#SyntheticStock – Really liking the weekly premium in this thing. Setting up a synthetic out to next Jan.
Bought Jan 2019 95/95/92.5 Synthetic Stock @ 8.90
Max loss of 11.40 with 44 weeks to run so need .26 per week to cover…
So:
Sold DG MAR 23 2018 97.0 Calls @ .80
As for the earnings strangle I’m completely out now for 1.70 (sold for 1.79)
STO the next week 8 DTE FAS 68 CC at 67.20 in IRA, only 300 shares.
Tomorrow have some expirations that look safe for now.
WDC 87 CC will let call out
FAS 67 CC will let assign
That’s all for this week. Mostly need to sit on my hands and let theta do its magic.
I need to place some #fuzzy trades and #spycraft trades to improve ROI but to be honest, my trading confidence is still low after the SVXY debacle. To have an entire year’s worth of trading profits wiped out by one trade has been a major gut punch. Luckily I learned to segregate accounts after 8/24/2015 and only affected 2 out of 7 accounts. I know how to trade, fairly good at it, the SVXY was an isolated event, but still sits in the back of your head and prevents you from hitting the send button on some trades I know are good.
After I successfully manage what I currently have on and have a few cycles of profitable trades it should get some mojo back.
As I am reading “Trading options for edge” realize I probably need to manage the positions and portfolio by the Greeks more, especially delta and gamma. Learning some new hedging techniques that should be very beneficial and will post them as I use them and learn them.
#shortputs SIG
SIG has recovered a little to 38.58, sold April 20, 35 put for .60
#CoveredCalls #CoveredCallCampaign #StrangleRoll
Stopped: Bought to close $BABA Apr 6th 197.5 covered call for 5.90. Sold for 1.70 on March 2nd.
StrangleRoll: Sold BABA April 20th 190/210 strangle for 7.50.
A fairly aggressive roll, but when I own the stock it boosts my confidence 🙂
#Earnings Hasn’t been a huge mover, but can surprise and also has been in the news. So I’m taking a favorable R:R trade:
Sold to Open $AVGO 255/265/275 #IronButterfly for 7.60. Max risk, 2.40. Last quarter its one day move was zero. It opened up then traded down all day to end dead flat. Let’s do that again!
#Earnings BTC (1) $DG March 16th 94 call for .50. Sold 84/94 #ShortStrangles for 1.60 yesterday. Scaling out of the threatened side.
#Earnings Sold to Open $TIF March 16th 96.5/109 #ShortStrangles for 1.05. Biggest UP move: 10.5%, Biggest DOWN move: -8.7%, Average move: 3.9%. Mt strikes are +6.3% and -5.9% OTM. Slightly bullish lean. Other than the two biggest moves, TIF has not been a big mover on earnings.
#Earnings For your consideration, some of our favorites today:
$ADBE, $AVGO, $ULTA, $TIF
Good Morning
Happy PIE day, 3.14 to all you fellow math/science geeks out there!
Closed Early
$BABA BTC 3/16 180/185 BUPS at .10 STO at 1.60
#SPXcampaign I’m taking off the Upside Warning for now as the current condition is hard to pin down. We could still be in the larger correction and preparing to test the lows. It seems the tariff issue could be a huge a catalyst now, what with Boeing leading the Dow down today. I think any announced relaxation or elimination of the plan could drive us higher. But if not, sideways to down seems the trend.
Sold to Open $SPX Apr 13th 2600/2575 put spreads for 1.60.
Sold to Open Apr 13th 2870/2895 call spreads for 1.80.
Stopped April 13th 2650/2625 put spreads for 2.85.
#Rolling Sold $SPX April 20th 2595/2570 put spreads for 2.00, 1.5x position size.
I closed the following today:
WYNN, 185 165,165,160 @33.55, bought @ 32.71
BABA, 190,190,185 @38.50, bought @ 34.95
STO CME April 20, 175 calls @ 1.05, against my 160,160,155 fuzzy
Bought to close $STMP Apr 20 230/240 BeCS @ .80. Sold for 1.72 on 2/22.
