TQQQ fuzzy

I put the trade on for 28.90 and took it off for 30.60 so a small profit.

STC 165 put

BTC 165 call

STC 170 call

BTC 155 put

Trying some short term long puts on VXX

Not adding to short UVXY calls for now. Instead I want to try buying some short term puts on VXX and give it about 3 trading weeks to come in some more. Bought $VXX Mar 9 40 puts @ 1.57.

SPX

#spx

STO 2 Mar 02 2650/2550 BUPS, at 7.70 credit, earlier this morning at the 10am Lows..

SJM

BTC April 20, 85 puts @.10, sold @ 1.25

I am slowly covering my naked put positions at .10 or better to free up more margin and waiting for a further decline.

Covered Calls

#CoveredCalls #CoveredCallCampaign
Sold $AAPL March 16th 180 call for 1.70
Sold $AAPL March 9th 170 put for 1.72
Closed on GTC order: $VRTX March 2nd 177.5 covered call for .15. Sold for 1.75 on Feb 6th.
Sold VRTX March 23rd 177.5 call for 1.60

XLV & UPS

Rolled UPS Feb 23 111 Call to Mar 2 109 .48
Rolled XLV Feb 23 87.5 Call to mar 2 87 .25
#Hedge for additional credits

#shortputs SVXY Sold March 9,…

#shortputs SVXY
Sold March 9, 12 put for .74. TDA still requiring $1200 for margin. To compare, I am short a March 67.50 put in UAL, margin is $1577, UAL is at 66.49

#pietrade STO FAS 3 DTE…

#pietrade

STO FAS 3 DTE 69 CC for 68.4. Anyone following this trade really work the order the MM being greedy.

3 contracts, $180 max profit for 3 days or 45% annualized ROI without margin.

Lately with these I am finding better to let be called out and then reset each week. If you roll the option lose a little on the bid-ask spread if ITM. If OTM or ATM roll it to bring in more cash.

$BAC Sold the Mar 2nd…

$BAC Sold the Mar 2nd 31 Put at 0.21. Not such a great fill.

WMT

#ShortPuts – Thanks guys! I’d go synthetic down here. Selling half size puts now and if it gets there I’ll roll to synthetic. If it doesn’t get there then still make a little.

Sold WMT APR 20 2018 85.0 Puts @ .84

SPX puts sold

#SPXcampaign Sold to Open $SPX March 23rd 2525/2500 put spreads for 1.70.

$BAC #PIE Trade Morning all….

$BAC #PIE Trade Morning all. I worked on PIE trades over the weekend. Thanks #hcgavis This morning I opened one with BAC. 100 shares BAC, 1 Mar 02nd 32.50 Call @ a basis of 31.75. My initial entry stop is set at 30.80 or 3% close to the 50dma. Selling the ITM call would have been best here.

SPX

#RocketManHedge – Still leaving plenty of downside room…core position is a May 2640 long put…

Bought to Close SPX FEB 23 2018 2575.0 Put @ 1.40 (sold for 7.25)

Sold SPX MAR 2 2018 2640.0 Put @ 11.40

CELG

STO June 115 covered calls @ 1.32

CTRP

#SyntheticStock – Could be interesting with earnings this week…

Bought Jan 2019 47/47/45 Synthetic @ 5.50

Max loss 7.50 with 47 weeks to run so 16 cents per week to cover…

So:

Aggressive sale the week after earnings with great premium…

Sold CTRP MAR 2 2018 48.0 Calls @ .75

HRL

STO March 35,  covered calls @ .65

WMT

BTO Mar 29 95/95/90 Call #Fuzzy 1.16
#Hedge Feb 23 99 Call .22

WMT #FallingKnife Sold: $WMT Jun…

WMT #FallingKnife
Sold:
$WMT Jun 15 82.50 puts @ 1.24
$WMT Sep 21 75.00 puts @ 1.15

CME fuzzy

STO March 2, 170 call @ .55 cents, replacing the 167.5 call that expired on Friday. The Fuzzy is 160 calls,160 puts and 155 puts.

WYNN

STO March 2, 175 calls @.90 cents , replacing the 170 calls that expired on Friday. This is my Fuzzy 165call,165 put,160 put

Econ Calendar for week of 2/19/18

Be sure to periodically click “Home/REFRESH” to keep Bistro features updated

Screen Shot 2018-02-19 at 10.09.03 PM

#UVXY I noticed that calls…

#UVXY
I noticed that calls on UVXY still have high premium. The highest point was $30 and APR $31 calls are about $2.00. Is there a trade here or am I missing something?

