The opening TICK reading is the lowest we’ve seen since late September of 2016.
Recent Updates Page 347
NFLX
Rolled 265/262.5 BuPS to next week .18 total Cr .44
January Jobs Report
#jobs With the mega-earnings day and volatility, I totally forgot this was being released this morning.
+200,000 non-farm payroll jobs, vs 180K expected
Unemployment holds steady at 4.1%
U6 unemployment up one tenth to 8.2%
Wages up 0.3%, reflecting 2.9% annualized
Labor force participation holds at 62.7%
Market
The 10 year is at 2.82 and going to 3%.
Good morning
The market is cracking .
#spycraft Closed the 42 DTE…
Closed the 42 DTE /ES 2575/2955 strangle. It will probably be fine in the long run but I do not have time to watch the market the next 10 days.
The put was bought for 8.25, sold for 7.25 and the call was both for 3.15. 2 contracts so $100 loss plus $2.5 commissions.
Closed Out FB Earnings Strangle
SPX Trades
STO Feb 23 2750 short side puts, at 10.50 earlier in the afternoon
STO Mar 09 2750 short side puts, at 17.60, same time as above..
UVXY
#ShortStrangles – Clearing out some long term shorts that have pretty much quit moving (at least until the next split). Going to use spreads but re-position in closer for now.
Bought to Close UVXY JAN 18 2019 5.0/15.0 Bear Call Spreads @ 2.39 (sold for 4.75)
Bought to Close UVXY JAN 18 2019 10.0 Call/25.0 Bear Call Spreads @ 2.10 (sold for 4.90)
AMZN
#SyntheticStock – Was going to wait until after earnings but taking advantage of this little whoosh down to get the credit roll of my weekly.
Rolled AMZN FEB 16 2018 1210.0 Call to AMZN MAR 16 2018 1220.0 Call @ 1.10 credit.
Picking up another 11.10 of upside…
AMZN Earnings
#Leak ? 🙂 That’s not possible!
#earnings #ironcondor GOOG This from…
#earnings #ironcondor #shortputspreadGOOG AMZN
This from TradeWise, the TD Ameritrade paid “service” (you can get 3 fee months for asking)
1107.50/1110/1222.50/1225 for 1.01
Not from Tradewise
AMZN Feb. 16 1417.50/1420 for 1.35, took a long time to fill
VRTX, partially closed
#Earnings Yesterday, Sold $VRTX Feb 2nd 160/167.5/175 iron butterflys for 5.59. 3 total.
Today, closed (1) for 2.85. It is sitting dead center now, but it’s still got a day until expiration so the straddle is still worth about 2.80. May close another today, and/or leave them both for expiration.
Ten year note
I see the yield is creeping up to 2.77% which is a quick move from 2.60% and that is making me nervous about this market.
In my IRA, I just covered my SVXY 37.5 puts for January 2019, for 3.50, sold at 7.00, to free up some cash and sell a higher strike for more premium. Not sure when I will sell.
UPS #FallingKnife Sold $UPS Jul…
UPS #FallingKnife
Sold $UPS Jul 20 100 puts @ 1.10. May add more if we get some additional move down.
CMLviz (earning report on 2/8)…
CMLviz (earning report on 2/8) BTO NVDA 9 FEB 2018 Long 40 Delta call at 9.69 BTO today will close 1 day before earning (2/7)
http://www.cmlviz.com/cmld3b/index.php?number=11917&app=news&cml_article_id=20180201_the-one-week-pre-earnings-momentum-trade-with-options-in-nvidia-corporation&source=TM_insihgts
#OT For the new option…
#OT For the new option traders.
Dan Sheridan of Sheridan Mentoring offers free introductory classes covering many of the trade types that are used by members. These classes are the first session of a 4 to 6 week series of live instructions. Fees are a 300-500 depending on the length. He primarily focuses on index trades, SPX and RUT using calendars, spreads, butterflies, short term 1-3 days to long term 45 day trades. He uses these free intro classes to troll for business. These classes are standalone so no membership is required. He latest class is:
Join Dan tomorrow at 1:00pm CT for a Free Webinar. (Actually today I’m late getting this out but classes are recorded)
Topic: Trading Double Calendars for Income in 2018.
