Closed MON Covered Call and Sold a New Naked Put

Two days ago I sold covered calls on MON on top of the 100 shares I own (long).  Today I bought those calls back for a profit.  While MON was trading at $79.93 a few minutes after opening this morning I bought to close my MON November 90 covered call (MONKU) for $3.20 and paid $330.74 with commissions.  Originally I sold the call and received $539.25.  That left me with a realized profit of $208.51.  MON has fallen $15.00 since I sold the call two days ago, so clearly a better move would have been to buy a put.

My logic on this one is that MON is in a trading range between roughly $75 and $95.  That’s why I bought the call back.  I think MON will go back up soon.  If so, I’ll probably sell a new call and might buy a put again.  With this belief that MON will come off this low again, I sold another naked put.  While MON was trading at $76.59, just seven minutes later, my limit order hit and I sold one November 60 naked put (MONWL) at $2.60 and received $249.25 after commissions.  Since I’m already long 100 shares with a cost around $87.00 (I think, didn’t double check though) I didn’t want to sell a new naked put too close to at the money.  I’m just trying to nibble at the profit on this one for now.  It appears to be heading into a long term hold for me.

This is a different approach than I’ve taken over the past few years.  I didn’t used to buy options back early, but see a need to change my ways.  Also, if I’m going to change to increase my number of trades per month, I’ll have to make a move to a new brokerage sooner than later to save on commissions.  Many of you have beaten me over the head with logic, but I’ve resisted.  I didn’t feel I was trading enough to make it worth the switch.  Now I do.  I know Interactive Brokers is a big favorite of option traders.  What other brokers do you use and recommend and why?