Amid an utter shitshow of macro, micro, political, and geopolitical chaos, the S&P 500 is less than 4% from its all-time record closing high in early January…
As Goldman’s Tony Pasquariello noted, “this is what bear market rallies look like… These types of vicious rips higher are a feature, not an oddity.”
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/do-you-feel-lucky-8-reasons-question-markets-recent-rip
Bought to close LABU Apr 01 2022 16.0 Calls at $0.70. Sold on a rollup last Friday at $1.62
Sold to Open LABU Apr 08 2022 17.0 Calls at $0.85 for a $0.15 Credit with the strike a point higher.
With today’s earlier put roll, I have a LABU 15.5/17 short strangle for next week.
Bought to close 1 LABU Apr 01 2022 16.5 Put at $0.67. Sold last Friday on a rolldown at $1.08
Sold to Open 1 LABU Apr 08 2022 15.5 Put at $0.82 for a $0.15 Credit with the strike a point lower.
First the good
Sold off my next lot of NLSN at $27.21 near today’s YTD high.
Bought this on 02/18/2022 at $17.50
#FormerFallingKnife
Added a tiny bit to my WHR stock at a new low of $179.00.
(its current annualized dividend of $7 is up 28.4% from last year. Over the last 5 years, Whirlpool has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 5.63%.)
#SP500 #FallingKnife
Pushing my long hedge up and out 3 weeks so I can continue to write against it while still bringing in enough cash to cover my initial cost.
Sold to Close 1 TQQQ Apr 08 2022 58.0 Call at $5.40. Bought this on 3/16 at $0.46 as a long hedge in a diagonal call spread
Bought to Open 1 TQQQ Apr 29 2022 62.0 Call at $4.90 for a $0.50 Net Credit.
This works best if TQQQ falls back from it’s present high in the next few weeks.
Rolling these ITM calls while I can still get extra premium going up a strike price for next week.
Bought to close TQQQ Apr 01 2022 54.0 Calls / Sold to Open TQQQ Apr 08 2022 54.5 Calls at $0.06 Credit
Bought to close TQQQ Apr 01 2022 55.5 Calls / Sold to Open TQQQ Apr 08 2022 56.0 Calls at $0.22 Credit
Sold off my only lot of PKG at $157.75, at a new 3-year high.
Bought this on 12/20/2021 at $126.06, pretty close to the 52-week low.
#FormerFallingKnife
Sold 1 TNA Apr 01 2022 68.0 Call at $2.68.
#OnlySpreads
I was selling calls with both hands yesterday. Balancing those out a bit with VXX Puts today
Sold VXX Apr 01 2022 22.0 Puts at $0.21
Sold VXX Apr 01 2022 21.5 Puts at $0.14 & $0.16
Sold VXX Apr 01 2022 21.0 Puts at $0.12
#VXXContango #OnlySpreads
Sold 1 TNA Apr 01 2022 69.0 Covered Call at $1.22
Sold LABU Apr 01 2022 18.5 Calls at $0.32
First trades in a while in my #FallingKnife “mini SP500 ETF”
Sold off my highest cost lot of AES at $24.97 near today’s YTD high.
Bought this on 01/18/2022 at $22.60
Sold off my highest cost lot of NLSN at $27.04 near today’s YTD high.
Bought this on 01/27/2022 at $18.10
Former #FallingKnife
Sold more long Puts
Sold to close VXX May 20 2022 15.0 Puts at $0.24. Bought on 03/17/2022 at $0.05.
Fully paid for with a #VXXContango spread for that week.
#WinWin
“As part of its structured products business, Barclays Bank PLC (“BBPLC”), a subsidiary of Barclays PLC (“BPLC”), is a frequent issuer of structured notes and exchange traded notes in the United States and elsewhere. These securities are often issued to meet actual and anticipated client demand for such securities.
