#ShortPuts – Frustrating open with the pre market rally. Selling these anyway for tomorrow hoping to get some stock back. Short a 250.0 call so wouldn’t mind these taking heat.
Sold SPY MAR 27 2020 245 Put @ 3.52
Sold SPY MAR 27 2020 247.5 Put @ 4.50
Sold SPY MAR 27 2020 250.0 Put @ 5.00
3.28 million in weekly jobless claims, almost FIVE times previous record
Previous record was set in October 1982 at 695,000.
#OptionsExpiration – Almost all stock called away at 230 with about a 217.50 basis. Fresh box of ammo for tomorrow now.
#SPX1dte Expiring: $SPX March 24th 2210/2230-2655/2675 condors, sold yesterday for 1.80.
Stocks tumble into the close after Bernie Sanders threatens to put a hold on the coronavirus stimulus bill; Nasdaq turns negative and Dow up only 480 points after surging 1,300 earlier https://t.co/kumM5Z3mLD pic.twitter.com/tw7O9qsyCw
— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) March 25, 2020
#CoveredCalls – Sold this one below my basis so making a small roll. VIX 60 makes these a lot easier!
Rolled SPY MAR 25 2020 245.0 Call to MAR 27 2020 250.0 Call @ .20 credit
#ShortPuts – Buying back the one sold this morning to have more ammo for the next round of selling…
Bought to Close SPY MAR 27 2020 230.0 Put @ 1.30 (sold for 2.90)
Sold $AAPL 4/17 220/210 bull put spread @ 1.78
#ShortPuts #LongPuts – A few early ones. Prices even better now.
SPCE: Nice gains on disaster puts applied to stock basis. Doesn’t look like it’s going to zero anymore.
Sold 20 SPCE JUL 17 2020 5.0 Puts @ .45 (bought for .10)
SPY: Stock should get called away today at 230.0 so starting a Friday position. Possibly add more after the (un) employment report.
Sold to Open SPY MAR 27 2020 230.0 Put @ 2.90
TNA: Trying to add at pretty low risk. Cuts basis of shares almost in half for easier recovery.
Sold TNA MAR 27 2020 16.0 Put @ 2.10
XBI: Roll up for more credit.
Rolled XBI APR 17 2020 60.0 Puts to APR 17 2020 65.0 Puts @ .75 credit (2.55 total now)
#Earnings $MU reports tonight. Below are details on earnings one-day moves over the last 12 quarters.
Dec. 18, 2019 AC +2.80%
Sept. 26, 2019 AC -11.09% Biggest DOWN
June 25, 2019 AC +13.34% Biggest UP
March 20, 2019 AC +9.61%
Dec. 18, 2018 AC -7.91%
Sept. 20, 2018 AC -2.86%
June 20, 2018 AC +0.83%
March 22, 2018 AC -7.99%
Dec. 19, 2017 AC +4.02%
Sept. 26, 2017 AC +8.51%
June 29, 2017 AC -5.11%
March 23, 2017 AC +7.40%
Avg (+ or -) 6.79%
Bias 0.96%, positive bias on earnings.
With stock at 41.00 the data suggests these ranges:
Based on current IV (expected move into Friday per TOS): 35.64 to 46.36
Based on AVERAGE one-day move over last 12 quarters: 38.22 to 43.78
Based on MAXIMUM one-day move over last 12 Q’s (13.3%): 35.53 to 46.47
Based on DOWN max only (-11.1%): 36.45
Open to requests for other symbols.
#ShortPuts – Gotta take it for a one day winner. Maybe sell again tomorrow…
Bought to Close SPY MAR 25 2020 230.0 Put @ 1.05 (sold for 3.50)
#SPX1dte Sold to open $SPX March 25th 2210/2230-2655/2675 condors for 1.80. IV: 79.84%, SPX 2440, deltas -.06, +.06. OTM: -8.6%, +8.8%.
#coveredcalls #shortputs VFC XOP
VFC Sold April 17, 60 call for 1.56 against assigned shares, lousy position, cost basis of 67.50, stock at 50.
