Category Archives: Week in Review

 

Option to Profit

Week in Review

 

June 22 – 26, 2015

 

NEW POSITIONS/STO	NEW STO	ROLLOVERS	CALLS ASSIGNED/PUTS EXPIRED	CALLS EXPIRED/PUTS ASSIGNED	CLOSED	EX-DIVIDEND
0 / 0	2	1	1 /  0	3  /  0	0	1

 

Weekly Up to Date Performance

June 22 – 26 2015

Still Another week with no new positions opened and if not for finally a little bit of buyer interest in an otherwise very quiet options market today, it was almost the first week of not executing a single trade.

There continues to be nothing to make one want to commit money to new positions.

As with last week and the week before,  whatever surges higher there were, became largely erased as the market showed no ability to consolidate its activity in either direction. 

The S&P 500 ended the week 0.4% lower despite a very nice start to begin the week that saw a triple digit gain in the DJIA.

There was, however, an assignment for the week and just a little more cash added to the still too small reserve. The 44 closed lots in 2015 continue to out-perform the market. They are an average of 5.0% higher, while the comparable time adjusted S&P 500 average performance has been 1.3% higher. That  3.7% difference represents a 283.3% performance differential.  

Up until Friday, it was really looking as if the unthinkable was going to happen.

Not that there weren’t attempts to get some trades executed earlier in the week, but the options market has been very, very quiet, other than for names in the news.

Most of the activity has been related to buy outs and takeovers and has been very isolated by sector. Most everything else in the broader market has continued to be weak and the options market has reflected a belief that lots of those stocks weren’t likely to be heading higher in the near term.

That’s made it very difficult to get anything resembling fair prices, especially when looking at rollovers. In those cases the cost of buying back option contracts in order to close a position before opening a new one is just too expensive relative to the pitiful premiums in forward weeks.

The lack of optimism may also be reflected in the less than effusive way IPOs were received this week, as the market wa beginning to see a peak in IPOs and was beginning to lose some appetite for them, perhaps remembering what tends to happen when the market gets into an IPO frenzy stage.

WIth the exception of some GDP news, there wasn’t much of interest that really moved markets this week, but they did move, although as in previous weeks, the market didn’t really go anywhere after it was all said and done.

Most of the news, even the Greek banking crisis news did little to get the market’s attention this week, as it was a week where most attention was directed toward the Supreme Court and the rulings that were handed down this week.

On a societal level it was a very busy week, but on an economic level it was about as quiet as it can get.

With that out of the picture, next week’s holiday shortened week that comes a week before earnings season starts all over again, is likely to be another abysmally quiet one for my trading.

With just a little more in cash reserves, it’s still well below where I’d like to see my cash position, so I’m reluctant to plow those reserves back into the market at a point when there continues to be so much uncertainty, but the bias appears to be negative.

Even Friday’s gain, which was very mild, was misleading, in that half of the DJIA advance came from a single stock. While that was happening, the broader S&P 500 actually fell and added to its weekly loss.

The problem with not re-investing that cash, however, is that the past 3 weeks have generated less premium income than I generally look forward to and the past 2 weeks haven’t had the same number of ex-dividend positions as in the weeks prior.

The only saving grace for this week is that some of those ex-dividend positions from those previous weeks were hitting accounts this week, but it still doesn’t have the same feel to me as actively generating option premium income from trading.

With only 2 positions set to expire next  week, at least both are currently in range for either rollovers or assignments, but there can still be some news coming from Greece that could shake things up a bit, as we get ready for Independence Day.

With that in mind, as well as the fact that the Employment Situation Report will be released a day early, due to the holiday, there may also be reason to want to avoid having too much at risk for expiration on that date.

Looking ahead, as quiet as this week was, it’s very likely that next week will be very similar.

Any early strength in the week would be welcome if itt gives any opportunity to get some more of those uncovered positions covered and I would continue looking at longer term options, even as the premiums continue to be so low. Hopefully the combination of the extra time, perhaps a dividend or two and using an out of the money strike may generate some competitive returns while we wait to see what near term direction the market will take.

