Monthly 85-12 Treading water, grade C

I count 85 winners, 12 losers for the May option cycle. Sounds good at first, but some of the those losers were over 1000% (basis premium collected). Self-grade is C. So far in 2016, that's four not so good months, and only one good month. Overall, I am up a bit for the year, and the slimmest of gains for the month.

Monsanto was this May's main culprit. MON gapped higher on takeover news and I was short three legs of calls. I also had losers in ATVI JNJ MCD.

Tracking a few etfs from best to worst:

SLV +19.0% silver

GLD +18.0% gold

TLT +7.9% 20-year US treasuries

SPY +0.8% S&P 500 U.S. large cap

EEM +0.1% Emerging market equity

IWM -1.6% Russell 2000 U.S. small cap

My trading account is +1.4% for 2016, which isn't half bad, but not exactly good either. It is beating the U.S. stock indexes, which is mostly what I have been trading. Treading water is a good description. A lot of effort, a lot of activity, not much progress. The biggest losers for 2016 by ticker: BA UA MON. 

The biggest winners for 2016 by ticker: CMG TSLA SPY MCD. Sometimes a stock gets on the avoid list, if I continue to struggle with it. Sometimes I might take more chances if it is on the winner list.

The last few weeks have felt stressful, so it may be good for me, to take it easy for a little bit. With Memorial Day marking the beginning of vacation season for many of the big market fish, we will see if we settle into quiet summer trading, or not.

Weekly: TGIF

Another stressful week with little to show for it. I am glad it is expiration Friday. I was about break even for the week. I took two losses in MCD, and continued to tap dance with my MON, TSLA positions. I was near the red line on buying power.

Here are the trades (c = calls, p = puts, all are third week expiration unless noted, sell means sell-to-open, cover means buy-to-close, number is price per contract):

Mon Sell ATVI Jun 35 p 27 rebalance

Sell TSLA MayW5 190 p 110 rebalance

Sell AAPL Jun 85 p 40 rebalance, news is that Warren Buffet bought $1 billion worth of Apple.

Cover ATVI May 39 c 75 530% loss

Cover XLE May 60 p 01 93% gain buying power

Tue Roll MON calls 90 cent credit

Cover MON May 97.5 c 360 -950% loss ouch

Sell MON Jun 100 c 450

Liquidity is not good on Monsanto options. I roll one short leg of calls to June. It is still FUBAR overall. I rue the day I ever got into Monsanto.

Wed Roll TSLA 25 cent credit

Cover TSLA May 182.5 p 04

Sell TSLA May 197.5 p 29

Thu Cover MCD May 125 p 72 about a 350% loss

McDonalds moves through the strike price, and I take the loss.

More damage control on Monsanto

Sell MON Jun 92.5 p 85

Roll MON calls 68 debit:

Cover MON May 96 c 630 about a 3300% loss!

Sell MON Jun 100 c 562

Sell MON Jun 115 c 89

Fri Roll TSLA 49 credit

Cover TSLA May 197.5 p 04 85% profit

Sell TSLA MayW5 197.5 p 53

Sell MCD Jun 130 c 31 rebalance

Cover MCD May 124 p 84 for a 200% loss

Sell MON Jun 87.5 p 41 rebalance

Weekly: MON Nightmare scenario

SPY was down about 1% for the week, I was down about the same. Thursday was a nightmare morning. . I came into the day short three tranches of calls on Monsanto. MON gapped higher on take over rumors. I did trading triage, closing one leg for a huge loss, and bought some stock to cover one of the other legs. It may have been my worst day of 2016. 

The rest of the week had some of the normal ebb and flow. I sold strangles before Disney earnings and those are in the green so far. I closed out some SPY puts at what turns out to be a poor time.