Not much left here so closing them out. Pre-split strikes (from 1:4 split on 7/17/17).
Bought to close:
$UVXY1 Jan 18 2019 60 calls @ .10. Sold for 6.15, 7.30, 3.20, 3.60 and 3.15 from March-August 2017.
$UVXY1 Jan 18 2019 55 calls @ .12. Sold for 3.50 on 5/17/17.
STO NSC 30 DTE 131 put at 1.05. 10 points OTM currently. 5 contracts.
My several rolling tickers in the core accounts are now NSC, UTX, ERX, GM, FAS, ANDV although I may replace GM, it has not been trading as well as it used to.
I have been selling #pietrades into strength, meaning selling the puts on the days the ticker is down a fair amount.
Should have a few more tomorrow, maybe or I might go skiing, season winding down in mid atlantic but still some patches of snow to make a few turns.
#SyntheticStock – BTC JPM Mar16’18 119 calls for 0.04, sold for 0.27. Gonna wait a bit to sell calls for next week.
#SPXcampaign With a third day of weakness I have no choice but to switch from bullish to neutral/bearish positioning. The VIX action had been pretty anemic until the significant pop in the last 10 minutes.
Closed $SPX March 16th 2765/2740 put spreads for 8.75. Sold Monday for 4.00.
#CondorRoll: Sold March 21st 2700/2725/2790/2815 condors for 8.00.
Sold April 13th 2600/2575 put spreads for 1.60.
#SyntheticStock #Tastyworks – Rolled short calls out and up…
Rolled VRX 03/16/18 16.00 Calls to 4/20/18 17.00 Calls @ .15 debit
Originally sold these for .21 so still sitting on a slight credit. Looking to close the whole thing if overall delta reaches zero…
PS…I like Think or Swim better so far…
#coveredcalls #fallingknife SIG
Tradewise new “covered call advisory” is buying 100 shares of SIG, 39.35 now and selling the April 35 call for about .50. SIG is down 17%, over $8 so far today after earnings. It was up around 76 before the previous big earnings drop. I don’t understand this one.
#Earnings Sold to Open $DG March 16th 84/94 #ShortStrangles for 1.60. Biggest UP move: 10.7%, Biggest DOWN move: -17.6%, Average move: 5.6%. My strikes are +/-5.6% OTM.
Here are the last 12 earnings; you can see other than one big up move and one big down, it’s not a big mover.
Dec. 7, 2017 BO 2.77%
Aug. 31, 2017 BO -5.43%
June 1, 2017 BO 6.54%
March 16, 2017 BO 0.53%
Dec. 1, 2016 BO -4.96%
Aug. 25, 2016 BO -17.62%
May 26, 2016 BO 4.61%
March 10, 2016 BO 10.66%
Dec. 3, 2015 BO 4.23%
Aug. 27, 2015 BO -3.18%
June 2, 2015 BO 2.98%
March 12, 2015 BO 3.96%
Closed Early
#spxcampaign
$SPX BTC 3/23 2800/2775 BECS at 9.50 STO at 2.80
$SPX STC 3/14 2810/2830 BUCS at 3.50 BTO at 2.20 Thank you @jeffcp66
$SPX STC 3/16 2840/2860 BUCS at 1.80 BTO at 1.70 Thank you @jeffcp66
#shortputs
$BIDU BTC 3/16 270/260 BECS at 4.00 (GTC Stop) STO at 1.92
#longcalls
$WYNN STC 3/16 165 calls at 25.20 BTO for 9.80 on 1/30 All gone now.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Trades
#shortputs
$MZOR STO 4/20 70 puts at 2.80
$MU STO 3/16 57.5 puts at .80 Thank you @honkhonk81 Good luck to all
$SCHN STO 4/20 36 puts at 1.45
#spxcampaign
$SPX STO 4/20 2650/2750 BUPS at 19.00 Thank you @fibwizard
#VIXIndicator I don’t know about you, but after what we’ve been through since January, these two little up days on the VIX look like child’s play. I’m sure questioning this “Upside Warning,” but not sensing a lot of fear, despite two weak days.
