.15 and 2.25. In what was clearly an error by the trading Gods, the stock went down rather than up. So I’m rolling into a tight strangle because I know exactly where this stock will be on March 16th.

BTC OLED Feb 23rd 140 puts for 10.40.
STO OLEN March 16th 135/140 strangles for 12.85

SPX puts sold

#SPXcampaign Sold $SPX March 23rd 2530/2505 put spreads for 1.60.

BABA covered calls

#CoveredCalls #CoveredCallCampaign
On Wednesday, BTC $BABA March 9th 192.5 call for 5.05. Sold for 1.86 on Feb 12th
Sold BABA March 16th 177.5 put for 1.35

Today: Sold BABA March 23rd 207.5 call for 1.50.

OLED earnings

#Earnings Sold $OLED Feb 23rd 140 puts for 2.15. Biggest UP move: 23.9%, Biggest DOWN move: -11.5%, Average move: 9.6%. Bias: +3.7%. My strike is -9.1% OTM.

Never traded this one before, but it has a nice upside bias. The -11.5% move in Feb 2016 was its biggest ever move down. Last Feb it went up 20%.

I will sell more if stock drops a bit.

#shortputspread

SPX calls sold

#SPXcampaign Sold $SPX Feb 28th 2750/2775 call spreads for 4.45. Offset Feb 28th put spreads sold yesterday.

SPX puts sold

#SPXcampaign Sold $SPX Feb 28th 2675/2650 put spreads for 3.80.

STMP earnings

#Earnings Got put the stock last quarter so was going to skip it, but then saw @fuzzballl‘s trade and couldn’t resist. Going 10-pts lower than he did.

Sold $STMP Feb 23rd 150/230 #ShortStrangles for 2.30.
Biggest UP move: 38.1%, Biggest DOWN move: -22.6%, Average move: 17.1%. My strikes are +23.0% and -19.8% OTM.

SPX trades

#SPXcampaign In pre-market, closed on GTC order:
$SPX Feb 23rd 2775/2800 call spreads for .45. Sold for 5.70 on Feb 6th.

Sold on the post-Fed spike: SPX March 23rd 2860/2885 call spreads for 1.75

TICK explosion

Lowest VIX reading since the correction and on track to have Downside Warning canceled today…. UNLESS, we get another round of selling, which might spike VIX right back above 18. 2 hours to go…

SPX puts closed

#SPXcampaign Heartbreaking… these were trading for 1.50 a couple hours ago… but had to step away and I lost them.

Closed $SPX Feb 20th 2725 puts for 14.60. Sold in the 2700/2725/2765/2790 condor on Friday.

I will get some credit back by selling the 2700 long puts…

Covered Calls

#CoveredCalls #CoveredCallCampaign
Sold $AAPL March 16th 180 call for 1.70
Sold $AAPL March 9th 170 put for 1.72
Closed on GTC order: $VRTX March 2nd 177.5 covered call for .15. Sold for 1.75 on Feb 6th.
Sold VRTX March 23rd 177.5 call for 1.60

SPX puts sold

#SPXcampaign Sold to Open $SPX March 23rd 2525/2500 put spreads for 1.70.

Econ Calendar for week of 2/19/18

Be sure to periodically click “Home/REFRESH” to keep Bistro features updated

Screen Shot 2018-02-19 at 10.09.03 PM

Options Expiration… VIX Indicator

#OptionsExpiration #VXXGame
Only one #Assignment, my final $SVXY 90 put

#VIXIndicator — The VIX is reacting strongly to the upside at any sign of volatility. Although we spent the morning in cancelation territory, the Mueller spike sent up back above 19.00. So although we’ve been steadily rising, volatility is still hanging around.

ETFs closed

#contangoetfs
Closed on GTC orders:
$KOLD Feb 16th 50 call for .05. Sold for 2.95 on Oct 5th.
$NUGT Mar 16th 44 calls. Sold for 1.50 and 1.22 in January.

SPX puts closed

#SPXcampaign When SPX got up to 2748 I closed this spread to take some profits…

Closed $SPX Feb 21st 2700/2675 put spreads for 1.75. Sold for 14.00 on Monday.

VIX dropping, still in backwardation

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-stocks-volatility/u-s-stock-volatility-shock-wanes-vix-futures-signal-smoother-sailing-idUSKCN1FZ2I2

Stop and roll

#SPXcampaign Stopped $SPX March 15th 2815/2840 call spreads for 4.30. Sold on Monday for 1.75.

#CondorRoll Sold Feb 20th 2700/2725/2760/2785 condors for 8.05. Aggressive strikes expiring Tuesday, which is our next trading day due to the holiday Monday.

Here we go again

#SPXcampaign Closed $SPX March 9th 2810/2835 call spreads for 3.40. Sold for 1.50 last Thursday. Holding off on roll for now.

closing SHOP

#Earnings BTC $SHOP Feb 16th 117/149 #ShortStrangles for .10. Sold yesterday for 1.85.

SPX calls sold

#SPXcampaign Sold $SPX March 15th 2850/2875 call spreads for 1.60.

