Saturday, February 13, 2016

Option trades for $1800....Alex!!!


Here are a few of my closed options transactions for the year. I have not been posting these as it takes too much time to go over the details of each transaction.

I started the year with long term Call purchases on CAT, WMT, and CSCO (CSCO still open and upside down but getting better recently), but have moved to shorter term contracts.

I also continue to sell covered Calls on XOM, BP, and Shell. Some of these are weekly Calls and some are longer term. I have been pretty lucky as I have not lost any shares yet. I do have an XOM $79 call expiring at the end of February that could be in jeopardy. No biggie. I'll just buy back the shares later or invest in something else.

The one put I purchased as you can see below was a $50 VZ that I closed out of pretty quick.

That fucking ESV continues to get me even in option trading....LOL.

Also I have noticed buying $29 BP calls and selling $32 BP covered calls has been working pretty well so far.

Anyway, I will be happy to answer any questions in the comments section.




DEFY MEDIOCRITY

6 comments:

  1. Not familiar with KSS. How did you find that one?

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    Replies
    1. Kss is Kohls. They had a rough quarter and I thought it might have a decent bounce. It was a quick trade for me with very little profit.

      MDP

      Delete
  2. Other than selling covered calls, I have never made much in Options buying. The time value erodes too quickly, the spread is a amount you have to cover, and the commissions are steep for a trade too.

    If I was going to trade options again, I would put a sell price 20% over what I paid, and let the market touch and sell. Most options expire worthless, you want to make sure it's the ones you sell, not own.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. NNL,

      Definitely a good strategy. I have sold many covered calls as well. It has really help lower my cost basis on several energy companies. I really like buying the calls better than selling the puts. If a stock sinks 50% you can end up being stuck with a lot of shares that are underwater. Conversely, buying the calls allows you the option of walking away from the trade altogether. I should have used this strategy more when buying oil names a couple of years back. I would have lost some option premiums, but I could have avoided share ownership.

      MDP

      Delete
  3. Which broker do you use for your options trades?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. IH,

      Capital One Investing (formerly known as Sharebuilder).

      MDP

      Delete