BBPLC has determined that the securities offered and sold under its US shelf registration statement during a period of approximately one year exceeded the registered amount (such excess, the “Affected Securities”) giving rise to a right of rescission among certain purchasers of Affected Securities requiring BBPLC to repurchase the Affected Securities at their original purchase price. As a result, BBPLC has elected to conduct a rescission offer to eligible purchasers of the Affected Securities. Details of the rescission offer will be published by BBPLC in due course.”
As The FT reports, a footnote reveals that Barclays had a registered maximum offering size of $20.8bn for its ETNs, and exceeded that by about $15.2bn.
Quite the miss. Those securities now have to be bought back at the original purchase price, and incur the estimated $600 million loss.
Sold Calls earlier, switching to puts now
Sold 1 LABU Apr 01 2022 13.5 Put at $0.33
#OnlySpreads
Sold TLRY Apr 01 2022 11.0 Calls at $0.38
#OnlySpreads
Sold these with the stock around 28.50
1 VXX Apr 01 2022 50.0 Call at $0.55
1 VXX Apr 01 2022 49.0 Call at $0.57
1 VXX Apr 01 2022 48.0 Call at $0.61
1 VXX Apr 01 2022 47.0 Call at $0.63
1 VXX Apr 01 2022 46.0 Call at $0.79
The VIX is up only 4%. VXX is up 13% so the short squeeze is still in effect on VXX because they are not creating new shares
#OnlySpreads
Sold VXX Apr 01 2022 30.0 Calls at $0.95, adding to my position and replacing similar calls that expired Friday.
Used the cash to buy VXX Apr 14 2022 48.0 Calls at $0.91
#OnlySpreads
Sold TQQQ Apr 01 2022 61.0 Calls at $0.45
Sold TQQQ Apr 01 2022 58.0 Call at $1.59
Sold TQQQ Apr 01 2022 57.0 Calls at $2.11
Sold TQQQ Apr 01 2022 56.0 Calls at $2.53
#OnlySpreads
Sold all these:
LABU Apr 01 2022 18.0 Calls at $0.35 & $0.40
LABU Apr 01 2022 17.5 Calls at $0.45 & $0.55
LABU Apr 01 2022 17.0 Calls at $0.55 & $0.70
replacing similar calls that expired Friday
#OnlySpreads
A strong market again this week but finally some short calls in LABU and TNA expired . TLRY put on a major run in the last 2 days so I’ll be making some cash on covered calls and bear call spreads next week.
VXX remains elevated, so I was able to pre-sell some of next week’s calls as every VXX short position expired this week.
EXPIRED:
LABU 18.0 Diagonal Call
LABU 17.0 Diagonal Calls
LABU 13.0 Diagonal Put
TNA 65.0 Covered Call
TNA 65.5 Covered Call
TNA 69/65 Bear Call Spread
TNA 70/65.5 Bear Call Spread
TNA 70/66 Bear Call Spread
VXX 40/35 Bear Call Spread
VXX 39/33 Bear Call Spread
VXX 38/32 Bear Call Spread
VXX 38/31 Bear Call Spread
VXX 31.0 Diagonal Call
VXX 30.0 Diagonal Calls
VXX 29.5 Diagonal Calls
VXX 29.0 Diagonal Call
VXX 28.5 Diagonal Calls
VXX 28.0 Diagonal Calls
VXX 23.0 Diagonal Puts — #VXXContango
VXX 14/22 Bull Put Spread
At 3:30 these looked like they would expire. Then’ someone’ said BTFD
Bought to close TQQQ Mar 25 2022 56.0 Calls at $0.72. Sold on 3/22 at $1.58 and $1.61.
