Not only were my VIAC 09/11 23.00 Covered Calls assigned, but also my VIAC 09/18 23.00 Covered Calls, and even my 09/25 24.00 Diagonal calls (had to cover the resulting short this morning).

All that for 0.24

Bought to close VXX 09/11/2020 26.50 Puts / Sold VXX 09/18/2020 25.50 Puts @ 0.25 Credit
Bought to close VXX 09/11/2020 26.00 Puts / Sold VXX 09/18/2020 25.00 Puts @ 0.54 Credit
Bought to close VXX 09/11/2020 25.50 Puts / Sold VXX 09/18/2020 24.50 Puts @ 0.60 Credit

At least all my short calls will expire shortly 🙂

One of these finally worked.
Bought to close 1 SPY 09/11/2020 339.0 Call @ 0.02. Sold this on Wednesday @ 4.35 on a rollup.

Replaced it with a short 09/16/2020 340.0 Call @ 1.17.
The long call it is paired against is a 10/16/2020 346.0 Call.

Bought to close VIAC 09/11/2020 29.0 Calls / Sold VIAC 09/18/2020 30.0 Calls @ 0.02 Credit but another point higher on the short strike for just one more week
The new short is above the recovery high on the stock and the stock goes Ex-Div next week too which should help it down by next Friday.

Bought to close VXX 09/11/2020 27.0 Puts / Sold VXX 09/18/2020 25.50 Puts @ 0.08 Credit plus an additional 1.5 points lower on the short strike.

Filled when VXX hit 26.25

New Diagonal Put spread
Sold WBA 09/18/2020 35.0 Puts / Bought WBA 10/30/2020 32.0 Puts @ 0.18 Credit

Bought to close VXX 09/11/2020 27.50 Puts / Sold VXX 09/18/2020 26.50 Puts @ 0.12 Credit plus an additional point lower on the short strike.

Filled when VXX hit 26.15

Bought to close WBA 09/11/2020 36.0 Puts / Sold WBA 09/18/2020 36.0 Puts @ 0.17 Credit.

Bought to close WDC Sep 11 2020 40 Diagonal Calls @ 0.01.
They won’t trade any lower

Both higher on the start of the NFL season tonight
Are people so starved for entertainment?

Up 23% on earnings
How do analysts keep getting this one wrong?

Jeff, I hope you are OK where you are

Gov. Kate Brown said the communities of Blue River and Vida in Lane County had been devastated by wildfires this week, while Phoenix and Talent, in the southern part of the state, have reported “significant damage,” the Portland Tribune reported.

Brown said, “this could be the greatest loss of life and structures due to wildfire in state history. ”

The state’s fires remain largely unchallenged Thursday morning as emergency personnel continues to evacuate thousands of people to safety. Doug Grafe, with the Department of Forestry, said the fire situation in the state is “zero percent containment.”

“The largest blaze is the Santiam/Beachie Creek Fire, at 132,450 acres burned east of Salem. It is zero percent contained. The Lionshead Fire has burned 109,222 acres. Fire officials said they expected the fires in the Santiam River area to combine into one large blaze about 3,000 firefighters are deployed,” The Tribune said.

Sold to open 1 VXX 09/18/2020 30.0 Call @ 0.98 against a long October 70.0 call left over from an old diagonal spread.

Took the money and bought a speculative December 90 call @ 0.86 ( Election hedge).
VXX @ 27.20

I’m adding to my long in a new expiration month with this spread.
Bought to open VXX 03/19/2021 14.0 Puts / Sold VXX 09/11/2020 26.50 Puts @ 0.07 Credit.
VXX is 26.65

Bought to close 1 SPY 09/09/2020 337.0 Call / Sold 1 SPY 09/11/2020 339.0 Call @ 0.14 Credit
Got a 2 point better strike on the short for just 2 more days.
Did the switch with SPY @ 341.28

First new position in a while as I add to my spreads
Bought 1 SPY 10/23/2020 360.0 Call / Sold 1 SPY 09/16/2020 345.0 Call @ 0.22 Credit.
The real money is not made on the first write, but on the follow on writes if the first short expires.
SPY at 341.50 when this was put on.

