This might have been the most satisfying week of the year. I put some really nice money in my mattress but that’s not the reason. I’ve had better weeks but going in to this week I didn’t have high expectations. It was the beginning of May, notoriously known to be the beginning of bad times. Read my Message of the Day for May 2nd. Plus it’s still earnings season and I’ve been having trouble finding good deals. All of my trades involved U.S. Steel (X) except one which was Facebook (FB) which I entered last week. Let’s go over Facebook first then I’ll look at the many U.S. Steel trades.
I sold a Covered Call on FB on Tuesday 4/29. This was a Call sold on previously owned shares. I sold 10 contracts of the FB 5/6/16 $120 Calls and received a $.60 premium for $600. FB closed yesterday at $119.49 and I was not assigned. I keep my FB stock and I keep the $600 premium. Once it looked like I wasn’t going to get assigned I sold another Call. The sooner you sell the better the premium will be.
4/29/16 – Sell to Open 10 5/6/16 $120 C @ $.60 (+$600)
5/6/16 Expired 10 FB 5/6/16 $120 C
Total Profit +$600
U.S. Steel
First I sold 100 Naked contracts of the X 5/6/16 $20.50 Calls with a $.30 premium for a total of $3000. The stock moved down a bit and I bought my way out for $.09 or $900. Here’s the Sell and Buy order’s:
5/2/16 – Sell to Open 100 X 5/6/16 $20.50 C @ $.30 (+$3000)
5/3/16 – Buy to Close 100 X 5/6/16 $20.50 C @ $ .09 (-$900)
Total Profit +$2100
While this option was alive the stock made a move up before it went down and while it was going up I got nervous and covered the Call. I really didn’t want to own the stock because I still feel it will be coming down soon. I bought the stock at $20.18. the stock went up to $20.45 and headed back down. I ended up selling the 10,000 shares at $20.26 for a $.08 or $800 profit. I normally don’t do this but I guess with 10,000 shares I wasn’t thinking clearly. Luckily it worked out nicely.
5/2/16 – Buy 10,000 shares X @ $20.18
5/2/16 – Sell 10,000 shares X @ $20.26
Total Profit +$800
On 5/4 I was completely out of U.S. Steel and I seen an opportunity I liked to sell another Call. I sold 50 Naked contracts (100 was a little scary) of the $20.50 5/6/16 Calls. This brought in a premium of $.25 for $1250. That same day the stock came down and I bought my way out for $.07 (-$350). Here’s the orders:
5/4/16 – Sell to Open 50 X 5/6/16 $20.50 C @ $.25 (+$1250)
5/4/16 – Buy to Close 50 X 5/6/16 $20.50 C @ $.07 (-$350)
Total Profit +$900
For the final Call of the week, on Thursday the 5th, with the stock taking a big drop I sold another 50 Naked contracts of the 5/6/16 $19 Calls and received $.50 for a $2500 premium. the stock got close to the Strike Price but never hit but I did buy the 5000 shares to cover. This option expired and I still own the stock. I sold another Call which will expire next Friday. Here’s the orders for the option that expired yesterday.
5/5/16 – Sell to Open 50 X 5/6/16 $19 C @ $.50 (+$2500)
5/6/16 – Expired 50 X 5/6/16 $19 C
Total Profit +$2500
Total Weekly Profit +$6900
What a great week! I have a new page written. Please check it out. it’s called Rolling. It’s in the “Education” section. Rolling options is a very important maneuver you must learn to get out of trouble if things don’t go your way.
Have a nice weekend! Enjoy the Kentucky Derby!
Steve
The Options Coach