Click here to register now:
https://yd162.infusionsoft.com/app/form/sign-up-for-free-event77
I have taken some of his classes and gained a lot from them. I have no stake in this I just know how I new to this world struggle understanding all the Fizzies and Rockets, and hedges that many other members here place. Getting a working understanding using live trades with Dan has helped me put a lot of things into perspective and gain confidence in my trading the SPX.
GS
#SyntheticStock – Textbook pop out of a nice squeeze. Actually gave it some room with the first weekly sale. 9 days so booking and looking to reset on any weakness.
Sold to Close GS Jan 2019 260/260/250 synthetic stock
Bought to Close GS Feb 2018 275 calls
6.17 per contract net gain…
REGN put
Selling another put on an old @fuzzballl favorite.
Sold $REGN May 18 280 put @ 4.00 with the stock at 351.33. Delta 10.
Earnings are next week.
AMZN strangle added
#Earnings #ShortStrangles
Adding a wider, safer strangle that will cover my max loss on the iron butterfly.
Sold $AMZN Feb 2nd 1300/1675 strangle for 4.25.
AAPL earnings
#Earnings Thought I was being sharp by selling $AAPL puts a week before earnings. Sold Feb 2nd 175 puts last week for 4.62 (avg price). Not so sharp in the end. I bought some 155 puts for .29 as a safety net.
Today I sold AAPL Feb 2nd 177.5 call for .65. I’ll add another if premium increases. That’s putting me into a very narrow 2.5 point range for ultimate victory, so I most likely will be rolling or taking assignment of something tomorrow.
EA closed
#Earnings On Tuesday, sold $EA Feb 2nd 110/130 strangles for 127. I’ve now closed all of the short calls, one at a time, avg price .452. Letting the short puts expire.
LMT #fuzzy My LMT fuzzies…
LMT #fuzzy
My LMT fuzzies got blasted today due to hedge annihilation. Closed 20 contracts for a mere $700 profit, lots of the previously-reported hedge profit got taken out today. Will reset.
New fuzzy: MSFT Apr 95/95/92 for 2.73, Hedged w/ feb 9 99 for .25. I made $3460 on MSFT naked puts this morning. MSFT is my “animal spirit.” My dog is nicknamed Satya Nadella, so she gets a special treat every quarter when MSFT reports.
Sue
AMZN Iron butterfly
#Earnings #IronButterfly This one is worth trying each quarter in case AMZN does not move much. Risking 2.95 to make 37.05.
Sold $AMZN 1410/1450/1490 iron butterfly for 37.05. Will profit if AMZN ends tomorrow between 1412.95 and 1487.05.
Does anyone know of eOption.com…
Does anyone know of eOption.com for trading? Got email with a low price offer.
#pietrades for next week. Just…
#pietrades for next week.
Just sitting on my hands to let theta do its work, currently 748 in my favor. But here is management for anyone following.
AAPL the time value in the 165 CC should crush after today. As long as I can roll the CC to next week for 0.5 credit or roll up a strike for even, will do either of those. If not will let it assign over the weekend for full $471 profit on 3 lots. If it drops will sell a call next week.
GM is currently 0.25 ITM but still showing a slight profit. Will let it assign then sell CC next week.
GILD is still deep ITM but with the pullback do the same as AAPL. If I can roll it in 2-3 weeks for a 0.5 or higher credit or move it up will roll. If not will let it call out, it still has 21 DTE because of recovery trades.
SVXY 125 puts expire next week, currently ITM and will probably let them assign and flip to CC the following week.
