$NUGT #ShortCalls – Missed posting one yesterday – Sold NUGT(Weekly) Feb 26 2016 76.0 Calls @ 0.55. These expire next Friday and are the highest available strike price.
Recent Updates Page 527
$NUGT
Unless there is a pullback into the $40’s today, I’m going to need to roll a couple of positions. With the big up and down moves this thing has been making, I’m not liking that there aren’t near term higher strike prices available. So my plan is to split the roll, I’ll roll 1/2 of the calls up and out, and reverse roll the other half of the calls into puts. They can’t both be losers and over the next month or so, should help me slowly reduce total exposure.
Support and Resistance Levels for Friday Feb 19, 2016
Good Morning.
Resistance Levels are the same as yesterday’s
1930-35; 1945-49; 1958-61 etc…
Support Levels are:
1884.62 (38.2%) and 1866.16 (61.8%) of previous up move. The 50% (not a Fib level) is at 1870.39
There is the high of Feb 10 at 1881.60 which is very close to the 1884.62 (38.2%); so that area could hold the market.
1850 could be psychological level, but it is not a Fib Level.
Below that we have: 1810-1806; 1800-1803; 1730-1728 and 1690-85
Keep in mind that these levels could hold the market but may or may not be reversal levels.
I failed to post the 23.6 Level of the previous move at 1902.22 and that one as you can see is very close to the 1900 psychological level…
GM
GM
$/GC $NUGT
Gold futures are down about $10 since the markets closed @ 4pm. If that holds up, should see some pull back in $NUGT in the morning. A lot can change between now and then, but would like to see it pull back $4 or $5 bucks for tomorrow’s Opex.
$NUGT #ShortCalls – hoping to…
$NUGT #ShortCalls – hoping to make back my NUGT losses slowly with small #OptionLadder trades –
Sold 1 NUGT Mar 04 2016 75.0 Call @ 2.05
Sold 1 NUGT Mar 11 2016 75.0 Call @ 2.80
Sold 1 NUGT Mar 24 2016 75.0 Call @ 4.30
All are weekly expirations and all are at the highest available strike price. Pretty decent premiums with the stock twenty points below the strike.
By staying small and spreading out the risk across multiple expirations, only one of these gets in trouble at a time, and this stock is volatile in BOTH directions. The stock was just over 17 a little over a month ago.
STO QQQ BeCS 101.5/103 .70 for tomorrow
STO SPY IBF 192/190/190/188 1.63 for tomorrow
Closing BA
Taking more than 70% max profit on an April position I put on last week. With this market I’m keeping a tight leash on things.
Bought to close $BA Apr 15 90 put @ .53. Sold for 1.95 on 2/11.
$NUGT #ShortCalls #ScalpTrade – Sold…
$NUGT #ShortCalls #ScalpTrade – Sold NUGT Feb 19 2016 60 Calls @ 0.65 with the stock at 54.
These expire tomorrow
SPX roll
#SPXcampaign Although we barely notched above 1930, I am closing my lowest strikes call spread and #Rolling into an iron condor at the next expiration. This is to exit now rather than risk a push up to 1950, making things hairy.
BTC $SPX Feb 29th (monthly) 1950/1975 call spreads for 5.70. Sold for 1.45 on Feb 11th.
STO $SPX March 4th 1975/2000 call spreads for 4.00.
STO $SPX March 4th 1800/1775 put spreads for 1.45 (double position size)
$AMBA As I’ve said in…
$AMBA As I’ve said in the past, I’m under water in AMBA from put spreads gone bad. AMBA went down so far so fast rolling was not possible. I’ve been selling calls and fully intend to make money on this someday, right around the time our country has a balanced budget I suppose. I bought back Feb. 19. 44 calls for .12 that had been sold for 1.00 and sold Feb. 26, 46 calls for .37. I stayed short term because earnings are March 3, maybe catch a run up March 1 or 2 and go out further, maybe get burned. AMBA was over 44 yesterday.
#VXXGame STO UVXY March 4th…
#VXXGame STO UVXY March 4th 35 put for .87 (adding)
BTC UVXY March 4th 95 calls for .15. Sold for 1.05 on Feb 2nd
$SPX closing early
Closed $SPX iron condor Feb 26 2005/1995/1740/1730 for 0.30.
