#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.
Author Archives: Jeff
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.
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
Reverse Roll
#SPXcampaign Closed $SPX Feb 16th 2650/2675 call spreads for 13.80. Sold on Friday for 6.20.
#ReverseRoll Sold $SPX Feb 21st 2700/2675 put spreads for 14.00.
Higher
#Market #SPXcampaign This recent click higher and corresponding dip in the VIX signals to me this market is going up. Still not close to confirmation on the VIXIndicator but I’m going to start reversing some positions in SPX.
SPX long put plays
#SPXcampaign I didn’t post a couple trades Friday… here are long put trades Friday and today…
Friday:
Sold to CLOSE $SPX Feb 16th 2600/2580 put spreads for 8.00. Bought for 1.80 on Wednesday.
Bought to open Feb 23rd 2425/2400 put spreads for 3.00.
Today:
Doubled my size of the Feb 23rd 2425/2400 puts for 1.50.
Covered calls sold
#CoveredCalls #CoveredCallCampaign
Sold $AAPL Mar 9th 170 call for 1.23
Sold $BABA Mar 9th 192.5 call for 1.86
Premium much better in BABA than AAPL.
SPX call spreads sold
#SPXcampaign Sold $SPX March 15th (monthlys) 2815/2840 call spreads for 1.75.
Econ Calendar for week of 2/12/18
Be sure to periodically click “Home/REFRESH” to keep Bistro features updated
8,600% On a Vix Bet
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-09/vix-surge-hands-8-600-profit-to-a-tiny-hedge-fund-in-colorado
Boom
#Market One thing about corrections is they can also include face-ripping rallies. This is a huge gap up… the market did what it does best on Friday… shook me out of put spreads which would be doing excellently today had I not ditched them. VIX not dropping too sharply yet, but I’ll be watching what it does during market hours. I have a couple of call spreads in trouble… not sure yet if I should forward roll or reverse roll.
Correction history
Here are all 36 10% corrections since 1980. Note: a year after the lows, stocks are up a median of 23% and two years later up 36%.
Fidelity bars purchases of SVXY
I can’t find the story on Bloomberg but just received this link in an email from Seeking Alpha:
https://seekingalpha.com/news/3329965-fidelity-bars-purchases-inverse-vix-etf?uprof=37#email_link
SPX trades
#SPXcampaign Got caught in the down flush… these all could have been closed much better if I’d waited for the bounce.
In chronological order:
Sold Feb 16th 2650/2675 call spreads for 6.20
Stopped Feb 23rd 2450/2425 put spreads for 3.70. Sold for 2.00 yesterday.
Stopped Feb 12th 2550/2525 put spreads for 7.00. Sold for 3.75 on Tuesday.
Stopped Feb 9th 2565/2540 put spreads for 6.60. Sold for 2.20 yesterday.
Sold Feb 23rd 2690/2715 call spreads for 4.05.
Closed on GTC order: Feb 12th 2700/2725 call spreads for .40. Sold for 4.10 yesterday.
Stopped Feb 21st 2450/2425 put spreads for 3.65. Sold in #CondorRoll for 4.35 yesterday.
The only two put spreads I have remaining are the March 9th with short at 2300 and 2200. That’s likely all I will hold over the weekend, as we could have a Margin-Call Monday with a big gap down.
Whipsawed
#SPXcampaign Not a great morning on my SPX trades. Closed most put spreads near the lows. I think we have lower to go but i could have managed it much better. I will detail later.
DUST on the move
#ContangoETFs Sold $DUST Jan 2019 45 call for 4.80.
VXX puts bought
#VXXGame Added to a position I started in September:
Bought $VXX June 25 puts for 1.25.
Cramer
Jim Cramer had a 9-minute diatribe this morning about UVXY, XIV, etc. First 10 minutes of Squawk on the Street if you can find it archived later. He stopped short of calling for the SEC to look into closing such products, but said if they were to do that, the market would bottom. He believes the selling of stock has been driven by traders liquidating to cover margin calls in volatility products.
New LOW on SPX and NDX
Not on Dow or RUT
SPX day trade
#SPXcampaign Caught this flush with a short call spread.
Sold to Open $SPX Feb 9th 2630/2655 call spreads for 11.15 at 2:57 ET.
