I ended up making a few option trades today, but not exactly as I planned to yesterday. I started off this morning with CVS. I traded CVS a while ago and been waiting for another good entry point. They’ve been down on news of their “fight” with Walgreens. News came out that they appear to have reached an agreement to continue their relationship and I decided that was my queue to enter another trade. While CVS was trading at $33.42 I sold to open three CVS August 33 naked puts at $1.43 each and received $426.85 after commissions. I should’ve waited and been more patient, but I expected CVS to start high and move higher. Instead it dipped from its opening highs and drifted down from there, but still remained higher for the day. With the premium I received I feel pretty comfortable with this trade over the next two months, even if I could’ve done better.
- GES, two $45.00 strike puts – I started to close these options for a loss today and even placed a limit order for about 15 minutes and then thought of a better approach. I checked the at-the-money options and saw I could potentially get a good return by selling covered calls on the shares I’ll be assigned after today. So, while GES was trading at $34.52 I sold two GES July $35 covered calls at $1.25 and received $248.57 after commissions. I think GES could fall another couple of dollars, but don’t think it’ll stay down there for too long.
- ITRI, one $80.00 strike put – I’ll be buying 100 shares of ITRI from this put, so I decided not to waste any more time value and while ITRI was trading at $68.16 I sold one ITRI August $75 covered call at $1.25 and received $123.99 after commissions. I got into ITRI originally as a long term position and still believe it has some upside potential that I don’t want to cap too low with a $70 strike covered call. If ITRI stays flat I at least get the premiums.
- CSX, two $52.50 strike covered calls – My 200 shares of CSX will be called away for $52.50 which is the price I bought the shares on the first naked puts I sold. With a high degree of certainty this morning that CSX wouldn’t fall below $52.50 before today’s close I made a new trade on CSX. While CSX was trading at $54.69 I sold two August $52.50 naked puts at $2.10 each and received $418.57 after commissions.
- AVAV, two $25.00 strike puts – AVAV dipped today, but I think it’ll recover on Monday or Tuesday, so I’m waiting on it. I’ll be buying 200 shares at $25 from these options and will try to sell them back above $25.00 and then resell naked puts for August expiration.
- INTC, three $24.00 strike puts – I’ll be buying 300 shares of INTC at $24.00 from these options. I’m waiting until next week to decide what strike call options, if any, I sell.
- MSFT, two $31.00 strike puts – I’ll be buying 200 shares of MSFT at $31.00 from these options. I’m waiting until next week to decide what strike call options, if any, I sell.
- MS, one $29.00 strike put – I’ll be buying 100 shares of MS at $29.00 from these options. I’m waiting until next week to decide what strike call options, if any, I sell. I might add another naked put to this position too.
- LLY, three $33.00 strike covered calls – I planned to roll these covered calls, but decided to free up some cash with so many of my puts being assigned and the addition of my CVS puts too. So, I’ll be selling these shares with the option assignment.