 

 

 

 

 This week’s details may be seen in the Weekly Performance spreadsheet * or in the PDF file, as well as in the summary below

(Note: Duplicate mention of positions reflects different priced lots):



New Positions Opened:   none

Puts Closed in order to take profits:  none

Calls Rolled ov
er, taking profits, into the next weekly cycle: none

Calls Rolled over, taking profits, into extended weekly cycle:  none

Calls Rolled over, taking profits, into the monthly cycle: none

Calls Rolled Over, taking profits, into a future monthly cycle:  GPS (9/118)

Calls Rolled Up, taking net profits into same cycle:  none

New STO:  KO (9/18), MRO (1/16)

Put contracts expired: none

Put contracts rolled over: none

Long term call contracts sold:  none

Calls Assigned: MOS

Calls Expired:  BBY, GPS, KMI

Puts Assigned:  none

Stock positions Closed to take profits:  none

Stock positions Closed to take losses: none

Calls Closed to Take Profits: none

Ex-dividend Positions: DOW (6/26 $0.42)  

Ex-dividend Positions Next Week: EMC (6/29 $0.11), WFM (6/20 $0.13)

For the coming week the existing positions have lots that still require the sale of contracts:   AGQ, ANF, AZN, BBY, CHK, CLF,  FCX, GPS, HAL, INTC, JCP, JOY, KMI, LVS,  MCP, MOS, RIG, WFM, WLT (See “Weekly Performance” spreadsheet or PDF file)



* If you don’t have a program to read or modify spreadsheets, you can download the OpenOffice Suite at no cost.



 

Option to Profit

Week in Review

 

June 15 – 19, 2015

 

NEW POSITIONS/STO	NEW STO	ROLLOVERS	CALLS ASSIGNED/PUTS EXPIRED	CALLS EXPIRED/PUTS ASSIGNED	CLOSED	EX-DIVIDEND
0 / 0	1	4	2 /  0	6  /  0	0	1

 

Weekly Up to Date Performance

June 15 – 19, 2015

Another week with no new positions opened, marking the first time that has occurred in consecutive weeks.< /span>

Looking back on the week in hindsight, I’m not certain that I would have done it any differently, but that may change when sitting here next Friday and wondering if opportunities weren’t missed to buy on the brief dip.

But for now there continues to be nothing to make one want to commit money.

As with last week whatever surges higher there were, became largely erased. This week, however, there was a little bit left over for our troubles.

The S&P 500 ended the week 0.7% higher thanks to two very strong days that were just stronger than the two very weak days were weaker.

There were, however, two assignments for the week. The 43 closed lots in 2015 continue to out-perform the market. They are an average of 5.0% higher, while the comparable time adjusted S&P 500 average performance has been 1.3% higher. That  3.7% difference represents a 275.6% performance differential.  

This was one of those half empty – half full weeks, just as it was a tale of stories for the week that took the market in very different directions.

It was yet another week of no new positions being opened.

That was bad.

It was a week of lots of expired, unrolled over positions.

That was bad, too. Very bad, actually. In some cases, it was just inexcusably too expensive to do the rollovers, with the costs just being too high relative to the additional premiums. While I usually like to grab a trade when I can, sometimes it’s hard to justify when volatility is just so low and the premium reward on the other side of the trade is so paltry.

Existing positions only kept up with the market, so that gets a bad rating. Keeping up is a minimal expectation.

It reminds me of a teacher I had in 7th grade who was giving out award certificates at the end of the year to students.

You could either get one for Scholarship, Citizenship or Attendance.

He said if you get one for Scholarship, you should be proud of how smart you are and the work behind all you accomplished.

If you got one for Citizenship, you should be proud of the person you are.

But if you got one for Attendance, he said that was like toilet paper. The least you can do is be where you’re supposed to be.

On the good side, although not great, there were some opportunities to generate some income. Not as much as I would have liked, but Thursday’s advance helped to position some for rollovers that seemed to be unlikely candidates.

There was a new ex-dividend position and that was good, but not as good as in the previous 2 weeks that had lots of positions going ex-dividend.