Bought to close for 6.00 at 3:54 ET
SPX puts stopped
#SPXcampaign Pulled the plug on this one with the intention to roll later. I feel like we need to test this week’s lows again before we can assume correction is over.
Closed $SPX Mar 9th 2630/2605 put spreads for 9.00. Sold as a 1.5x roll for 2.00 last Friday.
UVXY call sold
#VXXGame Sold $UVXY Jan 2019 70 call for 9.60. I still have more long calls than short, so it’s not costly for me to add slowly.
SVXY final long put sold
#VXXGame Sold to Close $SVXY June 110 long put for 99.25. Originally sold in the 150/110 put spread for 18.40 on Jan 5th. That leaves my highest SVXY naked put (150) ready for assignment. Cost basis on assignment for this one alone would be 32.35. Not so bad, but also not taking into account the rest of my puts that didn’t have the benefit of spreads.
SPX trades
#SPXcampaign High $TICK readings of the day… the lows could be in.
Sold to OPEN $SPX Feb 9th 2565/2540 put spreads for 2.20. Expire tomorrow, 70 points OTM.
Sold to CLOSE $SPX Feb 9th 2590/2570 put spreads for 2.75. Bought for 4.25 on Tuesday. Was riding the limit price on this one at the lows, but liquidated once I saw new TICK highs; loss is covered by the one I sold above.
Earlier: Sold to Open $SPX Feb 23rd 2450/2425 put spreads for 2.00.
Closed on GTC order: Feb 9th 2740/2765 call spreads for .25. Sold for 6.20 on Tuesday.
“Traders who continue to play…
“Traders who continue to play the short-vol game with SVXY must read this.”
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4144576-xiv-dies-warning-svxy
SPX roll sold
#SPXcampaign Sold $SPX Feb 21st 2425/2450/2750/2775 #CondorRoll for 4.35, as a roll from the Feb 9th put spreads stopped earlier.
SPX trades
#SPXcampaign Bought to close $SPX Feb 9th 2625/2600 put spreads for 4.25. Sold in a #CondorRoll for 4.25 on Monday. Will look to roll later today. Couldn’t risk a precipitous drop into tomorrow’s close.
FANG
FB, BABA, GOOGL, NFLX, AMZN, following market.
AAPL not caring, although still a crappy daily chart.
TSLA trade closed
#Earnings Closed $TSLA Feb 9th 310 puts for .55. In #ShortStrangles for 3.15, out for .65.
VXX stock sold
#VXXGame Sold long $VXX stock for 49.82. Assigned via 42 puts on Oct 13th.
SPX calls sold
#SPXcampaign Sold $SPX Feb 12th 2700/2725 call spreads for 4.10.
Working on stopping out of tomorrow’s 2625/2600 put spreads. Probably on this bounce.
SPX calls closed
#SPXcampaign Closed on GTC order: $SPX 2790/2815 call spreads for .30. Sold for 3.55 on Monday.
Market’s looking pretty weak.
TSLA call closed
#Earnings Closed $TSLA Feb 9th 372.5 call for .10. Order in to close put for the same. #ShortStrangles sold yesterday for 3.15. I would normally let these expire but not in the volatile market.
TWTR
Boom
DUST calls
#ContangoETFs Thanks to @ramie77 for the head’s up that DUST is back in call-selling range.
Sold $DUST Apr 20th 35 call for 1.65
Sold $DUST Jun 15th 35 call for 2.75
TSLA earnings
Sold $TSLA Feb 9th 310/372.5 strangles for 3.15. Biggest UP move: 11.2%, Biggest DOWN move: -8.9%, Average move: 5.4%. My strikes are -9.9% and +8.3% OTM.
SPX calls closed
#SPXcampaign
Closed on GTC order: $SPX Feb 9th 2785/2810 call spreads for .20. Sold in a #CondorRoll for 4.25 on Monday.
UVXY calls added
#VXXGame Sold $UVXY Mar 16th 22 call for 4.40, adding.
Sold Apr 20th 26 call for 5.30
SPX calls closed
#SPXcampaign Closed $SPX Feb 16th 2810/2835 call spreads for .90. Sold for 10.00 on Friday.
SVXY trades
#VXXGame Sold $SVXY Feb 16th 100 long put for 86.80. Sold in the 120/100 put spread for 2.15 on Jan 23rd.
Also, yesterday closed my final 2 calls:
Closed June 150 call for .05. Sold for 14.95 on 12/20.
