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FYI
Annuities to cover a “Back Swan” event, you say? In the course of an insurance policy review I touched on option trading and low-and-behold the agent had a product to suggest…fancy that! It’s an annuity hedge for market downside, as if we don’t know about long puts…oops…shades of Feb 5. Anyway, I thought y’all might be interested in its structure, or not. I’m not buying, selling or recommending, I don’t know how much it costs, keep or toss. Have a great evening.
https://us.axa.com/axa-products/retirement-planning/variable-annuities/structured-capital-strategies/index.html
P.S. AXA is on the NYSE as ticker EQH
SPX Campaign Closed Early
#spxcampaign
$SPX BTC 6/22 2595/2620 BUPS at .10 STO at 2.60 on 5/29 Have one tranche left that hopefully will expire
$SPX BTC 6/22 2550/2575 BUPS at .05 STO at 1.35 on 5/26 Thank you @jeffcp66
#shortputs MGM sold July 20,…
#shortputs MGM
sold July 20, 30 put for .43
CVS Nov
Sold $CVS Nov 16 60 puts @ 1.70
Closing REGN
Taking off my last position in this old Fuzzball favorite. I’m out of this stock completely now and will look to re-enter on the next big move.
Bought to close $REGN Aug 17 240 put @ 1.15. Sold for 5.70 on 2/13.
BIIB Falling Knife (of sorts)
Actually probably just a pullback within the uptrend (it’s not even really testing the 50dma). So maybe more of a dropped butter knife from the dining room table. Safer to catch anyway.
Sold $BIIB Jan 18 2019 220 puts @ 3.70 with the stock at 287.89. Delta 10.
Going long on the pullback
WYNN at key support from Mar 28. Expect short sellers to get squeezed.
BTO Jul13 177.5/192.5 BuCS @ 4.20. STO 172.5/167.5 BuPS @ 1.51
TSLA reaching for $400 and won’t stop
BTO Jul13 380/400 BuCS @ 4.90. STO Jul13 337.5/332.5 BuPS @ 1.37
ISRG tight consolidation pattern from June 5. And I love this stock.:-)
BTO Jul20 490/505 BuCS @ 6.74. STO Jul20 477.5/472.5 BuPS @ 1.65
#longcalls
INTC puts
Sold $INTC Jul 20 50 puts @ .54. I may consider taking assignment at 49.46 if the stock continues down over the next month.
#shortputs #coveredputs FB I was…
I was assigned 99 short shares over the weekend, (had 1 existing share with a decent gain), basis is 183. Sold a June 22, 190 put for .31 on maybe the worst day to be selling puts in FB but it’s a start.
Good morning, from Eugene, OR
Here for my stepson’s graduation from University of Oregon. After that, we’re off to Napa for a family get-together.
#LEAPs #CoveredCllCampaign.
$SQ breaching call strikes again.
Closed $SQ July 6th 65 calls for 2.49. Will roll later.
Closed $SQ June 29th 57.5 put for .15
Closed $SQ July 6th 58 puts for .33
Sold $SQ July 13th 67.5 call for 1.63
June 18 Sue Thread
ADBE: First #Fundie close for 20%, $425 in one day. This was a 30/14 3×2 time ratio. Trade reset immediately as per the backtest: Jul 13 252.5 x 3, jun 29 257.5 x -2 @ 18.35. I am starting with positive gamma/positive theta on this trade…which is kind of a unicorn 🙂
ROKU: Closed #Undie for $844 profit, reset as a #Fundie Jul 13 43.5 call x3, Jun 29 46.5 call x-2 @8.07.
On both of these trades I should have shifted dates to Jul 20/ Jul 6.
SPOT: #Fundie new test trade here: Jul 20 170 call x3 @10.20 Jul 6 177.5 c x -2 @4.30, target profit $440 for 20%.
MA: New #Fundie Jul20 197.5c x 3, jul 6 202.5 c x -2, @15.20 $300 target profit for 20%.
Here’s backtests on these (parameters: 30 day 63 delta long, 14 day 45 delta short, take profit at 20% and reset):
BA put spread
Sold $BA Jul 20 335/325 BuPS @ 1.53 with the stock at 354.46
Morning All
#coveredcalls Sold June 22nd 26 Calls @ .18 when NUGT was at 24.63 against my long stock. Basis on the long stock is down to 25.
