I let this week slide by without making any real attempt to open any new positions. The only order I entered was for ORCL March options, but left my limit price too high and ORCL only went up which left it outside of my portfolio. While the markets have been moving higher, I’m still cautious about it due to the low volume on the positive days compared to the higher volume on the down days. If I found an option I liked with an April expiration I might have gone for it. I have plenty set up for March expiration already so it’s time to look farther out for me.
February really turned around for me compared to how I thought it might end. My big mistake was closing my AXA position the day before it hit a near term low, more than $2 below its current price. I closed it to cut my losses, but I ended up just locking in losses I wouldn’t have had to take. I thought the US Dollar’s strength might be hurting AXA, but the dollar is close to where it was that day and AXA is up, so I was wrong. Apparently AXA was more weighted down by being a financial company and fell in sympathy. Anyway, I took the loss and moved on. The only other options I have expiring tomorrow are CVS, INTC, NDAQ and UCO.
The UCO options are covered calls with the strike sitting at the same price where the shares were assigned to me, $12.00. UCO is up nicely today, but could flip tomorrow. I’ll let the shares get called away if UCO will stay above $12.00 through closing tomorrow. If it drops, you’ll probably see me sell new covered calls farther out. If UCO stays up through tomorrow I’ll probably sell new naked puts next week, maybe down at the April $11 strike.
CVS moved back above my $33 strike and looks pretty safe to stay out of the money through tomorrow’s close. I’ll probably re-write new naked puts on CVS fairly soon. I still like the stock.
INTC is within a few cents of my $21 strike. I’ll probably roll those puts to April sometime during the day tomorrow. I’m happy with keeping INTC as a longer term hold. It might keep bouncing around, but I think the downside is limited.
NDAQ is deep enough in the money that it would be beyond shocking if th3se $20 strike puts aren’t assigned. I’m going to take the option assignment and wait for the April options to be posted most likely before selling new covered calls. The debate will be if I go for the $19 strike or the $20 strike. If I go with the $19 strike, assuming there is one for April, I might sell some new naked puts at a lower strike to go with it. I still think NDAQ will pull higher eventually, but since I can’t predict how far away that is I’m going to keep lowering my cost per share by selling options. My cost when these 300 shares are assigned will be $19.31. Selling new covered calls could bring me back to break even on paper.
Once all this dust settles, I might go back and recheck ORCL to see if it has come down to an area worth selling puts again. Having April options listed will help bring the premiums higher with an extra month of time value built in.