Closed Jan 2019 205 call for .05. Sold for 8.05 on Oct 20th.
SPX trades
#SPXcampaign Sold to close $SPX Feb 9th 2760/2740 put spreads for 15.05. Bought for 3.80 last Friday.
Bought to open SPX Feb 16th 2600/2580 put spreads for 1.80. In case we get tother text of lows.
I have several SHORT spreads on either side of current SPX level.
More on ETN’s
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/06/wall-street-turned-these-esoteric-etns-into-a-winning-bet-for-the-masses.html?__source=twitter%7Cmain
Could repercussions affect SVXY’s existence?
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/06/wall-streets-effort-to-turn-volatility-into-an-asset-class-is-partly-to-blame-for-this-market-chaos.html?__source=twitter%7Cmain
SPX calls sold
#SPXcampaign Right after the bell, filled on this:
Sold $SPX Feb 23rd 2775/2800 call spreads for 5.70.
BABA covered call
#CoveredCalls #CoveredCallCampaign #LongStock
Sold $BABA Mar 2nd 202.5 call for 1.75. I was assigned 200 shares on Friday.
SPX call spread
#SPXcampaign so at the lows about an hour ago I was preparing to take profits on the Feb 7th 2670/2695 call spread I sold earlier for 11.65. It was down around 6.00. Then I realized I had actually PURCHASED the spread. So I’m now long and liking this rally. Hopefully can close today with small profit.
SVXY calculations
#VXXGame Ok, here’s my thinking. I am short 6 naked options between 75 and 120. I also have two spreads, 30, and 40 points wide. All expire by September.
I have calculated two scenarios:
1. I take assignment on the naked options, and allow the spreads to expire and take the loss.
That would result in a $60,000 cash outlay and 600 shares of stock. So $100 per share.
2. Take assignment of the 6 naked, SELL the longs from the spreads when stock is at 15.00, and also take assignment from the 2 remaining shorts.
That would result in a $63,000 cash outlay for 800 shares, or 78.75 per share.
So #2 is preferred, PROVIDED $SVXY survives and gets its way back at least to 78.75.
Thoughts, anyone?
SPX trades
#SPXcampaign Sold $SPX Feb 12th 2550/2525 put spreads for 3.75.
Also bought this in case of strong move down today or into Friday:
Bought Feb 9th 2590/2570 put spreads for 4.25.
Covered SVXY short stock
#VXXGame BTC $SVXY stock for 11.40. This was assigned via a 100 put last March, then it split, so cost basis is 50.00. I covered the other half yesterday at 86.00 (doh!).
I couldn’t figure a reason to hold it. It’s possible this is the low for SVXY so why not cover at best price? By the time SVXY gets back to 100, I will have been assigned 700 shares.
SVXY call closed
#VXXGame Closed $SVXY Jan 2019 165 call for .05. Sold for for 4.25 (effective price) on July 11th, as half of a 330 call before the split.
So I’m guessing we have to now watch SVXY build itself back up from 11.00? I don’t see how a massive rally will make this thing go up as fast as it came down.
SVXY now open
Opening price 11.70
UVXY call
#VXXGame Sold $UVXY March 70 call for 4.30. Against long 91 calls I bought for .16 last month.
SPX reconciled
#SPXcampaign Okay, after my bonehead trades this morning, I can see we’ll probably be going down more, or at least remain congested.
Sold $SPX Feb 7th 2670/2695 call spreads for 11.65. This was a fat-finger… I mis-entered the price, should have gotten more
Sold $SPX Feb 9th 2740/2765 call spreads for 6.20.
Sold $SPX Mar 9th 2200/2175 put spreads for 1.90…. 440 points OTM.
Yesterday I sold the Mar 9th 2300/2275 for 1.80, and today it’s still 325 points OTM and trading for 4.00 (with very wide bid/ask). Fairly safe bet if you don’t believe this is a market crash.
VXX long puts
#VXXGame #LongPutDiagonals i entered this trade on Sept 1st when VXX was at 46.08. I bought the $VXX 2019 LEAP 20 puts for 1.80.
Today, VXX is HIGHER (52.00 as I type) and those puts are ALSO higher… mid price about 3.00.
Shows how much volatility drives all prices higher. If I get a chance to buy more under 2.00, I will.