Adding one more:
Bought to open WBA 10/23/2020 30.0 Puts / Sold WBA 09/11/2020 35.50 Puts @ 0.17 Credit

Sold 1 VXX 09/11/2020 26.0 Put @ 0.37

plus:
VXX Diagonal Calendar Put
I’m adding a new long in a new expiration month with this spread
Bought to open VXX 03/19/2021 14.0 Puts / Sold VXX 09/11/2020 27.0 Puts @ 0.12 Credit.

Mirror image of last week.

SPY down
VIX Down

Sold 1 VXX 09/11/2020 27.0 Put @ 0.58
Sold VXX 09/11/2020 26.50 Puts @ 0.39
Sold these against existing long puts in 2021 and 2022

Even though I have a boatload of long (Fully paid for) Puts for 2021 and 2022 I’m adding a new long with this spread
Bought to open VXX 01/15/2021 17.0 Puts / Sold VXX 09/11/2020 27.50 Puts @ 0.03 Credit.

This puts my VXX Short Strangle positions more in balance for the coming week

Sold 1 KSS 10/16/2020 25.0 Covered Call @ 1.09

Bought to open AAL 10/16/2020 23.0 Calls / Sold AAL 09/11/2020 14.50 Calls @ 0.03 Credit.

Also sold 1 AAL 09/11/2020 14.50 Covered Call @ 0.25, replacing the strike 14 call from last week.

Bought to open WBA 10/16/2020 30.0 Puts / Sold WBA 09/11/2020 36.0 Puts @ 0.12 Credit
Bought to open WBA 10/23/2020 30.0 Puts / Sold WBA 09/18/2020 35.50 Puts @ 0.16 Credit

The stock is 36.61 with the Low YTD of 36.50 and a big dividend yield. I’m hoping it holds here in a weak market.

Bought to close WDC 09/04/2020 38.0 Covered Calls / Sold WDC 09/11/2020 40.0 Covered Calls @ 0.02 Credit plus and extra $2 on the short strike.

Since this was stock put to me after a disastrous earnings trade, they can have my stock next week..

Meanwhile the strike 37.0 puts I also sold as part of earnings week will expire today.
Yay!

Jekyll and Hyde market here.
Selling calls earlier, now puts
Sold VXX 09/11/2020 27.0 Put @ 0.48
Sold VXX 09/11/2020 26.50 Puts @ 0.33
Sold VXX 09/11/2020 26.00 Puts @ 0.22

Bought to close 1 VXX SEP 04 20 $32 Call @ 0.01.
Sold @ 0.33 on 8/31

Some more VXX Diagonal rolls
Bought to close 1 VXX 09/04/2020 28.00 Diagonal Call / Sold 1 VXX 09/11/2020 29.50 Diagonal Call @ 0.12 Credit plus 1.50 higher on the short strike

Bought to close VXX 09/04/2020 27.00 Diagonal Call / Sold VXX 09/11/2020 28.0 Diagonal Call @ 0.22 Credit plus 1.00 higher on the short strike.

I still have VXX 30.50, 31.0 and 32.0 short calls that should expire in an hour if I don’t cover them.

Bought to close ADS 09/04/2020 51.0 Covered Call / Sold 1 ADS 09/11/2020 51.0 Covered Call @ 0.50 Credit
Bought to close ADS 09/04/2020 51.0 Covered Calls / Sold ADS 09/11/2020 51.0 Covered Calls @ 0.65 Credit (different account)
Bought to close ADS 09/04/2020 50.0 Covered Calls / Sold 1 ADS 09/11/2020 52.0 Covered Calls @ 0.38 Credit

Bought to close KSS 09/04/2020 23.0 Calls / Sold KSS 09/11/2020 23.50 Calls @ 0.32 Credit plus an extra 0.50 on the strike price.

Bought to close KSS 09/04/2020 24.0 Calls / Sold KSS 09/11/2020 24.00 Calls @ 0.27 Credit

Bought to Open VIAC Oct 16 2020 33 Calls / Sold to Open VIAC Sep 11 2020 29 Calls @ Net Credit of $0.09.
I’m long excess September 32.50 Calls from earlier spreads but they expire in 2 weeks and I want to sell them soon.

The high for this move since earnings is 29.02 set yesterday morning.