I am fairly flat at the moment. Going snowkiting (skiing with a kiteboard kite) in Maine next week to a place there is no internet or even cable TV so did not want anything on I had to babysit. I can take assignment on everything I have on or let it expire for max profits. May even tackle Mt Washington, have not been up there in 17 years!
The only trade I may close or tweak before leaving is the #spycraft /ES strangle which is already showing a profit but will let some more value decay over the weekend. I can trade until Wed.
PYPL
#Earnings repair trade with #SyntheticStock – Well…the put sales were looking ok until the Ebay announcement came out so we’re now in repair mode with this one. I really thought the stock would be down even further so not bad so far.
The put sales brought in 600 and the cost to close was 2330 for net loss of 1730. I’ve set up a synthetic with 10 contracts so I’ll add 1.73 to my total cost of the position.
Sold PYPL JAN 18 2019 80.0 Puts @ 9.47
Bought PYPL JAN 18 2019 80.0 Calls @ 10.28
Bought PYPL JAN 18 2019 77.5 Puts @ 8.64
This gives a net debit of 9.45 for the Jan 2019 position. Add the 2.5 point max downside and the 1.73 put sale loss and get a max loss possibility of 13.68. Based on that, and the 50 weeks remaining in the trade I only need to average about 27 cents per week in sales to cover the absolute worst case scenario.
So:
Sold PYPL FEB 9 2018 81.5 Calls @ .77
#rolledup $UVXY rolled Feb 02…
#rolledup $UVXY
rolled Feb 02 $10 calls to Mar 16 $11 call for $1.05 credit. I expect by March the UVXY will revert to trend and be well below the strike.
rolled second tranche Feb 02 $11 call to Feb 16 $12 for 0.50 credit. I will be out of town next week and half with limited internet availability.
FB covered call
#CoveredCalls CoveredCallCampaign Now that earnings are finished, returning to selling calls on my long stock.
Sold $FB Feb 23rd 200 covered call for 1.90.
PYPL post earnings
Sold $PYPL Jul 20 62.50 puts @ 1.30 with the stock at 78.22.
#pietrade #shortputs UAL Rolled Feb….
#pietrade #shortputs UAL
Rolled Feb. 2, 67.50 put to Feb. 9 for 1.25, a .63 credit, originally sold Jan. 24 for .90
$SPX #spxcampaign Condorized my Put…
$SPX #spxcampaign Condorized my Put spread for Feb 16 expiry by selling the 2910/2930 call side for 0.65. I was a bit quick on the trigger.
BABA Earnings
#Earnings -Bouncing now but order filled before I could get to it. Breakeven after commissions…
Bought to Close BABA FEB 2 2018 195.0 Puts @ 1.95 (sold for 2.00)
But…the selling is good for my synthetic with weekly call sale ITM…
FB Earnings
#Earnings – I’ll take this as a gift based on the initial reaction of the stock. Zuck bailed us out on the conference call…
Bought to Close FB FEB 2 2018 177.5/202.5 Strangles @ .17 (sold for 2.20)
AMZN earnings
#Earnings Sold $AMZN Feb 2nd 1325/1660 #ShortStrangles for 8.00. I think that’s the highest premium I’ve ever seen for a strangle OUTSIDE the maximum moves of the past 12 quarters.
Biggest UP move: 14.1%, Biggest DOWN move: -7.6%, Average move: 7.2%.
My strikes are +14.5% and -8.6% OTM.
UVXY calls
Sold $UVXY Mar 9 26 calls @ .74. Highest strike.
FB closed
#Earnings Bought to close $FB 175/205 strangles for .10. Sold yesterday for 1.52.
BABA dumping
#Earnings It’s down to levels not seen since Tuesday of last week.
Good morning
PYPL Earnings
#Earnings – Great timing…LOL
Plan for now is to close the short puts (depending on how the open goes). Then…open synthetic stock positions in EBAY and PYPL out to next Jan. Should only add a few pennies to the weekly sales requirement to cover it.
We shall see….