#pietrades and skew I have…

#pietrades and skew

I have noticed over the last few weeks that a lot of tickers have one sided skew. Just something else for us to take advantage of and increase returns.

For instance, SPY and all the other indexes seem to have put skew meaning the puts are worth more than the calls. Makes sense, a lot of people are hedging and buying protection. So makes more sense to sell puts on these.

However, a lot of individual names skew to the call side. Even AAPL which drags the rest of the market has a little call skew even in the weeklies. Makes more sense to sell CC or set up #fuzzies on these. Most of the leveraged ETFs skew to the upside/call side.

So going forward the #pietrades will be set up taking advantage of this skew. In a limited back test it looks like it could result in an additional 15-25% returns annualized. Not chump change!

So in the future #pietrades will either be CC, naked puts, or covered straddles depending on direction but also where I see an edge in the put/call skew. However, where I may normally sell a put, I may do an ITM CC if it looks like the skew will give an advantage. Also if I have a strong upside directional bias may set the initial trade up as an ATM covered straddle.

If anyone else finds additional ways to suck more premium out of the market on a weekly basis please post.

Taking advantage of this with synthetics aka #fuzzy may work as well.

#hashtags, #pietrade

SVXY assignments

January 2019, 45 puts

January 2019, 50 puts

January 2019, 55 puts

Expirations

CELG, 115 covered calls

CME 167.5 calls, fuzzy

DGX, 100 covered calls assigned

HRL, 35 covered calls

SVXY assignments: 80 puts, 65 puts, and 55 puts

Short Puts / Closed Earlies / Expirations / Assignments

#shortputs
$ANET STO 3/16 220/230 BUPS @ 2.35

Closed Early
$GS STO 2/16 255/270 BUCS @ 13.50 BTO at 6.00
$AAPL BTC 3/16 140/150 BUPS @ .15 STO at 1.40
$SQ STC 2/16 40/45 BUCS @ 4.25 BTO at 1.70

#optionsexpiration Full Profit
$AMZN 1345/1350 BUPS
$GS 240/250 BUPS
$AMAT 45/50 BUPS
$BIDU 210/220 BUPS
$FB 165/175 BUPS
$SPX 2640/2665 BUPS Thank you @jeffcp66
$FISV 125 put Earnings trade
$CVX 135 Short Call
$DVN 45 Short Call
$EXAS 45 put
$NKTR 75 put

#optionsexpiration Full Loss
$CMG 315/325 BUPS Yuck
$CMG 325/335 BUCS Yuckier
$CMG 340/350 BUCS Yuckiest What was I thinking (perhaps not)
$CVX 125 Long Call
$ICHR 30 Long Call
$MHK 270 Long Call
$EXAS 60 Long Call
$LRCX 202.5/212.5 BUCS
$OLED 190/195 BUCS
$WYNN 180/190 BUCS
$PETS 45/55 BUCS

#Stock Called Away
$AVGO 247.50 Call Earnings strangle residue at profit

Stock Assigned
$CRZO 22.5 put
$MZOR 65 put
$TRTN 35 put
$DVN 44 put
$NTNX 37.5 put
$GDI 35 put

Have a great three day weekend everyone. Rest up and back to battle for a short week.
Happy New Year to all our Lunar members.
@jeffcp66 Thanks for our very own Hall of the Presidents. Makes Disney look shabby.

Is Iceman ok? He hasn’t posted in a week, maybe he’s on vacation?

Options Expiration… VIX Indicator

#OptionsExpiration #VXXGame
Only one #Assignment, my final $SVXY 90 put

#VIXIndicator — The VIX is reacting strongly to the upside at any sign of volatility. Although we spent the morning in cancelation territory, the Mueller spike sent up back above 19.00. So although we’ve been steadily rising, volatility is still hanging around.

Love the presidents

Meant to mention earlier, but I love the rotating presidents on The Bistro. Great idea. Thanks @jeffcp66.

Options Expiration for Feb 16

$AAPL Feb 16 135 puts
$AGN Feb 16 150 puts
$AMZN Feb 16 1575 call (covered)
$AMZN Feb 16 1250 put
$BA Feb 16 375 calls
$CAT Feb 16 175 calls
$FCX Feb 16 18 puts
$IYR Feb 16 70 calls
$KOLD Feb 16 50 calls
$KOLD Feb 16 55 calls
$QQQ Feb 16 156 puts
$SVXY Feb 16 130 calls
$TXN Feb 16 114 calls
$UVXY Feb 16 18 calls
$UVXY Feb 16 26 calls
$UVXY Feb 16 35 calls

Inverted strangles that expired (will be assigned both sides):
$SQ Feb 16 40 calls/45 puts–total premium taken in 5.82 less 5.00 strangle width=.82 profit
$XBI Feb 16 91 calls/94 puts–total premium taken in 3.98 less 3.00 strangle width=.98 profit

Assignments

Stock being called away:
$X Feb 16 37 calls (covered)

Stock being assigned:
$SVXY Feb 16 73 put
$SVXY Feb 16 75 put
$SVXY Feb 16 80 put
Just about done with the outstanding short SVXY puts. I am now long…let me think…I believe the official term is “a f***ton”. I haven’t written any calls against the position yet but hopefully can start next week, targeting the ones with the lowest basis.