#SPXcampaign Closed $SPX March 14th 2775/2750 put spreads for 10.40. Couldn’t risk a further gap down overnight.
Borrowing an idea from one of the TastyTrade traders.
Sold $X Apr 20 40 straddle @ 4.70 with the stock at 40.21. Breakevens 35.30/44.70.
Will take off for 25% profit (3.50 or less).
#Earnings #ShortStrangles Rolling these to avoid early assignment:
Closed $OLED March 16th 135/140 strangles for 9.00 (closed only puts, will let calls expire). Sold for 12.85 on Feb 23rd.
Sold to Open OLED April 20th 130/140 strangles for 11.80. I got 5 points wider with a 2.80 credit.
Original trade: sold 130 puts for 2.18. Closed for 10.40.
Total credit in trade: 7.43
X dropped today. Possible trade?
United States Steel (X) dropped nearly 6% after Vertical Research downgraded the shares to sell from hold and lowered its price target to $23 from $41.
BTO BBBY May 18 22.5/22.5/20 .98 2x #Fuzzy No Hedge at this time
Took all my short calls off in this ticker at most of the profit. Completely out of it now and will look to re-enter on the next big swoon in oil.
Bought to close:
$DRIP Apr 20 24 call @ .15. Sold for 1.70 on 2/9.
$DRIP Apr 20 25 call @ .15. Sold for 1.90 on 2/9.
$DRIP Jun 15 28 calls @ .40. Sold for 1.56 on 2/8 and 2.50 on 2/9.
STO the 16 DTE ANDV 96 put at 0.95.
This was my best performer when it was TSO, was reborn as ANDV but was having trouble finding a range after the merger. Looks like it has stabilized and the options are trading with decent volume again.
I am tweaking the #pietrades a little. Account is big enough now to move up to 5 contracts on 3 tickers at a time. Was doing 3 contracts on 4 names but I think reducing the # of tickers will actually improve returns.
STO Apr 2018 2650/2750 BUPS for 15.10
We’ve been through this quite a bit and it seems like all the facts are known about what happened. I saw this article, however, by the venerable Lawrence McMillan. His knowledge and experience give the whole thing a lot more context and color.
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4155721-xiv-scapegoat-markets-decline
From Tastytrade April 20, 50/75 strangle for 1.98, MU is at 60.
#longputspread AAPL
AAPL has gone from 157 on Feb. 9 to 182 so far today. Taking a chance with a March 23, 185/180 long put spread.
Sold NUGT Mar 23 $25 call for 0.55, stock at $23.90, keep reducing basis of stock originally $38.00 nearly top ticked it. Current basis $32.10 and working it.
Buy to close NUGT Mar 16 $26 call for 0.10, sold 3/7 for 0.54 naked call.
edit NUGT not UVXY
Closed Fuzzy very small profit, Hedges and rolls got me, glad to close with a small profit was losing badly a few days ago.
#spxcampaign BTC the short Mar 23rd 2870 Call for 3.00 when SPX was at 2795.54. I plan to close the long side out later.
Closed Fuzzy BTO on 3.8 250.00 profit, hedge got me again. 155/155/150
BTC April 20, 210 put @ 2.25, sold @ 5.80
$SPX 3/12 2735/2760 BUPS STO at 3.40 on Friday Thank you @jeffcp66
March 12 #Fuzzy Land
Very excellent day here. All of the unhedged #Fuzzy that I opened on Friday were closed today for over 50% profit–and I pretty much had a lot of them. Q’s were reset and again closed for a lot of profit. Closed Fuzzies for the quarter now have a 47 handle! I’m still shooting to regain that 50 that I had in January.
