Friday, December 20, 2013

16-3 for December, grade C-


16 winners, 3 losers for the December option cycle. Unfortunately, all 3 losers were painful, with the worst at about 900% basis the premium collected. I apologize taht I didn't report all the trades on the blose. 
As almost always with options, could have been better, could have been worse. I reported closing out my short puts on LGF, and I would have had a 100% gain instead of a -175% loss had I held on. On the other side, I close some Dec 85 APC puts while the stock was around 84.5. Had I held on, that loss would have snowballed. I close my short Dec 80 puts while the stock was near its lows near 75 for about a 900% loss basis the initial premium. It wasn't a good month.

As I often write, fast markets are not my friend. While other more nimble traders thrive on fast moving prices, my trading often suffers. My trading account was down just a tad (less than 1%) for the month. Given all circumstances, I was tempted to bump up my grade. Closing each loser was a rational decision. However, with the stock market at record highs, and my account down for the month, there is only so much rationalizing I can justify. Unlike some others on the Internet, I do report my losers as well as my winners.

Going forward:
Long BA BRKB GDX IWM IYR TM XOP XRT
Net long SPY
Net short APC

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