$SVXY #CoveredCalls – Sold 10…

$SVXY #CoveredCalls – Sold SVXY Jun 17 2016 80.0 Calls @ 1.80. Adding to my position.

$GMCR #ShortPuts – Bought to…

$GMCR #ShortPuts – Bought to close GMCR Jun 17 2016 30.0 Puts @ 0.01. Out 6 months early.
Sold on 11/30/2015 @ 1.30

NKE earnings

#Earnings STO $NKE Dec 24th 123 puts for 1.00. Biggest UP move: 12.2% , Biggest DOWN move: -5.1% , Average move: 5.2% . This trade is 5.4% OTM.

$SVXY #CoveredCalls

Spent some time thinking last night about how $SVXY is trading and the potential for additional volatility over the next month or two.  I have been selling short term calls (about 2 – 3 weeks out) at a level that would provide me a profit and would be OK having the stock called away.  This is really a Theta play.  The benefit was that if we got some short term good news/performance, I could get some shares called away or when the calls expired replace them with higher premium calls.  The downside is that the current premium is fairly low and if $SVXY pulls back further, I would be in a tough spot because my premium didn’t provide much protection and it might not pay to sell the next set of calls for a period of time.  I’m fearful that $SVXY gets close to $40 before it gets close to $60.  So I’m changing my tactic for the time being.  I’m now selling March and June calls with better premium and higher Delta than the short term calls I have been selling.  This gives me more protection in a pullback and if I’m wrong and the market runs up, gets me out of the stock at nice profits.

STO Mar $60 calls @ $3.50

STO Jun $55 calls @ $8.10

STO Jun $60 calls @ $6.10

CMG IB attempt

#IronButterfly I am trying for an iron butterfly on CMG, selling this week’s 500 call and 500 put, and buying the 490 put and 510 call for protection. I want 9.00 for it, leaving me a max risk of 1.00. It’s not trading there yet, but may fill later as the OTM options reduce in price.

$CMG #ShortPuts – Sold 1…

$CMG #ShortPuts – Sold CMG Dec 31 2015 400.0 Puts @ 1.00. Short week this week and next PLUS 100 points OTM

SPX same week put spread

#SPXcampaign STO $SPX 1990/1965 put spreads for 1.75. These expire in 2 days. Will try call spread if we get more strength today.

Generally avoiding put spreads under current VIX Indicator warnings, but I’m not too worried about a big move this week.

$SVXY #CoveredCalls #VXXGame – Sold…

$SVXY #CoveredCalls #VXXGame – Sold SVXY Jun 17 2016 80.0 Calls @ 1.70 adding to my position

Revenge is a dish best served KOLD

#ContangoETFs Nat Gas chart finally looking constructive with possible bottom in place. Dumping my only ITM put with a #ReverseRoll to higher calls. As long as we get some stabilization in gas prices, KOLD will dump.

BTC $KOLD Jan 210 put for 30.00. Sold for 21.90 on 12/15.
STO $KOLD Feb 270 calls (2) for 16.50

#MarketHours #OptionsExpiration – the market…

#MarketHours #OptionsExpiration – the market closes at 1:00 on Thursday. So only 2 1/2 days until the next expiration.

Sell. Sell. Sell!!!!

NFLX earnings date announced

It will officially be Jan 19 after the close. In a move outside of recent character, $NFLX will be reporting after the monthly options expiration date, not before. While the market seems to have anticipated this for the most part (greatest IV jump in the 1/22 options), IVs were still a bit elevated in the 1/15 vs the 1/8 expirations as the company has jumped the announcement date earlier than expected the last few quarters. I’d expect to see option prices come in a little bit tomorrow for the January monthlies as ATM IVs come down from the 47 area back to 41-42 or so. Not dramatic, but with this IV contraction I’ll be watching for early opportunities to take off some far OTM short call positions for January.