Best of all for the week, there were a couple of assignments. Those were much wanted, although the cash reserve is still far lower than I’d like to have right now, as the market still seems far too tentative to get excited about.

Still, in a week where there wasn’t very much good to be had, that was as good as it gets.

With a little more cash in hand to begin the July 2015 option cycle, but with a decent number of positions set to expire next week, I’m still not overly excited about spending down the pathetically small cash pile. I would be much happier with rollovers and assignments.

However, part of the decision as to what to do next week may be determined by the likelihood of seeing those expiring positions contribute to the week’s income stream, which has been weak lately, as if it was a 75 year old man.

After a while, that sort of thing gets tiresome.

Happy Father’s Day

 

 

 

 

 This week’s details may be seen in the Weekly Performance spreadsheet * or in the PDF file, as well as in the summary below

(Note: Duplicate mention of positions reflects different priced lots):



New Positions Opened:   none

Puts Closed in order to take profits:  none

Calls Rolled over, taking profits, into the next weekly cycle: none

Calls Rolled over, taking profits, into extended weekly cycle:  none

Calls Rolled over, taking profits, into the monthly cycle: none

Calls Rolled Over, taking profits, into a future monthly cycle:  GDX (7/17), GM (7/17), KSS (7/17)

Calls Rolled Up, taking net profits into same cycle:  none

New STO:  FAST

Put contracts expired: none

Put contracts rolled over: TWTR (7/31)

Long term call contracts sold:  none

Calls Assigned: ANF, BAC

Calls Expired:  BNO, BP, CHK, GDX, KO, MAT

Puts Assigned:  none

Stock positions Closed to take profits:  none

Stock positions Closed to take losses: none

Calls Closed to Take Profits: none

Ex-dividend Positions: LVS (6/18 $0.60) 

Ex-dividend Positions Next Week: DOW (6/26 $0.42) 

For the coming week the existing positions have lots that still require the sale of contracts:   AGQ, ANF, AZN, CHK, CLF,  FCX, HAL, .INTC, JCP, JOY, LVS,  MCP, MOS, MRO, RIG, WFM, WLT, WY(See “Weekly Performance” spreadsheet or PDF file)



* If you don’t have a program to read or modify spreadsheets, you can download the OpenOffice Suite at no cost.



 

Option to Profit

Week in Review

 

June 8 – 12, 2015

 

NEW POSITIONS/STO	NEW STO	ROLLOVERS	CALLS ASSIGNED/PUTS EXPIRED	CALLS EXPIRED/PUTS ASSIGNED	CLOSED	EX-DIVIDEND
0 / 0	1	1	1 /  0	1  /  0	0	5

 

Weekly Up to Date Performance

June 8 – 12, 2015

This was another abysmal kind of week made even more so by the lack of any proactive trading activity.

There were again no new positions opened for the week as there were absolutely no signs of anything good to make one want to commit money.

Even the brief surge higher was mostly erased as the week came to an end.

The S&P 500 ended the week 0.1% higher. Not very interesting until you dig down for the details.

There was, however, one assignment for the week. The 41 closed lots continue to out-perform the market. They are an average of 5.1% higher, while the comparable time adjusted S&P 500 average performance has been 1.3% higher. That  3.7% difference represents a 279.8% performance differential.  

This was the third week in a row with relatively little news but with some big market moves.

This week certainly had its share of moves in both directions, moving higher and lower ostensibly on the basis of the promise and then the disappointment of achieving some resolution on the Greek crisis.

While stock markets were confused about what to do, so, too, were bond markets, but the trend there is as deniable as it has been in the stock market.

Stocks have been having a difficult time finding any reason to challenge recently set record highs and bond markets are having a hard time resisting the idea that interest rates will be going higher soon.

Just how soon may become more clear in the coming week as the FOMC Statement will be released on Wednesday, just 2 days before the end of the monthly option cycle.

I never really like that kind of timing, especially with lots of positions set to expire so soon after what may really be a consequential market move as a result of the FOMC.

I was hoping to possibly get some rollovers of next week’s expiring positions in order to minimize the impact of a really adverse reaction to anything that might be contained in the release.

