$LUV Getting creamed post-earnings. I wouldn’t mind owning this under 35. Sold $LUV Nov 18 35 puts @ .40.
Author Archives: Ramie
Adding CMG puts
Sold $CMG Nov 18 350 puts @ 2.65. Will look to manage this week’s 370 puts when the bounce comes (hopefully while the options are still out of the money!)
More puts on ILMN
I think this one has earned the #FallingKnife tag.
Sold $ILMN Mar 17 2017 95 puts @ 1.45.
NUGT calls
Sold $NUGT Dec 2 (weekly) 21 calls @ .65
WHR puts
On the post-earnings move down, sold $WHR Dec 16 140 puts @ 1.30
$UA #Earnings Putting one on…
$UA #Earnings
Putting one on for tomorrow’s pre-market report.
Sold $UA Oct 28 35 puts @ .45.
DUST calls for this week
Sold $DUST Oct 28 50 calls @ .35.
Selling puts on $COL
Sold $COL Dec 16 75 puts @ 1.20, on the big move down following the $BEAV acquisition announcement. Strike is below the stock’s 2 year low. I’ll go long at 73.80 if it dips further by December.
AMZN #Covered Calls Sold $AMZN…
AMZN #Covered Calls
Sold $AMZN Jan 20 2017 950 call @ 8.30
$DUST Dec calls
Sold $DUST Dec 16 70 calls @ 2.00. Highest strike.
#OptionsExpiration for 10/21 Expirations: $AMZN…
#OptionsExpiration for 10/21
Expirations:
$AMZN 10/21/2016 860.00 calls (covered)
$APA 10/21/2016 62.50 calls (covered)
$CYBR 10/21/2016 55.00 calls (covered)
$DUST 10/21/2016 60.00 calls
$DUST 10/21/2016 32.0 puts
$DUST 10/21/2016 34.50 puts
$DUST 10/21/2016 35.50 puts
$FIT 10/21/2016 15.00 calls (covered)
$MBLY 10/21/2016 44.00 calls (covered)
$SVXY 10/21/2016 60.00 puts
$SWN 10/21/2016 14.00 calls (covered)
$TWTR 10/21/2016 19.00 calls (covered)
$UVXY 10/21/2016 27.00 calls
$UVXY 10/21/2016 55.00 calls
$WFM 10/21/2016 27.00 calls
$WHR 10/21/2016 150.00 puts
$X 10/21/2016 20.00 calls (covered)
Assignments:
$DVN 10/21/2016 40.00 calls–long stock getting called away
$WYNN 10/21/2016 100 puts–short stock getting called away
Have a great weekend everyone.
LULU rollout
Rolled deep in the money $LULU Oct 21 70 puts out to Dec 16 70 puts for .30 credit. I will sell calls against these (and long stock I’ve been previously assigned) on any significant moves up.
Rolling TLT
Executed the following roll for .56 credit, reducing delta and bringing in more premium against short Nov 136 puts. This creates a Nov 136 straddle.
Bought to close $TLT Oct 28 136 calls @ .12 (sold for 1.00 on 10/5)
Sold to open $TLT Nov 18 136 calls @ .68
NFLX #ShortCalls Sold $NFLX Nov…
NFLX #ShortCalls
Sold $NFLX Nov 18 135 calls @ .80 and .81. Offsets Nov 130 short puts so no margin requirement.
Closing more NFLX
Taking another position off into the strength. Bought to close $NFLX Oct 21 130 puts @ 8.00. Sold for 32.20 as a rollout on 9/12.
2018 NUGT calls
$NUGT #ShortCalls Sold $NUGT Jan 19 2018 52 calls @ 2.50. Highest strike.
Reducing NFLX exposure
Finally able to take some positions off after a long time of rolling and maneuvering.
Bought to close the following near the open today.
$NFLX Oct 21 115 puts @ 1.80–sold for 29.27 as part of a rollout on 7/22
$NFLX Oct 21 120 puts @ 4.25–sold for 24.17 as part of a rollout on 8/23
$NFLX Nov 18 115 puts @ 3.85–sold for 21.35 as part of a rollout on 9/26
NUGT short calls
Sold $NUGT Jan 20 2017 24.00 calls @ 1.00
No expirations or assignments this week
Have a great weekend everyone.