Bought to close VXX 09/04/2020 30.0 Diagonal Calls / Sold VXX 09/11/2020 34.0 Diagonal Calls @ 0.22 Credit.
Added 4 BIG points to the short strike

Since this was my biggest short call position I’m just playing it safe.
I have other calls short today with higher strikes (and some lower) that I will monitor until 3:45

All is forgiven. Nothing to see here.
VIX drops from 38.28 to 32.28 in less than 2 hours and is down 4% from yesterday’s close.

Sold more VXX 09/18/2020 80.0 Calls @ 0.42 against long November calls

Bought to close 5 TSLA Sep 04 2020 560 Calls Limit at $0.01 to release margin for other trades.
It won’t trade any lower.
This was the short side of a single 2800/3000 Bear Call Spread sold last Friday @ 7.60

Playing the eventual contango loss in VXX over time.
First trade in this expiration – a year out – 378 DTE
Bought 1 VXX SEP 17 2021 $10 PUT @ 0.70

Bought back half of my AAL 09/04/2020 15.50 Diagonal Calls @ 0.01 to release a bit of margin.
They won’t trade any lower.

Just to force me to stay long and not bail too soon:
Liquidated my long VXX September 18 2020 80.0 Calls and also shorted them @ 0.25.
Sold against long October and November 70.0 Calls so no upside risk.

Probably a nice bounce if it gets here

@DAN is right is will be the 3rd day down (ie: Tuesday)

Bought to Close 1 Contract SQQQ Sep 04 2020 19 Put @ $0.01. It won’t trade any lower.
Sold earlier this week @ 0.22

Thursday’s levels to watch: The Upside Warning will be canceled with an intraday VIX high of 30.42.

WE ARE THERE 🙂

Good time to have 10 excess long calls in VXX

Misleading headline of the day

“The Nasdaq Has Given Up All Of September’s Gains”

Sold WFC SEP 25 2020 $30 CALLS @ 0.11
The stock is bouncing around just above 25.
The premium is about equal to the new quarterly dividend, which is not a lot these days.
In my estimation banks are pretty Covid-proof so I’ll hold on for an eventual recovery.
It would be nice if they managed their business better though 😦

Sold 1 VXX Sep 04 2020 28 Call / Bought 1 VXX Sep 25 2020 50 Call @ 0.15 Credit

Big ramp up is SPY plus a big move up in VIX/VXX

Today’s all-time-high in the S&P 500 was accompanied by the highest level ever for VIX at an all-time high stock print…

How long can this last?

/VX Futures, VIX and VXX all up again

Really afraid of the VIX move if the SPY were to actually go down

Sold 1 SQQQ Sep 04 2020 19 Put @ 0.22 on the open when the stock got down to 19.55

Apple’s Market Cap Surpasses The Entire Russell 2000 Due To “Option Insanity”

The convexity skew picture on big-name equities like Apple $AAPL has gone parabolically stupid. Let’s keep this simple and draw a conclusion.

Apple $AAPL Stock near $130
Jan $180 Strike Calls costs $4
Jan $80 Strike Puts costs $1
*Both options are $50 out of the money, approx data, BUT it is nearly 3x more expensive to buy upside risk in AAPL equity. What does this mean?

Apple closed near $130, while the cost of speculative upside calls is weighted heavily against the buyer.

Another new all time high in the SPY (ignoring pre/post markets) and /VX futures are still up, though not as much as yesterday.
VIX is down a bit now but opened at a new high for this move at 26.59

Another day, another tech stock rocketing higher after crushing earnings. Ho hum.
Huge earnings beats are becoming a weekly event, and there is no denying that the recent stock market action is producing some interesting results. With index inclusion decisions looming, trading should stay interesting.
Zoom Video Communications (ticker: ZM) stock is up 27% in premarket trading Tuesday after reporting second quarter numbers Monday evening. The company earned 92 cents a share. Analysts were looking for 45 cents in per-share earnings. It was a huge beat.
The stock is at $411 in premarket trading, bringing year-to-date gains to roughly 500%. Zoom’s market capitalization is now roughly $115 billion , making it worth more than IBM ( IBM ). Impressive.

Tesla Announces $5 Billion “At The Market” Stock Offering
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/tesla-announces-5-billion-market-stock-offering

In short, for those asking why TSLA picked an ATM, it was to avoid an institutional roadshow where buyers can perform due diligence or simply ask questions.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/beware-as-wall-street-goes-direct-to-consumer-11592389980

Crazy town again – today’s move equivalent to 278 points on the old stock.
On my watch list, only TSLA and /NQ futures, WDC and every VIX related stock index or future is up.
Everything else down.

