While the markets were on a steady slide lower since the beginning of May I let my overall equity exposure slip away some. This was nice on the way down, but with what I see as limited downside remaining I’ve started to build my exposure up again with shorter dated options. I spent some time…
New Naked Puts on QCOM and CSX
I’ve mentioned a couple of times recently that I was considering QCOM as one of my next trades. I finally got around to it today. While QCOM was trading at $54.27 I sold one QCOM August $52.50 naked put for $1.80 and received $179.64 after commissions. I only sold one contract to start with and…
Russell 2000 Index Chart – June 24, 2011
I charted the Russell 2000 Index ($RUT) after it closed on Friday, June 24, 2011 at 797.79. Just as the S&P 500 has done recently, the Russell 2000 found support at its 200 day moving average (dma) and bounced. The difference is that the small cap index bounced better than the large cap index and…
UCO Chart + New Option Strangle Details
I almost made this trade yesterday while I was thinking of it, but luckily I chose to wait a day and was able to get in with a slightly better premium on the put. I don’t think the call lost as much since it is farther out of the money. I entered this trade as…
Closed UCO Covered Call
As I mentioned when I sold this covered call I wasn’t really convinced it was the right order to place. I cut off my upside potential too low and had seller’s remorse right away. I almost bought it back a couple of times over the past few days, but kept thinking we’d get another blip…
DSX – Added 3 Option Legs
My three Diana Shipping Inc. (DSX) puts were assigned to me on Friday when they expired in the money and I was forced to buy 300 shares today. I spent some time trying to decide what options to sell to go along with these 300 shares. I knew I was going to sell covered calls. I…
SPX Chart – Are We There Yet?
I charted the S&P 500 ($SPX) after it finished the week at 1,271.50 on Friday, June 17, 2011, just above its 200 day moving average (dma). Two weeks ago when I last posted an SPX Chart I said if we saw another 3-4% move to the downside the risk/reward would shift in favor of adding…
Options Expiration – June 2011
June wasn’t the prettiest options expiration I’ve had. My covered calls expired out of the money leaving me farther below my purchase price for the shares and my puts expired in the money. That’s basically the opposite of how I like it to roll out at expiration, so I’m adjusting my stance. I’m somewhat more…
Exercised VXX Put and Closed SSO Put
I’ve been debating buying back the SSO June 50 naked put I sold last December and mentioned it last week in my rambling post. SSO was trading at $47.89 back then. Today while SSO was trading at $49.21 I bought this SSO June $50 put back for $1.03 and paid $104.02 with commissions. That gave…