Some months are crazier than others. My ex-wife moved back in with me on the last day of July. My girlfriend is cool with it. The catalyst was that she, at age 48, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. We knew she had dementia, but didn’t know what “type” until the Coronavirus lockdown allowed hospitals to resume…
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…
SPY Chart – YTD Through July 2, 2020
The chart below shows the daily prices for SPY, an ETF that tracks the S&P 500 Index, after closing the week at $312.23 on July 2, 2020. SPY is up more than 43% from its intraday low on March 23, but has struggled since hitting a three-month high on June 8, nearly a month ago….
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…
Options Expiration – June 2020
I have three different option contracts expiring worthless today. My five TLT June $145 covered puts are nearly $16 out of the money and give me a realized gain of $288.41. However, I paid $213.19 in dividends and $25.90 in short interest for my short position. The difference is a net gain of $49.32. My…
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…
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,…
Options Expiration – May 2020
I only had one option contract remaining today for May options expiration. My one IWM May $110 naked put will finish nearly $15 out of the money. Yesterday was the closest IWM traded to my strike for the past month, but was still more than $7 out of the money. I could’ve rolled the put…
Month End Summary – April 2020
April was a much better month for those who were positioned for a bounce. Since I have so much of my account allocated to shorting TLT, I didn’t get as big of a recovery yet, but I know it’ll come eventually. My account did get a bump from TLT option values falling some, but TLT…