I took a loss on MDR in a low trade week.
My schedule has been very busy lately. I guess my wife’s birthday, which fell on a weekend, had something to do with that. Also it’s Christmas time. As a result I’m a little behind on my work. I’m just getting to my week ending results for last week. This should be an easy one because I didn’t do much trading.
Back on 10/30/19 I bought 20 contracts of the McDermott Intl (MDR) 1/17/20, $1.50 Calls. This turned out to be a big mistake. I never heard of the stock before, and I saw the Nagarian Bros talking about it on their Unusual Activity segment on CNBC. I don’t blame anyone for my loses because I’ve been trading a long time and I should do my own homework. This was such a low stock I made a quick decision and just jumped in. Once I bought the Call options the stock went straight down. When I bought in, the stock was at $1.64. I sold the $1.50 Calls. On 11/8/19 I sold 5 of the contracts, keeping 15 contracts. At that point I should have sold the entire position. I bought the Calls at 65¢ and on 11/8 I sold them for 20¢ taking a $225 loss on the 5 contracts.
This past week, with the stock at 79¢ I sold the remaining 15 contracts. It’s getting close to the end of the year and I figured I’d take the loss for taxes. I sold the 15 contracts at 5¢ taking another $900 loss.
10/30/19 – Buy to Open 15 MDR 1/17/20 $1.50 C @ 65¢ ($975)
12/10/19 – Sell to Close 15 MDR 1/17/19 $1.50 C @ .05 ($75.00)
Loss -$900
This is the only trade I have to report for the week ending 12/13/19.
Total Weekly Gain -$900
Only a couple week left to 2019. I’m preparing for the new year and hoping the Trump Train can continue chugging along.
I know the Wealth Builder is a very new section but I’m thinking of adding a new portfolio. At the moment it holds 3 portfolios. If I add another it will be great stock that are dividend plays. This would be the 4th portfolio. The stocks would be held long term and have the dividends reinvested. I’ll keep you informed.
Successful trading,
Steve
The Options Coach