I suppose I’ll keep selling the call side until we get the upside warning. But it looks like its already time to roll the spread I sold on Monday.

VXX and SVXY

#VXXGame I forgot I had even sold a $VXX Feb 23rd 27 call for 6.00 on Feb 2nd. But I did and I was early assigned on Monday night, so I’m short 100 shares. I will hold that.

As for $SVXY, the only short put they’ve left me with was the Feb 16th 90 put. I guess waiting for assignment on schedule rather than early. I also have a Jan 2019 25 put which I don’t expect assignment on anytime soon.

Downside?

#VIXIndicator, well we never got the Downside Warning cancellation…. 2700 seems like a good place to pause as traders still wary after the tumult. I remain bullish for now, but we’ll see what the afternoon brings.

Sold $SPX March 15th 2500/2475 put spreads for 1.60.

SPX trades

#SPXcampaign Closed on GTC order: $SPX March 9th 2300/2275 put spreads for .20. Sold on Feb 5th for 1.80. Got above 4.00 on Feb 6th…. that’s past my usual roll stop but it was just too far OTM to worry about.

STOPPED Feb 21st 2750/2775 call spreads for 3.50. Sold for 4.35 in a #CondorRoll last Thursday.
#ReverseRoll Sold Feb 23rd 2690/2665 put spreads for 5.45.

AAPL call closed

#CoveredCalls #CoveredCallCampaigns Owning stock during a face-ripping rally is great! Covered Calls, not so much.

BTC $AAPL Mar 9th 170 call for 4.90. Sold for 1.23 on Monday. Will be back to sell calls, and probably some puts, too.

ITM roll

#SPXcampaign On Feb 2nd I sold an ITM put spread in anticipation of the correction ending.
Sold $SPX Feb 23rd 2825/2800 put spreads for 16.90, when SPX was at 2761.

Feb 23 was too ambitious… this was a short correction but even so, should have gone to March. But I fully expected this possibility. I rolled in two steps this time. I put in GTC orders and adjusted prices slowly.

Sold SPX March 2nd 2800/2775 put spreads for 23.80. This filled yesterday during the morning gap down.
Closed Feb 23rd 2825/2800 put spreads for 24.00. This filled early this morning in pre-market.

So I was able to move the spread 25 points lower for only a .20 debit.

Since I paid only 1.00 less than the 25.00 cost to let the Feb 23 spread expire fully ITM, it was also possible to leave it in case we actually rally above 2800 by next Friday. I doubt that will happen, but it could!

SHOP whew

#Earnings #ShortStrangles Lucky we got a pullback on earnings… the steady tick higher had me sweating the 149 calls, but they and the 117 puts look much better now.

VXX moves

#VXXGame Added to existing long put positions:
Bought $VXX June 25 puts for .70
Bought $VXX Jan 2019 20 puts for 1.70
Bought $VXX June 30 put for 1.95

Also, sold $UVXY Jan long 75 put for 3.40. Purchased for 1.59 in January as a pre-hedge against short calls sold in February.

FB covered call

#CoveredCalls #CoveredCallCampaign
Sold $FB Mar 9th 187.5 call for 1.45.

I now have this campaign going for FB, $AAPL, and $BABA. I also have $VRTX but I plan to sell that stock once it gets to 170.00 area.

SPX puts closed

#SPXcampaign Bought to close $SPX March 9th 2200/2175 put spreads for .20. Sold for 1.90 on Feb 6th when it was 440 points OTM.

SHOP earnings

#Earnings Classic earnings strangle just outside historic moves.

Sold $SHOP Feb 16th 117/149 #ShortStrangles for 1.85. Biggest UP move: 11.6%, Biggest DOWN move: -9.0%, Average move: 7.2%. My strikes are +/- 12% OTM

VIX is telling the story this morning

The Downside Warning is not officially over until VIX closes below 17.76. But the drop its having this morning, even when the market gapped down, tells me the market is going higher. This morning’s futures drop was a chance for bears to retake control but looking like they barely had a chance.

SPX lottery ticket longer

#SPXcampaign On this dip I doubled my size on $SPX March 16th 2840/2860 long call spread for .80.

CMG up after hours

On news they hired Taco Bell CEO

SPX reverse roll

#SPXcampaign Earlier, closed Feb 23rd 2690/2715 call spreads for 7.00. Sold for 4.05 on Friday.
#ReverseRoll Just now, sold March 2nd 2625/2600 put spreads for 5.75

VXX long puts added

#VXXGame Bought $VXX Jan 2019 20 puts for 1.75. Added to my position started in September at the average price of the position. I put in this order last week when things were crazy and it just filled now.

#rolling

SPX puts sold

#SPXcampaign Sold $SPX March 15th (monthlys) 2400/2375 put spreads for 1.60.

Time to short the VIX?

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4145659-time-short-vix?auth_param=bf3bv:1d83egb:9d077ee3a9d04c2fe782d0a4c6d608d5&uprof=37&utoken=5b32faa14fc320dfd5f3f44880808118