I ended October with a combined balance of $115,827.52 ($102,456.69 with Interactive Brokers and $13,370.83 with TD Ameritrade) including the deposit of $2,500 I made in the first half of the month. After ending September with a combined balance of $114,216.93, I lost $1,610.59 on paper for October and had a realized gain for the month of $488.06. That…
Author: Alex Fotopoulos
S&P 500 Chart – October 29, 2010
I charted the S&P 500 ($SPX) on Friday, 10/29/10, after it closed for the week at 1,183.26.
Current Positions – October 28, 2010
I pulled the list of my current positions this afternoon and pasted it below. With some of these short put positions giving me more than a 6-7% cushion and some of my covered calls more than 6-7% in the money I have been very tempted to go even farther out on a limb and sell more options. …
Dow Jones Chart – Facing a Big Hurdle
I charted the Dow Jones ($DJIA, $INDU, $DJI) after the markets closed on Friday, October 22, 2010 when the index finished the week at 11,132.56.
Sold BA and MDY Naked Puts
As my VXX position continues to drop in value I continue falling behind the indices’ returns each day the markets move higher. While I don’t think they’ll continue this trajectory forever, I hate missing the ride while it lasts. With VXX still sitting there as my hedge in case of a reverse course for the market…
Sold ITRI December Covered Calls
I bought back my Itron, Inc. (ITRI) October 60 covered calls on Friday, but waited until today to have access to the December options to sell new calls. I think ITRI is on the come back and so this time I aimed higher with my strike. While ITRI was trading at $62.46 this morning I sold…
S&P 500 Chart – October 16, 2010
I charted the S&P 500 ($SPX) after the markets closed on Friday, 10/16/10, when it closed the week at 1,176.19.
Options Expiration – October 2010
I only have a few options expiring today with mixed results. The rest of my portfolio is weighted to November’s expiration. If nothing drastic happens in the next few trading days, I’ll start working towards building up my options for December’s expiration and move deeper into potential margin, all the while hoping that any correction is…
Sold GLD Vertical Put Spread
I’ve been getting left behind in this rally mainly thanks to my long position on VXX. Also a lot of my naked puts are getting fairly far out of the money and covered calls are deep in the money. That means a lot of the time value has already evaporated, so each positive day in the markets…