Econ Calendar for week of 6/18/18
Be sure to periodically click Home/REFRESH to keep Bistro features updated.
Buying shares to get the…
Buying shares to get the dividend.
Just wanted to check if buying shares on ex-div date would be sufficient to get the dividend.
Or do I need to buy a day early to account for the time to settle the trade?
Today’s Trades Rolling IQ MZOR TWTR (Dizzying But Gathering No Moss)
#rolling
$IQ BTC 6/15 35 call and STO 7/20 40 call for .10 debit but possible gain of $5 if called away. Stock at 40.15
$IQ BTC 7/20 25 call and STO 7/20 40 call for 9.20 debit but possible gain of $15 if called away. Stock at 40.15 Rolled half my calls.
$MZOR BTC 6/15 70 put and STO 7/20 70 put at even
$TWTR BTC 6/29 39.50 put to 7/20 40 put for additional .80
Expired
NFLX 172.5/170.00 44.00
SPX 2825/2850 Calls cost 62.5 2x Loss
GOOGL 1120/1117.5 1170/1172 IC 55.00
CELG 80/82.50 Calls 29.50
AMZN 1725.00/1727.5 1665/1162.50 IC 49.00
IC’s Legs entered at diff times. AMZN had me worried
NFLX Call side got run over closed for loss 2.00 then added a #supercharger Jun22 375.0/377.5 2.00. should make it back with a couple of them.
SPX
Expired 6/15 2795/2800 Becs. STO 6/7 for 1.10
June 15 Trades
Happy Friday Everyone!
I didn’t have a ton going, ‘cept for one big thing. That later.
IWM: #Saf-T 1000 shares called, net profit $1200. Reset 1500 @ 167.66, 14x jul 27 166 puts @ 2.10, Jun 22 168.5 calls x13 @ .70
I was squirming bad this morning with a ton of SPY shares on and no short calls against them. Luckily the market rebounded, I got some short calls for next Wednesday in the book. I can sleep at night when I know my short calls are on. I’m not kidding when I say it felt really uncomfortable not having them. I will change this strategy next quarter so that calls are always on regardless of dividends.
BA…ugly, but I’m not too concerned. Got lots of hedges on, got a put diagonal kicker, so far it’s looking like a retracement. Maybe even the handle of a cup forming.
Ok…beware when @kathycon MamaCash and I open the lab. We can stay up all night online battering trade designs about and running backtests. We are ALWAYS taking established designs, or other people’s ideas, and reworking them for the best success rates, highest profits, lowest risk.
We reworked the dates and ratios on #Undies last night. I think you should let us test these out a bit. But what we discovered by backtesting is that a 30day long with a 14 day short in a .66 ratio (3×2, 6×4, 20×13) yields a much higher return on margin than using the longer dates. Because the 30-day longs are cheaper, there is less risk, which directly affects the return. These trades go on with a slight positive gamma, slight negative theta, positive vega…so kind of nice greeks on these. All of the 1-year returns we are looking at are really high, like 300% to 1200% (return on margin risk).
Consider these “petri dish” trades right now…we’ll run ’em down and report on effectiveness.
Between the two of us we have a lot of 3×2 tests on now in NVDA, ADBE, BABA, NFLX…and some others. We will report on the effectiveness of this.
Here is an example of one I have on BABA: Jul 13 202.5 call 3x @ 9.20/Jun 29 210 call 2x @ 3.40.
Everyone have a safe weekend!
Sue
p.s. premium collection this week was $14,811, 90% of what I sold. Good week!
Options Expiration for 6/15
$CAH Jun 15 50 puts
$DUST Jun 15 45 calls
$ESRX Jun 15 75 puts
$RRC Jun 15 15 puts
$SWN Jun 15 7 calls (covered)
$UVXY Jun 15 50 calls
$UVXY Jun 15 55 calls
$UVXY Jun 15 60 calls
$WHR Jun 15 130 puts
$WMT Jun 15 77.50 puts
And expirations from the “I Remember When” file:
$SVXY Jun 15 127 calls
$SVXY Jun 15 130 calls
$SVXY Jun 15 135 calls
No assignments.
Have a great weekend.
Expiration
#optionsexpiration
Expired
BAC 30.5 C (Covered)
NUGT 26 C (Covered)
Have a great weekend all. Stay cool.