Bought to close 1 TNA Mar 25 2022 64.0 Call at $0.19. Sold last Friday on a roll at $3.04
Sold TQQQ Apr 01 2022 58.50 Calls at $1.23 for a $0.51 Credit and 2.5 additional points on the short strike
Sold 1 TNA Apr 01 2022 69.0 Call at$0.48 for a $0.29 Credit and 5 additional points on the short strike
Rolled my TLRY Mar 25 2022 7.5 Covered Calls to TLRY Apr 01 2022 9.0 Covered Calls at $0.09 Credit and boosted the short strike 1.5 points (or 20%)
Rolling calls over for another week for some extra cash (instead of allowing assignment) while still keeping decent downside protection
Rolled TQQQ Mar 25 2022 46.0 Covered Calls to TQQQ Apr 01 2022 46.0 Covered Calls at $0.35 Credit
Rolled TQQQ Mar 25 2022 47.5 Covered Calls to TQQQ Apr 01 2022 48.0 Covered Calls at $0.10 Credit plus gained a half point on the short strike
Rolled TQQQ Mar 25 2022 48.0 Covered Calls to TQQQ Apr 01 2022 48.5 Covered Calls at $0.20 Credit plus gained a half point on the short strike.
Edit: after TQQQ bounced:
Rolled TQQQ Mar 25 2022 49.0 Covered Calls to TQQQ Apr 01 2022 49.0 Covered Calls at $0.40 Credit
Bought to Close LABU Mar 25 2022 20.5/18.0 Bear Call spreads at $0.06. Sold last Friday at $0.51
Sold 1 VXX Apr 01 2022 30.0 Call at $0.64
Sold 1 VXX Apr 01 2022 31.0 Call at $0.57
Sold 1 VXX Apr 01 2022 32.0 Call at $0.52
Sold 1 VXX Apr 01 2022 33.0 Call at $0.48
Sold 1 VXX Apr 01 2022 34.0 Call at $0.44
Sold 1 VXX Apr 01 2022 35.0 Call at $0.40
Replacing similar calls that will expire today
The short squeeze in VXX is still an issue. But the VIX index and /VX futures are falling early on
Bought to close 1 TNA Mar 25 2022 61.0 Call / Sold to Open 1 TNA Apr 01 2022 63 Call at $0.26 Credit plus a 2 point higher strike.
Bought to close 1 TNA Mar 25 2022 62.5 Call / Sold to Open 1 TNA Apr 01 2022 65.5 Call at $0.17 Credit plus a 3 point higher strike.
Bought to close TQQQ Mar 25 2022 51.0 Calls / Sold to Open TQQQ Apr 01 2022 52.0 Calls at $0.02 Credit plus a 1 point higher strike
Bought to close TQQQ Mar 25 2022 53.0 Calls / Sold to Open TQQQ Apr 01 2022 54.0 Calls at $0.29 Credit plus a 1 point higher strike
Bought to close 1 TQQQ Mar 25 2022 53.0 Call / Sold to Open 1 TQQQ Apr 01 2022 54.5 Call at $0.11 Credit plus 1.5 point higher strike
Bought to close 1 TQQQ Mar 25 2022 55.0 Call / Sold to Open 1 TQQQ Apr 01 2022 57.5 Call at $0.18 Credit plus 2.5 point higher strike
Bought to Close 1 LABU Mar 25 2022 17.5 Put at $1.02. Sold last week on a roll at $2.45
Bought to Close LABU Mar 25 2022 15.5 Calls $1.33. Sold last week on a roll at $2.07
Sold to Open 1 LABU Apr 01 2022 16.5 Put at $1.08 and gained a point on the short strike
Sold to Open LABU Apr 01 2022 16.5 Calls at $1.35 and also gained a point on the short strike
Leaves me with a short LABU 16.5 straddle for next week.
Added to my SWK stock position at a new low at $139.00.
#FallingKnife #SP500
Bought to close LABU Mar 25 2022 18.5 Calls at 0.05. They won’t trade any lower.
Sold last Friday on a rollup at $0.60
First the good.
Sold my tiny bit of BMY at a new 5-year high of 72.06.
Bought this on 11/29/2021 at 55.51, pretty near the 52-week low.
