Closed: XLY March 18th 153/195 Short Strangle... for a 2.24 debit.
Comments: Taking profit here ... . Filled for a 4.02 credit (See Post Below). Closing it out today for 2.24 results in a 1.78 ($178) profit.
Premiumselling
Closing: KWEB March 18th 27 Short Put... for a .12 debit.
Comments: Added this for a .63 credit to my inverted 35C/39P short strangle to rapidify cost basis reduction and improve my break evens. (See Post Below). Since price is back between my short strikes and the short put is approaching worthless, I'm taking it off here. Total credits collected of 6.77 with break evens of 32.23 on the put side, 41.77 on the call.
Rolling (IRA): SPY March 18th 381 Short Put to April 14th 391... for a 2.45 credit.
Comments: Rolling at 50% max to the April strike paying at least 1% of the strike price in credit. I've collected 3.95 (See Post Below) + 2.45 or 6.40 in credits so far relative to a current price for the April 14th 391 of 3.87, so have realized gains of 2.53 ($253) so far.
Rolling (IRA): QQQ March 18th 298 Short Put to April 14th 295... for a 1.46 credit.
Comments: Rolling out at 50% max to the strike paying at least 1% of the strike price in credit. I've collected 3.00 (See Post Below) + 1.46 here or 4.46 relative to a current price for the 295 of 2.77, so I've realized gains of 1.69 ($169) so far.
Rolling (IRA): IWM February 25th 193 Short Put to March 31st 178... for a .58 credit.
Comments: The 193 isn't at 50% max yet, but it's the highest strike I've got in my short put ladder, so taking the opportunity to both realize a little gain, strike improve, and receive a credit for doing it. Total credits collected of 2.09 (See Post Below) +.58 = 2.67 relative to a current price for the March 31st 178 of 1.93, so I've realized gains of .74 ($74) so far.
Rolling (IRA): IWM February 18th 194 Short Put to March 25th 178... for an .83 credit.
Comments: With only 7 days to go, rolling down and out to the strike paying at least 1% of the strike price in credit. Total credits collected of 3.53 (See Post Below) + .83 = 4.36 relative to the March 25th 178's current value of 1.80, so I've realized gains of 2.56 ($256) so far.
Rolled: NVDA February 18th 225 Short Put to 247.5... for a 5.90 credit.
Comments: Rolled up the untested side to a 5-wide inverted here (242.5C/247.5P). Total credits collected of 20.89, so I can conceivably widen the inversion to 20+ at this point, but still don't intend to hold it running into earnings in 6, so I may just have to take the loss and move on.
Closed: XOP February 18th 87/117 Short Strangle... for a 1.27 debit.
Comments: One of the only setups I didn't have to touch/adjust during all the January gyrations (i.e., no side was tested or approached worthless), but I had to wait on it longer than I would've liked. In for a 2.53 credit (See Post Below); out today at 50% max, 1.26 ($126) profit.
The Week Ahead: TWTR, UAA, GPN, PFE Earnings; ARKK, XBI, XRTEarnings Announcements in Options Liquid Underlyings with >70 rank and >50% 30-Day Implied:
TWTR (93 rank/90 30-day implied) (Thursday, before market open)
UAA (80/68) (Friday, before market open)
GPN (71/51) (Thursday, before market open)
PFE (76/42) (Tuesday, before market open)
Pictured here is a directionally neutral TWTR short strangle paying 1.34 on a buying power effect of 3.71 (on margin), 36.1% ROC at max; 18.1% at 50% max. It announces earnings on Thursday before market open, so look to put on a play in the waning hours of Wednesday's session if you want to take advantage of the ensuing volatility contraction post-announcement on Thursday.
For those more of a defined risk bent, consider the February 18th 25/30/44/49 iron condor, paying 1.14 at the mid price as of Friday's close on buying power effect of 3.86, 29.5% ROC at max, 14.8% at 50% max with 2 x expected move break evens.
