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Sold ABNB and TLT Puts
I’ve been waiting for a good opportunity to sell a put to cover my short TLT shares and the recent dip I decided I should go ahead and take some more profit before it bounced again. While TLT was trading at $143.77, I sold one TLT November $140 covered put for $1.5 and received $149.38 after paying $0.62 in commission. I waited much longer than I thought I would to pull the trigger on this option, but I didn’t think TLT would stay above $150 for long and didn’t want to sell the put while premiums were so weak. Selling an extra naked call would’ve been good while TLT was up, but I didn’t get to it. While I was in a … [Read More...]
End of the Month Summary – August 2021
Sticking with last month’s theme, I’ll keep this relatively short because my right hand is still not anywhere close to 100% and I need to focus on my clients’ accounts over updating my blog. As luck would have it, I had no realized gains in August, so that makes this summary much easier. I ended July with a Net Asset Value (NAV) of $136,923.22 according to Interactive Brokers (IB) after ending July with a balance of $135,632.37. That gives me a gain of $1,290.85 (~1%) on paper. I sold a QQQ covered call and a TLT covered put during August, which could both be closed this month, even though the QQQ option is for an October expiration. My TLT position cost me $5.17 in … [Read More...]
Covered TLT and QQQ Options
After saying in my update a week and a half ago that I thought I’d sell a covered call on my QQQ shares and a covered put on my TLT short shares fairly soon, I finally got around to making both trades today. TLT is off its highs and might have a decent amount more to slide, but I decided to go ahead and sell a covered put to cover my cost of shorting the shares in the forms of short interest and short dividends I pay out. While TLT was trading at $145.92, I sold one TLT September $140 put for $0.69 and received $68.37 after paying $0.63 in commission. I almost went out as far as October for this trade, but decided I could … [Read More...]
Options Expiration – July 2021
The only July option I had coming into today was one ABNB July $135 naked put. This contract was the last option I sold back in June. ABNB was trading at $147.92 when I made my opening trade last month and today, I closed it for a profit after ABNB fell more than $14.00 over the past five weeks. ABNB had a rough day today and until this afternoon I thought I would take a full profit, but I had to close my position with just over 5 minutes left in the trading day. While ABNB was trading at $134.33 I bought to close one ABNB July $135 naked put for $75.63, including $0.63 in commission. This trade gave me a realized gain of $204.74 on an option … [Read More...]
End of the Month Summary – April 2021
It’s good to take a break sometimes. I made no trades in March other than letting my two options expire worthless. I could’ve made a bit more money in the month that that saw the Dow gain 2.71% and the S&P 500 gain 5.24%, but I had a lot on my plate and took the time to focus on my clients’ accounts and other distractions I’ve had. Thankfully, I still made money. I ended April with a Net Asset Value (NAV) of $133,385.58 according to Interactive Brokers (IB) after ending March with a balance of $131,455.06. That gives me a gain of $1,930.52 (~1.47%) on paper. I had two closing trades in April to give me a realized gain of $1,027.89, including the … [Read More...]
Month End Summary – October 2020
October worked out well for me since I more than made up for my September losses and saw my account balance improve as the major indexes lost ground. I timed my QQQ covered call well, but should’ve used a lower strike (at least so far). My TLT position played the main roll for my account’s success in October and still has a lot more room for gains. I would’ve done even better if I had sold more naked calls, but I opted to reduce my risk and didn’t replace my October calls. I will, but want to see how the election reaction plays out. Hopefully, I can make another move later this week if not next week. My account ended October with a … [Read More...]
Partially Rolled TLT Naked Calls
TLT has been trading above my naked calls strike off and on for the past couple of weeks. I thought it could be smart to remove some risk yesterday when TLT was trading above $172. I don’t think it’ll continue to trade at these levels too long, but the risk of being assigned another 500 shares started sounding less appealing as it continues to push higher. Instead of closing the full position, I opted to partially close my exposure. While TLT was trading at $170.13, I bought to close three TLT August $170 calls for $1.95 each and paid $586.12 including $1.12 in commission. That gave me a realized gain of $18.92 with two more contracts still at play. I’d love to pocket the remaining … [Read More...]
Sold QQQ Covered Call
After missing opportunities in late August to sell a covered call on my 100 QQQ shares, I finally pulled the trigger today after seeing QQQ recover most of its losses from the past month and a half. While QQQ was trading at $294.70, I sold one QQQ December $305 covered call for $10.76 and received $1,075.34 after paying $0.66 in commission. I bought these 100 QQQ shares after being assigned the stock at $225 from an April naked put that I sold back in February when QQQ was trading at $231.67. Contrary to my typical trading plan, I opted to hold onto my shares without selling a covered call as I saw QQQ as the best opportunity for growth. That plan has worked out for me so far, but … [Read More...]