Originally had STO 10 days ago for 1.25.
I am starting to close positions early for good profit instead of trying to wring out every dime to expiration. That has gotten me in trouble in this volatile market so I will gladly take 76% max profit any time. This is working far better than trying to get to expiration date intact.
$AMZN is Prime!
Risky one day trade…STO AMZN Feb 19 540/545 BeCS for 0.80 when AMZN trading about 530.
I think it has met resistance at 540 and will continue down a while. Will certainly watch this closely and would close if debit was 1.20.
$NUGT #ShortCalls #ScalpTrade – Sold…
$NUGT #ShortCalls #ScalpTrade – Sold NUGT Feb 19 2016 58.0 Calls @ 0.55. This strike is above last Friday’s YTD High of 56.89 and the option expires tomorrow.
$NUGT adding in 3/11
I don’t have any positions on in 3/11 so I’m adding one, at the highest strike.
Sold $NUGT 3/11 75 call @ 2.20.
$QQQ biught diagonal, following Robyn…
$QQQ bought diagonal, following Robyn at TastyTrade sold March 18, 99 put, bought April 15, 99 put for .99.
DUST and UVXY mgt
BTC $DUST June 23 calls for .30. Sold for 1.75 on Feb 2nd
BTC $UVXY March 18th 105 call for .80. Sold for 4.05 on Feb 9th
PUT Diagonals IWM and SPY
Opened 2 Put Diagonals…BTO IWM Apr1 105.5 Put and STO IWM Mar18 96 Put for $5.16.
BTO SPY Apr1 199 Put and STO Mar 18 186 Put for $6.64
My stops will be if the SPX breaks above 1948….
#Markets TLT really spiking as…
#Markets TLT really spiking as SPX falls back.
JWN earnings
#Earnings Sold to Open $JWN Feb 19th 42.5/45/57.5/60 condors for .50. Max gain .50, max loss 2.00. Biggest UP move: 14.7% , Biggest DOWN move: -15.0% , Average move: 4.6% . Nordstrom’s has had these two large moves, but all other moves over the last 12 were under 6%. So I’m willing to go a bit inside the extremes, as the short strikes are 14% (puts) and 10% (calls) OTM. Stock rallied a bit since I got my fill, so you may want to skip the call side. But in any case, max loss is manageable.
Bot to close March 4, 1675/1700 bull put spread @0.25, sold at 1.25
#Panera ;>) My Wi-Fi is…
#Panera ;>) My Wi-Fi is down again, AT&T, so I’m sitting in Panera’s using theirs, having coffee and a Danish. Life is good. Good luck everybody. I’ll trade if an opportunity presents itself. $KMI still moving. Will it hit 16.0 again? Maybe. If not, I’ll roll up and out, my 2/26/16, 16.50 Calls.
EQIX earnings
#Earnings A bit of a crazy fill I got on this.
Sold to Open $EQIX Feb 19th 240/260/320/340 iron condors for 1.80. The long strikes are illiquid, so the fills were at the ask where there is no current bid, as follows:
240 long put 1.57
260 short put -2.61
320 short call -3.77
340 long call 3.01
If I try to sell the 320 naked, even at 3.20 I get no fill; so the 3.77 is due to the spread only. If you’re interested, might be worth watching during the day. But the short strikes are outside normal earnings moves. I added longs due to market environment and recent slaps from naked earnings plays.
Over the last 12 earnings, Biggest UP move: 7.8%, Biggest DOWN move: -3.7% , Average move: 2.9%. These strikes are both about 10.3% OTM.
$SPY #ironcondor Closed Feb 26…
$SPY #ironcondor Closed Feb 26 197/200/177/174 for .39, originally sold for 1.30
DATA dump
#Earnings STC DATA stock for 41.78. Had a trailing stop from yesterday’s rise. Leaves me with only a small part of my original trade, which was put assignment at 62. This and NOW are ones which I’m taking some losses and not waiting out, due to uncertainty with the companies and the overall market.
$AMZN bear call spread
$AMZN at resistance at the 200 day and pulling back.
STO Mar 18 600/610 BeCS for 0.88
If AMZN closes above the 200, then I’ll be out of this trade.
