Trades this past week (May 15 - 19) - NFLX, ADBE, SLB, NKE

21 May 2023
trades

Closed a lot of positions this week. Opened a few new ones as well. Decided to sort of ignore Implied Volatility Percentage, and just trade mainly based on stochastics. Worked out OK this week.

Opened:

NFLX
ADBE
SLB
NKE

Closed:

CSCO
XOP
MS
RUT
NFLX
ADBE

Let's take a look in more detail:

Opened Positions #

I opened four new positions this week: one Bear Call Spread (BCS), and three Bull Put Spreads (BPS).

1. NFLX (BCS) #

Opened: 05/15/2023
Expiry date: 06/16/2023
IV %: 3%
Current price: 340
Sell @ 375
Buy @ 380
Premium collected: $66 / contract
Volume: 2

Notes:
Here's one trade where I ignored the super low IV Percentile (3%). NFLX was overbought, and trading in a sideways range. 340 was a recent resistant level. Closed it 2 days later for profit.

2. ADBE #1 (BPS) #

Opened: 05/16/2023
Expiry date: 06/16/2023
IV %: 24%
Current Price: 345
Sell @ 310
Buy @ 305
Premium collected: $62 / contract
Volume: 2

Notes:
ADBE has been sideways range for this entire year basically. Oversold, coming off major support level at 340. More support at 320-325 area. IV Percentile lower than what I usually want, but not too bad. Stock went up as I hoped, and I took profits 2 days later.

3. SLB (BPS) #

Opened: 05/16/2023
Expiry date: 06/16/2023
IV %: 27%
Current Price: 44
Sell @ 40
Buy @ 37.5
Premium collected: $30 / contract
Volume: 2

Notes:
Wasn't too sure about this one, as it seems like there's a big gap to the next support area. So, I took a smaller position just in case. Has been in long term uptrend, but downtrend for this current year.

4. NKE #2 (BPS) #

Opened: 05/17/2023
Expiry date: 06/16/2023
IV%: 12
Current Price: 116
Sell @ 110
Buy @ 105
Premium collected: $72 / contract
Volume: 2

Notes:
NKE has been trading sideways this year between $115 and $130. Oversold near the $115 support, so seemed like a great entry point. Everything was going as hoped, until Foot Locker released bad earnings which took NKE down with it. We'll see if it holds the support or not.

Closed / Expired Positions #

Closed 6 positions this week. All for profit (although some very, very small).

CSCO
XOP
MS
RUT
NFLX
ADBE

1. CSCO (BPS) #

Opened: 04/24/2023
Closed: 05/15/2023
Total days: 21
Premium received: $66 / contract
Premium paid: $63 / contract
Volume: 2
Net (after fees): $3

Notes: Held this position for 3 weeks, and it did basically nothing. Closed it a couple days before earnings for breakeven ($3 profit). CSCO then jumped up after positive earnings, so I could've made more, but it's against my rules to hold through earnings.

2. XOP (BPS): #

Opened: 05/03/2023
Closed: 05/15/2023
Total days: 12
Premium received: $0.80 / contract
Premium paid: $0.55 / contract
Volume: 1
Net Profit (after commissions): $22

Notes: XOP also did not do much, so decided to take my small profits early while I could. Only had a very small position, so better to take my capital to use it elsewhere.

3. MS (BPS): #

Opened: 05/08/2023
Closed: 05/18/2023
Total days: 10
Premium received: $0.32 / contract
Premium paid: $0.20 / contract
Volume: 1
Net Profit (after commissions): $6.50

Notes: Another tiny position that I took profits on a bit early. Banks have all been beaten down recently, so better to take money when you can I guess.

4. RUT (BPS): #

Opened: 05/11/2023
Closed: 05/15/2023
Total days: 5
Premium received: $0.36 / contract
Premium paid: $0.15 / contract
Volume: 2
Net Profit (after commissions): $32

Notes: One of the short term expiry positions I was messing around with last week. Closed it early for over 50% profit, but maybe would've been smarter to just let it expire at the end of the week for 100% profit. Not really sure yet the optimal way to play these short term expiries.

5. NFLX (BCS): #

Opened: 05/15/2023
Closed: 05/17/2023
Total days: 2
Premium received: $0.66 / contract
Premium paid: $0.36 / contract
Volume: 2
Net Profit (after commissions): $57

Notes: Opened and closed within 2 days for nearly 50%. Awesome. Good thing I closed it early, because it spiked up a couple days later and I would've suffered a decent loss on it.

6. ADBE (BCS): #

Opened: 05/16/2023
Closed: 05/18/2023
Total days: 2
Premium received: $0.62 / contract
Premium paid: $0.40 / contract
Volume: 2
Net Profit (after commissions): $41

Notes: Another position which was opened and closed within 2 days. I took profits quickly on this one as well (35%), as it seemed to be hitting a recent resistance area. In this case, I should've held longer as I would've made the full 50% a day later. Oh well.

Summary Notes and Thoughts #

I took a whole bunch of small profits this week for a total of about $165.

Not bad!

It seems like taking profits early is often better than trying to wait for the price to actually hit my 50% target profit margin, or holding to expiry. If you look at an annualized return, it almost always makes more sense (e.g. 30% in 5 days vs. 50% over 15 days).

Still a bit difficult finding optimal trading setups due to low volatility. So, for now it seems like I will need to lower or ignore my IV% requirements