Christmas

Loving the snow, Jeff. Nice touch. Makes me want to burst into Christmas song. Be thankful you only have to read my words, not hear them 🙂

$SVXY #CoveredCalls #VXXGame – Sold…

$SVXY #CoveredCalls #VXXGame – Sold SVXY Jun 17 2016 80.0 Calls @ 1.60 adding to my position

CMG: Going back to the well

Premium selling that is, not one of their burritos. Sold a 2 standard deviation put in January. Delta of 07.
STO CMG Jan 15 2016 425 put @ 2.50

$DUST

STO Mar $35 calls @ $1.25

$SVXY #CoveredCalls #IRA

BTC Dec 24 $56 calls @ $.02

STO Jan 8 $55 calls @ $.95

$KOLD – this is one…

$KOLD – this is one of those instances where I should have just let them exercise the short 200 calls I had. About now I’d be getting a call from the margin department telling me that there is no stock to borrow and I would have to cover the short. Sigh!!

#Market

I was happy to see the market rebound after selling off the entire morning rally and hitting the flat line.  Lately it would have just kept going south for the rest of the day.  Nice to see at least a few buyers step in.

Two big down days on Thursday and Friday yet $UVXY only got up to $34, so wasn’t really panic selling, just selling.

$UVXY #ShortPuts #ScalpTrade – Sold…

$UVXY #ShortPuts #ScalpTrade – Sold UVXY Dec 24 2015 24.5 Puts @ 0.11. These expire Thursday.

In this account, paired with short Dec 24 70 calls, which interestingly are not at zero bid.

$SVXY #CoveredCalls #VXXGame – Sold…

$SVXY #CoveredCalls #VXXGame – Sold SVXY Jun 17 2016 80.0 Calls @ 1.55. Partial fill on a bigger order.

$UVXY $DUST

Have only made a couple of small trades this morning.

STO $UVXY Dec 31 $24 puts @ $0.50

STO $DUST Feb $36 calls @ $0.60

STO $DUST Jun $35 call @ $2.60

UVXY puts

#ShortPuts – It’s worked the last couple weeks…margin free against short calls.

Sold UVXY DEC 31 2015 27.0 Puts @ 1.27

SPX call spread

#SPXcampaign STO $SPX Jan 22nd 2130/2155 call spreads for 1.30. Keeping up with a full campaign on the call side while remaining careful on the put side, due to multiple VIX warnings. Currently I’m holding no put spreads, and other than this new one only a few call spreads, all well into profit. I expect this week to be calmer, but fireworks could start erupting next week or week after. But it’s too tough to call; as Art Cashin said, this is the toughest market he’s seen in 50 years, which is a few more years than I’ve been at this. Also one more year than I’ve been alive.

Baby It’s KOLD Outside

As mentioned by Fuzzballl last night, nat gas futures up over 5% and KOLD down almost 20.

/ES Eminis

#ShortCalls – SOLD DEC 15 (Wk4) 2020 CALL @ 11.50

This would get me short at 2031.50 or I could roll it. Needing a little more downside protection.

SVXY calls

#ShortCalls – It’s worked the last couple weeks…margin free against short puts.

Sold SVXY DEC 24 2015 51.0 Calls @ .95

UVXY puts

#ShortPuts – It’s worked the last couple weeks…margin free against short calls.

Sold UVXY DEC 24 2015 28.0 Puts @ .90

Shekereli (Biotech boy) is arrested

Shekereli (Biotech boy) is arrested

$UVXY

Feb options start today, but looks like highest strike is only $60, for now.

$DUST $DXY

Dollar seems to be stable to weak which should help support gold prices and hence likely provide some sort of support for the miners.  I’m going to be looking for opportunities to sell $DUST calls today.

/NG Nat gas futures

Up 8 cents at the open…if that holds we might see KOLD down 20 in the morning.

Expirations

JBLU 12/18/2015 27C (covered)
JD 12/18/2015 30C (covered)
RLYP 12/18/2015 20C (covered)
RLYP 12/18/2015 20C (covered)
UVXY 12/18/2015 70C
UVXY 12/18/2015 45C
RLYP 12/18/2014 20P
FLDM 12/18/2015 10P
JD 12/18/2015 29P
KOLD 12/18/2015 125P
SVXY 12/18/2015 40P
UVXY 12/18/2015 20P

/VX VIX futures

Bringing this to the top from my reply below…just thinking out loud tonight.