Anther new high for S&P500 although it reversed into the red at the end.
Seven straight days with new all time highs

In fact as the S&P hits all-time-highs, this is a level of VIX that has not been seen since those heady days of extreme speculation and retail day-trading muppetry. This is a very different regime of ‘walls of worry’ that we saw during the 2017/2018 all-time-highs…
This level of co-movement between VIX and stocks is highly unusual – and has typically not ended well for stocks. Except this time is even more extreme, as the correlation between stocks and vol is at its highest since the collapse of XIV and Volmageddon 2018…

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/last-time-happened-was-day-dot-com-bubble-burst

Sold 1 VXX Sep 04 2020 30.00 Call at $0.47
Sold 1 VXX Sep 04 2020 30.50 Call at $0.43
Sold 1 VXX Sep 04 2020 31.00 Call at $0.39
Sold 1 VXX Sep 04 2020 32.00 Call at $0.33
Holding Long VXX October and November calls as a hedge

New Diagonal Call spread
Bought Open VXX Oct 16 2020 65 Calls / Sold VXX Sep 04 2020 27.5 Calls @ 0.03 Credit.
It’s not about how much you make in the first week of the diagonal spread, it’s how much you can make with re-writes.

Tesla ‘Losing Ground’ In Europe’s Biggest EV Market As July Registrations Crash

“Tesla posted a 76% decline…”

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/tesla-losing-ground-europes-biggest-ev-market-july-registrations-crash

Ignoring the pre/post market moves, we just got another new high in the SPY. Six day run with new highs every day.

The VIX has dropped 3 points since 11 AM

Bought to close 1 AAL 08/28/2020 14.0 Covered Call / Sold 1 AAL 09/04/2020 14.0 Covered Call @ 0.46 Credit

Bought to close TSLA Aug 28 2020 2500/2700 Bear Call Spread @ 0.05. Sold 2 days ago @ 2.10

Replaced it with TSLA Sep 04 2020 2800/3000 Bear Call Spread @ 7.60 Credit

I have no idea what the stock does after the split but my short for next week is 300 points above the short for this week. (this week’s move low to high was about 375 points and peaked at 2318.49)

Stock is 2220

I should have waited one more day rolling my short 37 Puts 😦
At least I own some stock 🙂

Bought to close WDC 08/28/2020 37.0 Covered Calls / Sold WDC 09/04/2020 38.0 Covered Calls @ 0.22 Credit Plus a point higher on the strike price

Bought to close KSS 08/28/2020 23.0 Covered Calls / Sold KSS 09/04/2020 24.0 Covered Calls @ 0.12 Credit plus a point higher strike.
KSS is recovering from it’s swoon after earnings.

Bought to close AAL 08/28/2020 14.50 Diagonal Calls / Sold AAL 09/04/2020 15.50 Diagonal Calls @ 0.15 Credit plus a point higher strike

And so it begins
My VXX November Calls are all up (between 38% and 66%) above my cost.
Let the November madness do it’s work

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/correction-watch-divergences-are-developing-between-large-us-stocks-everything-else

With only hours to go before expiration my 2500/2700 BCS still is trading @ 1.85
Stock is 2305

Highest close in 8 trading days.
Rolled my WDC 08/28/2020 37.0 Puts to WDC 09/04/2020 37.0 Puts @ 0.17 Credit

a bit more strength on the VIX and the upside warning will be cancelled
High 27.09 so far, up 15%

It’s getting a bit crazy again.
SPY sets a new all time high (almost to 350) and then reverses a bit back to unchanged.
However, the VIX explodes from 22.85 to 24.28 in just 20 minutes.

Something is going on under the surface but I don’t know what.
Algos at work?

Sold 1 VXX 08/28/2020 26.0 Diagonal Call @ 0.21
Sold 2 VXX 08/28/2020 27.0 Diagonal Calls @ 0.13

Creating Short Calendar Iron Condor Spreads to help balance out a lot of short Puts.
Sold the Calls against already long November Calls.
Hoping to keep VXX above 24 through Friday.

I would add to these if higher prices come along tomorrow.