Hi all. My AAPL calls and puts did very well this week. No Jobs and fewer jobs. For those of you playing AAPL, it is a testament to the power of a stock that has tremendous earning power.
If you are looking at a vert put spread for the week, the AAPL 355/350 AT .16 cents is a 3% roi. If you just like naked puts the 355 is well over 1% per week. For these I would see how the open is this week and then do something on Monday as it will fade fast if AAPL is up. If down, wait and let is settle some. AAPL is heading towards a great earnings season and they are going to bring on line the Iphone 5. It will be big and PR showing lines around the block will be on all the channels. I have a ton of the Jan calls between the 380 and 400. I am expecting AAPL to be past 450 by Jan. that is Jerry’s guess but it should happen.
I see many are trading the SPX etc. Do be careful as Europe is still hanging over us. I have a friend in the investment business and the talk in his business is Europe, Europe. A major default of one of the PIGS (Portugal, Italy, Ireland Greece Spain etc. would bring havoc to our markets.
So the point is to keep you wits about you and don’t just jump in. The water is deep and full of crocodiles.
58 comments:
Jerry, I will look at the appl puts for this week coming.
So now I'm worried that my 395 Sept 17 calls will end up ITM. What happens toward the expiration? The time value erodes toward 0. I then BTO that contains only intrinsic value and sell the following week which should have both intrinsic and time value, thereby generating another credit? Hope that's the way it works.
Should have mentioned that the above calls were sold against my Jan longs at 395.
Safe, I sold the 410's. You have some time but could have a loss on this trade if AAPL keeps chugging this week. 395 is pretty close.....we are only 5 points off. Consider closing this side of the trade if AAPL remains strong. We are up on low vol. which is a good sign for longs. AAPL can surprise you with strength.
I will wait to sell puts later this week.
Fulgore...what SPX levels are you looking at?
Jerry, have you ever traded PCLN diags?
RK
Took AAPL for this week. Stock seems strong, Job gone and still strength. I don't like Irene right now. Lots of news about finances coming out from her. Europe still hasn't figured it out.
Also haven't took a stock in a while been mainly on SPX. Always good to change it up.
I didn't get that good of a strike for the return i need but I will see how it goes.
APPL weekly put spread - 360 / 355. Premium received = .11
39 points of cushion for 4 days.
I haven't dabbled in AAPL in a long time so i am a bit rusty here. I will watch this closely. If i see 2 strong down days I will pull out. Caution as always on my side.
Rhmoptions you in yet?
@Fulgore
Right now market is too "happy" and the premiums are lousy. I will wait to see if there is a pull back or re-jig my cushion based on Tuesday open.
rhmoptions
Safe, with the usual disclaimer that I'm no expert, you should be able to roll to the same strike anytime as the next week always will have a higher time value, but this is not something you can count on if you want to roll up a strike as well. It is a dilemma that we only can see one week at a time so if you need to roll out further you may have to go for the monthly.
I've never really understood how to get 1-5 bucks selling short term calls against AAPL Jan calls. That kind of return only seems to be available either at the money or the strike above, which must lead to constant ITM situations with a stock like AAPL.
SafenSimple, Just my 2 cents but this is a covered call right? your long Jan. 395 Do nothing till the next weeklies come out on the 1st then roll up. Yes the short could be a loss but the gain drops in on the Jan calls. Plus you just don't know what the next three days will bring. So do NOTHING.
Judgment call but you could also look to roll to Sep. 18 days to go but cheaper to roll farther up.
Again not befor Thu.
Also IF you think we are in a raging bull market and AAPL is going up another 30 bucks this week bite the bullet and just buy them back. I don't think it will happen but you never know.
Back from out of town. I tried the SPX weekly 1030/1025 for 5 cents today. It didn't go through. I guess market is on a strong upward move, need to wait for a down day.
Went naked on PCLN, AMZN, & AAPL (Weeklys).
Will do more on Tuesday. Thinking of buying a Jan call on AAPL to ride on a possible upswing into the 400s...hope Jerry is right.
