Thursday, March 29, 2012

Sell SLV (cover short puts) & buy TLT (sell puts)

I buy back my SLV short Apr 29 puts with SLV@31.1

SLV (silver ETF) not acting well. I close my position after 14 days for a 32% profit basis the initial credit. Again, the return on capital is far lower than that 32% because it takes a lot more cash in the account to sell the puts than the price of the puts. Reported gains or losses are after commissions and fees.

Yesterday's loss on APC colors my decision. I decide to take a profit on SLV and take some risk off the table. The overall stock market has me skittish. My recent moves to sell puts on LGF (Lions Gate) aren't looking that smart either. Normally, today, the third down day in the stock market would be a good time to sell puts, but after about 45 trading days of mostly up, more time on the downside would be a normal reaction. Mostly the recent drop has erased the Bernanke induced pop.

/edit to add:
Buy TLT (sell puts) via selling May 104 puts with TLT@114.0

I initiate a small long position in the Treasury bond ETF. I missed the lows at TLT 110. I select puts that are 10 points out for a small premium.

Long AXP IBM LGF SPY TLT XRT
net long GLD IWM

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