Started a tiny new position in HAS at $85.00 at a new 52-week low
#SP500 #FallingKnife
Bought to open VXX May 20 2022 15.0 at $0.10 (58 DTE)
Bought to open VXX Jun 17 2022 13.0 Puts at $0.12 (86 DTE)
Bought to open VXX Sep 16 2022 10.0 Puts at $0.18 (177 DTE)
Bought to open VXX Jan 20 2023 6.0 Puts at $0.13 (303 DTE)
Sold to open VXX Mar 25 2022 23.0 Puts at $0.14, $0.15, $0.17 and $0.20 (2 DTE)
Paired with the VXX Call ladder I sold on Monday.
#VXXContango spreads
Sold TLRY Mar 25 2022 7.0 Calls at $0.15
Sold TLRY Mar 25 2022 7.5 Calls at $0.09
Started a tiny new position in FBHS at $80.00 at a new 52-week low
#SP500 #FallingKnife
At the close, Sold TQQQ Mar 25 2022 58.0 Calls at $0.75 and $0.77
Sold 1/3 of my PARA(formerly VIAC) and my highest cost lot at $37.84.
Bought at $32.00 on 11/29/21. My remaining shares are up about 35%.
Former #FallingKnife
Sold 1 KOLD Apr 14 2022 20. Put at $2.15.
Written against a long August 10.0 put that was fully paid for when the March 20.0 put sold against it expired last Friday.
#DoubleDip
Sold 1 TNA Mar 25 2022 66.0 Call at $2.17
Sold 1 TQQQ Mar 25 2022 56.0 Call at $1.61 (the stock has made a straight line run from 38.92 to 55.50 in the last 6 days)
Sold 1 LABU Mar 25 2022 13.0 Put at $0.15
Sold 1 VXX Mar 25 2022 35.0 Call at $0.31
Sold 1 VXX Mar 25 2022 33.0 Call at $0.34
Sold 1 VXX Mar 25 2022 32.0 Call at $0.35
Sold VXX Mar 25 2022 31.0 Calls at $0.44 & $0.45
Sold VXX Mar 25 2022 30.0 Calls at $0.49 & $0.50
Sold VXX Mar 25 2022 29.5 Calls at $0.40 & $0.42
Sold 1 VXX Mar 25 2022 29.0 Call at $0.49
Sold 1 VXX Mar 25 2022 28.5 Call at $0.54
Replacing similar calls that expired Friday
The short squeeze in VXX is still an issue. But the VIX index and /VX futures are falling early on
Bought to Open 1 TQQQ Apr 08 2022 60.0 Call at $1.09
Sold to Open 1 TQQQ Mar 25 2022 55.0 Call at $1.42 for a $0.33 Credit.
It’s really a calendar spread where I can write against the long 2 more times after this week.
Walking away from this disaster and dumping the last of my positions
Sold to Close long positions instead of writing against them one more time.
RIVN Mar 25 2022 57 Calls at $0.26
RIVN Mar 25 2022 58 Calls at $0.22
RIVN Mar 25 2022 59 Calls at $0.20
RIVN Mar 25 2022 60 Calls at $0.17
Sold 1 RIVN Apr 01 2022 30.0 Put at $0.24
Sold 1 RIVN Apr 08 2022 30.0 Put at $0.49
Sold the last of my FMC stock at $130.94. (a new 5-yr high)
Bought this on 08/19/2021 at $90.00 (less than 3 points from the 52-week low)
How the #FallingKnife strategy is supposed to work
Former #SP500 #FallingKnife
Only one trade today, but a good one
Sold the last half of my AMZN stock at $3207.00. Bought 4 days ago at $2,879.56
Former #FallingKnife
Getting my #FallingKnife #HomeGrownETF back to 50% cash
Bought to close VXX Mar 18 2022 24.5 Puts at $0.01 before I could get the order cancelled near the close.