XOP sold May 15, 7 put for .89
TRADES: Hey Iceman, AAL, who would have thunk it? It lives. ;>)
AAL STO 3/27/20 16.0 CALLS @.50
AAL BTO STOCK @12.78
XOM BTO STOCK @34.97
NUGT BTO STOCK @7.97
NUGT STO 3/27/20 8.00 CALLS @1.10
STNE STO 3/27/20 21.0 PUTS @.55
#shortputs LUV
Sold April 17, 25 put for 1.50, understanding it’s an up dayand volatility has come in, but it’s still high, and LUV bottomed around 30 last week.
#closing #assignment AAPL UVXY SPY
I was assigned 100 shares of AAPL from an April 17, 255/260/325/330 IC. It’s in a small account which put me in a margin call. After selling the stock for 241 and the long put I somehow made money, luck counts.
UVXY March 13, sold March 27, 80/90 call spread for 1.64, bought today for .55
SPY March 16, sold April 17, 175 put for 2.33, bought today for .89, thanks fuzzball
STO June 19, 70 call at .75, I am short some 55 puts for April 3 and expect to be assigned. I am not doing any more trades until I think we have a bottom.
#CoveredCalls #ShortPuts – Fading the rally just a little with the call sales but staying aggressive on the put side…
Sold SPY MAR 25 2020 230.0 Call @ 8.50
Sold SPY MAR 25 2020 245.0 Call @ 1.95
Sold SPY MAR 25 2020 230.0 Put @ 3.50
#CoveredCalls #ShortPuts – Down to the wire on some of these…
Bought to Close SPY MAR 23 2020 230.0 Call @ .10 (sold for 2.20)
Sold SPY Mar 25 2020 230.0 Call @ 3.50
Expired:
SPY Mar 23 2020 220.0 Put (sold for 2.25)
Assigned:
SPY MAR 225.0 Put @ 222.0 basis
SPY MAR 230.0 Put @ 225.75 basis
Tomorrow looking to add another short put and a couple more short calls out to Wed.
#SPX1dte Expiring: 1975/2000-2550/2575 condors, sold Friday for 2.25.
#ShortPuts – Easing back into this one…
Sold XBI APR 17 2020 60.0 Puts @ 1.80
Sold 1 RCL 03/27/2020 33.00 Covered Call @ 0.35
Due to the their inability to attract sufficient investment assets, the Board of Trustees of the Direxion Shares ETF Trust has decided to liquidate and close eight ETFs (each, a “Fund” and collectively, the “Funds”), based on the recommendation of the funds’ adviser, Rafferty Asset Management, LLC. Rafferty believes they cannot continue to operate the Funds in an economically efficient manner. As a result, the Board concluded that liquidating and closing the Funds would be in the best interest of the Funds and their shareholders.
The Funds closing are as follows:
Fund
Ticker
Direxion Daily Russia Bear 3X Shares
RUSS
Direxion Daily Natural Gas Related Bull 3X Shares
GASL
Direxion Daily Natural Gas Related Bear 3X Shares
GASX
Direxion Daily MSCI Developed Markets Bear 3X Share
DPK
Direxion Daily Mid Cap Bear 3X Shares
MIDZ
Direxion Daily Regional Banks Bear 3X Shares
WDRW
Direxion Daily MSCI European Financials Bull 2X Shares
EUFL
Direxion Daily Total Bond Market Bear 1X Shares
SAGG
Bought 100 TNA / Sold 1 TNA 03/27/2020 15.00 Covered Call @ 10.00 net debit.
TNA has dropped from above 70. WOW
Bought 100 HBAN / Sold 1 HBAN 04/17/2020 10.00 Covered Call @ 6.86 net debit
Bought 100 T / Sold 1 T Mar 27 2020 28 Call @ Net Debit at $26.28
#coveredcalls CCL
Sold March 27, 12 call for 1.10
Bought 100 M / Sold 1 M 03/27/2020 6.50 Covered Call @ 5.00 net debit
A bet on the company’s survival
Sold 1 AAL Mar 27 2020 17.5 Call @ $0.19
#CoveredCalls – Here we go. Hoping to make these aggressive sales next few weeks before any recovery. Should be easy to roll though.
Sold TSLA MAR 27 2020 450.0 Call @ 24.00
#CoveredCalls – Highest short put is 230 so might as well sell the covered call there too and see what happens.