Have a great long weekend everyone.

#OptionsExpiration

Afternoon all. I’ve been tied…

Afternoon all. I’ve been tied up on this part time gig I took on so my activity has been minimal. Great info on the SVXY trade management going forward. I am leaning at selling calls once SVXY crawls out of the pits.
$SQ Bought to close my Feb 16th 44 Put @ .03 off a day order. Debated on turning this into a PIE trade but earnings are in a week and didn’t want to get caught holding stock.
$SPX Expiring Feb 16th 2910/2930 BeCS. Originally sold for .65 as part of an IC.
Today was in the mid 70’s here in the heart of NC. Tomorrow looks to be rainy and in the mid 40’s. Just like this market. Have a great three day weekend all. See you Tuesday.

Taking some short UVXY exposure off

Reducing size where I can.
Bought to close $UVXY Feb 23 26 calls @ .26. Sold for .53-1.20 on 2/2-2/5.
Bought to close $UVXY Mar 16 70 calls .32. Sold for 1.00 on 12/1/17.

Have a nice weekend

I am signing off early so see all of you on Tuesday.

Taking some March/April positions off

Bought to close $DUST Mar 16 44 calls @ .10. Sold for 1.00-1.20 on 12/5/17-12/6/17.
Bought to close $NUGT Mar 16 60 call @ .04. Sold for 5.70 on 9/5/17.
Bought to close $KR Apr 20 18 puts @ .05. Sold for 1.15 on 9/25/17.

#shortstraddle XOP Following a TT…

#shortstraddle XOP

Following a TT trader sold April 33 straddle for 3.48

BABA BIDU CELG MU

#SyntheticStock – Rolling weeklies…

BABA: Feb 16th 182.5 to Mar 9th 187.5 @ .66 credit
BIDU: Feb 16th 242.5 to Mar 2nd 247.5 @ 1.40 credit
CELG: Feb 16th 95.0 to Feb 23rd 96.0 @ .05 credit
MU: Feb 23rd 41.5 to Mar 29th 44.0 @ .23 debit

XOM

BTO Mar 29 76/76/74 Long #Fuzzy 1.89
Un-Hedged at this time

Expired

SHOP IC Thx Jeff
KSS BuPS This was rolled from last week

Sell BeCS as IWM approaches…

Sell BeCS as IWM approaches 20 and 50 daily ma Feb 23 $153.5/157 for $1.05 credit. I noticed ATM puts are much more expensive than calls, so sell call spread risking 2.45 to make 1.05.

#coveredcalls Rolled NUGT Feb 16…

#coveredcalls

Rolled NUGT Feb 16 $27 call to Mar 16 $30 call for $1.10. I entered trade about 11 am when NUGT was about $28, looking now I could have held till expiration (worthless.)

ETFs closed

#contangoetfs
Closed on GTC orders:
$KOLD Feb 16th 50 call for .05. Sold for 2.95 on Oct 5th.
$NUGT Mar 16th 44 calls. Sold for 1.50 and 1.22 in January.

SPX puts closed

#SPXcampaign When SPX got up to 2748 I closed this spread to take some profits…

Closed $SPX Feb 21st 2700/2675 put spreads for 1.75. Sold for 14.00 on Monday.

XLV

BTO Mar 16 86/85/83 The Call a bit more ITM 3.25 P/P/C #Fuzzy Un Hedged at this time

WDAY

BTC March 16, 80 put @.10, sold @ 1.45

I am slowly clearing up a lot of my small put shorts.

AAPL

#ShortPuts #Earnings – Three weeks to go and a nice rally. Consdering where these were last week I’m booking. Leftovers from an earnings trade…

Bought to Close AAPL MAR 9 2018 165.0 Put @ .89 (sold for 3.50)
Bought to Close AAPL MAR 9 2018 167.5 Put @ 1.27 (sold for 4.10)

#pietrades for next week. Will…

#pietrades for next week.

Will be assigned on AAPL today at 165, cost basis 161. Will re-load next week or when we have a little pull back (everything extended again).

