What a crazy options expiration day today was! I took the opportunity to open four new positions as my old positions expired worthless. The options for September were already available for SPY, GES, NDAQ and EEM and my July options were far (enough) out of the money so I started with those and will catch up with UCO on Monday…
Author: Alex Fotopoulos
Current Portfolio – July 14, 2010
I pulled my current portfolio this morning to show what I have right now going into Friday’s option expiration. I look good on my four July expiration naked puts and expect them to all stay out of the money for the next three days. My July covered calls are out of the money, except for EEM which…
S&P 500 Chart – July 9, 2010
I charted the S&P 500 Index ($SPX) after the markets closed on Friday, 7/9/10, after it finished the week at 1,077.96.
Sold VXX Naked Puts
This is an interesting trade to me because it’s a derivative on a derivative. VXX is the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN. In other words it’s an “ETF-like product” that tracks the VIX, although not at a beta of one. The VXX is less volatile than the VIX. My plan is to take…
DJIA Chart – July 2, 2010
I charted the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU, DJIA, $DJI) after the markets closed on Friday, 7/2/10, after it finished the week at 9,686.48.
Month End Summary – June 2010
I finished June with a combined balance of $102,037.08 ($90,788.28 in IB and $11,218.80 in AMTD). As always, Quicken is showing a slightly different total balance of $102.188.35. I ended May with a balance of $105,869.10 which means I was down $3,832.02 on paper in June. Although I lost on paper, I finished June with a realized gain of $1,785.82. That’s completely…
2010 Stock Picks Contest – Q2 Review
We’re half way through the 2010 Stock Picks contest that we started based on closing prices at the end of 2009. The rules of the contest are simple. We pick four stocks or ETFs and hold them for the full year. Dividends are included in the overall gain/loss percentages. We are not allowed to make adjustments during the…
S&P 500 Chart – June 25, 2010
I charted the S&P 500 ($SPX) after the markets closed on Friday June 25, 2010 when it closed for the week at 1,076.76.
Sold AVAV Covered Calls
I tried to sell my AVAV shares on Monday, but it didn’t make it high enough to hit my limit order so today I changed my plan. I decided to keep the shares and sell covered calls instead. While AVAV was trading at $24.75 my order finally hit and I sold two AVAV August 25 covered…