Sold SPY MAR 23 2020 230.0 Call @ 2.20
#coveredcalls PRU
Sold April 17, 45 call for 3.00, cost basis down to about 41.
AAL 27 Puts…..GLW 23 Puts…CAH 52.5 Puts….XBI 88 Puts
#shortputs….#pietrade
Rolled WBA March 20 52.5 call out to April 17 52.5 call for 2.26 credit with stock at 47.51
#shortstrangles TSLA
It was a long time ago now I had an earnings strangle in TSLA. After rolling and inverting I have an April 17, inverted 300/450 strangle. It was just a couple weeks ago I was down about 60k on this. As the market has gone down, the short 300 call has been quite the hedge for my account. Currently, I’m down about 12k on the position which looks really good tonight. If someone only knew what would happen next, darn, no friends in the Senate.
CPRI March 20,28 covered call
DAL March 20, 20 short put
GPRO March 20, 4 covered call
LB March 20, 25 covered call
M March 20, 15 covered call
MRO March 20, 4 covered call
PRU March 20, 47.50 covered call
SBUX March 20, 85 covered call
UBER March 20, 28 covered call
X March 20, 10 covered call
VXX March 20 long pt spread 17.21 looked good at the time, a loss
With the markets off another 4+% I found it interesting that the VIX was down. I remember so many days in the last few months when the opposite was true (markets up/VIX up) and it signaled caution (probably should have sold everything then right? LOL). Today, it could be a function of it having been so high previously, but what is high? We’ve never been through anything like this before. Still it’s interesting that on a day like today, you would have expected another spike in the VIX but it was actually down over 8% (albeit even quite a bit lower earlier in the day). It could be the down action is more orderly without as much panic, and could that signal we’re near some kind of low or bottom?
I also looked at how backwardation has been the last 2 weeks. Of course we’ve been deep in it for some time but the % backwardation has been trending down:
3/9 18.37%
3/10 16.86%
3/11 16.77%
3/12 21.40%
3/13 17.83%
3/16 18.55%
3/17 10.75%
3/18 14.97%
3/19 11.05%
3/20 8.15%
A flattening for sure, but the real important curve flattening is with new Covid-19 cases/deaths. We’re in the thick of the explosion in new cases now mostly because of the increased testing. But I remain optimistic that these extreme measures will pay off very soon in a deceleration of new cases (that would be a negative second derivative for all you calculus experts). Combine that with unprecedented speed through the normal FDA red tape to get medications to severely ill patients and we could be looking at slowing growth in cases on the front end and a reduction of fatality % on the back end. I believe we will absolutely beat this thing even though it seems overwhelming to think about. The panic and fear will hopefully abate here (I’m talking about just out there, not necessarily in the financial markets). I wish people would watch less TV and sensationalized websites/social media. It’s feeding the panic for viewers and clicks. I’m in the media business so I understand they make a lot of money during times like this but man it feels like it’s such a disservice to people to go over the top with fear tactics for ratings. Look what’s happening in Washington DC. Did you ever think that there would be so much love between Democrats and Republicans? I hardly recognize these people. For the most part everyone is working together and that’s as it should be and unimaginable even 2 months ago. And I think that has been a great thing for the country to see. But…(and it will never happen because of the nature of the beast) I also wish the media would be more responsible in their reporting and be sensitive to the fact that so many people blindly listen to what is reported and behave and act accordingly. I can’t tell you how many texts and other messages I get with the craziest things someone just “heard about”, or someone texted them a meme saying something insane. People are passing these things along without doing the simplest due diligence and it’s spreading incredible anxiety and that has made this crisis 10 times worse in my opinion.
What we’re going through is bad and difficult for sure, but it is being exacerbated by panic and fear. Let’s try to appreciate the things we do have right now and one day (hopefully sooner than we think) we’ll look back on this time in our lives and say “Can you believe what we went through?”
Peace, serenity and love to you all, my Bistro family.
#SPX1dte I didn’t sell a Monday condor because I’ve been bitten twice recently. I also maintain that we still have farther to go down.
Expired this morning: $SPX March 19th 2125/2150-2575/2600 (monthlys) condors, sold for 2.20 Thursday morning.
Expired at the close: $SPX March 20th 2170/2190-2635/2655 condors, sold Thursday afternoon for 1.85.