Thanks Raging BW, Doing nothing is definitely the easiest. Thanks for the input. I'll wait it out for the time being. Do think AAPL is due for a run if the rest of the market will 'let it'.
Some great comments and questions. Road; yes I have used PCLN often but not for a month or so. It can be volatile so be careful
Raging Bull, i agree completely. The best advice for most situations is to hold your horse until the next weeklies come out and you can use those or roll into the next week or even 9/17 etc.
My thoughts on AAPL is it is now heading into the fall earn's and a new I-pad and I-phone are coming out. This company is eating up the competition. Money is free for AAPL and it is the time to ride it. Many stocks have had their days.. MSFT, DELL INTEL etc. This is AAPL time. Also there will be the Jan earns. I now have lots of the Jan 380’s 395’s & 400. I am selling calls on them weekly and will until Jan.
I also have some V Jan calls and POT. I am selling calls on those and I have some AAPL 355/360 & 360/365 diag puts for this week. So the point is that I am putting my money where my thoughts are. There is of course no ‘sure’ thing but I really like these positions.
Good luck all
Jerry, which strike are you using for your weekly Aapl calls and what do you do if they end up in the money?
OPened an SPX 1090/1075 spread today for 0.15 (1% return).Its a bit closer to the Monday open than i would have liked but good cushion from Tuesday close for 3 days. I will watch it however.
regards
RHMoptions
Tried the 1045/1040 for 5 cents today. It expired without a fill.
Sold another PCLN (495) naked for little under 1% return till Friday. Today, PCLN was Zacks' "bull of the day" (Every day, Zacks puts out a bull and a bear trade of the day).
I also did a covered call on BIDU with expiration in OCT.
Yesterday, AMZN made a nice move up, and AAPL stayed flat. There are rumors out there saying Amazon is about to launch a quality tablet under $300. Some say, if true, Amazon could easily sell between 3M - 5M tables in Q4 alone.
Any relationship between the info above and the respective price movements yesterday? What do you think?
P.S. I'm getting bullish on AMZN
opened SPX 1115/1100s today-100 pts for 2 days seems ok. unfortunately, I really do not like the 1260/1275 call I've been riding since the S&P was at 1200 but kept rising...
@RHM, seems you will be ok with that SPX. It looked good the last 2 days. My AAPL however is not making me happy. I have 24 points for 2 days of play. should be enough.
Paul: Where about do you find Zacks bull and bear trade of the day on their web page? Thanks.
@ hockeyguy
With Fidelity.com under the tab Reseach/Stocks on the front page lower left.
@all
Got filled in two Call Spreads. Expiration in Sep 17
SPY 131/133 @ 0.16 yesterday
OEX 580/575 @ 0.70 today
Paul,
Two weeks more, OEX 575 bear call is a bit close?
@Hannah,
I agree and I probably won't do it again, however it sure brings a good feeling when I see the mkt going down
Sold AAPL 390's against my long position today at .80. Expire tomorrow and underlying AAPL is down and cooperating. Maybe next week I'll go out to Sept 17 calls. Nice little payday without the stress of the short term spreads. I like it!
@ Paul :)
Yes it's red. May have bad data tomorrow. but markets didn't seem to care much these 2 weeks.
For 5 days I have been observing closely PCLN and its options (tick by tick) for a week to see if it's worth it for single leg options or calender spread:
1. thin/illiquid(stock price jumps around)
2. spread is ridiculously wide
Conclusion - Answer: NO, unless you catch a big run. (Same with CMG)
Sold PCLN 505 naked at 0.65 to expire tomorrow.
The premiums for PCLN are very attractive and you can get a lot of cushion. In the last few days, PCLN is paying the best premiums. AAPL, NFLX, AMZN, and BIDU don't come close. GOOG may be the second best.
I would suggest that if the mkt is down tomorrow, it will give us some good opportunities to sell bull put spreads and naked puts into Sep expiration (do monthlies with only 2 weeks to go and lots of cushion).
Looks like my AAPL 360/355 put spread will expire worthless today.
oh how the crumbs add up.
I am about 90% sure I am going to be switching to Interactive Brokers. The cost for a trade is only .70 cents per contract. No flat fee.