Sold this week at an average price of $0.17
Rolled LABU 03/18/2022 15.0 Calls to LABU 03/25/2022 15.5 Calls at 0.06 Credit plus 0.50 more on the strike
Rolled LABU 03/18/2022 16.0 Calls to LABU 03/25/2022 17.0 Calls at 0.13 Credit plus 1.00 more on the strike
Rolled LABU 03/18/2022 16.5 Calls to LABU 03/25/2022 18.0 Calls at 0.18 Credit plus 1.50 more on the strike
Rolled LABU 03/18/2022 17.0 Calls to LABU 03/25/2022 18.5 Calls at 0.40 Credit plus 1.50 more on the strike
Rolling out and up some covered calls while keeping a decent amount of downside protection and bringing in a bit of cash:
Rolled TQQQ 03/18/2022 46.0 Calls to TQQQ 03/25/2022 46.0 Calls at $0.52 Credit
Rolled TQQQ 03/18/2022 47.0 Calls to TQQQ 03/25/2022 47.5 Calls at $0.27 Credit plus another 0.50 on the strike
Rolled TQQQ 03/18/2022 48.0 Calls to TQQQ 03/25/2022 49.0 Calls at $0.10 Credit plus another 1.00 on the strike
Rolled TQQQ 03/18/2022 49.0 Calls to TQQQ 03/25/2022 50.0 Calls at $0.37 Credit plus another 1.00 on the strike
Rolled TNA 03/18/2022 61.0 Calls to TQQQ 03/25/2022 62.5 Calls at $0.37 Credit plus another 1.50 on the strike
Bought to close 1 RIVN Mar 18 2022 37.0 Put at $0.01. Sold on a roll last Friday at $2.10
Bought to close 1 RIVN Mar 18 2022 39.0 Put at $0.01. Sold on a roll last Friday at $3.08
My previous scalp trades are not working and will have to be rolled out.
Trying one last time.
Sold LABU Mar 18 2022 17.0 Calls at $0.35
Sold 1 LABU Mar 18 2022 17.5 Call at $0.26
Bought to close VXX Mar 18 2022 55.0 Calls at $0.01. Sold Tuesday at $1.79, $2.19, $2.39 and $4.00
Replaced most of these with calls for next week with strikes above the Tuesday spike high.
Sold VXX Mar 25 2022 44.0 Call at $0.54
Sold VXX Mar 25 2022 43.0 Call at $0.58
Sold VXX Mar 25 2022 42.0 Call at $0.61
Interesting chart. What happens when Barclays unclenches?
Bought to close LABU Mar 18 2022 13.5 Puts at $0.05. Sold last week at $0.80.
Bought to close 1 LABU Mar 18 2022 18.0 Put at $2.43. Sold last week on a roll at $3.78
Sold to Open 1 LABU Mar 25 2022 17.5 Put at $2.45 and lowered the strike of this last short put $0.50.
Bought to close VXX Mar 18 2022 22.0 Puts at $0.01. Sold at $0.11 Tuesday
A new VXX Contango Trade:
Sold to open VXX Mar 18 2022 24.0 Puts Net Credit at $0.07
Bought VXX May 20 2022 15.0 Puts at $0.05 for a 0.02 Credit
Short DTE = 1
Long DTE = 64
#VXXContango
Sold to open LABU Mar 18 2022 16.0 Calls at $0.11
Sold to open LABU Mar 18 2022 16.5 Calls at $0.07
Sold half my TMUS stock at $128.57. Got pretty close to the 2022 YTD high.
Bought this lot on 11/22/21 at $114.00
Sold to open LABU Mar 18 2022 15.0 Covered Calls at $0.20 and $0.25
Sold to close 1 LABU Mar 18 2022 13.0 Put at $0.60
Sold to close LABU Mar 18 2022 15.0 Puts at $2.00.
Bought to close VXX Mar 18 2022 21.5 Puts at $0.01. Sold at $0.10 yesterday.