Here are the trades (c = calls, p = puts, all are third week expiration unless noted, sell means sell-to-open, cover means buy-to-close, number is price per contract)

Mon Sell GDX May 26.5 c 19

Sell GLD May 126 c 20

Cover CMG May 335 p 05 90% profit

Sell CMG May 407.5 p 70 roll

Sell MCD Jun 120 p 40 rebalance

Sell MCD May 125 p 18

Cover IWM May 90 p 01 97% profit

Tue Cover JNJ May 115 c 81 450% loss

Cover MON May 89 p 151 300% loss

Sell SCTY Jun 25 c 21 earnings

Sell strangle: DIS May 97.5 p 15

Sell DIS May 114 c 13, ahead of earnings

Sell-to-close SPY Jul 200 p 285 1% profit :)

Cover May SPY 190 p 04 95% profit

Cover FB May 90 p 01 95% profit

Sell FB May 113 p 20

Sell TLT Jun 140 c 18

Wed Sell TSLA May 190 p 78 rebalance 

As Tesla catches a bid

Thu Cover SPY May 199 p 15 66% gain

Cover SPY May 185 p 02 96% gain

Buy shares MON market 100.4

It is a nightmare scenario, Monsanto gaps higher on takeover rumors and I am short three tranches of calls. I do triage. I free up some buying power first, then place a market order to buy some MON shares. The May options are $3 wide this morning, so there is no exit by covering those right now, not without taking another huge hit. Ouch.

Cover MON Jun 100 c 450 about a 1200% loss

After the first half hour of trading, the options markets become more normal and I exit one leg. I am close to a manageable position now on MON, but have paid a heavy price to get there.

Sell AAPL Jun 100 c 34 rebalance Apple at a 52-week low

Fri Cover CMG May 407.5 p 23 for 70% profit, need buying power

Sell NVDA Jun 35 p 22 earnings

Weekly: Tesla mess-la

Another Fine Mess is a Laurel and Hardy movie from 1930. That's kind of the way the week felt, even though I end the week with a modest gain. A lot of my attention was on Telsa's earnings report. I was speculatively long, then reversed to short, then hedged the shorts. Tesla became a mess-la. I was down a bit on TSLA for the week. I also took a loss on Under Armor UA as it moved lower.

Also this week, sold puts in BDX, sold strangles on ATVI, sold more puts on GDX. Here are the trades (c = calls, p = puts, all are third week expiration unless noted, sell means sell-to-open, cover means buy-to-close, number is price per contract)

Mon Sell TSLA MayW1 195 p 46

Sell TSLA MayW1 290 c 20 earnings Wed after close

Tue Sell SPY 218 c 18 rebalance

Wed Sell UA May 45 c 15 rebalance as Under Armor moves lower on news

Sell SPY May 212 c 24 rebalance

Sell MCD May 124 p 30 rebalance

Cover UA May 40 p 125 for a 900% loss

Thu Sell TSLA May 255 c 91 Telsa fizzles after earnings, up a bit after hours, now drifting lower. My speculative call ratio is a loser.

 

Cover TSLA MayW1 195 p 20 about a 50% profit. I don't like the tape action.

As the day goes on I reverse to speculative short, a rare case of me buying premium: Buy TSLA June put spread 537 gross debit:
Buy TSLA Jun 200 p 803

Sell TSLA Jun 175 p 266

Sell BDX Jun 150 p 55 Becton Dickenson higher on earnings

Sell MON May 96 c 20 rebalance

Sell MON Jun 100 c 38 rebalance

Fri Sell TSLA MayW2 185 p 46 rebalance

Sell ATVI May 34.5 p 15 earnings

Sell ATVI May 39 c 14 Activision flopping so I hedge

Tesla finding support, so I hedge my short position by selling more puts

Sell TSLA May 182.5 p 79

Sell GDX May 22 p 15 add to longs

Weekly: Bonds, gold, pizza, and Mercury

Mercury went retrograde on Thursday, and the stock market turns. Gold and bonds have been the big winning asset classes during calendar 2016. I initiate some small long positions in gold, gold miners and bonds (selling puts GLD, GDX, TLT). Pizza was the big sour note of the week. Dominos Pizza DPZ earnings disappointed and I took a big loss.