But this just wasn’t the week for any trading. There definitely was little demand on the buying side for call options as the sentiment is far from optimistic and the market is definitely falling prey to worries and technical factors.

What’s really needed at this point is to get over the fears of an increase in interest rates and move on with life as usual. We’ve been held hostage a number of times during the course of 2015 by worries that the increase was imminent. Each time when it became clear that there wasn’t going to be an increase, the market rallied. Now it’s likely to rally after the increase becomes reality, as there isn’t too much reason to believe that they will be put off much longer.

This time, however it appears that there may be reasons to believe that things are really slowly heating up as varied economic reports are finally not in conflict with one another. Although that heat may now, in and of itself, not be enough to warrant an increase in rates using historical standards, these have been far from historical times and would be a good opportunity to get a practice rate hike in for when it may really be needed in the future. 

Next week, with still very little cash to make any new purchases and with lots of expiring positions, my focus has to be on trying to get whatever assignments and rollovers possible, with very little concern about making any new purchases.

The one positive for the week was that it was another week with lots of positions going ex-dividend, While I’ve been wanting to accumulate those positions lately, I’m glad that I didn’t bite on any of this past week’s potential dividend plays, as they were uniformly hit hard after their ex-dividend dates as the market weakness was non-discriminatory as the week came to its end.

Still, with all of this negativity, the market is barely down 2%. However, until we do get over the fear of an interest rate increase or until the next earnings season begins and perhaps gives us some upside surprises, there’s not too much reason to go on a spending spree.

Although it won’t be a week of reckless spending, I do hope that there will be plenty of trades to be made and as early in the week as opportunities may present themselves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 This week’s details may be seen in the Weekly Performance spreadsheet * or in the PDF file, as well as in the summary below

(Note: Duplicate mention of positions reflects different priced lots):



New Positions Opened:   none

Puts Closed in order to take profits:  none

Calls Rolled over, taking profits, into the next weekly cycle: none

Calls Rolled over, taking profits, into extended weekly cycle:  none

Calls Rolled over, taking profits, into the monthly cycle: none

Calls Rolled Over, taking profits, into a future monthly cycle:  GDX (7/17)

Calls Rolled Up, taking net profits into same cycle:  none

New STO:  WY

Put contracts expired: none

Put contracts rolled over: none

Long term call contracts sold:  none

Calls Assigned: GM

Calls Expired:  AZN

Puts Assigned:  none

Stock positions Closed to take profits:  none

Stock positions Closed to take losses: none

Calls Closed to Take Profits: none

Ex-dividend Positions: GM (6/8 $0.36), KSS (6/8 $0.45), BBY (6/9 $0.23), NEM (6/9 $0.025), KO 6/11 $0.33) 

Ex-dividend Positions Next Week: LVS (6/18 $0.60) 

For the coming week the existing positions have lots that still require the sale of contracts:   AGQ, ANF, AZN, CHK, CLF,  FAST, FCX, HAL, .INTC, JCP, JOY, LVS,  MCP, MOS, MRO, RIG, WFM, WLT, WY(See “Weekly Performance” spreadsheet or PDF file)



* If you don’t have a program to read or modify spreadsheets, you can download the OpenOffice Suite at no cost.



 

Option to Profit

Week in Review

 

June  – 5, 2015

 

NEW POSITIONS/STO	NEW STO	ROLLOVERS	CALLS ASSIGNED/PUTS EXPIRED	CALLS EXPIRED/PUTS ASSIGNED	CLOSED
4/ 0	0	3	0 /  0	2  /  0	0

    

Weekly Up to Date Performance

June 1 – 5, 2015

At least there was something to do this week and not just sit around watching the world pass us all by.

There were 4 new positions opened this week and all followed the theme of the pursuit of dividends, as the market was continuing to build on its uncertainty.

New positions surpassed the adjusted S&P 500 by o.3% and the unadjusted S&P 500 index by 0.2%.

However, those new positions ended the week 0.5% lower, while the adjusted S&P 500 was 0.8% lower and the unadjusted S&P 500 went 0.7% lower.