#spycraft Sold the 44 DTE…
Sold the 44 DTE /ES 2955 call as the market was pulling back for 3.55. That gives strangle at 2575p and 2955 c, 2 contracts. Of course after hours now the market is up again. For those that wanted the SMI settings I will post later, crazy at work and the code is on an old computer and have to dig it out.
Jan 31 #Fuzzy Land Hello…
Jan 31 #Fuzzy Land
Hello Everyone! Goodbye January, you were incredible! Good day here, the mix of long and short Fuzzies netted out for green today, hedges worked great, F-bears worked great.
1. ANSS took Fuzzy profit just shy of my target on a price spike, will look to get back in
2. Closed a tiny DIA long fuzzy on the highs today
3. Added 25 SPY Fuzzy Bear contracts across several accounts. Mar283/283/285 @ 2.58 with a 278 hedge @.84
4. Rolled DIS hedge collecting $550 profit
5. Rolled CAT hedge collecting $1270 profit
6. Opened new EA fuzzy on UOA, Mar 130/130/125 for 1.21, no hedge yet (the UOA was a buy of Mar 135 calls, + June 135 and 140 large call buys)
7. Rolled JNJ hedge collecting $400 profit.
8. Yesterday I cut the KBH fuzzy for $2400 loss, saved a little by selling one round of calls on it, sold Feb 30-strike puts to recoup a little (or not).
9. Rolled IWM hedge collecting $330.
Fuzzies that need management this week: CELG, 1-MU, 1-QQQ, 1-SPY,
Total Closed Fuzzy Profit: $49,383; Hedge collection on open positions: $24,260
Oh, one thing I forgot to add: Trader’s Almanac has been pretty good so far this year. It shows tomorrow (Thur) is the biggest day for bulls for the whole month of February. 🙂
FB
SPX
#RocketManHedge – Great market for these…double dip selling Friday.
Bought to Close SPX JAN 31 2018 2820.0 Put @ 0.30 (sold for 5.00)
Sold SPX FEB 2 2018 2820.0 Put @ 7.00
$FB #ShortPuts – Sold 1…
$FB #ShortPuts – Sold 1 FB FEB 2 2018 175.0 Put @ 1.12
Immediate fill
SPX calls sold
#SPXcampaign Today’s action is not too pretty and it looks like the Downside Warning may hang on the market longer. I’m selling these as hedges against my short put spreads. If we move much in either direction tomorrow, there will be rolling.
Sold $SPX Feb 9th 2825/2850 call spreads for 10.40.
Sold $SPX Mar 2nd 2925/2950 call spreads for 1.55.
NFLX flat
#Earnings Closed these two puts as they take up margin and I have retained the majority of premium. These recouped my losses from earnings short calls and left me with a small profit on the trades.
BTC $NFLX Feb 2nd 260 put for .30. Sold for 2.55 on Jan 26th.
BTC $NFLX Feb 16th 240 out for .74. Sold for 3.30 on Jan 23rd.
PYPL Earnings
#Earnings – Wouldn’t mind getting into #SyntheticStock on a pullback so aggressively selling half size here. Maybe get lucky and it takes off, otherwise double up and load up lower.
Sold PYPL FEB 2 2018 85.0 Put @ 1.92
Sold PYPL FEB 2 2018 84.0 Put @ 1.50
Sold PYPL FEB 2 2018 83.0 Put @ 1.13
Sold PYPL FEB 2 2018 82.0 Put @ 0.86
Sold PYPL FEB 2 2018 81.0 Put @ 0.64
FED no change
SPX going up mistake going down
HOG #FallingKnife Sold $HOG May…
HOG #FallingKnife
Sold $HOG May 18 42.50 puts @ 1.20 with the stock at 48.94
# O.T.
The ten year treasury is still going up in yield and this bothers me. If it gets to 3% it will not be good for the stock market. I think it is going to get there and after that, I am not sure.