#Gold $NUGT
Watching market today to see how these react on a potentially down day. Gold stabilized above $1200 and I want to see if people rush back to gold again if the market shows weakness.
$SPX Earlier spike in futures…
$SPX Earlier spike in futures was sold. now opening almost flat
Resistance Levels for Feb 18, 2016
1930 – 1935; 1945-49; 1958-61; 1972 and then 2010.44 2028.38 and 2047-53;
Levels to watch are the resistance at 1947.20 which was the high of Feb 1st, and also the 1945-49 which falls on the triangle trend line and the 100% extension of a previous move (Low of 1/20 to high of 2/1).
Yesterday’s move was the expansion of the squeeze on a daily chart. According to theory the move could run from 6 to 8 bars following yesterday’s high. If this is the case the SPX could run up to the Dec Highs and beyond.
I believe that the 1945-49 level may hold the market for this week though…that an $10 will get you a starbucks latte…
Followed Fuzzball:
$NUGT STO 3/18/16 80.0 CALLS @1.70 Thank you sir. ;>) It’s paired with my 3/11/16 30.0 short Puts.
NUGT calls
#ContangoETFs Followed @iceman and @fuzzballl at highest available strikes:
STO NUGT March 4th 75 calls for 1.00
STO NUGT March 18th 80 calls for 1.85
$SPY BeCS sold March 4…
$SPY BeCS sold March 4 197/200 @ .75. My thinking is we will stall or go down tomorrow or the next day.
Closing $BA rollout
On 2/11 I rolled out my Feb 110 puts to March for a nice credit. This allowed me to use today’s up move to exit the trade early for an overall profit.
Bought to close $BA Mar 18 110 puts @ 2.05. Sold for 7.05, as a rollout on 2/11.
Loss on original roll was 3.18, so with this 5.00 profit, overall profit on the position is 1.82.
NUGT calls
Paired up with 25 strike puts sold yesterday…
Sold NUGT MAR 18 2016 80.0 Calls @ 1.70 (highest available strike)
$UVXY closed Feb. 19 50/55…
$UVXY closed Feb. 19 50/55 call spreads for about half of what they were sold for, too close to expiration, and 50 for comfort still a winner.
$KMI BTC 2/19/16 13.50 PUTS…
$KMI BTC 2/19/16 13.50 PUTS @.01. STO @.37
I sold the SPX 2125/2150 call spread for 1.25 today for April 29 expiration.
FOMC snore
FOMC minutes a big snore… now what? If we go any higher from here I will look to take my first stop on a call spread, the Feb 26th 1950/1975. Likely will roll one week further out into a far OTM put spread and a slightly higher call spread
FB mgt
#Earnings Still working around a short stock position with numerous short puts and a few short calls.
STO FB June 130 call for 1.23
$NUGT #ShortCalls – Sold NUGT…
$NUGT #ShortCalls – Sold NUGT Mar 04 2016 75.0 Calls @ 1.00. Highest available strike price.
edit: Also sold the NUGT Feb 19 2016 35.0 Puts @ 0.15. These expire Friday
$VXX BTC 3/4/16 37.0 CALLS…
$VXX BTC 3/4/16 37.0 CALLS @.11 STO @.74 in early Feb.
PCLN earnings closed
#Earnings Bought to close $PCLN 1275/1300 call spread for .90. Sold yesterday as part of condor for 1.35. Taking this off to avoid possible tendency to run higher into week’s end.
UVXY Puts
Delta beginning to trump IV collapse on these so booking a nice winner. UVXY is actually well below where it was when I sold these on the way up but puts have lost nearly half their value.
Bought to Close UVXY MAR 18 2016 30.0 Puts @ .90 (sold for 1.62 average)
$CMG #ShortPuts – Sold CMG…
$CMG #ShortPuts – Sold CMG Feb 19 2016 465.0 Puts @ 0.28. These expire Friday.
$UVXY BTC 3/11/16 90.0 CALLS…
$UVXY BTC 3/11/16 90.0 CALLS @.77
$UVXY STO 3/18/16 75.0 CALLS @2.27 Hasn’t seen 75.0 since Sept. 2015.
$NFLX Covered Calls
I was assigned early overnight on some deep in the money puts (March 145). I was aware of the risk but was looking for more upside in the stock which would have reduced that risk. But I got clipped so I’m just going to sell calls against this position until called away.