Existing positions managed to beat the market for the week by 0.3%, but still ended up on the downside, having lost 0.4%

With no assignments for the week the lots closed in 2015 had unchanged performance. They continue to out-perform the market. They are an average of 5.2% higher, while the comparable time adjusted S&P 500 average performance has been 1.5% higher. That 3.7% difference represents a 256.6% performance differential.  That’s too large to be sustained, but I’ve been saying that for a while, including much of 2014.

Just as with the previous week there wasn’t much in the way of economic news.

And just as with the previous week it was on the final day of trading that the one bit of important news was unveiled, as both of those weeks just went back and forth with a bias to the downside, as any attempts to move the market toward and beyond recent record highs were beaten back and done so with a certain kind of vengeance.

While the market did finish the final day of trading lower, it could have been much worse and was for a short while, just as it was also better. As it turned out the market simply continued with its confusion over what any bit of news actually meant in terms of what it might bring tomorrow.

The single saving grace for the week was having lots of ex-dividend positions and that continues next week, as well.

Next week will be yet anothe
r with very little economic news, but won’t have any particular blockbuster kind of event at any point in the week, such as the past 2 weeks with GDP and the Employment Situation Report.

There will be a JOLT Survey, but everyone continues to ignore it, despite Janet Yellen continuing to point out its importance and relevance.

Sitting on a minimal cash reserve and with scant positions set to expire next week, there’s not likely to be many trading actions unless the market shows some strength and offers some opportunity to sell calls on existing positions.

That wasn’t the case this week as the single session in which some reasonable gains were being made evaporated and those gains were more confined to the DJIA rather than being broadly distributed.

While I don’t know what next week will portend for the market, as it has been directionless now for a few weeks, I do know that I won’t be doing too much other than hoping for some assignments or some more rollovers.

With an FOMC Statement release coming in the week after next, and with already plenty of positions set to expire as the monthly cycle ends just 2 days later, I would like to see some opportunity to move expirations out beyond that date in the event the FOMC hints at something that the market has been dreading.

Although it’s not too likely that Friday’s strong Employment Situation Report will lead to an interest rate hike as early as this upcoming meeting, sooner rather than later is back on the table and the first clues may soon appear.

I’d rather have some distance between my expiration dates and that first good clue.

 

 

 

 This week’s details may be seen in the Weekly Performance spreadsheet * or in the PDF file, as well as in the summary below

(Note: Duplicate mention of positions reflects different priced lots):



New Positions Opened:   GM, KSS, MOS, WY

Puts Closed in order to take profits:  none

Calls Rolled over, taking profits, into the next weekly cycle: none

Calls Rolled over, taking profits, into extended weekly cycle:  MOS (6/26)

Calls Rolled over, taking profits, into the monthly cycle: ANF

Calls Rolled Over, taking profits, into a future monthly cycle:  none

Calls Rolled Up, taking net profits into same cycle:  none

New STO:  none

Put contracts expired: none

Put contracts rolled over: TWTR

Long term call contracts sold:  none

Calls Assigned: none

Calls Expired:  MRO, WY

Puts Assigned:  none

Stock positions Closed to take profits:  none

Stock positions Closed to take losses: none

Calls Closed to Take Profits: none

Ex-dividend Positions: HAL (6/1 $0.18), JOY (6/2 $0.20), MOS (6/2 $0.28), BAC (6/3 $0.05), COH (6/3 $0.34), HFC (6/3 $0.33), WY (6/3 $0.29)

Ex-dividend Positions Next Week: GM (6/8 $0.36), KSS (6/8 $0.45), BBY (6/9 $0.23), NEM (6/9 $0.025), KO 6/11 $0.33) 

For the coming week the existing positions have lots that still require the sale of contracts:   AGQ, ANF, CHK, CLF,  FAST, FCX, HAL, .INTC, JCP, JOY, LVS,  MCP, MOS, MRO, RIG, WFM, WLT, WY(See “Weekly Performance” spreadsheet or PDF file)



* If you don’t have a program to read or modify spreadsheets, you can download the OpenOffice Suite at no cost.



