2017 Year 652-66 Grade B-

I count 652 winners, 66 loser for the 2017 year. I am up about 18% for the year, which is right behind SPY. Overall, I am pleased. I’ll take +18% every time.

My best dollar winners over the course of the year:
BRKB NVDA TSLA SPG UNH

losers: BA PANW FL ULTA.

It was another remarkably calm market year. So many kept waiting for volatility to return, but for the most part, they were disappointed. So many on the Internet keep looking for a crash. Many lack the basic understanding that crashes are rare events. Real market crashes might be once every 20 to 30 years. Corrections, bear markets are more common. If we could time all the market hiccups we could print money.

Put sellers did very well, some call sellers saw losses. Many of my big loser trades involved sold calls.

Here are a few etfs and how they did in 2017:

EEM +34.6% emerging market equity
SPY +19.0% SP500, U.S. large cap

IWM +13.0% Russell 2000 U.S. small cap
GLD +12.8% gold

TLT +6.5% U.S. 20 year treasury bonds
SLV +5.8% silver

The main groups to lose money were bearish. One of these days, they will be right, but it wasn’t in 2017. Predictions tend to be for entertainment. Money management, risk management is where I tend to make my money. My predictions are no better than coin flips.

Two weeks of trades

Not much exciting as the year winds down. There was some minor selling at the end of the year. For now, I’ll just report. I’ll try to get a 2017 summary post up in the next few days.

12/26/17 Tue Apple dips on news, I sell some way otm calls on a few tech stocks. Retail has a good day. I missed the boat on Macys.
Sell AAPL Jan 185 c 19
Sell FB Jan 190 c 26

Sell NFLX Jan 210 c 20
Sell QQQ Jan 145 p 22

Sell SPY Feb 243 p 44
Sell TIF Jan 98 p 82

Wed I do my first butterfly ever. The concept is to land on the center strike to make a huge profit. I target SPY 245 in April.
SPY April butterfly for 46 debit:
Buy SPY Apr 255 p 307
Sell 2x SPY Apr 245 p 192 each
Buy SPY Apr 235 p 126

Sell NFLX Jan 172.5 p 56

12/18/17 Mon After third-week expiration, I have a mountain of buying power. I open a few positions, way out of the money.
Sell BABA Jan 150 p 47
Sell IBB Feb 95 p 40

Sell QQQ Jan 149 p 32
Sell SPY Jan 256 p 40

Tue Sell NVDA Jan 167.5 p 47
Sell AAPL Jan 155 p 27
Sell IWM Jan 143 p 27

Wed Sell MCD Feb 150 p 38
Sell QQQ Feb 135 p 29
Sell SPG Feb 145 p 57

Thu Sell FB Jan 160 p 37
Sell MSFT Jan 80 p 17
Sell NFLX Jan 160 p 40

Sell ROKU Jan 35 p 30
Sell XLU Feb 48 p 14

Monthly: Zombie Bull and the Tax Bill, 62-4 Grade B+

Some big losers mar an otherwise stellar month. The near invincible bull market continues to roll for another month. The likely passage of the tax bill brings good cheer to Wall Street.

Here are a few etfs year to date:
EEM +31.9% emerging market equity
SPY +19.2% S&P 500, U.S. large cap

IWM +12.9% Russell 2000 U.S. small cap
GLD + 8.7% gold

TLT + 7.7% U.S. 20 year treasuries
SLV + 0.3% silver

It is a bit remarkable that all are up for the year. IWM was about break even a couple of months ago. GLD and SLV started the year strong and have faded. Perhaps most surprising is a good year for bonds, despite several Fed rate hikes.

My account is up 17.9%, which is nothing to sneeze at. However, it is behind SPY’s bull market year. I haven’t had much time or energy for trading lately. I’m sure readers had remarkably good results this year. I try to remain in learning mode at all times. The market is always evolving.

Weekly: Holidays markets are early

The relative calm of holiday markets arrive early. As the zombie bull market continues to slowly lurch forward. Hardly anything seems to cause as much as a bobble in the march forward. It continues to be a remarkably unnaturally calm market.

