Weekly: Bass-akwards

The week felt backwards to me. I thought we might get a decline into Fed day and then a small rally. Instead, there was a rally, then a decline, for a slightly down week. As a premium seller, I came out with a profit.

Highlights include lots of options expiring worthless, especially in IBB and SPY, plus new long positions in BABA CLR (already closed) PANW V. I am out of NFLX, which is currently my worst trading ticker for 2015. Might be best to avoid it for a while. The monthly report will be out in a little while.

Here are the trades (p = puts, c = calls, weeklies are indicated by the W suffix, eg: OctW1 is October week one, all the rest are third week options).

FriSell IWM Oct 122 c @115.8 Rebalance in Russell 2000

Cover (buy to close) SPY SepW4 191 p @195.8 I take a 15% profit on this leg while it is still in the green.

Sell HON Oct 105 c @98.8 Rebalance in Honeywell.

Sell SKX OctW1 160 c @140.6 Hedge sold puts by selling calls on Sketchers.

Cover (buy to close) CLR Oct 21 p @27.6 I don't like the action in Continental Resources so get out for a 40% profit.

Wed Close two trades for a buck per contract to free up buying power:

Cover (buy to close) SPY Sep 155 p / Cover NFLX 130 c

Sell SKX Oct 120 p @142 Open an October long position in Sketchers

Sell IWM Oct 105 p @116.6 Add more long stock market delta in the Russell 2000 etf. I am net short on SPY, and am doing some offsetting longs in IWM because the margin requirement is lower.

Tue Sell SPY Sep 191 p @198.4 Rebalance in the S&P 500 etf.

Sell IBB SepW4 325 p @357.8 Rebalance in the biotech etf.

Sell SPY SepW4 191 p @198.5 Rebalance in the S&P 500 etf (again). 

 

Sell IWM Oct 107 p @115.8 Add stock market delta via the Russell 2000 etf.

Sell PANW Oct 155 p @183.5 New long position in Palo Alto Networks. 

 

Mon Sell BABA Oct 45 p @62.0 New long position in Alibaba. BABA down because of a bearish cover story in Barrons. Sure it could decline, but buying puts based on negative cover stories tends to be a losing strategy. This means selling puts tends to be the percentage play.

Sell V Oct 62.5 p @70.0 New long position in Visa.