EA scale out
#Earnings Yesterday sold $EA Feb 2nd 110/130 strangles for 1.25. Just closed one short call for .66. (4 more to go). Scaling out as premium drops.
KSS
Rolled KSS 65/63 BuPS from Feb 2 to Feb 16 .26
Increased Cr to 44.50 after Comm
AAPL Earnings
#Earnings – Earlier in the week sold some fairly aggressive puts at 170, 167.5, and 165 bringing in nice premium. Just to make sure I have a reasonable starting point to enter a synthetic stock position if it tanks, I’m using a small portion of the premium received to buy some protection down at a twice the expected move level. I wouldn’t think it would ever go that low but then again I didn’t think I’d be running from hurricane IRMA for 10 days either…LOL Buying a little insurance while the sun is shining… 🙂
Sold 3 puts originally and buying 5 puts here.
Bought AAPL FEB 2 2018 155.0 Puts @ .27
WYNN
#Fuzzy – STO WYNN Feb02’18 175 calls @ 0.90. This ticker might give me whiplash.
IP
VRTX earnings
#Earnings This one has not moved much on recent earnings, so doing a neutral #IronButterfly.
Sold $VRTX Feb 2nd 160/167.5/175 IB for 5.75, 5.56, 5.48 (total of 3, avg price 5.597 — I could only get 1 to fill at a time, and kept having to lower my ask).
Biggest UP move: 7.8%, Biggest DOWN move: -5.9%, Average move: 2.5%.
Risking 2.15 to make 5.59. Breakevens at Friday’s expiration: 161.91 and 173.09, or about +/- 4.3%.
Here are its last 12 earnings moves: -2.1%, -4.4%, 0.7%, 0.2%, 0.0%, 0.2%, 2.7%, 0.3%, 5.1%, 7.8%, -0.4%, -5.9%.
BABA earnings
#Earnings Sold $BABA Feb 2nd 200 puts for 3.60. Biggest UP move: 7.5%, Biggest DOWN move: -8.8%, Average move: 4.0%. This trade is -2.5% OTM.
This one is a juggernaut that I don’t doubt will hit 1,000 in a few years (maybe just a couple). So if this aggressive trade results in stock assignment, I’m okay with that. -8.8% was its biggest ever down move back in Jan 2015. Since then, its moves down have been fewer and smaller.
AMD Earnings
Breakeven after commissions…
Bought to Close AMD 12/12.5/13/13.5 iron flies @ .40 (sold for .44)
BABA fuzzy
Earnings are on February 1, tomorrow.
For March 9 expiration
BTO 207.5 call
STO 207.5 put
BTO 205 put as insurance. Total cost of 8.50 plus the 2.50 spread.
FB earnings
#Earnings Sold $FB Feb 2nd 175/205 strangles for 1.52. Also, previous sold and extra 175 put for 1.60.
Biggest UP move: 15.5%, Biggest DOWN move: -5.6%, Average move: +/- 4.0%. Bias + 1.6%.
My strikes are -7.3% and +8.1% OTM, respectively. The previous 15.5% up move is an outlier from Jan 2016. The second biggest up move was +7.2%
$SQ #shortputs Sold Feb 16th…
$SQ #shortputs Sold Feb 16th 44 Put @ 1.00 when SQ was at 46.11. Earnings Feb 27th.
WYNN
#ShortStrangles – Going in again after booking yesterday. Re-centering below the 200ma and near all time highs…
Sold WYNN MAR 9 2018 140.0/195.0 Strangles @ 2.38
SPX puts sold
#SPXcampaign Sold $SPX March 2nd 2690/2665 put spreads for 1.65.
We’re still under the Downside Warning, but given recent market trend it seems more likely we’ll go up from here, at least for a day or two. But I’ll be cautious until VIX drops below 11.00.
$C
Looks like I missed this one yesterday
STO Feb 23 $74.5 puts @ $0.40
Pre-market trades
#SPXcampaign Got about half my money back from the put spread purchase and sold another one…
Sold to close $SPX Feb 2nd 2780/2755 put spreads for .95. Bought right after the closing bell yesterday for 2.00.
