A Tesla Bearish Option Spread and an Update on $UVXY

I was a bit reckless with my option trades today, and surprisingly, I didn't get burned.  I may actually make some money on it. It will probably come back to haunt me.


I sold a call spread on Tesla ($TSLA) with a one day expiration.  The stock came out with earnings last night, and although the stock initially went up, it faded quickly and was down by 10 am or so, when I put this on. 


The stock had dropped from $280 last night down to $260, so I sold a put spread:


Sold the $262.50 for $2.24 for expiration tomorrow.
Bought the $272.50 for $0.55 for the same date. 


If the stock stays below I get the entire spread.  Short duration, but there was still a fair amount of implied volatility, so a decent return. 


Stock dropped to $256 by the close, so I could have taken it off for a solid win, but will hold for a bit tomorrow.  If it stays near that price I will let it expire worthless. 


An update on $UVXY.  If you haven't tried this strategy, one thing that can happen when you sell a call or put is that they can be exercised early.  That happened to me today, the $19 call I sold was bought back, locking in my losses.  Bad. However, $UVXY continued going up, so the exercise stopped me from taking larger losses.  Good!


The $21 call trade I sold isn't looking great either.  The stock closed near $22, and the option expires tomorrow.  I need a solid fade to make any money, and I'm not confident about it. 


That's the risk of doing this.  A few bad trades can really blow up your account.

Winning trade in $YELP

Just a quick note to say I allowed the call spread I had on $YELP to expire.  I had sold the 36.50 strike call and the stock closed at $34.67, a nice win for me.

No other trades today. 

Shorting the Spike in $UVXY with a Call Spread

If you read yesterday's post, you saw I made a bearish bet on $UVXY, which is more or less a bullish bet on the market.  I got stung a bit, although it was done with options that don't expire until next Friday.


I was taken to task a bit for not using the correct terminology on $UVXY and the $VIX, to which I will plead no contest.  For my purposes, it's not important to identify the how the products work exactly.  I don't need to understand the physics of gravity to know I will hurt myself if I jump off a building. 


With that out of the way, $UVXY did spike this morning, and rather than wait, I sold another call spread at higher strikes.  Putting on more risk but hoping for a drop as the markets quiet down for the weekend and contango kicks in.


Sold the $21 February 24 Call
Bought the $25 February 24 Call


I got a credit of about a dollar again.  Price of the underlying was $20.80 at the time I put it on.  The price jumped to $22 before closing at $20.11, so I am ahead on this trade at end of day, but behind on the one I made yesterday at the 19 strike.


A word on liquidity.  I closed out a trade today I didn't discuss when I opened it on $RH.  I had sold the 26 strike and for a while I was looking pretty good, as the stock dropped below $25.  I didn't take it off with a win because I couldn't get a good price because the option was illiquid, hardly any bids.  It's teaching me to focus on activity traded options.  Even if I see a very good deal, I may pass if I can't cover when I want to.


As it turns out, $RH got a buy recommendation and the stock jumped over $27.  Lesson learned (hopefully). 


Good luck trading.

A Bearish Spread on $UVXY

I wasn't planning on any trades today, I thought I'd hold some powder back, but an opportunity opened up and I decided to take it.  The $VIX climbed today and along with it, the $UVXY, the 2X Ultra VIX Short Term Futures ETF.  $UVXY is a function of the $VIX, which is known as the Fear indicator, a measure of volatility.  When the $VIX goes up, it generally means the market is going down, although that wasn't the case today. 


The market has been pretty complacent lately, and despite all the political rumbling, I didn't see anything that was an immediate reason for the spike in the $VIX or $UVXY, so I decided to open a trade against it.


I shorted the $19 March 24 call (next week's) and bought the $24 strike for the same time period. It gave me a net credit of just under a dollar at the time.  $UVXY was trading at $19.50 when I made the trade, up a dollar.  It gives me a week for it to drop back under $19 to get the full credit.  Remember, Monday is a markets holiday, which is calculated into the option price.


The stock traded as high as $20 and closed at $19.80, so I could have done a bit better.  We'll see.  I spoke to someone after the market close who said it was $VIX expiration this morning, and it's not usual for the index to behave oddly at expiration.  Technical mumbo-jumbo. If so, all the better for a pullback.




Good luck 

Closing a Put Spread on $TSLA, opening a short position on $NUGT

I closed out the put spread I sold on $TSLA (Tesla) today.  I had sold a put spread yesterday with a Friday expiration, which is a bullish bet, and the stock jumped from $276 to $283 and it looked like it might pull back.  I had a pretty risky position if it turned against me in such a short time frame, so I closed it out for a debit of $1.1, making close to a $200 profit overnight. 