UAA is probably small enough to short straddle/iron fly, with the February 18th 19.5 short straddle paying 2.42 on buying power of 3.93 (on margin), 61.6% ROC at max, 15.4% at 25% max. The risk one to make one iron fly would be a "stays within the expected move" sort of play with the February 18th 15.5/19.5/19.5/23.5, paying 2.03 on 1.97, 103% ROC at max; 25.8% ROC at 25% max.
The GPN February 18th 130/160 short strangle was paying 2.97 on buying power of 14.97 as of Friday's close, 19.8% ROC at max, 9.9% at 50% max. The bid/ask is showing wide in after hours, and I don't particularly like the five wides where I want to pitch my tent. This is probably why I haven't bothered to play it before.
Although PFE's 30-day is a bit <50%, I figured I'd price out a setup because of its high options liquidity. Unfortunately, it's not very compelling at the moment, with the 16 delta 48.5/58.5 in the February 18th contract paying a scant .89 on buying power of 6.12 as of Friday's close -- 14.5% ROC at max, 7.3% at 50% max.
Exchange-Traded Funds With Ranks >50 and 30-Day IV >35%:
ARKF (76/63)
XBI (71/45)
ARKK (70/67)
ARKG (70/65)
XRT (63/46)
KWEB (63/54)
SMH (60/41)
GDX (50/45)
Pick your Cathie Woods poison (ARKF, ARKK, ARKG), I guess. Otherwise, sell premium in XBI or (there's one I haven't seen in a while) ... XRT, although you're probably going to get more bang for your buck out of KWEB, with its higher 30-day.
Broad Market Exchange-Traded Funds, Ordered By Implied Volatility Rank:
QQQ (55/29)
IWM (54/30)
EFA (43/19)
SPY (41/22)
DIA (40/21)
Rolling: XLK February 18th Short Strangles to March 18th 160... short straddle.
Comments: Locking in some realized gains by rolling the 151/160 and the 157C/158P inverted out to the March 18th 160 short straddle. I had to do this in separate rolls, receiving 7.19 in credits for the roll of the 151/160 and 3.67 for the roll of the slightly inverted 157C/158P. I've collected a grand total of 22.07 in credits (11.035/contract) relative to a current setup value of 11.75 per contract, so am still slightly underwater in the position. As usual, will continue to do defensive adjustments as necessary to keep from getting too directional.
Rolling: IWM February 25th 197/198 Short Strangle to March 18th... 199 short straddle.
Comments: As with my February 18th IWM tight short strangle, rolling out my February 25th to the March 18th 199 short straddle for a 4.24 credit. Total credits collected of 12.80 relative to the March 18th 199 short straddle price of 14.46, so also still slightly underwater. I'll continue naturally continue to do defensive adjustments as necessary to keep these setups from getting too directional.
Rolling: IWM February 18th 198/197 Short Strangle to March 11th ... 199 short straddle for a 4.24 credit.
Comments: Locking in some realized gains by rolling the tight short strangle out to the March 11th 199 short straddle with 14 days to go. Total credits collected of 12.10 relative to the March 18th 199 short straddle price of 13.01, so it's still slightly underwater (credits collected are less than the current price of the setup).
Opening (IRA): IWM April 14th 160 Short Put... for a 1.73 credit.
Comments: Adding a rung out in the April monthly as part of a longer-dated strategy to emulate dollar cost averaging into the broad market using SPY, IWM, and QQQ. Targeting the strike paying at least 1% of the strike price in credit. Will generally look to roll at 50% max.
Opening (IRA): QQQ May 20th 260 Short Put... for a 2.65 credit.
Comments: Part of a longer-dated strategy to emulate dollar cost averaging into the broad market utilizing options in IWM, QQQ, and SPY. Here, targeting the strike in May paying at least 1% of the strike price in credit. (I already have "rungs" in March and April). Will generally roll at 50% max.
Rolled (IRA): SPY March 18th 374 Short Put to June 345... for a 2.30 credit.
