Weekly: Bull market

As I often do for Memorial day, here is a link to Trace Adkins song "Arlington" (link1). Take a moment to remember the sacrifices made for this country.

I attended a CANSLIM Investors Business Weekly meetup. The presenters were bullish. At this point, the market and many leading stocks are extended, but this is what a bull market looks like. Many big names such as AAPL, FB, GOOG are up 15% or more since January 1. MCD is another leader. A person can learn a lot by observing (vs. predicting).
 

So I skewed slightly bullish this week. I added to some longs, took a few new positions (BBY, ULTA). Here are the trades (p = puts, c = calls, sell means sell-to-open, number near end is price per contract):

Mon sell NVDA Jun 118 p 38
Sell BA Jun 167.5 36

Sell LMT Jun 260 p 65
Sell BRKB Jun 160 p 52

Sell SPG Jul 135 p 65
Sell BA Jul 160 p 47 second layer today

Tue Sell BRKB Jul 155 p 67

Thu Sell MCD Jul 135 p 34
Sell FB Jun 140 p 19

Fri new positions in ULTA and BBY
Sell TSLA Jun 275 p 64
 

Sell BBY Jul 50 p 26

Sell NVDA Jun 125 p 46

Sell ULTA unbalanced strangle: 

Sell ULTA Jul 260 p 71
Sell ULTA Jun 320 c 54

Monthly: Just Okay, 42 - 3, Grade B-

I rate this month of trading as just okay. I count 42 winners 3 losers. The losers were for big percentages. Overall, I was up a bit for the month.

Some etfs that I track, best to worst for calendar 2017:
EEM +17.5% Emerging markets equity
GLD +8.9% gold
 

SPY +6.6% S&P 500, U.S. large cap
SLV +5.5% silver
 

TLT +3.8% U.S. 20 year treasury bonds
IWM +0.9% Russell 2000, U.S. small cap

My trading account is +5.5% so I am lagging SPY, ahead of IWM. Gold and silver got a good start in 2017 but have been coming back to the pack. Emerging market equities continue to power ahead.

I expect relatively clear sailing until late September. As always, predictions are for entertainment, managing risk is where the money is made. My predictions tend to be as good as coin flips (not very good).

Weekly: Paying the piper FL

FootLocker earnings blew apart what would have been an okay week. FL dropped on news, resulting in a 2500% loss. This Jekyll and Hyde market has land mines. Hard to say if market Jekyll or Hyde shows up next. I still think that a significant correction of 5% or more, is much more likely in September or October, not during the summer months. 

As always, predictions are for entertainment, and mine tend do about as well as coin flips. Profits are made by managing risk, not making predictions.

Here are the trades (p = puts, c = calls, cover means buy-to-close, sell means sell-to-open, number near the end is price per contract, percentage gain/loss uses option premium as the basis):

Mon Sell NVDA May 150 c 14 hedge
 

Tue Close some positions for $1 for buying power:
Cover (buy-to-close) AAPL May 139 p 01 for 95% gain
Cover NFLX May 135 p 01 for 95% gain
Cover SPY May 214 p 01 for 98% gain
 

Sell TGT May 50 p 17 ahead of earnings
Sell WYNN Jun 115 p 50 rebalance
 

Wed Market gaps down and closes near its lows. I do a bunch of trades, hedging longs, closing a few positions, and adding a SPY put backratio.
 

Sell AAPL MayW4 157.5 c 41
Sell BA Jun 195 c 15
 

Sell TSLA MayW4 335 c 35
Sell SPG Jun 170 c 30
 

Sell BRKB Jun 165 c 112
Sell IWM Jun 143 c 25
 

Sell NVDA Jun 155 c 31
Sell WYNN Jun 135 c 59
 

Sell SPY backratio Jul 212/218: 

Sell x2 SPY Jul 212 p 81 per
Buy 1x SPY Jul 218 p 118 per
 

Cover (buy-to-close) AAPL May 120 p 01 for a 95% profit
Cover TGT May 50 p 01 for a 93% profit
Cover TLSA May 290 p 24 for a 50% profit
 

Thu Cover IWM May 123 p 01 for 98% profit
Cover IWM Jun 150 c 03 for a 75% profit
 

Fri Cover FL May 67.5 p 740 for a 2500% loss
Sell ADSK Jun 95 p 33 earnings
Sell NVDA Jun 110 p 30 rebalance

I'll do my monthly summary post soon.

Weekly: AAPL TSLA VRX

Apple, Tesla and Valeant dominate my trading week. Overall, it was about a break even week.

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

Mon Sell AAPL Jun 145 p 78
Sell AAPL Jun 165 c 41
 

Sell TSLA Jun 375 c 53
Sell TSLA Jun 240 p 42
 

Tue rebalance after earnings on MAR, VRX
Sell MAR Jun 95 p 55
 

Sell VRX Jun 9 p 20
Sell VRX Jun 10 p
 

Other rebalancing moves:
Sell AAPL May 148 p 33
 

Sell TSLA Jun 260 p 86
Sell TSLA May 290 p 42
 

Sell BRKB JunW1 170 c 41
Cover SPY May 218 p 03 for a 95% profit, buying power move
 

Wed Cover VRX Jul 12.5 c 158 for a 350% loss
Sell VRX Jul 19 c 15 roll
 

Sell NVDA Jun 95 p 24 earnings
Sell NVDA May 108 p add
 

Sell TSLA May 300 p 75 roll
Cover TSLA May 235 p 03
 

More buying power moves (buy to close)
Cover AAPL May 125 p 01 for a 98% gain
Cover DIA May 183 p 02 for a 98% gain
Cover IWM May 119 p 01 for a 97% gain
 

Fri Rebalancing moves are when I have sold both puts and calls, and the underlying has moved. I often rebalance by selling another layer of options to get closer to the desired delta (often delta neutral):

Sell WYNN Jun 110 p 32
Sell AAPL Jun 145 p 57
Sell VRX Jul 10 p 37

Weekly: Trimming the hedge

New longs include CMI MLM. I did a lot of hedging of longs, rebalancing, a few adds. Market is at record highs. The good news is that Barrons has an article about how to protect from a crash. Rarely does a sharp decline happen when those are featured articles. Hedge means selling calls when puts have already been sold. Rebalance means adding another layer to a complicated position to get back closer to delta neutral. Add means selling a second or third layer of puts.
 

Here are the trades (p = puts, c = calls, number near the end is price per contract.

Tue Sell VRX May 8.5 p 21 rebalance
Sell CMI Jun 140 p 35 earnings
Sell MLM May 220 p 50 earnings

Wed Sell IWM Jun 150 c 14 rebalance
Sell SPG Jun 185 c 29 rebalance
 

Sell AAPL May 139 p 19 earnings
Sell HON Jun 120 p 40 add
 

Sell MSFT Jun 17 62.5 p 16 add
 

Thu Sell CAT May 91 p 12 add
Sell CMI Jun 170 c 25 hedge
 

Sell UNH Jun 185 c 29 hedge
Sell TSLA May 340 c 19 hedge

Fri Sell TLSA May 267.5 p 28 rebalance
Sell WYNN May 130 c 24 hedge
Sell BA Jun 165 p 31 add