Opened some new unhedged Fuzzies today in SPY, but when I saw resistance and rising VIX I atomicized them. Here is an example:
SPY #AtomicFuzzy April Expiration: 280c/-280p/277p @ 2.93 x 21 contracts, 284/288 Call credit spread @ .92 x 36 contracts.
I’m flat on Q’s right now, they are showing signs of trend exhaustion right now, so I’ll be patient for the right entry.
#SPXcampaign #OptionsExpiration
$SPX March 12th 2760/2735 put spreads expired. Sold for 4.85 on Friday.
#pietrades #sellingpremium A guy I like to read, George Acs
Happiness With A Losing Trade
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4155510-happiness-losing-trade?app=1&uprof=45&isDirectRoadblock=false
#CoveredCalls #CoveredCallCampaign
Sold to Open $AAPL April 13th 190 call for 1.30.
#ShortPuts #SyntheticStock – Looking to back into a #SyntheticStock position. Since it’s in an #IRA also bought some junky puts for margin. All done in the week before earnings…
Sold 1 BIIB APR 20 2018 260.0 Put @ 2.80
Sold 1 BIIB APR 20 2018 255.0 Put @ 2.10
Sold 1 BIIB APR 20 2018 250.0 Put @ 1.60
Bought 3 BIIB APR 20 2018 220.0 Puts @ .40
Net premium received of 5.30 (1.76 average)
#shortputs JCI
sold April 20, 37 put for .59. JCI is a Tradewise covered call rec. This gives me a 37/39 strangle, the 39 call being covered. JCI does not have weeklies.
Continuing with this strategy and applying profits to accumulated SVXY positions. Should start to be able to peel some of these off soon.
Sold to close $VXX Mar 16 48/46 BePS for 1.88. Bought for 1.24 on 3/1.
Bought to open $VXX Mar 29 41/36 BePS for 2.56.
When in Edinburgh, Scotland, be sure to dine at Options Bistro!
(no affiliation with Options Bistro)
#spxcampaign
$SPX STO 3/14 2750/2775 BUPS at 6.00 Thank you @jeffcp66
STO UTX 25 DTE 126 put at 1.13. Good support at 129 and 125.
#ContangoETFs BTC $KOLD April 20th 55 call for .10. Sold for 1.40 on Feb 9th.
#shortcallspreads TSLA
The Tradewise “volatility advisory” has recommended a 360/362.50 April 13 call spread. I moved it up to 365/367.50 for .75 each, just less than their .84.
#SPXcampaign Made these trades before the dip, so not ideal timing, but my $SPX position is now 100% bullish. I would be more comfortable with a lower VIX, so I’m still cautious.
Stopped: closed $SPX Apr 6th 2870/2895 call spreads for 3.50. Sold Friday for 1.75.
#ReverseRoll Sold March 16th 2765/2740 put spreads for 4.00
I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to clear my existing (small) positions in this stock. With the latest news that they’re being replaced in the S&P 500, and with earnings coming up this week I decided to take the opportunity to get out for close to even (small profit). Selling puts was very profitable over the last year and a half, but that’s it for me with this name.
Bought to close:
$SIG Apr 20 40 put @ 1.30. Sold for 2.30 on 11/24.
$SIG Jul 20 35 put @ 1.55. Sold for 1.35 on 1/10.
Bought to close $HES May 18 35 puts @ .20. Sold for 1.10 on 12/14.
#fuzzy MSFT
Sold a March 16, 98 call for .32, stock is at 96.81
#fuzzy UNP
January 26, followed some others into a 135/135?130 March 16 fuzzy. I sold a Feb. 2, 135 call, rolled to Feb. 16, 136 call, after it expired sold a Feb. 23, 136 call and let it expire. UNP has swung about 15 points in the last month along with the market, making it a rough fuzzy. I closed it today making 231. In this case,the hedges provided 181 of the 231. I consider myself fortunate to be out with a gain.
