Trades past week (Apr 24 - 28) - CSCO, DLTR
This past week (April 17th - 21st, 2023), I opened 2 new positions, and closed 4 existing positions.
Again not too many good opportunities this week. Took a small loss and some small profits.
Opened:
- CSCO
- DLTR
Closed:
- GILD
- TSN
- ETSY
- EA
Let's take a look in more detail:
Opened Positions #
I opened one Bull Put Spread (BPS), and one Bear Call Spreads (BCS) this week.
1. CSCO (BPS) #
- Opened: 04/24/2023
- Expiry date: 06/16/2023
- Current price: 47
- Sell put @ 45
- Buy put @ 40
- Premium collected: $66 / contract
- Volume: 2
Notes:
CSCO had a big drop suddenly last week from $50 to $47. There didnt seem to be any reason for the drop though, so not sure what happened. So, it's oversold at a major support area around 46-47. It's also nearing the 200 daily MA support. IV Percentile was decently high at near 50%. Seemed like a decent entry to try.
2. DLTR (BCS) #
- Opened: 04/25/2023
- Expiry date: 06/16/2023
- IV%: 59%
- Current Price: 152
- Sell call @ 170
- Buy call @ 175
- Premium collected: $70 / contract
- Volume: 2
Notes:
DLTR near previous resistance around 155 area. Overbought, and candlestick seems to have rejected the higher move, so looking for a decent move downwards. Price has been in an uptrend the past month though, so maybe be careful with this one. Take profits / loss early if moves against position.
Closed Positions #
Closed 4 positions, three for minor profits, one for small loss.
1. GILD (BCS) #
- Opened: 04/04/2023
- Closed: 04/25/2023
- Total days: 21
- Premium received: $35 / contract
- Premium paid: $54 / contract
- Volume: 2
- Net Loss (after commissions): -$60
Notes: Was profitable for awhile, but never reached 50% goal. Should've taken smaller profits early after price started reversing upwards, but did not. Price continued going upwards. Closed two days before earnings to take my loss. If I had held, I would have actually been profitable because they had poor earnings; but that goes against my trading rules.
2. TSN (BCS) #
- Opened: 04/13/2023
- Closed: 04/25/2023
- Total days: 12
- Premium received: $55 / contract
- Premium paid: $28 / contract
- Volume: 3
- Net Profit (after commissions): $80
Notes: My automatic 50% profit taking order was hit. Nice! The price actually spiked up a couple days after I closed, so luckily I had the GTC order in or I would be down right now.
3. ETSY (BPS) #
- Opened: 04/12/2023
- Closed: 04/28/2023
- Total days: 16
- Premium received: $85 / contract
- Premium paid: $69 / contract
- Volume: 2
- Net Profit (after commissions): $27
Notes: ETSY didn't really move at all since I took a position. It has earnings in a few days, so decided to just close it out. Luckily still managed to take a very small, but enjoyable profit.
4. EA (BCS) #
- Opened: 04/19/2023
- Closed: 04/27/2023
- Total days: 8
- Premium received: $65 / contract
- Premium paid: $40 / contract
- Volume: 2
- Net Profit (after commissions): $50
Notes: Took my profits early on this one before reaching 50% target. It had a big drop after the ATVI and Microsoft deal got rejected in the UK. Didn't want to miss out on my profits like what happened with GILD (above), so closed it out. Luckily, I did, because the price bounced higher over the next couple days.
Summary Notes and Thoughts #
Ended up being a decent week to close out the month. Could've been really great if I had closed GILD early.
I need to decide on a strategy/rule of when is a good time to take profits early (or take losses early) before hitting 50% target.
Markets have very low volatility recently, so there's not too many really good option selling opportunities out there. Been looking at other option strategies like debit spreads or iron condors, but nothing seems very attractive at the moment. Also thinking about selling index options (SPY, RUT, etc.). Need to do some more research.