Sold $NFLX Mar 4 100 calls @ 1.21.
Delta 24.
#VXXGame BTC $UVXY March 18th…
#VXXGame BTC $UVXY March 18th 165 calls for .26. Sold for 2.70 avg price in January.
$CNX #CoveredCalls – Sold CNX…
$CNX #CoveredCalls – Sold CNX MAR 18 2016 12.0 Calls @ 0.21
Closing SPX BeCS
I closed some of my Mar 11 SPX 1965/1980 at $4.95 Sold it for $1.25 last week…Ouch! Well now that I did this, you can be sure that the SPX will drop! 🙂
I will roll them once the Market decides to slow down this ride.
$SPX
$SPX Closed my Mar 4th 1980/2005 BeCS when the $SPX was at 1917. I won’t be around to manage any roll outs and decided to not try and be a hero by waiting for the pull back.
$UVXY my UVXY Feb 19…
$UVXY my UVXY Feb 19 50/55 call spreads finally turned positive this morning.
#VXXGame BTC $UVXY Feb 26th…
#VXXGame BTC $UVXY Feb 26th 35 puts for .18. Sold for 1.15 on Feb 1
$NUGT #ShortPuts -Sold NUGT Feb…
$NUGT #ShortPuts -Sold NUGT Feb 19 2016 34.0 Puts @ 0.17 on a market order. These expire tomorrow.
VIX moves unimpressive
The VIX move down has been fairly lackluster during this rally… we are not seeing the falling knife that often forms. This may be because there was no capitulation low last week. This may signal a bear market rally that won’t hold, or it could be a stealth rally that just keeps going up even though no one believes in it. Watching Robert’s resistance levels; I’m bullish for this week into OpEx, cautious after that.
SPX Call spread
STO Mar 4 2010/2020 BeCS @ 0.50
Dumped BePS
#SPXcampaign Sold to close $SPX March 11th 1895/1880 bear put spreads for 5.20. Bought for 8.00 on Friday. If we have more downside coming, my timing was definitely off.
NUGT opener
NUGT opener
#ContangoETFs STO NUGT Sep 80 call for 11.20 (highest strike). First of several rolls I owe myself from closed underwater positions.
Earnings update
#Earnings – PCLN’s move up is highest on earnings since Aug 2012. I will look to close the call spread today, at breakeven or small loss if necessary, as this one could definitely be a runner.
FOSL also broke its downward trend to pop on earnings… I have the rest of this week to see if it can drift below 35, which is breakeven area on my put butterfly.
SPX Resistance for Today.
GM
Resistance today for the SPX: 1898-1900; 1904-1908; 1917-1920; 1930-35 and 1946-50
We’ll probably open above 1900 so that would become support.
Remember that at 2:00 PM the FOMC report today…so it can go either way.
Also FOMC member Bullard is scheduled to speak at 6:00PM EST.
Industrial production rises 0.9% in Jan 0.5% above what was expected…that pushed the futures higher this morning….
$KMI Looks like selling the…
$KMI Looks like selling the 16.50 Calls yesterday wasn’t my best trade. Up a 1.50+ this morning. ;>( Will probably roll it next week if necessary.
/VX VIX futures
Sold 24.00 and bought back at 23.75 for a nice little 25 tick overnighter. Back to bed!
$NUGT
OK, this is a Fuzzball type of trade. My account will do best right now if $NUGT stay’s above $40 until at least friday, so to help encourage that:
STO Feb 19 $47 call @ $1.65
I’m on a business trip and very busy during the day so missed the opportunity this morning to sell additional calls at better prices. Did sell some but not great entry’s. Apparently $GS put out a note today telling people to sell #Gold, so just in case that continues to ripple through to the miners, I chased a bit and sold more calls than I normally would have with the stock down 20%. Might get some bounce with better prices, or might just keep going down.
STO Sept $80 call @ $11.40
STO June $75 call @ $7.50
STO Mar 4 $75 calls @ $0.85
STO Mar 11 $75 calls @ $1.45
STO Jun $80 call @ $7.00
$KMI STO 2/26/16 16.50 CALLS…
$KMI STO 2/26/16 16.50 CALLS @.40
$KMI STO 2/26/16 15.0 PUTS @.45 Gotta win one. ;>), Wouldn’t mind owning the stock @14.55.