Sold to OPEN SPX Feb 2nd 2800/2775 put spreads for 2.25
Closed Early AMZN MZOR
#shortputs
$MZOR BTC 2/16 60 put at 1.80 STO for 8.60 on 12/27
$AMZN BTC 2/2 1240/1250 BUPS at .40 STO 1/19 at 3.00
#spycraft /ES trades 23/5 and…
/ES trades 23/5 and did not have time to trade today, so I am looking at legging into a short strangle. Nice boost to premiums with the still small vix spike. Will probably leg in, tech indicators are about to give long signal. Went back to SMI, percent r still too whippy even with the longer settings. See below and if you want the smi settings I can post. To be honest, I personally like /es better than spy or spx. Better margin, more trading hours, easier to hedge with a smaller $ amount, good liquidity, and better margin treatment.
So signal just printed while I am writing this. Selling the 45 DTE 2575 put at 7.5 (went through). I will wait on the call side in case this is another BTFD. This is a delta 8 option.
JNPR
#Earnings – Nice pullback after hours. Could be one to consider tomorrow…
SPX puts bought
#SPXcampaign After a fairly dull afternoon I entered a Feb 2nd put spread after the bell. Couldn’t decide whether to buy or sell it. Then I decided I would sell it, so entered a sell price, and… I bought it. I forgot that I had “BUY” selected. I left it because I’m still net long on SPX so this’ll be a nice double or triple if we gap down again tomorrow.
Bought $SPX Feb 2nd 2780/2755 put spreads for 2.00
Jan 30 #Fuzzy Land Hi…
Jan 30 #Fuzzy Land
Hi Guys! Quite a day today. Lots and lots of activity for me, hedges and protection working overtime.
1. I’ve got a decent number of Gorilla Fuzzies now (Fuzzies based on the Gorilla Trades Portfolio). These are all very small lot, mostly unhedged, with 50% GTC targets: ANSS, APH, BAH, BLDR, DAL, FLIR, IDTI, MYGN, PX, STZ, TSEM, VFC. Let me know if you want specifics.
2. Earnings run-up fuzzies: Open right now are ANSS, FLIR, VFC, MKSI (must be closed tomorrow), NTGR,
3. Closed one SPY Fuzzy bear today when hedge was blown, netted $1070.00
4. Opened new QQQ Fuzzy bear: Mar 169/169/171 @3.07 with Feb 9 164 hedge @.62
5. Closed VIX fuzzy for $530 profit on a 5-lot. I thought this VIX fuzzy was a really nice strategy. Any time we get a VIX pullback these will be layered in on the portfolio, unhedged.
6. LMT was a new fuzzy I opened yesterday, Mar 350/350/345 @ 7.83, it was hedged with 360 calls, closed those today for $2100 profit and reset at 355 for next week, based on trend exhaustion. Those may prove to be too tight.
7. Opened a new MCD fuzzy today (on the drop) for income, it did really well last month when I had it on. Apr 170/170/165 @ 4.88 hedged w/ feb9 175 @ 1.06.
The day was all about Fuzzy Bears, VIX fuzzy, Hedges and Protection, yay for those!
SPX
STO February 20, bull put spread, 2600/2700 @ 3.90,a small trade.
#shortputs SBUX Sold Feb. 16,…
#shortputs SBUX
Sold Feb. 16, 56 put for .55, appears to have bottomed
AMD Earnings
#Earnings – Selling tight iron fly…
Sold 12.5/13/13.5 @ .44 (risk 6 to make 44)
WYNN
#Fuzzy – BTO WYNN Mar’18 170/170/165 Fuzzy for 7.28, but just 5 contracts (wish I’d bought more now!). Unhedged for now. Thinking about closing it as a day trade, it’s really taken flight.
Options Bistro 