I’m heading out to the second weekend of Desert Trip (aka Oldchella) today. Getting ready to hang out with 70,000 of my favorite aging hippies. Tonight Bob Dylan and The Stones, tomorrow night Neil Young and Paul McCartney and if I’m still alive, Sunday night The Who and Roger Waters. Not a huge fan of big crowds anymore so I’m gonna get my Zen on, and practice patience 🙂
See you all next week!
#VXXGame adding Sold $UVXY Jan…
#VXXGame adding to positions
Sold $UVXY Jan 19 2018 60 call @ 7.00
Sold $UVXY Dec 16 2016 55 calls @ 1.30
ILMN puts
Sold $ILMN Dec 16 110 (delta 10) puts @ 1.25.
Playing the original Iceman #VXXGame…
Playing the original Iceman #VXXGame
Sold $UVXY Jan 19 2018 60 call @ 6.20. Will look to add if and when the premium goes up by $1 or if higher strikes get added.
UVXY calls
Sold $UVXY Oct 21 27 calls @ .20
Closing VRTX
Bought to close $VRTX Oct 21 75 puts @ .45. Sold for 1.30 on 9/14. With the stock in a pronounced downtrend I figured I’d take the 65% of max profit off the table instead of waiting around to see if it keeps going to test the strike price.
Adding DUST calls
Sold $DUST Nov 4 70 calls @ 2.00
DUST calls
Sold $DUST Nov 18 70 calls @ 3.20. Highest strike in Nov.
#OptionsExpiration for Oct 7 Only…
#OptionsExpiration for Oct 7
Only 2 expirations today:
$DUST 10/07/2016 60.00 calls
$UVXY 10/07/2016 40.00 calls
No assignments.
Taking off some more NUGT calls
Continuing to take positions off near max profit to reduce exposure.
Bought to close $NUGT Nov 18 21 calls @ .40. Sold for 3.95 on 8/30.
Bought to close $NUGT Dec 13.60 calls @ 2.00. Sold for 20.60 as a rollout on 8/3.
$DUST calls–1 day trade
Sold $DUST Oct 7 60 calls @ .50 with the stock at 50.07. Expires tomorrow.
NUGT-a current picture of volatility drag
Volatility drag, volatility tax, slippage or whatever else we call it shows up in leveraged ETFs and becomes more apparent the longer the timeline. But the recent implosion in $NUGT is allowing us to see how this effect can play out in a shorter time window:
Using the instrument from which $NUGT is derived, $GDX, if you measure the % gain it would have to achieve to get back to its highs (from around 23.70 right now to about 31.80 on 8/11-8/12) it calculates to around 34%.
If you take 3x the 34% (=102%) that would only get $NUGT back to around 26.25, nowhere near its corresponding high from 8/11-8/12 of 35.80. For NUGT to get back to its August highs from its current level around 13, it would need to add 175%.
This is one of the reasons I’ve been aggressively selling calls at strikes near the August highs on big moves up. It will be very difficult (and will require a much bigger corresponding move in gold and the miners) for $NUGT to challenge old highs.
Closing some NUGT weekly calls early
Bought to close $NUGT Nov 4 29.00 calls @ .10. Sold for .85 on 9/28.
Bought to close $NUGT Nov 11 29.50 calls @ .10. Sold for 1.00 on 9/30.
Waiting for higher DUST strikes
In the meantime, I just sold some of the pre-split in Jan 2018, at the highest strike available (30, or the equivalent of 150 post-split with DUST at 48.50.
Sold $DUST2 Jan 19 2018 30.00 calls @ 1.50
Closing NUGT calls
I’m using this rather dramatic move to get out of some positions at near full profit, freeing up a bunch of buying power and lowering my upside risk.
Bought to close $NUGT Oct 21 25.00 calls @ .06. Sold for 1.51 on 8/30.
Bought to close $NUGT Oct 28 30.00 calls @ .05. Sold for 1.00 on 9/21.
Bought to close $NUGT Nov 18 15.00 calls @ 2.16. Sold for 14.07 on 8/22 (as a rollout).
Bought to close $NUGT Nov 18 46.00 calls @ .06. Sold for 1.25 on 9/6.
Bought to close $NUGT Dec 16 50.00 calls @ .10. Sold for 3.70 on 7/27.
EDIT: Added some more–
Bought to close $NUGT Nov 18 35.00 calls @ .10. Sold for 1.00 on 9/21.
