Sold an Options Strangle on TDW

After my 100 shares of Tidewater (TDW) closed below my covered call stike on Friday I decided to sell new covered calls while at the same time selling new naked puts at a lower strike.  While TDW was trading at $55.68 I sold one TDW October 55 covered call in the money and received $379.25 after commissions.  I followed that immediately by turning the covered call into a strangle and sold one TDW October 50 naked put out of the money and received $134.25 after commissions.

I debated if I should sell at the same strike or not.  After deciding not to sell at the same strike I had to choose what the two strikes would be.  I decided to sell slightly in the money with the covered call since the premiums are so good and I wanted to increase my chances for having more money in two months than I have now.  I’ll actually take a small loss on the series of trades, but I can’t base my decision on where to set my strike on the emotional tie of wanting a profit.  I have to focus on where I think TDW could be in two months.  I don’t think TDW will be below $50, so I sold the extra naked put there.  The upside could be above $60 again, but the premiums at the $55 strike on the calls made it worth a trade while reducing my downside risk.  Paring the trades into a strangle give me the chance to take a full profit on both when they expire if TDW closes between $50.00 and $55.00.  If that happens I’ll repeat the trade at the same strikes most likely.