—————————————————————————-

Funny you should mention VIX futures…I think I’m going to quit shorting UVXY naked calls and concentrate on the futures. I believe a person could short a few contracts each time it spikes above 25 and do pretty good much more safely without the constant UVXY spike worry.

A VIX future trades at a value of 50 dollars per tick with each tick being .05 This makes them worth 1000 dollars per point. Instead of sitting year round with big short UVXY exposure just wait until the 2 or 3 times a year we get a spike in the VIX futures 20-25 range and short a few. Imagine shorting 5 of those in late August and catching about 10 points of the move. Seems a lot safer without the constant black swan risk.
Of course your account would have to be able to withstand the daily mark to market of the futures if you short to early plus margin of about 6000 per contract.

I have to learn to…

I have to learn to stop buying and concentrate on selling.
Expiration/Close Outs
BTC $TWTR 12/18 $28P at $3.4 sold at $1.3
BTC $NFLX 12/18 118P at .1 sold at $1.4
STC $FB 12/18 BUCS 100/110 at $6.5 bought at $4.3
BTC $ISIS 12/18 BUCS 70/90 at $1 bought at $6.7
BTC $TSO 12/8 BUPS 105/110 at $4.39 sold at $.75

Trades
STO $UVXY 12/24 $27P at .8
STO $ISIS 12/31 $58P at 2.35
STO $NFLX 1/15/2016 100/110 BUPS at $2
STO $SCTY 1/15/2016 65C/35P strangle at $2.05
STO $SVXY 12/24 $40P at $.45
STO $UVXY 12/24 $23.5P at $.16
STO $KOLD 1/15/2016 $255C at $13.6 thanks iceman
STO $AMZN 1/15/2016 590/600 BUPS at $.9
STO $SVXY 12/24 $50C at $3.3 (covered)
STO $CEMP 1/15/2016 $35 at $.8 (covered)

See you Monday…

Friday’s move lower indicates volatility is ruling the month… but will it continue in the typically lower volume weeks remaining? Will the underperforming hedge fund and mutual fund managers be scrambling to make up for bad 2015 performance?

Options Expiration for 12/18

#OptionsExpiration

Expiring:
$AAPL 12/18/2015 100 puts
$AAPL 12/18/2015 105 puts
$AMZN 12/18/2015 615 puts
$APA 12/18/2015 60 calls (covered)
$BOIL 12/18/2015 30 calls (covered)
$CMG 12/18/2015 475 puts
$CRI 12/18/2015 85 puts
$CRI 12/18/2015 87.50 puts
$CYBR 12/18/2015 35 puts
$DUST 12/18/2015 25 calls (covered)
$DUST 12/18/2015 30 calls
$DUST 12/18/2015 35 calls
$GMCR 12/18/2015 60 puts
$KOLD 12/18/2015 185 puts
$KORS 12/18/2015 45 calls (covered)
$NSC 12/18/2015 75 puts
$NUGT 12/18/2015 35 calls
$SVXY 12/18/2015 75 calls (covered)
$SVXY 12/18/2015 70 calls (covered)
$SVXY 12/18/2015 45 puts
$SVXY 12/18/2015 40 puts
$TRIP 12/18/2015 60 puts
$URI 12/18/2015 65 puts
$UVXY 12/18/2015 70 calls
$UVXY 12/18/2015 80 calls
$UVXY 12/18/2015 95 calls
$VRX 12/18/2015 85 puts
$VXX 12/18/2015 44 calls
$WHR 12/18/2015 130 puts
$ZSL 12/18/2015 65 calls
$ZSL 12/18/2015 67.50 calls
$ZSL 12/18/2015 70 calls
$ZSL 12/18/2015 77.50 calls

Assignments (stock being called away):
$GMCR 12/18/2015 55 calls

Assignments (going long stock):
$KMI 12/18/2015 35 puts

Have a great weekend everyone.