Bought to close $NUGT Dec 16 17.00 calls @ 1.90. Sold for 19.70 on 8/2 (as a rollout).
No expirations or assignments this week
Have a great weekend everyone.
Closing CMG
Taking these positions off at a profit, reducing some downside risk.
Bought to close $CMG Oct 14 385 put @ .50. Sold for 3.00 on 9/15.
Bought to close $CMG Nov 18 350 put @ 2.29 Sold for 5.30 on 9/20.
NUGT calls
Sold $NUGT Nov 11 (weekly) 29.50 calls @ 1.00
Closing some NUGT calls
Took profit on these at almost minimum value, reducing some short call exposure.
Bought to close $NUGT Oct 14 (weekly) 35 calls @ .05. Sold for 1.20 on 9/6.
NUGT popping again
Sold $NUGT Nov 4 (weekly) 29 calls for .85. Initial position at the highest strike in the 11/4 weekly series.
AMZN covered call
Sold $AMZN Oct 21 860 call for 5.15. I was early. Premium is over a dollar higher now.
Closing NKE earnings strangle
Bought to close $NKE Sep 30 51/59 strangles for .06. Sold for .43 yesterday.
Short puts on CRI
Taking advantage of today’s downgrade to sell puts on a stock I wouldn’t mind owning at the strike price, about 10 points lower than it is now, and a level the stock hasn’t been since early 2015.
Sold $CRI Dec 16 80 puts @ 1.35
#Debates I’m treading really lightly…
#Debates
I’m treading really lightly here on bullish trades. Tonight’s debate (projected to be the most watched event in US television history) has the potential to show some direction in the race. Market could have a lot of downside this week depending on what happens. I’ll look to pick off some OTM #VXXGame trades tomorrow morning if there’s a big swoon down.
UVXY calls
Some Iceman recommendations:
Sold $UVXY Nov 18 45 calls @ 1.35
Sold $UVXY Dec 16 55 calls @ 1.75
I was early. Premiums are better now.
UVXY calls
Sold $UVXY Nov 4 29 calls @ 1.10. Highest strike in the newest weekly series.
#VXXGame
Covered Calls on TWTR
Sold $TWTR Nov 18 26.00 calls @ 1.08
NUGT fill
Got filled on an offer I had out there this morning.
Sold $NUGT Oct 28 (weekly) 30 calls @ 1.00.
SVXY Covered Call
Sold $SVXY Dec 16 85 call @ 3.20
CMG put
#ShortPuts Sold $CMG Nov 18 350 put @ 5.30. Strike price is well below the 2016 lows.
#OptionsExpiration for September 16 A…
#OptionsExpiration for September 16
A lighter than normal monthly expiration for me. I either closed a lot of positions early or rolled them over the last few weeks.
Expiring:
$AMZN 09/16/2016 825 calls (covered)
$AMZN 09/16/2016 850 calls (covered)
$AMZN 09/16/2016 740 puts
$NFLX 09/16/2016 100 calls
$NUGT 09/16/2016 25 calls
$NUGT 09/16/2016 42 calls
$SVXY 09/16/2016 60 puts
$SVXY 09/16/2016 40 puts
$UVXY 09/16/2016 29 calls
$UVXY 09/16/2016 40 calls
$UVXY 09/16/2016 56 calls
$WYNN 09/16/2016 95 puts (covered)
Assignments
$SVXY 09/16/2016 60 calls–some of my stock being called away. I will write more puts on the next move down.
Have a great weekend everyone.
Closing next week’s NUGT calls
Bought to close $NUGT Sep 23 25 calls @ .20. Sold for 1.32 on 9/2.
No sense sticking around for the last .20 with the Fed coming up next week–who knows what will. And if I were in the betting mood I’d be leaning more toward gold and NUGT going up after the Fed (thinking they won’t raise) but I’m not even going there. Can’t make any promises next week though.
Adding DUST call in Jan
Sold $DUST Jan 20 2017 60 call @ 6.20. Highest strike in January.
I am now short the highest strike (60) in Oct, Nov, Dec and Jan with small positions. Hoping we get higher strikes next week.
Closing NUGT puts
To avoid assignment, bought to close $NUGT Sep 16 19 puts @ .95. Sold for 1.18 on 8/25.
