Weekly: long APC BA short BABA

What a wild week! Lots of big movers on earnings. SPY down for the week, but it was a choppy ride. I attend a CANSLIM meetup and will do a separate write up on that tomorrow. One question asked was "who is making money in this market?" Only one hand went up.

For me, my account took a big haircut, but I am still up for 2015. New longs this week are APC and BA. New short BABA. Here are the trades:

* p = put, c = call, all 3rd-week of the month expiration

Fri Sell XOM Mar 95 c @87.4. I rebalance short strangles on Exxon Mobil by selling some March calls to offset short March 75 puts.

Thu Sell BABA Feb 105 c @89.4. New short positon in Alibaba on disappointing earnings. Sold these calls during the first 15 minutes of trade, at the bid, to get an immediate fill in a wide market. My thinking was volatility would get crushed as the day continued. This turned out to be correct and I had around 50% profit basis the premium collected, by the end of the day.

Sell IWM Feb 123 c @116.3. Rebalance short strangles on the Russell 2000 etf. I sold these during the morning weakness and it is the opposite effect, sitting on about a 100% loss by the end of the day. The market giveth, the market taketh.

Sell UNH Mar 120 c @109. Hedge short Mar 95 puts by selling calls. I placed the order during morning weakness, where it sat, until the monster market rally came in. What a crazy market!?

Wed Sell BA Feb 123 p @137.5. New long position in Boeing after earnings.

Sell MMM Mar 145 p @164.5 Add to longs in 3M Corp by opening a March position. Earnings are just okay, but it removes one uncertainty.

Mon Sell FDX Mar 200 c @176.1. I hedge my short puts by selling calls on Federal Express.

Sell SPY Feb 213 c @204.0. SPY looks weak, I see little chance of new highs by February expiration. As SPY rallies against this recent move, I compensate by selling SPY Feb 189 p @205.3.

Sell APC Feb 68.5 p @82.7. New long position in Anadarko Petroleum

Position Summary:

long APC ASH BA DIS GDX HON LUV MMM SPY UNH VRX WFC

net long AMGN FDX ILMN IWM JWN UNP XOM

net neutral GLD WHR

short BABA