Chipotle CMG continued to be a lucky stock for me, as do Tesla TSLA and Valeant VRX. Here are the trades (c = calls, p = puts, all are third week expiration unless noted, sell means sell-to-open, cover means buy-to-close)

Mon Sell CMG AprW5 380 p 195 Chipotle has drifted lower into earnings. Sentiment on the Yahoo boards is also mostly negative. Even with a negative report, I am at the 8% probability line.

Sell VRX strangles: AprW5 for 44 gross Valeant slightly higher with news of a new CEO

Sell VRX AprW5 24.5 p 28

Sell VRX AprW5 50 c 16

Sell MCD May 120 p 29 rebalance

Tue Sell CMG May 335 p 50 Add to longs ahead of earnings news.

Wed Sell CMG Apr 475 c 60

Cover CMG AprW5 380 p 11 90% profit, taking my money and running

Cover ISRG May 550 p 55 35% profit, don't like tape action

Sell PNRA May 200 p 65 earnings

TSLA ratio spread 203 gross / bullish earnings play

Buy TSLA May 275 c 522

Sell 2x TSLA May 300 c 160x2

Sell TLT Jun 120 p 29

Sell GLD Jun 109 p 23

Sell TSLA AprW5 262.5 c 28

Buy SPY put vertical 140 gross

Buy SPY Jul 200 p 281

Sell SPY Jul 190 p 141

Sell PNRA May 230 c 25 rebalance

Thu Sell FB May 107 p 26 rebalance

Sell DPZ May 130 c 65 rebalance, earnings poor

Sell CMG May 370 p 94 rebalance

Sell GDX Jun 19 p 20

Sell MON May 89 p 44 rebalance

Sell JNJ May 116 c 16

Sell XLE Jun 76 c 16

Cover DPZ May 120 p 295 about a 550% loss

Fri Market sell off continues as Mercury has gone retrograde. I sell some more calls to rebalance my positions.

Sell YUM May 86 c 28 rebalance

Sell JNJ May 115 c 20

Sell SPY May 213 c 25

Sell XOP Jun 43 c 20

Sell UA May 48 c 15

Sell UNH May 138 c 24

Sell SPY June put backratio 18 gross:

Buy SPY Jun 190 p 130

Sell 2x SPY Jun 183 p 74 per

Sell CTXS May 87.5 c 20 rebalance

Sell UNP May 94 c 21

Cover TSLA AprW5 237.5 p 05 85% profit

This last one was a nail-biter as the low for the day was 238 or so. I closed it for a nickel rather than risk a last minute move.

 

Weekly: small fish and oil

The news from last weekend was that oil producing countries could not agree on any production cuts. On Monday, the initial reaction was a sharp down gap in oil and oil stocks. Then buyers came in large. To me, the up day on bad news may mean the bottom is in for oil and oil stocks. I took some small long positions in XLE and XOP and then added to them. 

 

It was a busy week for earnings news. I mostly went after a lot of small fish. I sold many low premium out of the money puts on stocks with positive earnings news. Elsewhere, TSLA continued to make me money as it continued in its tight range and six layers of sold options came in safe. Mostly small fish, but enough sardines can make a nice mea1.

Here are the trades (c = calls, p = puts, weeklies denoted by W suffix, W1 is week1, sell means sell-to-open, cover means buy-to-close, number is price per contract).

Mon Sell BRKB Jun 130 p 55

Sell XLE Jun 55 p 33 news

Sell HAS May 77.5 p 15 earnings

Sell TSLA strangle 108 gross:

Sell TSLA AprW5 222.5 p 59

Sell TSLA AprW5 285 c 49

Tue Sell UNH May 120 p 42 earnings

Sell MON May 82.5 p 45 rebalance

Sell XOP Jun 27 p 22

Sell TSLA AprW5 272.5 c 60 rebalance

Sell TSLA AprW4 260 c 38

Wed Sell UNH May 125 p 51 add

Sell ISRG May 550 p 90 earnings

Sell SPY May 199 p 49 rebalance

Sell TSLA AprW4 240 p 46 rebalance

Sell JNJ May 108 p 23 add

Sell XLE May 60 p 18 add

Sell XOP May 30 p 18 add

Thu Sell YUM May 75 p 20 earnings

Sell UA May 40 p 15 earnings

Sell CTXS May 77.5 p 25 earnings

Fri Sell SKX May 27.5 p 15 earnings

Sell MCD May 132 c 29 earnings

Monthly: 52-3 grade A-, I'll take it

I count 52 winners, 3 losers for the April option cycle. After opening 2016 with month after month of mediocre trading (grades D, C-, C), I finally have a good month. The good news is that I have crossed the Mendoza line and now have a modest profit for calendar 2016. The bad news is that I am lagging behind SPY (S & P 500 etf). Still, after opening the year with an 8% drawdown, getting back to break even is a step forward.

Overall I was too cautious during a powerful stock market rally. I have also missed the boat in my trading account, on gold and bonds so far. Premiums aren't big enough to tempt me on GLD, TLT or similar instruments.

Here are a few etfs, current price and their 2016 ytd (dividends excluded):

SLV 17.2% 15.46 silver

GLD 16.2% 117.92 gold

TLT 9.4% 131.88 20-year Treasury bonds

EEM 7.4% 34.57 Emerging markets

SPY 1.9% 207.78 S&P 500

IWM -0.2% 112.45 Russell 2000

I am right near the bottom at +1.3% for 2016, behind SPY, ahead of IWM, missing the fast boats of bonds, and precious metals.

The big picture is okay. I had three bad months, now one good month, and I am back to a profit for the year, and right there with the major stock indexes. I have a lot of dry powder, as I am starting to trade better. The big losers in BA, FB, UA early in the year, are what dug me a deep hole. Lately, what some see as speculative stocks: CMG, TSLA and VRX have helped me climb out of the hole. I still see myself as a cautious trader. 

 

For the astro people reading along, Mercury goes retrograde on April 28th. We will see if it marks a reversal, an acceleration, or nothing this time around. 

 

Big earnings week coming up. The CBOE blog (link) has a list of some of the optionable stocks reporting each week. So far the more interesting candidates to me are:

Tue before open: JNJ UNH

Wed after close: SKX

Thu after close: MSFT V

Weekly: frustrating losses

Another up week for me. I take frustrating losses in CMG and FB this week. Chipotle dipped then recovered. Facebook fell on news, and then the news was retracted. New long is JPM on earnings news.

Tue Cover CMG Apr 430 p 450 about a 100% loss

A painful trade. My first order to close was at 385 but CMG kept slipping, so I moved it to 450 and it filled. A minute later the low of the morning was made and CMG rebounded. CMG actually closed up. The big picture is that Chipotle has been a lucky stock for me. This time, I didn't wait until the mental stop level of 430 because to preserve an overall profit for the ticker for this cycle. If my worst trades are small profits or break even, it is going to be a good month.

Wed Sell JPM May 55 p 21 New long position in JP Morgan, moving higher after earnings

Sell SPY May 190 p 48 rebalance

Sell IWM AprW5 p 103 16

Cover FB 107 p 155 Facebook lower on news, about a 600% loss. Facebook has been a bad luck stock for me most of this year, so the bad streak continues. FB closes about unchanged after the sharp drop. Cheese.

Sell MON May 80 p 57 rebalance

Sell VRX May 15 p Valeant opens lower then rebounds. I am impressed by the tape action.

Sell FB May 130 c 30

Thu Sell FB May 90 p 47 complete FUBAR on Facebook as the news that caused the drop was retracted. Nothing to be done except move on.

Sell TSLA AprW4 230 p 80

Fri Sell DPZ May 120 p 55

Weekly: Lessons from golf

I've been watching some of the Masters golf tournament. I saw Phil Mickelson miss a birdie put from about 5 feet, push it past, and miss again. Three putts from five feet by a hall of famer. Then there was Ernie Els carding a nine on the first hole. Six putts from another hall of famer. What does that teach me? That mistakes happen, that even the best of the best sometimes make unforced errors.