I'm pretty happy with it, I would prefer to let a winner ride, but seems like the right move to take it off. 


I also closed out a put spread from a week ago that I hadn't posted, so I won't bring that up.  I prefer to only report on trades that I have been upfront with, not claiming a winner just after the fact.


How Option Spreads Work


For those that don't do a lot of trading in options, or spreads, just a comment on what I am doing.  If I sell a put spread, that is actually a bullish bet.  I am selling a higher strike put for more money, and buying a lower price put for less.  It creates a net credit, and if the stock price stays above the higher strike, I keep the entire credit. 


If I sell a call spread, it works that opposite and is a bearish bet.  See below for a real life example.


Selling a Call Spread on $NUGT


Today I sold a call spread in $NUGT, the Direxion 3 times leveraged Gold Miners ETF.


Sell $13 March 17 strike for $1.16
Bought $17 March 17 strike for $0.35


If $NUGT ends up below $13, I keep the 81 cents.  These are regular options, so everything is times 100, then times of the number of options.  Usually I don't say how many that is, but today it was 5, so I have chance to earn $408, while risking more.  The risk is mitigated by the fact that the stock price was $12 when I put this on.  Unfortunately, it went up during the day and closed at $12.46.  Not a good entry.


Because $NUGT is a 3x ETF, I have the chance to see some decay from rebalancing.  Maybe not too much in just a month. 


Enjoy your trading.

Short Term Call Spread on YELP

On Friday, I put on a call spread on $YELP, sold the 36.50 and bought the 38.50 for a credit of 45 cents, expiring next Friday.  Yelp reported that morning and dropped 5 bucks, I put this trade on when the stock price was $36.  It closed at $35.84.

I mentioned  this to Sean McLaughlin, host of the Gimme Some Options podcast, who called a one week play "bold."  That gave me something to think about.

Many of this trades, and some of mine, are for longer duration,  where the goal is to pick up premium as the the implied volatility peters out over the life of the option.  I have no problems with this, it's a solid strategy. 

Making a trade on a short dated option is different.  The plan on my Yelp trade is mostly directional.  I think Yelp is going to sit here or continue to slide over the next week.  If so, I get the whole premium.  I gave myself a little cushion by going with the $36.50, and probably  cost myself a dime or two. If I'm wrong, it could ugly, but will be over fast.

We will see how it works out.

Update on Tesoro Call Spread

A few days ago I sold a weekly call spread on $TSRO based on the idea it had run too much and was due to fall back in short order.  I bought a 195 call and sold the 185 for this week.  I netted $2 and if the stock stayed under $185 I would keep the whole spread.

Unfortunately, after I put it on, Tesaro went up a bit more and hovered around the $185 mark.  If it shot up to $195 I would be out $1,000 per option.  Or an $800 loss. 

I prefer to close out early if there is any question but couldn't do it because the option wasn't very liquid.  I decided to wait it out this morning and decided to put in a limit order, buying back the $185 strike for a dollar.  I was on the road and couldn't watch the position closely.

The stock dropped almost immediately this morning and held just under $185 for most of the morning, and around 11 my limit order filled, giving me a good profit of $100 per option less commissions.

As it turned out, the stock closed at $182. If I held all day I would have gotten the entire $2.  OK, a win is a win and l'll take it.  It could have been a loss, so I'm happy.

One thing I re-learned is that it's better to trade options that are more liquid.  There are times you just need to end the trade early.

A short term Option Call Spread on $TSRO

In my last post, I discussed why it's better to use a long time frame when selling option spreads. In this point, I am going to show why I ignored that advice.


I sold a call spread on $TSRO today, selling this week's $185 for $3.47 and buying the $195 for $1.47, a $200 spread per option contract.  As usual when selling the spread, a pretty bad risk/reward ratio, 5 to 1 against.  If the stock goes to $195, I loss the entire amount.  Dumb, maybe.


Well, that's why the call it risk.  Yes, it's a potential loss, but a defined one, pretty much.  Is $TSRO going to $195?  It already jumped $20 today to $182 (it was $183 when I put the trade on.) 


The positive is that it doesn't have much time to go up.  The $20 jump today can be traced to a takeover rumor.  We will see if it has legs.  My play is that it doesn't and drops, or at least holds steady through Friday, two days away.  If I get a drop tomorrow, I'll close it early.


Probably more to discuss on this, but I want to get this posted, and chances are no one will read it anyone.