Opened ERX CC at 28 strike, cost basis 27.5 on 5 contracts $260 income.

Closed XBI 85 put at 0.06, sold for 1.15.

Staying pretty close to goal of $900 a week income on 50k account.

Next week expirations wil be GILD at 72 CC, GM put at 42.5, and ERX. Will probably add another early next week. Trying to build up to 5 names, 3 contracts each.

SVXY hit 13, only 77 more points to go after calculating my avg. cost around 90! 🙂

PYPL

#SyntheticStock – Carefully easing the weekly up. I can’t see this thing getting back to it’s all time highs so keeping some downside protection but picking up 1.46 of upside

Rolled PYPL FEB 16 2018 75.5 Calls to MAR 9 2018 77.0 Calls @ .04 debit

Anybody remember the good old days when a major moving average, say the 50 day sma, used to serve as resistance when the price moved up to it?

MU

STC Feb 16 #Fuzzy 43/43/41 Long $1.10
1-28-18 cost 1.29 less 2 #Hedges net cost 61.25 Profit 46.25
Missed taking it off a few days ago.

SLB

#SyntheticStock – Been looking to get a new one over in the oil patch. Synthetics are pretty diversified so far and this will help even more. I also looked at EOG and HES. Any of them would probably work. Should act as a hedge for my transport (LUV). It’s sitting down in congestion right now but looks to have some upside room.

Jan 2019 67.5/67.5/65 @ 5.35

Max loss: 7.85

48 weeks so need 17 cents average to cover.

#pietrade

VIX dropping, still in backwardation

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-stocks-volatility/u-s-stock-volatility-shock-wanes-vix-futures-signal-smoother-sailing-idUSKCN1FZ2I2

Stop and roll

#SPXcampaign Stopped $SPX March 15th 2815/2840 call spreads for 4.30. Sold on Monday for 1.75.

#CondorRoll Sold Feb 20th 2700/2725/2760/2785 condors for 8.05. Aggressive strikes expiring Tuesday, which is our next trading day due to the holiday Monday.

Closing Early SQ BUCS (Holy Acronym Batman)

$SQ STC 2/16 40/45 BUCS at 76% of max profit

ANET

STO June 200 put on 1 contract @ 6.90

#earnings ANET Arista Networks down…

#earnings ANET

Arista Networks down $48 (15%) so far

#earnings DE Closed March 16…

#earnings DE
Closed March 16 IC for 1.07, sold yesterday for 1.70.

CC vs naked puts

We all know the graphs look the same but after a year of doing both I discovered something that makes a difference. I set up 1 account and have only traded CC in that account, a combination in the others mostly as #pietrades.

Interesting dynamics, both have performed well but the puts/call account did about 57.7% annualized. The CC only looks like it will be close to 88% annualized. That is a significant difference and the difference between doubling an account in 12-13 months vs. 18-24 months.

Very important now that 2 of my big IRA accounts are now little accounts from the SVXY debacle. At 88% could replace all the lost money in 3 years.

So anyway, selling ATM or even slightly ITM CC may improve returns compared to just selling puts. I think mostly because they are OTM and the ATM options have more premium. They also seem to be easier to roll down and when you roll them up you get appreciation plus extra income.

Feb 15 #Fuzzy Land Whew!…

Feb 15 #Fuzzy Land
Whew! Sea sick anyone?
1. Closed yesterday’s SPY #AtomicFuzzy for 41% profit on the core trade, total of $580. During the brief market swoon today I thought I’d take the profit. I didn’t anticipate the huge up move that followed.
My future Atomics will be set with April expiration unless I specifically want a quick flip.
2. Opened a new AAPL Atomic Fuzzy: Apr 170/170/165 @ 6.39 x 2, 180/185 Call Credit Spread @ 1.35 x 4. AAPL had a nice MACD cross today on the daily.
3. Closed the 15 DIA Fuzzies that I opened yesterday for a $1700 profit.
4. Rolled hedges on the AAPL and FB fuzzy bears that are taking heat.

My CLOSED fuzzy total for the quarter now is $26,454. I sure would like to reclaim that 50-handle…but I’m still being cautious. This string of powerful up moves….not a single one of them is a 1-standard deviation move. How can that be, you ask? The down move on Feb 5 was 5.4 standard deviations….as long as that bar stays in the SD average for compilations, it will affect all other bars printing. So, even though I’m looking for 3 1-SD up bars to confirm the rally, I have to keep in mind that the bars are being tamped down by that massive Feb 5 bar. Any indicators that you use that are tied to standard deviations will be seeing the same skew.