I've written before about Bubba Watson. How he used to get extremely upset after shanking a drive or missing a putt. So upset that he would go on to make some more unforced errors due to his emotional state. Bubba barely made the cut and starts ten shots back on Saturday.

In trading, emotional trading can show up as "revenge trading." There is also stubborness. There is "this time I will not follow my rules." All of these are often emotional reactions to mistakes.

For novices, one of the most common emotional mistakes is the unwillingness to take a loss. They keep adding capital, adding risk so their clunker trade turns green. Sometimes it works. A small percentage of the time, it completely blows up and the novice loses their account. Rule #1: live to trade another day. A novice will never get to become experienced if he/she bets the farm all the time. Eventually, luck runs out, or a bad streak comes.

Okay enough chit-chat. This week I continue to focus mostly on TSLA and VRX. I take a new long position in EW Edward Life Sciences. I try to get STZ Constellation Brands, but my order at the mid never fills. MON Monsanto earnings were in line so I mange that position back closer to delta neutral.

Here are the trades (c = calls, p = puts, weeklies denoted by W suffix, W1 is week1, sell means sell-to-open, cover means buy-to-close, number is price per contract).

Mon Sell EW Apr 95 p 42 New long position in Edward Life Sciences. EW gaps higher on drug news.

Sell TSLA AprW2 220 p 58 Rebalance

Sell TSLA Apr 210 p 72

Sell TSLA Apr 220 p 105

Sell MCD May 115 p 48

Sell FB May 90 p 48

TSLA gaps lower after hours on news of production shortfalls and the exit of the CIO.

Tue Sell TSLA AprW2 230 p 74

Telsa briefly goes green despite the news.

Sell TSLA AprW4 200 p 58

Sell TSLA Apr 227.5 p 177

Sell TSLA AprW1 240 p 130

Cover TSLA Apr 260 c 570 about a 600% loss

Another day of wide swings in Tesla with a morning low at 240 and now 255. I cover, because the stock is up up on a big down market day, in the face of what many see as bad news, and a lot more short sellers possibly doubling down on recent losses. Well, minutes after I cover, TSLA fades back below 254, so maybe it was stop loss orders being taken out. I certainly feel stupid when these things happen.

Wed The Telsa rally rolls on, and I rebalance again.

Sell TSLA AprW4 227.5 p 141

Sell MON May 75 p 42 Monsanto earnings in-line.

Sell MON May 97.5 c 36

Sell TSLA Apr 235 p 104

Sell VRX Apr 25 p 26

Cover TSLA AprW1 207.5 p 03

Cover TSLA AprW1 220 p 04

Thu Sell CMG Apr 485 p 55

Cover CMG Apr 550 c 05 95% gain, free up buying power

I make several more Telsa trades, rebalancing back closer to delta neutral as it finally seems to dropping.

Sell TSLA Apr 290 c 55

Cover TSLA AprW2 240 p 20 about a 80% profit

Cover TSLA Apr 227.5 p 85 about a 50% profit

Sell TSLA AprW4 305 c 45

Fri Sell MON May 80 p 80

Sell FB May 130 c 51

Sell TSLA AprW4 280 c 106

Sell TSLA Apr 270 c 63

/edit to add: Wow a Brit, Danny Willett wins the Masters golf tournament. Jordan Spieth was on top of the world, with a five shot lead after the ninth hole, cruising to what looked to be a coronation. Then bogey, bogey, quadruple bogey, and in thirty minutes the lead was gone. Trading can be like that too, going from feeling nearly invincible, then boom, a stumble, a gap, and then its all gone, deep into the red, in a very short time period.

Weekly: TSLA baby

.