Final trade & expirations
#Earnings #Rolling I have not managed $OLED well at all since getting slammed on earnings. I’m actually not too far in the hole so sticking with 1-lots:
BTC $OLED June 15th 115 put for 21.75. Sold for 19.00 last month.
STO July 6th 100 put for 7.60
STO July 20th 110 put for 16.80.
#OptionsExpiration
Only one winning expiration:
$GUSH 45 call, sold for 1.05 in April, #ContangoETFs
These expired as losses:
$SPX long June 15th 2825/2850 call spreads, bought for .75, avg price, #SPXCampaign
$VXX long 30 puts, bought for 1.17, avg price
$VXX long 25 put, bought for .21
$AMBA long 50 call, bought for 3.90, #LongCalls
Also, hedges expiring (partially replaced with #VXXGame trades yesterday):
$UVXY 60 calls, bought for .69, avg price
Expirations
#optionsexpiration
Full Profit
$NWL 27 call
IQ 35 put
$TRTN 35 put
$SQ 60.5 put
$GS 220/230 BUPS
$BA 310/320 BUPS
$SPX 2585/2610 BUPS Thank you @jeffcp66
$SPX 2565/2590 BUPS Thank you @jeffcp66
$AMZN 1460/1500 BUPS
$NVDA 220/230
$BABA 195/202.50 BUPS 2x normal size
$SPX 2675/2700 BUPS Thank you @jeffcp66
Full Loss
$TSLA 330/310 BECS
$TWX 105/95 BECS
Called Away
$NTRI 35 covered call 33.20 basis
$LABU 98 covered call 92.90 basis Thanks to all who taught me how to roll my own with particular appreciation to @fuzzballl
Assigned
$TLRD 30 put Earnings trade badly altered.
Have a restful weekend. Happy Father’s Day!
Expirations…
#OptionsExpiration – Had a few this week….
CELG 80/85 BeCS (sold for .45)
EWW 45.5 Calls (sold for .49)
GLD 123.5 Calls (sold for 1.00)
OLED 99.5 Calls (sold for 1.20)
RH 94/120/122 JadLiz (scratched out .22 profit)
RH roll
#Earnings Like an old friend you agree can stay over for a couple nights, but ends up crashing on your couch for several weeks, $RH is back in my portfolio for awhile.
Closed $RH June 15th 146 calls for 11.90, avg price.
Sold $RH July 6th 150/155 #ShortStrangles for 12.60. I’ll manage this based on how she swings.
Have a nice weekend to everyone
I am going to the gym.
#CoveredCalls Rolled TWTR June 15th…
#CoveredCalls
Rolled TWTR June 15th 45 C out and up to June 22nd 45 C for .17 credit.
SPX Campaign
#shortputs
$SPX STO 6/22 2750/2775 BUPS at 2.35
#shortputs FAS Rolled my June…
#shortputs
FAS Rolled my June 15th 69 Puts out and down to June 22nd 68 Puts for 0.12 credit.
FAS
#LongCalls #LEAPS – This morning it looked like I might get the nice surprise of the weekly expiring. Not gonna happen so have to take the roll. Picking up a buck of upside.
Rolled FAS JUN 15 2018 66.0 Calls to JUN 22 2018 67.0 Calls @ .02 credit
#shortputs Bought to close ROKU…
#shortputs
Bought to close
ROKU June 22nd 41 Puts @ .35. Sold yesterday @ .85. TTMAR Will reload later maybe as a synthetic or a covered synthetic if that is the right term.
X June 15th 37 Puts @ 1.14. Sold 6/7for 0.70. I decided to back away from this one instead of rolling due to the heightened rhetoric on Tariffs.
SPX calls closed
#SPXCampaign Closed $SPX June 18th 2800 calls for .75. I was going to sit on this one longer, but this rally is looking interesting… seems perhaps the China retaliation isn’t as bad as investors might have thought. Still holding long 2825 calls in case I can get a dime or more for them.
Spread sold yesterday for 2.05.
TNA
#LongCalls #LEAPS -Another position where the weeklies got annihilated. Set this one up prior to our unbalanced strategy. The LEAPS have about 13 dollars of profit in them that I’d like to keep as much of as possible.
