Results Week Ending 3/1/24
This is my first “weekly results” post since August 4th, 2023. Starting in April of 2022 the market started heading south and I never fully returned to my normal trading habits after June of 2022. Some of you long time readers know well the kind of trading I was doing before that. The last 6 months of 2022 were not good for me or the market, however, it recovered nicely now. 2023 was a scaled down trading year for me but the market did well. My other investments like mutual funds and my Roth IRA did very well in 2023; fully recovered for 2022. Here we are in March of 2024 and I feel like I had my first trading week in a long time reminiscent of the good ole days. I made a nice amount of trades, but nowhere near the size trades of a few years ago. I will be moving “Slow and Steady, Steady and Slow.” I guess 2022 made me a little nervous to fully return to my old ways in my old age.
Let’s take a look at the trades I made this week and their results.
Walmart
Walmart (WMT) did a 3:1 split this week. I employed my stock split strategy and it worked well. However, Walmart is not the type of stock that makes big moves. For this reason I only bought a 2 contract Call option. I bought the position the day before the split and sold it the day of the split. I bought 2 contracts and sold 6 after the split.
Split Strategy
Walmart split 3:1 on 2/26/24
2/22/24 – Buy to Open 2 WMT 3/28/24 $175 C @ $3.35 ($670)
2/26/24 – Sell to Close 6 WMT 3/28/24 $58.33 C @ $1.75 ($1050)
Profit +$380
I bought the position on a Friday and sold it on Monday. Basically it was a 1 day trade. I invested $670 and my profit was $380. A return of 56%.
When I said Walmart is not the kind of stock to make big moves, you will see what I mean when Nvidia splits. Nvidia has not announced a split yet but I believe it will be coming very soon.
Micron
On 1/24 I bought a 1 contract Call on Micron and sold on 2/27.
1/24/24 – Buy to Open 1 MU 6/21/24 $87.50 C @ $8.55
2/27/24 – Sell to Open 1 MU 6/21 24 $87.50 C @ $11.00
Profit +$245
After I bought this option Micron stopped moving. It took a month of owning the position before I could grab a profit. This is the reason when buying options you want to buy with an Expiration Date out a few months. If I bought a 2 or 3 week option I would have lost my $855 investment. Since I bought with the June Expiration the stock had a chance to go up and it did. My return on Investment is 28%.
Block
On 2/26 I bought a 1 contract Call on Block (SQ) and sold 2 days later.
2/26/24 – Buy to Open 1 SQ 6/21/24 $75.00 C @ $8.65
2/28/24 – Sell to Close 1 SQ 6/21/24 $75.00 C @ $11.00
Profit +$235
This was a nice 2 day trade for a return of 27%
Micron
I bought 2 options on Micron in January. I mentioned one above. With this one I bought a 1 contract Call on 1/25 and bought another of the same options on 2/29 to give me 2 contracts of the 6/21/24 $90 Call. I bought them on different dates for an average price of $7.85 but I listed them as both being bought on 1/25. I sold them both on 3/1/24 for $11.00.
1/25/24 – Buy to Open 2 MU 6/21/24 $90.00 C @ $7.85
3/1/24 – Sell to Close 2 MU 6/21/24 $90.00 C @ $11.00
Profit $630
With this 2 contract Call I profited $630 for a return of 40%.
Micron
I was busy with Micron this week. Here’s another 2 contract Call I bought on Tuesday and sold on Friday.
2/27/24 – Buy to Open 2 MU 7/19/24 $92.50 C @ $9.70
3/1/24 – Sell to Close 2 MU 7/19/24 $92.50 C @ $12.00
Profit +$460
This is another nice return for a 4 day trade. Return on Investment 23%.
Block
Here is one of my old school trades with Block. This is one of my 1 week Covered Calls. I bought 200 shares of Block (SQ) for $75.75 on Monday and waited until Tuesday to sell the Call option. I sold the $77 Call for $1.75 for a $350 premium on the 2 contracts.
2/26/24 – Buy 200 Shares SQ @ $75.75
3/1/24 – Assigned 200 Shares SQ @ $77.00
Profit +$250
2/27/24 – Sell to Open 2 SQ 3/1/24 $77.00 C @ $1.75 ($350)
3/1/24 – Expired 2 SQ 3/1/24 $77.00 C
Profit +$350
The stock closed above my $77 Strike Price so I was assigned. I made $250 on the stock sale in addition to the $350 premium for a total gain of $600.
Total Weekly Gain $2550
It feels good to send out a weekly result and it feels good bringing $2550.
I have a few articles I have to write. Hopefully I’ll get them out soon. A new strategy I’m working on, Bull Call Spreads and my dividend stocks portfolio I’m building.
I just added a new page Trade History 2024.
If you have any questions on this week’s trades send me an email.
Successful trading,
Steve
The Options Coach