FOSL earnings
#Earnings Trying a low cost speculative play on this. FOSL usually goes down on earnings, so…
Sold to Open bearish butterfly: Feb 19th 28/32/36 put fly for .83. Volatility should plummet tomorrow; breakevens on Friday are 28.85 (16% down) and 35.18 (2% up). Look to make a double or more if we spend any time in 32.00 area for rest of the week.
$NUGT #ShortPuts #Weeklys – Sold…
$NUGT #ShortPuts #Weeklys – Sold NUGT(Weekly) FEB 26 2016 30.5 Puts @ 0.75.
These expire a week from Friday
$TWTR #coveredcalls Sold March 4…
$TWTR #coveredcalls Sold March 4 18 calls @ .35. Isn’t it about time that Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Verizon, Yahoo, Disney and Apple start a bidding war for Twitter? Dream big!
Earnings timing
#Earnings — Just a quick note to share an observation. While volatility typically keeps rising in the weeks and days before earnings, the same is not always true in the hours before the close… If selling naked options or credit spreads, it is often much better to sell in the morning before the release, whether than waiting until afternoon. The problem with selling early is if the stock makes a big intraday move, which can throw off your trade dynamics before the close. But often, an intraday move won’t matter; the drop in IV will overpower a move in the stock.
Take my PCLN trade from this morning, STO Feb 19th 875/900/1275/1300 iron condor for 1.35. Since I traded it, PCLN has moved UP 35 points, or 3%. However, the condor has already bled out. The call side alone was sold for .75 and now is trading for about the same, even though we’ve had a 3% move against the calls. The put side has dropped from .75 to .25.
Just something to keep in mind. I’ve heard some say they that last half-hour before earnings is highest IV. This is normally not true (although it is sometimes). Best IV is most usually in the first half-hour, even on earnings days.
$NUGT #ShortPuts – Sold NUGT…
$NUGT #ShortPuts – Sold NUGT Feb 19 2016 33.0 Puts @ 0.30
Also got a partial fill on some NUGT Feb 19 2016 30.0 Puts @ 0.15
Both expire Friday
GOOGL Iron Condor
STO Feb 19 770/760/680/670 for 0.41 when GOOGL trading about 718.
3 days till expiration.
NUGT & DUST
#ContangoETFs
BTC DUST June 25 call for .40. Sold for 2.15 on Jan 11th
BTC NUGT Feb 26th 37 call for 9.00. Sold for 1.35. I have been scaling down my underwater positions without rolling yet. If we get another surge higher I will look to sell longer dated, higher positions.
$NUGT #ShortCalls – rolled some…
$NUGT #ShortCalls – rolled some of this week’s short call positions out and way, way up. The pressure is off for this week.
Bought to close NUGT FEB 19 2016 40.0 Calls @ 9.64
Sold to open NUGT JUN 17 2016 80.0 Calls @ 9.36 (Highest available strike price).
Bought to close NUGT FEB 19 2016 36.0 Calls @ 12.07
Sold to open NUGT SEP 16 2016 80.0 Calls @ 12.32 (Highest available strike price)
Closed SPX BePS
Closed the SPX Mar 4th 1890/1880 for $4.10; bought it for $5.20 on Friday….So I lost $1.10
SPX put closed
#SPXcampaign Bought to close $SPX Feb 26th 1675/1650 put spreads for .20 Sold for 1.25 on Jan 25th. This is my last put credit spread, leaving me 100% short on the SPX strategy…. maybe just in time for a full market recovery? That’s the tough element in this strategy, but it is fully manageable if you follow the rules. My lowest short strike is the 1950 calls. I will look to roll out positions based on what Fib levels get cleared and if the VIX falls below 16.93. I believe we can rally even above 2000 before bears take back the reigns, but we need to be ready in case the correction has ended.
PCLN earnings
#Earnings Sold to Open $PCLN Feb 19th 875/900/1275/1300 iron condors for 1.35. Over last 12 earnings, Biggest UP move: 8.5% , Biggest DOWN move: -9.6% , Average move: 4.8% . Short strikes are each over 17% OTM.