Small adjustment to get the weekly call sales a little more rollable. This does give up some downside protection but preserves the potential gains already in the LEAPS. Rolling LEAPS up to finance a rollup of the weekly calls. You could look at this as closing a winner and resetting but I still consider the same trade until completely closed.
I don’t do this often but it worked great in an AMZN position last year…
Rolled TNA JAN 17 2020 70.0 Calls to JAN 17 2020 80.0 Calls @ 5.63 credit
Rolled TNA JUL 20 2018 75.0 Calls to JUL 20 2018 81.0 Calls @ 5.27 debit
LEAPS rolled up 10 but was only able to roll weeklies up 6. That’s ok though….pocketed some cash and accomplished the goal of getting the weeklies back in play. Hopefully roll them again next time and get them out of trouble. Get rid of them eventually and get the full profit out of the LEAPS.
AZO
#LongCalls #LEAPS – Thought about rolling the LEAP up to help roll the weekly higher but just going out a month instead to see if it continues up. Rolling the weekly up 10 points.
Rolled AZO JUN 15 2018 650.0 Call to JUL 20 2018 660.0 Call @ .01 credit
TQQQ Dividend next week…..not
TQQQ for Div’s has been a little confusing. TOS shows a 6%+ yield, but the TQQQ pro shares website shows only 3 dividends have been paid in 10 years, for a fractional penny. TOS could not help me w/ an answer to this, they suggested I email ProShares. I received a fast response confirming that they are on a quarterly distribution schedule, but the last div paid out was in 2015. So anyone in a TQQQ covered for next week, almost minuscule div risk on that.
IWM div is next week though!
TGT practice…
STO $TGT 20Jul 75 puts @ 1.30 when shares were 76.46
#ShortPuts
SQ
Jumped back into SQ last week…6/6 BTO Jan 20 60 call at 15.79…Need 0.19 per week to cover…STO 6/15 65 call at 0.53….Today 6/15 rolled out and up to 6/22 66.5 call for 0.51 credit #syntheticstock #syntheticcoveredcall
OLED Falling Knife
Sold $OLED Dec 21 55 puts @ 1.20 with the stock at 91.30
#FallingKnife
UVXY
#BearCallSpreads – Adding to December. Already short the 20/30 @ .85
Sold UVXY DEC 21 2018 15.0/25.0 Bear Call Spreads @ .84
RTN
#LongCalls #LEAPS -Long way to go on this one. If the 200ma doesn’t hold I’ll roll all my sales down there. For now selling cautiously…
Bought to Close RTN JUN 22 2018 217.5 Calls @ .05 (sold for 1.25)
Sold RTN JUN 29 2018 207.5 Calls @ .73 (75 percent size)
CELG
#LongCalls – Almost a scratch…replacing this week’s expiration.
Sold CELG JUN 22 2018 80.5/84.5 Bear Call Spreads @ .30
TSLA
GLD
#LongCalls #LEAPS -Replacing this week’s expiration. Was so close to getting out of this one. Haven’t liked it from the beginning. On the bright side only need 16 cents per week to scratch….
Sold GLD JUN 22 2018 122.5 Calls @ .32
OLED
#LongCalls #LEAPS – Replacing this week’s expiration…
Sold OLED JUN 22 2018 98.0 Calls @ 1.15
EWW
#LongCalls #LEAPS – Replacing this week’s expiration…just killing time collecting min required until (if) this thing reverses.
Sold EWW JUN 29 2018 45.5 Calls @ .28
VXX game
#VXXGame These were all traded yesterday, forgot to post…
Closed $UVXY July 20th 20 calls for .28. Sold for 1.20 last month.
Closed $UVXY Sept 20 call for .74. Sold for 2.75 on May 3rd.
Closed $UVXY Jan 2019 70 calls for .36. Sold for 6.52, average price, on Feb 5th and 8th.
Closed $UVXY Jan 2020 59 call for .90. Sold for 4.80 on April 6th.
Also, bought these highest strikes as future hedges against sell volatility:
BTO UVXY Sept 59 calls for .15, adding to my position
BTO $VXX Sept 105 call for .25
BTO $VXX July 20th 90 calls for .18, adding to my position
RH the only thing on…
RH the only thing on my screens that’s up
#Earnings And of course, that’s because I have ITM short calls expiring today.