UVXY after hours

#VXXGame filled at 4:12 ET

STO $UVXY Dec 24th 50 calls for .67
STO $UVXY Jan 15th 150 calls for .85

Options Expiration 12/18/15

#OptionsExpiration

Expiring with 100% profit:
$SPX 2145/2170 call spreads
$AZO 700 puts
$BOIL 25, 30, 65 calls
$DUST 30 call
$FDS 155 puts
$KOLD 170, 185, 195, 200 puts
$UVXY 20 puts
$VLO 72 call
$VLO 67.5 put (covered)
$ZSL 65 and 67.5 calls

No assignments.
Oh, what do we have in store for the coming weeks?

Calm dump?

As much as $SPX was dumping at the end, the $VIX was pretty calm.

#OptionsExpiration

Today’s expirations, don’t have many left, took profits on most positions earlier in the week.  Will be away from the computer for the rest of the day.  Have a great weekend everyone.

$BOIL $30 calls

$KOLD $100 puts

$KOLD $110 puts

$UVXY $25 puts

TLT long

#LongOptions BTO $TLT Jan 15th 123 calls for 1.69
BTO $TLT Feb 123 calls for 2.50

Small positions, but long calls in TLT paid me well in past corrections.

UVXY puts

Just gotta take the gains on this in such a short time since it was a decent size position.

Bought to Close UVXY DEC 24 2015 27.0 Puts @ .43 (sold for .82 this morning)

SPX closed

#SPXcampaign BTC $SPX Jan 14th 1875/1850 put spreads for 2.15. Sold yesterday for 1.25. I am not carrying any bullish index positions through the weekend.

Hedge

BTO $VIX Jan 19th 19 calls for 3.00

$SVXY #ShortPuts – Sold SVXY…

$SVXY #ShortPuts – Sold SVXY DEC 24 2015 41.0 Puts @ 0.46 on a market order. These expire in 4 days with the strike price below the recent low

$SVXY #ShortPuts – Bought to…

$SVXY #ShortPuts – Bought to close SVXY Dec 18 2015 50.0 Puts @ 1.85 to avoid assignment.
Originally sold in April at 3.90.

$SVXY #ShortPuts – Bought to…

$SVXY #ShortPuts – Bought to close 1 SVXY Dec 18 2015 50.0 Put @ 1.95 to avoid assignment. Originally sold in July at 3.70.

$DUST

STO Jan 15 $25 calls @ $.70

Had to dip my toe.

$IYT #ShortPuts – Bought to…

$IYT #ShortPuts – Bought to close IYT DEC 18 2015 135.0 Puts @ 1.95 to avoid assignment. Originally sold at 3.18

Feed a KOLD, starve a BOIL

#ContangoETFs #Rolling $KOLD calls while KOLD puts and $BOIL calls expire today.

BTC KOLD Dec 200 calls for 13.20
STO KOLD Jan 255 call for 13.60
STO KOLD Feb 300 call for 16.00

UVXY

Sold to open January 2017, 170 call @10.70 adding to position but staying small.

BTO LNKD BF Dec4 227.5/217.5/207.5 Puts 2.48

also did STO Jan5 $UVXY 25/20 BuPS 1.90

$UVXY

STO Jan 15 $150 calls @ $1.50

WHR Short Puts

Borrowing a page from Iceman’s falling knife playbook.
Sold $WHR Mar 18 2016 110 put @ 1.26. I’ll take the stock at the strike in March if it comes down another 25% from these levels. Stock hasn’t traded at 110 in 2 1/2 years.
This replaces a 130 put expiring today. I’m also short a January 120 put. I keep selling out of the money puts on this stock and they keep expiring.

$KOLD #ShortCalls – Sold 1…

$KOLD #ShortCalls – Sold 1 KOLD May 20 2016 320.0 Call @ 23. Adding to my position at the top of the chain.

$UVXY #CoveredCalls #VXXGame – sold…

$UVXY #CoveredCalls #VXXGame – sold all these using market orders. Short trading week and the strike prices are above the recent peak.

Sold 1 UVXY Dec 24 2015 44.0 Call @ 1.29
Sold 1 UVXY Dec 24 2015 44.5 Call @ 1.28
Sold 1 UVXY Dec 24 2015 45.0 Call @ 1.24
Sold 1 UVXY Dec 24 2015 46.0 Call @ 1.10

$UVXY STO BuPS Jan. 31…

$UVXY STO BuPS Jan. 31 25/20 for .84-idea came from here-thanks

$UVXY #ShortPuts – sold the…

$UVXY #ShortPuts – sold the following to replace the strike 27 puts I just bought back at a penny.
Sold UVXY Dec 24 2015 23.5 Puts @ 0.14
Sold UVXY Dec 24 2015 24.5 Puts @ 0.29
These expire Thursday in a short trading week.