My April Fool's joke is that this week, I made enough money to buy a new Tesla. Which one? The Model S, or Model II? No, the toy version made for little kids. Anyway, a positive week. All my April 1 TSLA options did come in safe, but it wasn't a lot of money. Still, another positive week is a good thing.

Here are the trades (c = calls, p = puts, weeklies denoted by W suffix, W1 is week1, sell means sell-to-open, cover means buy-to-close, number is price per contract).

Mon Sell VRX Apr 40 c 22

Sell TSLA Apr 180 p 67

Tue Sell SPY strangles gross 100:

Sell SPY May 185 p 69

Sell SPY May 215 c 31

Sell FB strangles gross 37

Sell FB Apr 107 p 29

Sell FB Apr 124 c 18

Wed Sell IWM Apr 105 p 23

Sell SPY Apr 197 p 22

I make some minor adjustments as the market rally rolls on.

Thu Sell MCD strangles:

Sell MCD May 115 p 55

Sell MCD May 130 c 37

Fri Sell TSLA Apr 195 p 75

Sell TSLA AprW2 207.5 p 61

Weekly: TSLA VRX

Most of my trades this week are in Tesla and Valeant. With Sequoia fund dumping 1.5 million shares of VRX, a short term bottom may be in. Tesla has a big news event on Friday April 1st, the launch of the new car. 

As I often do, I am selling naked strangles. I start way out of the money, then add layers. I'm thinking that both these stocks are going to stabilize. My mental stops are the strike price of each layer of sold options.

Happy Easter everyone.

Here are the trades (c = calls, p = puts, weeklies denoted by W suffix, W1 is week1, sell means sell-to-open, cover means buy-to-close, number is price per contract).

Mon Sell TSLA AprW1 200 p 89

Sell BRKB May 125 p 47

Sell VRX strangles 73 gross

Sell Apr 15 p 54 / Apr 50 c 19

Tue Sell SPY strangles 54 gross

Sell Apr 191 p 33 / Apr 211 c 21

Sell VRX AprW1 19 p 20

Wed Sell VRX Apr 20 p 38

Sell TSLA AprW1 265 c 46

Thu Sell TSLA Apr 280 c 65

Sell VRX Apr 45 c 22

Sell TSLA AprW1 192.5 p 57

Sell IWM May 90 p 36

Good Friday market holiday.

Monthly: slump continues, 56-10, grade C

I count 56 winners, 10 losers for the March option cycle. I made money this month, but lagged the big stock market rally. SPY is back to flat for calendar 2016. I am down about -2.5% in my trading account. I am not happy with my results. I lagged the rally because I sold calls. I had some big losers in SPY and TSLA. CMG had another bad week to close the cycle.

Here are the year-to-date numbers for a few etfs, from best to worst:

GLD +18.1% gold

SLV +13.9% silver

TLT +7.0% U.S. 20-year Treasuries

EEM +5.7% Emerging market stocks

SPY +0.3% S&P 500 stocks

IWM -2.7% Russell 2000 stocks

I am right near the bottom of the barrel, right with the Russell 2000 (-2.7% vs. my -2.5%). If I were stubborn or panicky, some of the big losers would have been much worse. For the most part, I got out when my mental stop levels were breached.

Some might say bad luck, some might say bad trades. Whatever the case, the losses have been contained and I live to trade another day.

Weekly: CMG SPY TSLA

Oldtimers might remember the cartoon Wacky Races, featuring Dick Dastardly and his dog Muttley. Each cartoon episode, Dick would try to cheat his way to victory, and each time his plot would fail. His tag line was, drats, foiled again. That was my trading week. The continuing rally in SPY and TSLA had me covered sold calls for losses. A drop in CMG caused some April positions to go deep into the red. So I was down a bit for the week, overall about -2.5% for the year while SPY is about flat.

Here are the trades (c = calls, p = puts, weeklies denoted by W suffix, W1 is week1, sell means sell-to-open, cover means buy-to-close).

 

Mon Cover TSLA Mar 210 c 620 about a 500% loss. Crunch. Telsa gaps higher. I am still short 215 calls and 230 calls, so I am taking my lumps.