 

Option to Profit

Week in Review

 

May 25 – 29,  2015

 

NEW POSITIONS/STO	NEW STO	ROLLOVERS	CALLS ASSIGNED/PUTS EXPIRED	CALLS EXPIRED/PUTS ASSIGNED	CLOSED
0 / 0	0	1	1  /  0	0  / 0	0

    

Weekly Up to Date Performance

May 25 – 29, 2015

This was a really very forgettable week. Last week it was just forgettable. This week took it to an extreme that I hadn’t experienced before.

There were no new positions opened for the week, representing the third of fourth time that has occurred in over 3 years. But to make things worse, there was only a single expiring position.

In what was a terrible week, overall, the unadjusted and adjusted S&P 500 ended the week having gone 0.9% lower.

Lots closed in 2015 continue to out-perform the market. They are an average of 5.2% higher, while the comparable time adjusted S&P 500 average performance has been 1.5% higher. That 3.7% difference represents a 256.6% performance differential.  That’s too large to be sustained, but I’ve been saying that for a while, including much of 2014.

I knew a few weeks ago that this was likely to be a quiet week, but had no clue just how quiet it would be.

With only one position set to expire this week and with premiums even lower due to the holiday shortened week, there wasn’t going to be much opportunity to work with existing positions, especially as the market was so indecisive.

With earnings no longer driving the market and interest rate concerns back in vogue, there’s not too much that looks as if it wants to push the market any higher, but that has been the prevailing opinion so many times over the past few years.

With it getting more and more rare to see a meaningful correction, we’ve tended to over-inflate the importance of even the smallest and inconsequential pullbacks.

Most, like this week, have been nothing more than minor hiccoughs on the way higher

With cash a little higher as a result of an assignment this week and no new purchases, I’m anxious to add some more positions as the new week opens, but am equally anxious not to get too anxious about doing so.

With a small number of positions set to expire next week, but a larger number to end the month in 3 weeks, any new positions next week are most likely going to look at either next week or the following week’s expirations.

As this week produced virtually no income, at least next week has a large number of positions going ex-dividend, and hopefully some opportunity to either add to the cash reserve or generate some needed income.

Next week will be an Employment Situation report on Friday and maybe there may be some fear re-introduced if it is going to offer a mumber that is deemed to be too good.

For now, I would welcome getting the pain of any interest rate increase out of the way so that we could back back to actually focusing on what’s going well in the economy and how good news should be treated as good news.

Wouldn’t that be nice for a change?

.

.

 

 

 

 This week’s details may be seen in the Weekly Performance spreadsheet * or in the PDF file, as well as in the summary below

(Note: Duplicate mention of positions reflects different priced lots):



New Positions Opened:   none

Puts Closed in order to take profits:  none

Calls Rolled over, taking profits, into the next weekly cycle: none

Calls Rolled over, taking profits, into extended weekly cycle:  GDX (6/12)

Calls Rolled over, taking profits, into the monthly cycle: none

Calls Rolled Over, taking profits, into a future monthly cycle:  none

Calls Rolled Up, taking net profits into same cycle:  none

New STO:  none

Put contracts expired: none

Put contracts rolled over: none

Long term call contracts sold:  none

Calls Assigned: LXK

Calls Expired:  none

Puts Assigned:  none

Stock positions Closed to take profits:  none

Stock positions Closed to take losses: none

Calls Closed to Take Profits: none

Ex-dividend Positions: RIG (5/27 $0.15), ANF (5/29 $0.20)

Ex-dividend Positions Next Week: HAL (6/1 $0.19), JOY (6/2 $0.20), MOS (6/3 $0.28), BAC (6/3 $0.05), COH (6/3 $0.34), HFC (6/3 $0.33)

 

 

For the coming week the existing positions have lots that still require the sale of contracts:   AGQ, ANF, CHK, CLF,  FAST, FCX, HAL, .INTC, JCP, JOY, LVS,  MCP, MOS, RIG, WFM, WLT (See “Weekly Performance” spreadsheet or PDF file)



* If you don’t have a program to read or modify spreadsheets, you can download the OpenOffice Suite at no cost.