Bought to close 1 FITB 03/20/2020 13.00 Covered Call / Sold 1 FITB 04/17/2020 14.00 Covered Call @ 0.64 Credit + 1.00 better strike
Bought 100 T / Sold to Open 1 Contract T Mar 27 2020 28 Covered Call @ Net Debit at $26.80.
The net price equals the 5 year low on the stock.
Annual Dividend Yield 6.68% down here too.
Link to calendar: https://research.investors.com/economic-calendar/
Showbiz shutdown / Top 5 “Coming Soon” picks / Streaming picks: “Spenser Confidential” & “Hunters” / Corrections / New Music picks – young new artists / Old Music pick – INXS / Guess these songs – random number generation // Find more details and playlists at http://thepickcast.com
#shortputs #longputspread CCL SPY
CCL sold April 17, 7.5 put for 1.05
SPY bought April 17, 240/220 long put spread for 6.79, would be happy if this was a total loss!
#ShortPuts – Another batch…
Bought to Close SPY MAR 20 2020 225.0 Put @ .10 (sold for 4.00)
Bought to Close SPY MAR 20 2020 220.0 Put @ .05 (sold for 4.00)
Sold SPY MAR 23 2020 230.0 Put @ 4.25
Sold SPY MAR 23 2020 225.0 Put @ 3.00
Sold SPY MAR 23 2020 220.0 Put @ 2.25
APRN STO 4/17/20 15.0 CALLS @3.00
#shortputs #speculation APRN
Sold April 17, 4 put @ 1.05
CODX STO 4/17/20 14.0 CALLS @3.10
SDGR STO 4/17/20 45.0 CALLS @2.55
Bought to close 1 FANG 03/20/2020 25.00 Put / Sold 1 FANG 04/17/2020 22.50 Put @ 0.05 Credit + 2.50 better strike
Bought 4/3 70 puts @ 12.99
#SPX1dte Sold $SPX 2170/2190-2635/2655 condors for 1.85. IV: 84.2%, SPX 2406, deltas: -.07, +.06. OTM: -9.0% and +9.5%.
Couldn’t have picked a better outcome for my monthly condor put on this morning… placed the trade when we were flat on the day ended as close to flat as we can expect in this market. So I’m leaving the trade to settle in the morning as I do not fear +9% gaps.
As a follow up to my first post from 2/25 (linked here: https://wp.me/p6Nxuc-i5m), gap opens over 2% have continued to happen frequently after their nearly 6-year absence. Here are the ones we have had thus far.
From Left to right: Gap Open each day / Date (if over 2%) / SPX move at the close
You may have heard about this but this drug, but there are more and more articles about its effectiveness against Covid-19. China and South Korea are using it now with great results. Combined with an antibiotic, it is reducing the sick time for those infected from a couple of weeks to a few days. It can be mass produced. Promising.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/nypost.com/2020/03/19/old-malaria-drug-hydroxychloroquine-may-help-cure-coronavirus-study/amp/
STO April 17, 70 calls at .57 cents
STO June 160 put at 7.70
I’ve been early on buying SVXY. I bought 20 shares today at 26.26 giving me 55 shares with a basis of 32.94. I thought 39 was a good price on March 10.
STO April 17, 70 calls at .47
Bought 100 NUGT / Sold 1 NUGT 03/27/2020 10.00 Covered Call @ 5.00 debit.
#shortputspread BA
Sold May 15, 50/60 put spread for 3.30
And …. it begins
A day after the Big 3 shutdown factories amid the virus lockdown, Ford is out with a kitchen sink 8K as it braces to ride out the worsening economic situation in the US (and worldwide):
$15.4 billion of additional cash on balance sheet, drawing from two credit lines
Dividend suspension to preserve cash and provide additional flexibility in the current environment
Withdrawal of company guidance for 2020 financial performance
#shortputs SLV
Sold May 15, 11 put for 1.31 #tastytradefollow
#rolling GUSH
High stakes trading-rolled my March 20, 1 put to April 17 for .05.