Sell HON Apr 97.5 p 32

Sell UNH Apr 110 p 39

Sell FB Apr 92.5 p 27

Sell MCD Apr 110 p 23

Cover TSLA Mar 215 c 415 about a 600% loss. Telsa holds its gains. It moved past my 215 stop level than came back a bit.

Tue Sell TSLA AprW1 255 c 101

Wed Sell MON Apr 80 p 53 rebalance

Sell CMG Apr 550 c 158 rebalance Chipotle tumbles again on news

Thu Rally rolls on and I scramble some more.

Cover SPY Mar 204 c 72 about a 10% loss.

Sell TSLA AprW1 185 p 85

Fri Sell CMG Apr 520 c 200 Chipotle continues lower.

Cover TSLA Mar 230 c 133 about a 300% loss.

Weekly: staying humble

Another up week for the stock market has me frustrated and disappointed. I did make money, but lagged the indexes. It is humbling. As many years I have in the stock market, I try to stay humble, try to stay in learning mode, try to always think about risk (vs. how much I am going ot make).

Are we back to bull mode? For the bull market to be officially back, we need to see new highs. For SPY that would be 214 or so. Highlights and low lights are a new long position in ULTA, more short covering, some bad news for CMG.

Here are the trades (c = calls, p = puts, weeklies denoted by W suffix, W1 is week1, sell means sell-to-open, cover means buy-to-close).

Mon Sell TSLA Apr 140 p 140 rebalance

Sell DIS Apr 87.5 p 32

Sell TSLA Mar 172.5 p 80

Wed Sell IWM Apr 94 p 41

Sell CMG Apr 610 c 95 More bad news from Chipotle

Sell DPZ Apr 115 p 30 add long

Sell TSLA Mar 180 p 104

Thu Sell TSLA Apr 260 c 92

Cover TSLA Mar 130 p 02 97% profit

Fri Sell ULTA Apr 160 p 90 New long position in Ulta Beauty, UTLA gapping higher on earnings

Cover SPY Mar 202 c 172 about a 200% loss

Cover UNH Mar 125 c 140 about a 300% loss

Weekly: short covering

A nice 2% up week for the stock market has me scrambling. I cover four layers of SPY calls for big losses as the rally unfolds. The rally in DIS and TSLA is getting uncomfortable close to my mental stop levels. I initiate a new long in DPZ Dominos Pizza, a new short in MON Monsanto.

Here are the trades (c = calls, p = puts, weeklies denoted by W suffix, W1 is week1, sell means sell-to-open, cover means buy-to-close).

Tue Big rally today. I came in net short. I cover some SPY call legs for big losses.

Sell DPZ Apr 115 p 70 new long position in Dominos Pizza

DPZ recently broke out on earnings news.

I add to position as it rallies:

Sell DPZ Mar 125 p 65

Sell TSLA Mar 155 p 88 rebalance

Sell SPY Mar 190 p 105

Cover SPY MarW1 197 c 165 about a -600% loss

Cover SPY MarW1 178 p 01 for a 98% gain

Sell BRKB Apr 120 p 50

Sell TSLA Mar 210 c 111 Tesla lower on news of hedge fund Citron shorting it.

Cover SPY MarW2 180 p 05 about a 90% gain

Cover SPY Mar 198 c 252 about a 500% loss

Sell V Apr 65 p 36

Thu Buy MON vertical put spread 240 debit

Buy Jul MON 80 p 398

Sell Jul MON 70 p 158

Sell TSLA Apr 125 p 93

Cover SPY MarW2 199 c 220 about a 700% loss

Fri Sell TSLA Mar 165 p 94

Cover SPY Mar 200 c 256 about a 150% loss

Cover SPY MarW2 200.5 c 162 about a 600% loss

Sell MON Mar 100 c 15

Roll CMG: Cover Mar 430 p 62 about a 70% gain

Sell CMG Apr 430 p 233 gross 175 credit