Closing SWKS
Bought to close $SWKS Nov 18 50 puts @ .17. Sold for 1.40 on 7/22.
CMG put
Sold $CMG Oct 14 (weekly) 385 put @ 3.00.
Using the expiration before the estimated earnings date. Strike is right at the low from June.
MCK puts
Sold $MCK Jan 20 2017 110 puts @ 1.50–CORRECTED–THIS WAS AN INCORRECT MONTH AND STRIKE
Correct trade: Sold $MCK Nov 18 145 puts @ 1.50
#FallingKnife
MNST puts
MNST puts
Sold $MNST Jan 20 2017 110 puts @ 1.30
Some #FallingKnife flavored trades Sold…
Some #FallingKnife flavored trades
Sold $VRTX Oct 21 75 puts @ 1.30. Stock at 89.39, delta 14.
Sold $WHR Jan 20 2017 120 puts @ 1.35. Stock at 165.30, delta 7.
AAPL Covered Calls
Sold $AAPL Nov 18 120 calls @ 2.07
UVXY Dec
Sold $UVXY Dec 18 55 call @ 4.30. Highest strike.
#VXXGame
Closing covered calls in SVXY
Not much left here so I’m taking this one off and I’ll re-enter when the market moves back up.
Bought to close $SVXY Sep 16 70 calls @.14. Sold for 1.50.
DUSTing off Dec
Sold $DUST Dec 16 60 call @ 4.00. Highest strike.
Nov UVXY calls
#VXXGame Sold $UVXY Nov 18 45 calls @ 2.00. Highest strike.
DUST calls
Sold $DUST Nov 18 60 calls @ 3.02. Highest strike.
$DUST calls
Going the other way on gold, starting small.
Sold $DUST Oct 21 60 calls @ 1.20. Highest strike in Oct.
$TLT adjustment
Bonds are getting creamed so I’m closing my $TLT Oct 21 short 145 calls that I put on 2 days ago for over 70% max profit, rolling the calls down to 140 and adding 130 puts, creating an October 130/140 strangle with TLT now at 135.51.
Bought to close $TLT Oct 21 145 calls @ .19 (sold for .70 on 9/7)
Sold to open $TLT Oct 21 130/140 strangles @ 1.50
$APA #CoveredCalls Sold $APA Oct…
$APA #CoveredCalls
Sold $APA Oct 21 62.50 calls @ 1.44
TLT calls
Reinitiating a short call position I like to put on whenever bonds move up. Sold $TLT Oct 21 145 calls @ .70.
NFLX call rollout
Rolled $NFLX Sep 95 calls up and out to Oct 100 calls for .40 credit. Never thought I’d be happy to be rolling short calls again LOL.
NUGT calls
Sold the following at the highest strikes:
$NUGT Oct 14 (weekly) 35.00 calls @ 1.20
$NUGT Nov 18 46.00 calls @ 1.25
#OptionsExpiration for Sep 2 A…
#OptionsExpiration for Sep 2
A light week.
Expiring:
$NUGT 09/02/2016 17 puts
$SVXY 09/02/2016 59 puts
$UVXY 09/02/2016 58 calls
No assignments.
Have a great, restful long weekend everyone.
Short calls on SVXY
Sold $SVXY Jan 20 2017 100 call @ 4.00
Rolling LULU
Rolled today’s 71 puts out to Sep 16 71 puts for .55 credit.
$LULU put
Sold $LULU Oct 21 65 puts @ 1.20. Creates a ladder with the Sep 70 puts I sold yesterday before earnings. I am also short today’s 71 puts which will I will look to exit for a profit, or let expire if the stock continues its bounce.
$LULU #Earnings trades Broke it…
$LULU #Earnings trades
Broke it up into 2 expirations:
Sold $LULU Sep 2 71 puts @ 1.12
Sold $LULU Sep 16 70 puts @ 1.20
I will likely go long the stock if assigned at a cost basis below 70.
NUGT calls
Sold $NUGT Nov 18 35 calls @ 1.25. Because of all the volatility, if GDX gets back to its high, 3x of this would bring NUGT to around 32 (and that’s if it went straight up which of course it wouldn’t). So selling some calls near the all time high on the thesis that even with a big move back up in gold and the miners to their recent highs, the headwinds on triple-leveraged NUGT will keep it from getting there as well.
Options Bistro 