Bought 4/9 100 puts @ 25.00
#SPX1dte Sold to Open $SPX March 19th 2125/2150-2575/2600 condors for 2.20. These are MONTHLY contracts that stop trading tonight, but settle at the open tomorrow. I will need to decide at the close today whether to close or allow to expire in the morning, risking a gap open that could breach my strikes. Because of the funky expiration on these, I have avoided them for this strategy, but with SPX flat at the moment and juicy premium available, it’s worth the risk this time.
IV: 109.60%, SPX: 2400, deltas: -.06, +.06. OTM: -10.4%, +7.3%
1. The Dow took 103 years to reach 10,000. It has just dropped 10,000 in less than 30 days.
2. The VIX has put in a higher intraday high 5 days in a row, despite two of those days being strong UP days for the market.
#ShortPuts #CoveredCalls – Out all day but had a couple standing orders fill…
Bought to Close SPCE MAR 20 2020 14.0 Calls @ .05 (sold for 1.95)
And for better or worse starting a covered call selling program on the SPY if I get stock (looks like it)
Sold SPY MAR 20 2020 225.0 Put @ 4.00
Sold SPY MAR 20 2020 220.0 Put @ 4.00
#PreferredShares
A lot of preferred shares are down with the market and pushing yield higher.
Some of the perpetual shares from big names are up to 8% yield.
Do you have any opinion on getting preferred shares at a discount?
Market Shutdown Guide for Options
Lots of conjecture around the market shutting down, what happens to open option positions. Tos directed me to this guide (remove the quote marks and copy/paste the link):
“https://www.theocc.com/components/docs/about/publications/unscheduled-market-closings-guide.pdf”
It used to be that the option owner would have to provide execution instructions, but now OCC executes every option that is ITM at expiration. I’ve had an issue with collars, where at the last minute the protective put drops ITM, gets assigned—taking my long stock away, and I’m left with naked short calls. So on my collar positions I’ve been trying to spread the short calls with something, anything, cheap to protect against that scenario on a surprise shutdown with ITM puts ready to expire.
It’s also important to be aware of how spreads will be affected on market shutdown if the stock price is between the spread strikes at shutdown (with looming expiration), it could cause execution/assignment of one leg leaving a potential dangerous situation.
So the way I read this is that on a shutdown, the options that expire during the shutdown will be assigned based on the last regular traded price of the stock before shut down. So….let’s say you have a AMZN Call Credit Spread, short 1800 long 1810, and the last traded price of the stock is 1805…..you WILL end up short 100 shares of AMZN at 1800, the 1810 will expire. This is quite dangerous with no ability to manage.
#SPX1dte Expiring: $SPX March 18th 2220/2240-2740/2760 condors, sold yesterday for 1.95.
Bought a bit more SPDR S&P 500 ETF @ 230.00 to add to my small position.
225 is the next target.
Bought 100 HAL / Sold 1 HAL 03/20/2020 6.00 Covered Call @ 5.0 debit
#AccidentalHighYield
Bought 100 FITB / Sold 1 FITB 03/20/2020 13.00 Covered Call @ 12.0 debit
#AccidentalHighYield
Crazy times. I don’t really see why this should end, however. The entire world is coming to a halt. Some businesses are closing entirely, unable to weather even a month being closed. Layoffs are piling up. Our country will rack up another $2T in debt probably before the end of this month. This is an unprecedented event… I feel the indexes could easily be cut in half, meaning 1500 by the time we get to May or June. But this is only my personal speculation… I just base it on what I think SHOULD happen when most of the world is shut down.
The VIX is up today but not as dramatically as VXX and UVXY. Futures backwardation is quite dramatic.
This market is relentless. Welcome to the first Bear Market since 2009!
BTC $UVXY March 27th 50/60-130/140 condors for 3.825. Sold yesterday for 3.65.
I’m not sure how I got this to be only a small loss when UVXY has risen over 30% since when I sold it yesterday. But we could hit 130 today so I no longer like this trade. Lucky that I was able to exit so easily but the difference between the two call strikes was only 3.13, while the put side deflated from yesterday dramatically.
I am looking for advice.I bought UVXY at $25 and sold call expiring Friday for $36, now I want to capture more of this windfall. I thought of buying higher call making a spread to free the stock. Problem is prices are too high for purchase. I thought of rolling out and up short call to Sept but the long calls are quite expensive – $30.
Above 100
WOW.
Just WOW
Options Bistro 