Some new VXX Contango Trades:
Sold to open VXX Mar 18 2022 24.5 Puts at $0.17
Bought VXX May 20 2022 15.0 Puts at $0.10 for a 0.07 Credit
Short DTE = 2
Long DTE = 65
Sold to open VXX Mar 18 2022 24.5 Puts at $0.16
Bought VXX May 20 2022 16.0 Puts at $0.13 for a 0.03 Credit
Short DTE = 2
Long DTE = 65
#VXXContango
Just before the Fed announcement:
Sold 1 TQQQ Mar 18 2022 48.0 Call at $0.83
Sold TQQQ Mar 18 2022 50.0 Calls at $0.41 and $0.57
Sold 1 TNA Mar 18 2022 62.5 Covered Call at $0.29
Sold 1 TNA Mar 18 2022 63.0 Covered Call at $0.27
Sold LABU Mar 18 2022 15.0 Covered Calls at $0.15
Selling into the bounce:
Sold the other half of my BKNG long stock at $2198.00. Bought on 3/8 at $1800.00 (Missed the low by less than 4 points)
Sold half my AMZN that I bought as an impulse purchase after they announced the 20 for 1 split.
Sold AMZN at $2994.00. Bought on 03/09 at $2,972.50.
At least I did average down once at $2,879.56 on 3/14.
Former #FallingKnife
Sold 1 TNA Mar 18 2022 59.0 Call at $0.71
Now all my long stock is covered for this week
Sold:
TQQQ Mar 18 2022 46.0 Call at $0.80
TQQQ Mar 18 2022 47.5 Call at $0.43
TQQQ Mar 18 2022 48.0 Call at $0.34
First the good;
Sold half of my BKNG long stock at $2083.00. Bought on 3/7 at $1900.00.
Former #FallingKnife
Bought EA at $118.00
Bought SWK at $144.21
#SP500 #FallingKnife
Back to the puts. One last set of writes against long Mar 18th Puts paid for by earlier Diagonal Put spreads.
Sold VXX Mar 18 2022 22.5 Puts at $0.15 and $0.16
Sold VXX Mar 18 2022 22.0 Puts at $0.11
Sold VXX Mar 18 2022 21.5 Puts at $0.09
#VXXContango trades
Sold 1 TNA Mar 18 2022 62.0 Call at $0.27
No more short puts as they all got assigned last week. Just calls for the foreseeable future.
Sold:
TQQQ Mar 18 2022 46.0 Calls at $0.57
TQQQ Mar 18 2022 47.0 Calls at $0.37
TQQQ Mar 18 2022 47.5 Calls at $0.27 and $0.37
TQQQ Mar 18 2022 48.0 Calls at $0.27
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220314005483/en/Barclays-Suspends-Until-Further-Notice-Further-Sales-and-Issuances-of-Two-Series-of-iPath%C2%AE-ETNs-the-%E2%80%9CETNs%E2%80%9D
Apple Falls Under 200-Day Moving Average After Foxconn Halt
Started some tiny new positions
Bought SWKS at $124.44
Bought WDC at $45.00
Bought WYNN at $70.00
#SP500 #FallingKnife
Bought to close VXX Mar 11 2022 27.0 Calls at $0.01. Sold Friday on a roll at $1.58
Bought to close VXX Mar 11 2022 26.5 Calls at $0.01. Sold Friday on a roll at $1.76
Bought to close 1 TNA Mar 11 2022 61.0 Call at $0.01. Sold Tuesday at $1.09
Bought to close TNA Mar 11 2022 60.0 Calls at $0.01. Sold Tuesday at $0.99 and $1.23
Bought to close 1 XLV Mar 11 2022 126.5 Put at $0.01. Sold on Monday at 0.61
Bought to close 1 XLV Mar 11 2022 127.0 Put at $0.01. Sold on Monday at 0.57
Only one today:
Added SBUX at $83.44
#SP500 #FallingKnife
Options Bistro 