$UVXY #ShortCalls #VXXGame – Sold…

$UVXY #ShortCalls #VXXGame – Sold UVXY JAN 15 2016 85.0 Calls @ 1.50.

$DOV #ShortPuts – Bought to…

$DOV #ShortPuts – Bought to close DOV Dec 18 2015 60.0 Puts @ 0.50 to avoid assignment.
Originally sold at 1.30

STO IBF Dec PCLN 1290/1300/1300/1310…

STO IBF Dec PCLN 1290/1300/1300/1310 for 8.80 Day Trade

$UVXY #RiskManagement – Bought to…

$UVXY #RiskManagement – Bought to close UVXY Dec 18 2015 27.0 Puts @ 0.01.
Originally Sold on 12/14/2015 at an average of 0.50.

UVXY puts

Just a starter for now hoping to add more. Seems like decent premium even with UVXY up a little. These are margin free and replacing a bunch of 27’s from this week.

Sold UVXY DEC 24 2015 27.0 Puts @ .82

SPX calls closed

#SPXcampaign BTC $SPX Dec 24th 2110/2135 call spreads for .20. Sold for 2.00 last Friday as a #ReverseRoll from stopped put spread. This spread got up above 4.00 on Wednesday after Fed.

UVXY calls

Treading carefully. I have high offers in on some of the January weeklies. Just got filled on this one.
Sold $UVXY Jan 22 (weekly) 80 call @ 1.80. Highest strike.

#VXXGame

$AMZN iron condor

STO Dec 24 710/700/630/620 for 1.50
AMZN has been rather range bound and no real stimulus for it up or down in the next week.

FDX earnings butterfly

#Earnings #ironbutterfly
BTC $FDX Dec 18th short 149 puts & calls for 1.45. Sold on Wednesday for 4.15, so 2.70 profit. Thanks for the idea, @mortlightman!

$UVXY #RiskManagement – Bought to…

$UVXY #RiskManagement – Bought to close UVXY Dec 18 2015 26.5 Puts @ 0.01.
Originally sold on 12/14/15 at 0.35/0.40/0.45

$SVXY

BTC Dec 31 $64 calls @ $0.05

$UVXY

STO Dec 31 $56 calls @ $1.00

Quadruple Witching could add to Volatility

The exceptionally large Open Interest in options expiring this week could increase volatility on Friday and move stocks lower. It could also move them higher, but given where Futures are before the open, down seems to be the new black. As our VIX Indicator is currently under FOUR warnings (see side bar on the right), the risk is to the Downside.

The massive expiration was explained further on Fast Money last night: http://www.cnbc.com/2015/12/17/a-massive-expiration-has-traders-on-edge.html

#futures

SPX calls closed

#SPXcampaign BTC $SPX Dec 31st 2165/2190 call spreads for .20. Sold for 1.25 on Dec 4th.

Well… that escalated quickly. Didn’t…

Well… that escalated quickly. Didn’t see this one coming. A move to $42 in UVXY the next 7 days would really hurt me.

SPX after hours trading

For those that don’t know, you can trade $SPX options from 3am to 9:15am ET weekday mornings, and also from 4p to 4:15p after the market closes. You may need to contact your broker to set up this ability.

What I wasn’t sure about was Monthly expiration options, which stop trading at Thursday’s close but whose settlement price is set after Friday’s open. I just confirmed you CAN trade these until 4:15pm on Thursdays (I closed a 1-lot 1975/1950 put spread that expires in the morning for .10 at 4:05pm)

#SPXcampaign

$SVXY #ShortPuts – probably didn’t…

$SVXY #ShortPuts – probably didn’t need to spend the money but it was a big position
Bought to close 10 SVXY Dec 18 2015 45.0 Puts @ 0.05.
Sold these on 04/22/15 @ 2.95