SPX puts closed
#SPXcampaign Closed $SPX June 29th 2610/2585 put spreads for .40. Sold for 1.55 on June 1st. Closed this early to take pressure off my short put side in case this gets ugly. Got a couple ITM/ATM spreads now that I will roll at end of day if necessary.
BA SupaCha Eject
Defense stocks have taken a huge hit in the last couple days. Rather than trying to save the BA SupaCha box trade, I’m going to eject as Whiz would say. It isn’t cost effective to adjust by selling a call credit spread and buying a put debit spread nor prudent to double down.
#supercharger
#tos I have gtc bto…
I have gtc bto open order on and yesterday was div ex day I was looking for lower price to come to me for long term hold. and got this email from tos . has anyone else received in past something like this?
=————-
Dear Customer,
Please be advised that the following order has been cancel/replaced in your account ending in **** due to a dividend. The new order now reflects how much the dividend payout will be. You may change the order for this security via the trading platform or through the Trade Desk if desired. The order change is as follows:
Old order: BUY +500 WHFBL @25.21 LMT GTC+EXTENDED
New order: (Replacing #1821945515) BUY +500 WHFBL @24.80 LMT GTC+EXTENDED
Maiden Itty Bitty Closed Early / Rolled FB LEAPS Out
Rolling OLED
$OLED Jun 15 101 puts down 1 strike and out 1 week to Jun 22 100 puts for .54 credit
#shortcallspreads RH Sold July 20,…
#shortcallspreads RH #calendar SPY
Sold July 20, 175/180 for .60.
TT trade bought July/August 276 SPY put calendar for 1.33
Afternoon all I set up…
Afternoon all I set up a few trades that were filled while I was out being abused by the dentist.
#shortputs. #PIEtrades
Sold June 22nd MRVL 22 Puts @ 0.44 OOps I hope the 50dma holds. If it breaks down I will close these.
Sold June 22nd ROKU 41 Puts @ 0.84 Yay!
Sold TWTR June 22nd 44 Put @ 0.87
AMBA
#LongCalls #LEAPS -Slowly but surely. Selling just enough to be covered a year early…
Bought to Close AMBA JUN 15 2018 44.5 Calls @ .05 (sold for .85)
Sold AMBA JUN 22 2018 44.0 Calls @ .55 (adding one call but still only 80 percent size)
TSLA
RH Earnings
Bought to Close RH JUN 15 2018 120.0/122.0 Bear Call Spread @ 1.90
Jade Lizard call side. Getting filled on this instead of taking max loss adds a dime to the bottom line. Max profit now .22 instead of .12.
One of two to go so not sure if it’ll get hit or not…should buy a case of my cheap beer!
CRM for a quick profit
I bot an unbalanced diagonal on CRM a couple days ago for a longer hold but it hit a profit decision point today so decided to TTMAR. It triggered a daily squeeze 8 days ago and extrinsic on the short calls was all but gone. Nice problem to have.
Bot CRM Jul18 130c (5), Sold Jun22 135c (3) @ 27.08. Sold @ 35.83.
#unbalanceddiagonal
Closing SRCL
BTC $SRCL Aug 17 50 puts @ .19. Sold for 1.25 on 2/22.
EWZ
#LongCalls #LEAPS – Scaling back my selling to just what I need to cover the LEAPS until this thing gets it’s feet back under it. No hurry…
Bought to Close EWZ JUN 22 2018 35.5 Calls @ .05 (sold for .42)
Sold EWZ JUN 29 2018 35.0 Calls @ .21
AMZN Box SupaCha
BTO Jun22 1682.5/1692.5 (1) @ 7.83. GTC order to sell at 9.40.
STO Jun22 1692.5/1682.5 (1) @ 2.20. GTC order to buy @ .40
#supercharger
AMZN Experiment
I posted a couple times that I’m trying to embrace volatility analytics more in my opening trades. It’s an area I’ve been aware of, but not fully embraced. Last week’s AMZN trade worked out ok, but in hindsight, I bought higher volatility than I should have on the long leg, and when AMZN had a lull (with dropping vol), it really started to hurt me.
