I only had three option positions expire today. I was short (I sold them originally) all three. Here’s the short summary of how my August options ended at expiration:
- -4 ALL Aug 23 Put, (+ALLTF) – Finished far out-of-the-money (OTM) leaving me with a full profit.
- -3 USO Aug 33 Put, (+UBOTG) – Also finishe far OTM which left me with a full profit too.
- -1 MON Aug 75 Call, (+MONHO) – Finished deep in-the-money (ITM) and left me with a profit on the series of trades. My 100 shares will be called away Monday morning.
My goal for this month was to stay conservative, but in hind site I see I left a lot of money on the table. Had I been taking more risk the past few months I’d have more room for loss whenever the impending pullback comes. It could be that last Friday’s and the following Monday’s pullbacks were as good as we’re going to see for a while and I mistimed it again. With my Monsanto shares being assigned from my covered call I’ll be left completely in cash with only a couple of short positions in play for September – FCX Sept 55 puts and SSO 30/32 short straddle.
I’m considering taking on more risk soon, but with my new job starting in just over a week I might keep more cash on the sidelines as I don’t know how much time I’ll have to devote to investing after next week (until I get settled in). The weak volume of this week’s rally doesn’t make me a firm believer in its strength which could be the second reason to stay to the sidelines mostly in cash.
My trade yesterday to sell “unhedged” calls was probably less than smart. Trying to grab an extra $200 while risking much more doesn’t add up, but since I’m still not sitting on a loss (if they expired today) I’m letting them stay in place a little longer, unprotected. That’ll prove wise if we get another pullback next week or will prove stupid if this low volume rally continues. Instead of buying back those calls, I might roll my naked puts to a higher strike to bring in more cash to the series of trades. Either way, it’s not happening today. Even if the masses aren’t into this rally yet stocks prices are gaining and that’s what counts – what actually is happening, not what I wish was happening.