Friday, January 15, 2016

Weekly: swept away


What comes to mind is a story from my youth. I would go to the beach, wade out into the water to swim. Some days the waves were big and powerful. With gentle swells a person can easily wade out. On the days with big waves, not so much. Sometimes the waves were so big that it knocked a person over. One or two times, the life guard had to come out and push me back to shore. 
 
That was this week in the stock market. I think I have the wave gauged, that I can make it. Then boom, the wave hits and it is more powerful than I anticipated and I go tumbling. I took some big losses. For the most part I followed my mental stops. With the trending move lower, losses were substantial. In round numbers, I am down about 5% in my trading account for 2016.

I traded too much, was too aggressive. Big losses in BA, DIS, IWM, TSO, VLO. Some other positions are deep-deep in the red, but haven't been closed yet. There were a few small potato winners, but overall it was a sea of red ink for me.

Mon Another wide ranging day. I get washed out near the lows on Boeing and the Russell 2000 etf. I initiate a new position in Under Armor as it moves lower on a downgrade.

Cover two legs of BA Jan 130 puts 200
one for about a 300% loss, the other at about 700%. Ouch. Boeing closed on Friday below 130 which is my mental stop level.

Sell BA Feb 145 c 53 Rebalance, I am still short Feb 125 puts.

Cover IWM Jan 103 p 167 about a 800% loss :(
Cover AMZN Jan 800 c 01 97% profit :)

Sell TSO Jan 80 c 30
Sell VLO Jan 72 c 15

Sell DIS Feb 110 c 43

Sell UA Feb 55 p 70
Sell UA Feb 90 c 15
Sell UA Jan 62.5 p 15

Sell VLO Jan 64.0 p 30

Tue I close out all my SPY puts (sell-to-close).
Close SPY Feb 182 p 170 about a 15% profit, long anticipated rally is happening.
Close SPY Mar 172 p 161 about a 17% profit.
Close SPY Apr 190 p 626 about a 16% profit

Cover (buy-to-close) DIS Jan 107 c 04 70% profit

Sell VLO Jan 65 p 18 rebalance
Sell VLO Feb 60 p 71 rebalance

Sell TSO Jan 97.5 p 27 rebalance

Wed Rally looks tepid, so I rebalance back towards neutral on the index etfs by selling calls

Sell SPY Feb 208 c 20
Sell SPY Mar 207 c 79
Sell SPY Apr 205 c 191

As the market drops, I cover some sold puts for big losses
Cover IWM Feb 101 p 211 about a 500% loss
Cover TSO Jan 97.5 p 226 about a 900% loss
Cover VLO Jan 65 p 74 about a 400% loss

Sell VLO Feb 75 c 61
Sell TSO Feb 120 c 47

As the market continues to tumble, I sell more calls, and buy some puts
Sell SPY Mar 207 c 62
Sell SPY Feb 204 c 51

Buy-to-open SPY Apr 188 p 677
Buy-to-open SPY Jan 191 p 191
sell-to-close late in the day 242 about 25% day trade gain

Cover TSO Feb 95 p 234 about a 500% loss

Cover IWM Feb 97 p 171 about a 500% loss

Cover VLO Jan 64 p 150 about a 600% loss
Cover VLO Feb 60 p 300 about a 800% loss

Cover SPY Jan 186 p 80 about a 90% loss

Thu Cover (sell-to-close) SPY Apr 188 p 776 about a 14% gain

Sell strangles: GPRO Feb 8 p 21
Sell GPRO Feb 20 c 16

Sell CMG Feb 325 p 175
Sell VLO Feb 55 p 66

Cover CMG Jan 480 c 30 about a 50% gain

Cover SPY Mar 207 c 66 about breakeven

Cover SPY Feb 204 c 52 about 10% loss
Cover SPY Apr 205 c 166 about a 15% gain

Fri Huge gap down on the open
Buy SPY Apr 187 p 827

Cover DIS Jan 97.5 170 for about a 700% loss

Sell SPY Feb 205 c 19
Sell SPY Mar 206 c 47
Sell SPY Mar 204 c 70

Sell CMG Feb 365 p 330

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