I sold my 200 SSO (2 x S&P 500 ETF) for $24.64 and received $4917.98 after commissions at 3:45 this afternoon. It hit $24.83 a few minutes earlier and once I saw it starting to turn south I jumped out with a market order. I feared a limit order wouldn’t trade quickly enough in a falling equity this late in the day and didn’t want to risk that. Eight minutes later SSO was trading down to $23.31 only to rally back to $23.90 and then close at $23.65 a few minutes after that. Around 3:30-3:40, I charted the past three months and saw $SPX.X was hitting a descending trend line of lower highs, so I decided I should get out while I could. I waited as long as I could to see if the end of the day rally would pull a miracle for me and bring me above my purchase price of $25.00 (cost $5019.99), but decided getting out near the high of the day was more important.
I received $248.50 from selling the November 25 naked puts (SOJWY) that “earned” me these shares. I lost $102.01 on the shares. That gave me an overall profit of $146.49 for these two trades. Throw in the $174.51 I made from the SSO November 22 puts I bought back and this trade wasn’t so bad. That’s if I continue to block out the fact that I could’ve closed both of these for much more profit two weeks earlier. That’s spilled milk and can only look at what I have now.
I finished the day up nearly 19% and still have $28,124 on margin, but my account balance is up to $42,904 aided by the $6,815 gain today. I might regret not dumping more sooner if/when the markets decide it’s too early to rally for long. Until then I’m slowly stepping into my exit on each position. If this two day rally doesn’t look like it has legs, I’ll dump things sooner, maybe with in the money covered calls on some. I still like the stocks I own long term, but in the short term there’s more damage to come most would agree. The problem with selling most of my stocks is that each one won’t bring me much cash if I sell since they are all so depressed in price. I’d have to sell more than my three most expensive and those are probably the ones worth holding.