Comments: As with the short puts I sold in IWM and QQQ in the sell-off, this one also is at greater than 50% max. Here, I rolled it out farther in time to start to fill out longer-dated expiries at intervals, again targeting the short put strike paying at least 1% of the strike price in credit, after which I'll roll the short put up at 50% max to the strike paying at least 1% of the strike price in credit, assuming the expiry is still longer than 45 days and that that strike is <16 delta. Naturally, June is quite long-dated (136 days), but the expectation is that it will reach 50% max at around half that period of time (assuming a bunch of things like IV, whether price moves significantly into the strike, etc.).
In any event: Total credits collected of 3.75 (See Post Below) plus 2.30 here for a total of 6.05 relative to a price of 3.55 for the June 345, so I've realized gains of 2.50 ($250), give or take.
Rolled (IRA): QQQ March 18th 280 Short Put to April 14th 305... for a 2.40 credit.
Comments: As with my IWM short put filled in the depths of the sell-off, there was far less extrinsic in the 280 than there was a few short days ago. Rolled out to April strike paying at least 1% of the strike price in credit, which is the 305, paying 3.19 or so. I collected 3.00 for the 280 (See Post Below) and 2.40 for the roll here, for a total of 5.40 relative to a current short put price for the April 305 of 3.20, so I've realized gains of 2.20 ($220) by rolling here. I could've naturally rolled up in the March expiry or waited for a weekly to roll out to (i.e., the March 25th, which doesn't exist yet), but opted for going longer dated, deeper out-of-the-money for the time being as I'm doing with my longer-dated SPY setup.
Rolled (IRA): IWM March 11th 171 Short Put to March 18th 181... for a 1.24 credit.
Comments: After a few short days, this one's already at 50% max, so I rolled it out to 16 delta strike in the expiry nearest 45 days. Total credits collected of 2.59 (See Post Below) plus the 1.24 here or 3.83 relative to the 181 short put price of 2.13, so I've realized gains of 1.70 ($170) by rolling here.
Opening (IRA): IWM March 11th 170 Short Put... for a 2.59 credit.
Comments: Selling the weekly nearest 45 days until expiry/strike nearest 16 delta in the broad market exchange-traded fund with the highest 30-day on the board to emulate dollar cost averaging into small caps.
Opening: XLY March 18th 153/195 Short Strangle... for a 4.02 credit.
Comments: At the top of my exchange-traded fund list for implied volatility rank at 92 with a 39-day of 39.8%. Selling the 17's on both sides. 4.02 credit on buying power effect of 17.73; 22.7% ROC at max; 11.3% at 50% max.
Opening (IRA): SPY March 18th 374 Short Put... for a 3.75 credit.
Comments: As long as shorter duration (~45 days until expiry) is still paying at least 1% in credit for strikes at or below the 16 delta, I'm going to continue to take advantage of higher implied volatility here.
Rolling: KWEB January 18th 38.42C/40.42P to February 18th ... 35.42C/39.42P short strangle for a 1.04 credit.
Comments: Another inverted that I'm rolling out a tad early and on which I've collected a total of 5.25 in credit. (See Post Below, to which the 1.04 credit received here should be added). Like ARKK, it also experienced a distribution, which ended changing the strike prices. In any event, it's a 4.00-wide inversion on which I've collected 5.25, so I can still make money on it, but will probably scratch it out if I get an opportunity and re-up with an unbroken setup if the implied volatility remains attractive.
Rolled: XBI February 18th 132 Short Call to the 110... for a 1.64 credit.
Comments: Rolled the 132 down to what was the 25 delta strike on side test, after which the underlying promptly bounced back to 103 and change. I originally collected 2.69 (See Post Below) with a 50% max take profit at 1.34, so am revising my take profit to the original take profit of 1.34 plus what I received for this roll -- 1.64 (i.e., 2.98).
Opened: NVDA February 18th 225/350 Short Strangle... for a 7.11 credit.
Comments: High rank/implied at 53/53. Earnings are in 47 days, so I'll be looking to take this off well short of the announcement. 7.11 on buying power effect of 27.24 (on margin); 26.1% ROC at max; 13.1% at 50% max. As usual, I will look to take profit at 50% max; manage sides on approaching worthless/side test.