I wanted back into AMZN today, but here’s what I looked at before designing a trade:
1. The IV right now on AMZN is at the 12th percentile for the year, very low
2. The HV right now on AMZN is at the 1st percetile for the year. Uber low
3. The IV/HV ratio is 189% though, meaning that IV is almost double HV(20).
This is the trouble I got into last week, buying when IV was very elevated over HV.
So instead of a diagonal, I’ve decided to do a July 13 Butterfly. I used the square root calculation to define my own expected move for July 13: $92.00 (Square root of DTE/365 * IV * Stock price). That gives me a 1630/1720/1810 fly. But I didn’t like the T+1 line slope on the right side, so I broke the wing to flatten the line.
Bought to open: Jul 13 1630/1720/1800 AMZN call fly @ 36.22 1x2x1. It’s got a 49% probability of profit, max profit is $5350, max loss $3622. I usually target about a 15% profit on these. This is delta neutral at almost zero. Very small negative gamma, 34.60 a day in theta, -123 Vega to play for a vol contraction back to HV.
This will be a smart trade if IV drops back towards HV. BUT HV being at 52 week lows means that IV could be leading HV higher. Either way, it will be a fun experiment….stay tuned.
SPX calls sold
#SPXcampaign Doesn’t seem we will be pushing much higher this week…
Sold $SPX June 18th 2800/2825 call spreads for 2.05. These expire Monday.
#fallingknife FYI TLRD is down…
That pull back last what, 4-8 hours?
#pietrade rolls
LABU 92.5 puts rolled to next week 93, 96 for varying credits of 1.5, 1.03, 1.00.
AMAT 50.5 CC rolled to next week for 0.5 credit. Cost basis now 49.06.
AMAT 51 CC rolled to next week for 0.46. Cost basis 52.23, this is the batch that went against us on the earnings trade. Another 4-6 weeks to scratch it.
#supercharger SOXL 36 DTE 125/130 vertical was sold last week for 4.65. Will roll or close as the time value decays.
Looking at a BIB #supercharger but want to wait for at least a little pull back.
That’s all for this week, have a good weekend. Sitting on my hands until next Thurs but on vacation and staying around here so if there are opportunities may trade before then. Vacation starts with Imagine Dragons concert on Sat. in Hershey PA!
Have a great week 🙂
RH and TQQQ
#Earnings BTC $RH (1) June 15th 146 call for 7.00. I sold 5 strangles for 1.75 on Monday. I closed the 90 puts for .05 on Tuesday, now I’ve closed my first call. I’ll be out completely by the close tomorrow and then start the roll process, going with strangles to recoup my average exit cost.
BTC $TQQQ June 29th 56 puts for .50. Sold on June 5th for 1.15. Since I sold more puts yesterday I didn’t want to wait for these to get cheaper.
#shortstock #ironbutterly FB Unless FB…
#shortstock #ironbutterly FB
Unless FB drops 22 points by the end of trading tomorrow I’ll be short 100 shares with a basis of 183.17, from a 170/175/175/190 bad trade. If FB will slow down a little I should be able to catch up, let the put sales begin!
UVXY
#BearCallSpreads – I usually try to close these at .06 but not waiting until Sep for another 8 cents. Frees up margin to sell aggressively on the next spike.
Bought to Close UVXY SEP 21 2018 30.0/40.0 Bear Call Spreads @ .14 (sold for 1.20)
TSLA 93 target
https://thefly.com/landingPageNews.php?id=2745029&headline=TSLA-Tesla-Model–reservation-cancellation-rate-is–says-Vertical-Group
Loading shared chart
I’m blanking… how do I load a shared chart into my TOS if I have a “tos.mx” url?
Rolling a mat
#PieTrades Closed $AMAT June 15th 51.5 call for .09. Sold last Friday for .60.
Looking to sell a June 22nd call today or tomorrow.
SPX trade
#SPXcampaign Closed $SPX June 15th 2775/2750 put spreads for 2.05. Sold last week for 7.20.
Since this was bumping against 7.oo at the close last night, I tracked it this morning and got out on the up move. With one day until expiration this one can crush me quickly.
Up, down, or sideways?
#Market @fibwizard — what is the #FWReversalWarning telling you this morning?
SQ calls sold
#CoveredCallCampaign Sold both #CoveredCalls and #SyntheticCoveredCall
Sold $SQ July 13th 66.5 call for 1.86
Sold $SQ July 13th 67 call for 1.60
Options Bistro 