#shortputs
$NKTR STO 4/20 90/100 BUPS at 3.00 The are being added to S&P 500 on March 19th
#vxxgame
Closed Early
$SVXY BTC 6/15 160 call at .05 STO at 8.70
STC 2020 Fuzzy long position @ 17.80, sold at 12.50,
Mini experiment, if it works will call it #syntheticcoveredcall although that hashtag already exists I think it is appropriate. @jeffcp66 if you want to change the name let me know.
Ok, here is the set up. You have to have a slight directional bias or at least think it is going to be flat or only down/up a little. But you can get about 10% protection.
Buy a deep ITM call or put and sell a slightly ITM call or put as a vertical. I used to do these and they generally worked, but had one go out worthless once and just stopped doing them. Now that I know how to roll options much better this may work out better than CC. Also I think bigtrends and hughes used to do a lot of these.
So I was just filled on 25 DTE ERX 21/26 call spread for 4.42. It went through quickly, could probably get a better price. 10 contracts max risk 4450 or so and max profit 580. 13% return in 25 days compared to the CC which would only be 3.5% and much less out of pocket expense.
What could go wrong, deep correction. Break even at 25.54. If we start dropping below that I can either buy some puts or roll the entire spread down, probably at even or slight debit.
Either way, only one way to find out for real, so will update as it moves around.
#ShortStrangles – Caught a downgrade and sold off a little. Selling strangles at the 200 ma and above all time highs and only 39 days out. I’d go synthetic at 75. These are also well before next earnings…
Sold DECK APR 20 2018 75.0/105.0 Strangles @ 1.30
Morning all. #spxcampaign I closed my not so wise Mar 16th 2810/2815 BuCS trade from Friday for 1.30. Missed the high. I reduced the overall position loss down to less than a 2X initial premium on the IC. Probably could have done a lot better. I will take a deeper look at the values and determine if it would have been better to do something else. I probably will not do any more spreads on the SPX as I will be away installing the set project and cannot manage big movements very well. Have a great day.
Closed this Fuzzy small loss. -12.25 Hedge got in way and all my rolling ended up costing too much. Lessons learned I hope.
#longcalls
Rolled $SQ Calls
$SQ BTC 3/16 48 calls up and out to 4/6 53.50 for 3.10 debit
#spxcampaign
$SPX STO 4/13 2625/2650 BUPS at 1.70 Thank you @jeffcp66
Closed Early
$WYNN BTC 3/16 170/180 BUPS at .60 STO for 4.30 No more piggy me (I hope)
closed #Fuzzy small profit Bought 2-16 3.25 closed for 33.25 profit
#Futures – And you guys were teasing me when I posted this! I didn’t trade it since I really was just bored…LOL
🙂 🙂 🙂
#SyntheticStock – It’s either at resistance or getting ready to break higher. Either way, my long deltas are gone and it’s been a good run. Very little weekly premium and mostly a delta gain. Only a couple contracts but still booking here and looking for a re-entry point eventually. Out of BABA, BIDU, and CTRP. China was very good to me!
Sold to Close BABA JAN 17 2020 175.0/175.0/170.0 Synthetic Stock
Bought to Close BABA MAR 16 2018 190.0 Calls
Net gain of 12.20 per contract…
BTO KR Jul 20 24/24/22 1.14 #Fuzzy
Un-Hedged at this time
#VIXIndicator After reviewing the data over the weekend, I’ve made an official tweak to the Indicator, which means that the downside warning would have been canceled last Wednesday, and the Upside Warning is now in effect from Friday’s close. This morning’s bullish action was the final element I needed to confirm this change.
#SPXcampaign Sold $SPX Apr 13th 2650/2625 put spreads for 1.60.
Good morning. BTC April 20, 140 puts @ .10, sold @ 3.05, closing 6 weeks early.
Be sure to periodically click “Home/REFRESH” to keep Bistro features updated
Options Bistro 