Options Expiration – October 2020
I expected the final monthly options expiration before the election to provide some volatility and we got a little, but not as much as I thought we might get. My only concern for this account today was how TLT behaved. My October options finished well out of the money. My five TLT October $155 covered puts expired worthless along with my one TLT October $165 naked call and my three TLT October $170 naked calls. My covered puts gave me a realized gain of $222.41 after I deduct the short dividends payments of $176 I made in September and October from the $398.41 I received in premiums. I made a realized gain of $1,319.02 from my three $170 strike naked calls and an additional realized gain of … [Read More...]
Options Expiration – August 2020
I had two legs of options on TLT that expired worthless today. Both gave me a full profit. My two TLT August $170 naked calls finished with a realized gain of $403.36. My five TLT August $145 covered puts brought in $320.55 when I sold them, but I paid $190.90 in dividends in July and August on top of the $39.34 in short interest I paid. The net total gave me a realized gain of $90.31 on these puts. I didn’t sell the puts with a focus on bringing in another profit stream, but instead was only trying to cover my costs of holding the short position. So, the puts did what I hoped and left the door open to profits if TLT had fallen quickly … [Read More...]
Options Expiration – July 2020
Today’s options expiration decision making took me about three seconds. I only have one option left for July expiration, my one IWM July $123 naked put. It’s more than $23 out of the money and expiring worthless to give me a realized gain of $803.34. IWM was trading at $124.52 when I made the trade and late in the trading day today, IWM is at $146.62. After mid-June, the low trades were in the $136-137 range as it bounced along in a sideways trading channel. On Wednesday, IWM pulled above its trend line of lower highs, but I’m not convinced we aren’t going to see it move lower before we break out meaningfully. Due to my concern about the downside risk and … [Read More...]
End of Month Summary – June 2020
June was another positive month for my account. I didn’t break any records with my gains, but my account balance did improve more than the Dow and S&P 500 indexes again. Small-caps, mid-caps, and the NASDAQ beat me for the month, but I’m ahead of all, except the NASDAQ, for the year-to-date and the past 12 months. TLT remains as my biggest holding (as a short) and moved against me slightly, but my options on it made up the difference and then some. QQQ was my biggest gainer with an improvement of $1,424. I had planned to sell a covered call on it, but I decided to let it continue to climb unrestrained since I don’t have a lot of other … [Read More...]
Month End Summary – May 2020
May was another good month for my account as stocks climbed and bond yields rose. My biggest opportunity for gains is in TLT still. With 500 shares short and additional naked calls in play, I have more upside potential from TLT’s decline than from another other position. I’m gaining on my equity naked puts too, but not as much and with a much lower cap on potential gains. My account performance remains much better than all indexes outside of the NASDAQ for the year-to-date and for the past 12 months. My account ended May with a Net Asset Value (NAV) of $99,621.81 according to Interactive Brokers (IB) after ending April with a balance of $95,384.17. I had a paper gain of $4,237.64 (+4.44%) on … [Read More...]
Sold August TLT Option Combo
My TLT option combination for June that reaches expiration Friday in two and a half weeks seems safe from being assigned. My strikes on the June options are $145 for the covered puts and $180 on the naked calls. I have a paper profit of $249 on the June puts, minus the $230 or so in short interest and dividends I’ve paid. My naked calls have a paper profit of $1,688 so far. The purpose of the puts is to pay for my short interest and dividend payments while I wait for the share price to drop again. That’s working. The naked calls are both another way to bring in profit and, if the new options are assigned, raise my average price per share from … [Read More...]
Squawk: European equity averages stay strong An erratic session on Tuesday…
European equity averages stay strong An erratic session on Tuesday with global equity markets rallying dipping and rebounding already this week but the underlying “risk on” theme remains intact…. [Read More...]
Sold TLT Option Combo – Naked Calls & Covered Puts
Idiot governors, such as my state’s Governor Kemp (Georgia), might make my trades today poorly timed. By opening up the state from our lockdown while cases are still trending higher, we can expect a sharp increase in COVID-19 cases again. That’s the general consensus, but the hope is that my fellow Georgia citizens are smarter than our governor and won’t fill bowling alleys, gyms, churches, and salons too quickly. I recognize that being smarter than Kemp is a low bar to beat and that’s why I’m hopeful. My plan from the beginning was to sell puts to go with my short position if I was assigned my first round of TLT naked calls. I also planned to add more naked calls if … [Read More...]
Month End Summary – January 2020
January was a blah month by the end. It began with what appeared to be a missed opportunity for me, but I remained cautious and waited for a better entry point. The result was that my account barely moved and is in between the losses of the Dow and S&P 500, which is not much. I’m still wary of what might cause the market to move in either direction. The coronavirus is developing still and we don’t know how much of an economic impact it will have. I expect a few more rough days in the near-term and then maybe the market will reset after a solid consolidation phase. If we have a relatively calm week, I might start dipping my toe deeper into … [Read More...]