Here are the trades (p=puts, c=calls, number near end is price per contract, sell means sell-to-open, cover means buy-to-close)

Mon Sell ULTA Jan 195 p 95
Sell SHAK Jan 52.5 c 25
Sell SHAK Jan 42.5 p 55
Cover SPY DecW4 241 p 04 for profit

Tue Sell BA Jan 250 p 53
Sell TSLA Jan 250 p 56
Sell WYNN Jan 140 p 44

Cover three trades for profit:
Cover TSLA Dec 225 p 01
Cover SPY Dec 240 p 01
Cover IWM Dec 135 p

Thu Sell YY Jan 80 p 35
Sell TIF Jan 87.5 p 49
Sell TIF Jan 110 c 35
Cover DE Dec 155 c 01 for profit

Fri Sell PYPL Jan 65 p 22
Sell YY Jan 80 p 40
Cover DE Dec 155 c 01 for profit

Weekly: C’est la vie

It is a philosophical week that starts with more declines in tech stocks, then a modest recover. I close some positions for losses. I follow my rule to take the loss if the option crosses the strike price. It is painful to do. Twice as painful as the stocks bounce back after I get out. Still, all in all, I am up a tad for the week.

Losses are part of the game. Traders that never take a loss tend to be wizards, scammers or liars. On the Internet, it is mostly scammers and liars that claim never to lose. Often they have something to sell.

Here are the trades (p=puts, c=calls, number near end is price per contract, sell means sell-to-open, cover means buy-to-close)

Mon Dreams turn into nightmares as the market opens higher, closes lower. I take significant losses in my tech positions. I am down about 1.0% for the day.

Roll BRKB for 95 debit: Cover BRKB Dec 195 c 415 for loss
Sell BRKB Jan 200 c 320

Sell TSLA strangles Sell TSLA Jan 400 c 35
Sell TSLA Jan 200 p 45

Sell BABA Dec 190 c 30
Sell BABA Dec 187.5 c 56

Sell FB Dec 185 c 24
Sell NFLX Dec 197.5 c 74

Cover NVDA Dec 187.5 p 600 for a whopper loss
Cover NVDA Dec 260 c 02 for profit

Cover BABA Dec 220 c 02 for profit

Tue Cover BABA DecW4 170 p 545 for a huge loss
This is not the time to be ignoring my trading rules.

Wed Markets calm down, though I take another big loss in a tech stock (Palo Alto Networks)

Sell SPY SPY Jan 240 p 48
Sell LMT Jan 290 p 90

Sell WMT Jan 87.5 p 23
Cover WMT Dec 77.5 p 01

Cover SPG Dec 145 p 03 for profit
Cover PANW Dec 142 p 280 for a big loss

Thu I take profits to free up buying power
Cover QCOM Dec 50 p 01

Cover WYNN Dec 135 p 02
Cover AAPL Dec 145 p 03

Fri Sell MCD Jan 155 p
Sell BABA DecW4 160 p 30

Weekly: NVDA meets the iceberg

Tech wreck spoils my week. I am down a modest 0.7% or so. Not the end of the world, but not pleasant. Some nimble traders played both ends and did well. As readers know, I tend to be a relatively slow moving trader that tends to balance back towards delta neutral. That wasn’t a good idea this week, and I lost a few sheckels.

Here are the trades (p=puts, c=calls, number near end is price per contract, sell means sell-to-open, cover means buy-to-close)

Mon Sell FB DecW4 167.5 p 21
Sell PANW Dec 170 c 12

Sell SPY DecW5 248 p 49
Sell QQQ DecW5 147 p 35

Tue Sell IWM DecW4 144p 32
Sell ROKU Dec 70 c 15

Sell DE DecW5 140 p 44
Sell BABA Dec 170 p 48

Sell NFLX Dec 180 p 24
Sell NVDA Dec 187.5 p 31

Sell NVDA Dec 230 c 46

Wed Nvidia hits an iceberg, down over 10% from its highs. I quickly reduce my delta. My account loses about 1.5% today. Yikes.

Sell NVDA shares half position 194.60 for 20% gain
Sell NVDA Dec 220 c 45

Sell NVDA Dec 227.5 c 71
Sell BABA Dec 200 c 55

Sell NFLX Dec 205 c 47

Thu Sell PANW Dec 160 c 19
Broad market rebounds, with new highs on the DJIA. I recovery about 40% of Wednesday’s losses.

Friday means another sell off and I finish the week in the red. Down about 0.7% in my trading account.