Weekly: Hurricane damage

First of all, thoughts and prayers for all those that suffered during the massive hurricane. Those kind of life changing events make stock market gyrations seem small in comparison. That said, it was a market storm this week. By the close Thursday wiped away all my gains for 2018. I take the biggest dollar loss in one transaction, in quite some time covering some sold Amazon puts for a 1000% loss on a large dollar amount.

Choose whatever cliché or metaphor you want. Live by the sword, die by the sword. Picking up nickels in front of a steam roller, and getting flattened. Friday’s relief rally places me back in the plus column for 2018, but overall down about 5% for the week. I am sure a few accounts got blown up by the market action. On the Internet, it tends to be winners (and liars) that tell tales.

Here are the trades for a truly ugly week for my account (p=puts, c=calls, number near end is price per contract, sell means sell-to-open, cover means buy-to-close):

Columbus Day means bond markets are closed.
Mon Sell ABMD Oct 500 c 60

Sell BRKB Nov 240 c 35
Sell FB Nov 190 c 53

Sell TSLA Nov 350 c 205
Sell AMZN Oct 2050 c 270

Tue Cover BABA Oct 172.5 c 05 for profit
Sell BABA Nov 185 c 39

Sell TGT Nov 75 p 19
Sell AMZN Nov 1400 p 414

Sell FB Nov 125 p 36
Sell LOW Nov 90 p 23

Wed A hard down day. I lose 8%+, one of the worst days of the year. One of the worst in a while. Most of the year’s gains are now gone. I am still up for 2018, but not by much. Three legs breach the mental stop levels of the option price, several more are threatened.

Cover PAYC Oct 130 p 360 big loss

Cover FB Oct 155 p 320 big loss

Cover FB Oct 177.5 c 05 small profit

Cover PYPL Oct 77.5 p 263 big loss

Cover AMZN Oct 2500 c 05 for profit

Cover GOOGL Oct 1250 c 20 for profit

Sell QQQ Oct 184 c 14

Sell SPY Oct 293 c 14

Sell TSLA Oct 310 c 63

Sell FB Oct26 175 c 22
Sell AMZN Nov 2300 c 440

Sell FB Nov2 185 c 39
Sell NVDA Nov2 300 c 36

Sell AMZN Oct26 2150 c 375
Sell PANW nov 250 c 41

Sell PYPL Nov 95 c 13
Sell SPY Nov 296 c 47

Sell AAPL Oct26 242.5 c 24
Sell QQQ Nov 190 c 30

Sell GOOGL Nov 1375 c 81
Sell AMZN Nov 2200 c 655

Thu I lose another 2.9%. I am now negative for 2018. I book many more losses. Schaeffer’s Research says 75% chance that the market rebounds. That leaves 25% chance for more downside. With naked puts, I can’t take that chance.

Cover GRUB Oct 115 p 400 for big loss
Cover SPY Oct12 275 p 228 for big loss
Cover IWM Oct 155 p 253 for big loss
Cover AMZN Oct26 2150 c 230 for small daytrade profit
Cover AMZN Oct 1750 p 6210 whopper loss

Sell SPY Oct26 288 c 34
Sell QQQ Nov 185 c 40

Sell NVDA Nov 275 c 40
Sell PAYC Nov 175 c 26

Sell BRKB Oct 220 c 25
Sell NVDA Oct 272.5 c 15

Sell IWM Nov 170 c 15
Sell AMZN Oct26 2050 c 525

Fri No trades. My account gains about 5.7% on this relief rally. Of course, I would have been better off closing some of the losers after the bounce. If I knew better, I’d do better. Hindsight is 20-20. Best to follow the plan in place during turbulent times. Rule #1 Live to trade another day. One way I do that is to take losses.