Had the month lasted one day longer I wouldn’t have had to post that the Dow Jones ($DJI) was beating me for the past 12 months. I had a $2200+ rally on Friday that made all the difference and put me ahead of the Dow again. That’s how simple this thing can be. What a…
Monthly Summary – January 2008
I gave back a lot of profits this month and I’m glad the month is over, if only that also guaranteed my losses were done. Actually I feel pretty good about my holdings right now and still expect to finish the year up nicely. For the first time since I started this blog, a major…
More Option Trades – AA, MO and CAT
I’ve been debating my next move on AA since I wrote about it a couple of days ago here. I decided to wait to see how the markets reacted to whatever the Fed did today. AA was down and up and down and up. I happened to exit my Feb 27.50 calls (AABY) while it…
MRO Rising
I had another good day today (up $1200+) as the time value on my 20 options erodes running up to the February expiration. With stocks rebounding still I’ve also gained on intrinsic value going my way finally. AA is getting tricky again and I might have to exit part f it tomorrow, unless I decide…
NASDAQ Composite ($COMPX) Chart – January 25, 2008
I’ve charted the Dow Jones Industrial Average (btw, it just changed its ticker to $DJI from $INDU) the past few weekends, so I’m switching it up today to chart the NASDAQ Composite ($COMPX). This is a three year weekly chart. I marked the top circle as “A”. I thought it was interesting to see that…
Know your Options when Selling Options
If you are going to enter into the world of selling options you have to know your options (pun intended) and the risks that come with each. I love to sell options because I like receiving premiums rather than paying premiums, much like an insurance company. Option selling strategies can vary greatly. I’ve done very well with selling…
Time Value to the Rescue
I’ve sold a lot of options in the past few days and now have a lot of time value to erode in the next three weeks. Here’s a snapshot of the positions I’m short and the time value associated with each. For February, I have $4,703.00 remaining in Time Value (Theta) and for February I…
More Trades – Getting (a little) more Delta Neutral
I was down by almost $3200 again today by the end of my lunch break. That’s when everything changed. I ended the day up almost $350. I sold 2 MRO Feb 50 calls (MROBJ) and received $149.50 after commissions. This trade was to cover my Feb 50 puts and give me more cushion to the…
Shorting Shutterfly (SFLY) and trying to Dump MOT
I wrote this yesterday, Tuesday, January 22nd. I thought I published it and apparently only hit save. Anyway, here’s a post from yesterday with already dated info. At the end of lunch today, MOT was trading back and forth over 12.00. I bit the bullet and sold an at-the-money group of covered calls. While MOT was…