Closed Another SPX Early

#spxcampaign
$SPX BTC 2/16 2650/2675 BUPS @ .20 STO @ 1.75 Last week it was a BIG negative Thank you @jeffcp66 I know I am learning. Appreciate your incites. I mean insights, although lately many of us have become incited. And Lady Luck .

CYBR covered calls

Sold $CYBR Apr 20 50 calls @ 1.65. Been writing calls on this stock for quite some time. With this sale, my basis has been reduced by 14.25 (originally acquired at 57.40 so basis now 43.15). Selling the 50s gives me a little more upside as well, with the stock decisively breaking through resistance and just about filling the gap from July.

Here we go again

#SPXcampaign Closed $SPX March 9th 2810/2835 call spreads for 3.40. Sold for 1.50 last Thursday. Holding off on roll for now.

TQQQ Bearish Fuzzy

BTO Jan. 2019, 165 put @ 35.207

STO Jan. 2019, 165 call@ 30.985

BTO Jan., 2019 170 call @ 28.403

STO Feb.23,155 put @ 2.846

Trade cost 29.80 plus the 5.00 spread, so I need .73 cents per week to break even.

SPX Campaign / Closed Early SPX WUBA OLED CRM WYNN / Rolled DVN

#spxcampaign
$SPX STO 2/23 2665/2690 BUPS @ 4.75 and @ 6.70
$SPX STO 3/16 2475/2500 BUPS @ 1.40
$SPX STO 3/16 2875/2850 BUPS @ 1.80 Thank you for all @jeffcp66

#ironcondor
$BIDU STO 3/16 210/220/270/270 IC for 2.50

Closed Early I’m a little gun shy
$SPX BTC 2/21 2675/2700 BUPS @ 5.00 STO 2/13 @ 16.80 Thank you again kind sir @jeffcp66
$WUBA STC 2/16 75/85 BUCS @ 3.73 BTO 1/5 @ 5.00 Several days ago it was nearly 100% loss. Today only 26% loss. Of course before that which should not be named happened there was significant profit. Will probably open another BUCS in this name in hopes of earnings run. Earnings 2/26.
$OLED BTC 2/16 BUPS @ 7.00 STO @ 2.55 Made up some ground recently on $AAPL resurgence.
$CRM STC 2/16 105/115 BUCS @ 6.72. BTO at 3.50 Happy 😉
$WYNN BTC 2/16 150/160 BUPS @ .20 (GTC order) STO 1/30 at 2.84

Rolled
$DVN Rolled 2/16 41 put to 3/9 41 put for even.

#earnings #shortputspread DE Sold March…

#earnings #ironcondor DE
Sold March 16, 140/150/180/190 for 1.70

Taking off BIIB

I’m using today’s small bounce to get out of this short put for tomorrow’s expiration. It’s now above the strike price slightly so I’m out and taking my modest profit.
Bought to close $BIIB Feb 16 300 put @ 2.25. Sold for 3.60 on 1/8.

AAPL

Closed #Fuzzy Ran through #Hedge 6.89 total cost 3.57 327.75 Profit

Thank You Sue & Fuzzball

BTO 2-5-18 162.5/162.5/160 Long 4.50 170.00 hedge got me

TSEM

Closed #Fuzzy, poor choice, too short of trade. -205.00

TQQQ

BTC March 16, 75 puts @.10, sold @ 1.30

closing SHOP

#Earnings BTC $SHOP Feb 16th 117/149 #ShortStrangles for .10. Sold yesterday for 1.85.

TSLA

#ShortStrangles – Currently short June 170/510 and 180/500 strangles. These are decaying nicely so squeezing one more in. Plan is to close before next earnings unless they are looking REALLY safe.

Sold TSLA JUN 15 2018 190.0/470.0 Strangle @ 3.49

Was also looking at Sep 155/520 (highest and lowest strikes)

#pietrades GM Rolled Feb. 16,…

#pietrades GM
Rolled Feb. 16, 42.50 put to March 2, 42.50 for .40, basis is 126. Ex-div date is March 8, about .38, current stock price is 41.70

SHOP

#Earnings – Thanks @Jeff !!

Bought to Close SHOP FEB 16 2018 115.0/150.0 Strangles @ .10 (sold for 1.68)

UPS

BTO Mar 29 107/107/105 @2.41 #Fuzzy
STO Feb 23 111 .30 #Hedge

SPX calls sold

#SPXcampaign Sold $SPX March 15th 2850/2875 call spreads for 1.60.

I suppose I’ll keep selling the call side until we get the upside warning. But it looks like its already time to roll the spread I sold on Monday.

MU

Rolled Feb 16 45.5 to Feb 23 .23 #Hedge