Fulgore, do some research on others experience with fill rates etc before you switch. I would say with 99% certainty that your trading style and safety requirements would not be achievable at Optionhouse.
eoption.com charges
$3.00 Ticket Charge + $0.10 Per Contract
@Nic, I have done alot of research on Brokers. Here in Canada we are limited. I know that TD Waterhouse is very good with fill rates but the fees are waaaay to high.
Think or Swim is better than TD Waterhouse (even though TD owns them now here in Canada) and the fill rate is good.
Interactive Brokers is very well known here in Canada and I have heard from many people that they give the best rates for options here. They are well known and have been recommended by many people that already trade. I don't think I will have a problem with them, they seem to be very popular. But you never know :(
AAPL expires worthless in 15min or so. (this is actually 8pm today for after hours trading)
Will look at my charts for next week on Monday. May do another AAPL not sure yet. Obama speaks next week and it will have a big impact on the indexes. Not sure I want to be in the SPX if he doesn't say the magic word "Stimulus"
Opened my first spread after a month today. Got a fill on the last available spread for SPX weekly 975/950 for 10 cents. Let's see how it goes!
@Fulgore
Totally agree with you, choice very limited here in Canada. Been using IB for a while, nothing bad to say. Costs a bit high for indices, but not that bad
Ed - does eOption have a mobile site or app? looks like a good product, but I personally need mobile accessability. thanks
@Pactrick, what extra costs are hidden? If I were to trade the SPX weekly for a vertical put spread. Are the fees only .70/contract or are there hiddens?
@ Fulgore
For SPX, extra cost depends on the premium paid/received. If >1$ extra cost is 0.44$ if below 0.35$
@fulgore let me know in the end how it goes. I am with optionexpress Canada and the service is great but for example 20 spreads costs 60.00 in commission one way.
My sox expired...eleven weeks in a row now picking crumbs. Will look again Tuesday as its a holiday Monday.
Cheers
Rhmoptions
@Phil
I don't think Eoption has a mobile app yet but I did email their Customer Support to ask.
More AAPL calls to sell next week as I continue to nibble away at my cost basis on the underlying bot long calls. Maybe I'll end up just owning 'em outright, with no cost basis at all. Wouldn't that be cool?
@RHM, @Fulgore
My last 26 spread on SPX cost me 55$ at IB
RHM: sox, as in PHLX semiconductor sector index, if it doesn't expire worthless are you able to get out with such low open interest?
Hi all, I've been out of town lately but back to business now..
Safe-n-S,, Nibbling away at the cost basis of the bought call is the goal. Ideally, the long call becomes free and then all the other prem's are money in the bank and you get to sell the long call eventually. I am hoping for a good run towards AAPL's earnings for Oct and Jan to finish these positions well in the money.
In this mkt patience is required.
A short week coming, so pick your positions carefully and keep an eye on the world events.
@ patrick Thanks 26 55 versus my 20 spreads at 60. So some savings there
@hockeyguy - typo i meant spx. The OI is pretty good on SPX even into expiry
rhm
@Patrick, Do you know how the fees are broken down?
I think I will call IB on Tuesday and ask them about their hidden fees.
If everything checks out, I think it will be a go.
How was setting up the account Patrick? easy process? Some brokers it is a real pain to get the account and money set up.
This is why I love NOT being in over the weekend. I only play Mon-Fri. SPX down almost 35 points at the open and DOW down about 200.
We will see how Obama changes the market after his speech.
@ Fulgore,
Setting up the account was very easy.
Since the premiums were below one dollar, the cost was 0.70$ + 0.35$
did not sell any AAPL calls yet. AAPL holding up pretty well here at 370. Gonna wait till Tue/Wed to make a move. Dow down 300 as I type. Good luck this week.....keep chipping away. Everyone seems pretty gloomy......could that be a rally signal?
My plan: add more AAPL LEAPS if AAPL trades below 360. Might not get the chance but I will be patient.
later, RK
Opened spx wk2 1000/975 spread for 0.25. Good spread from open, 4 days left. Again will watch closely.
rhmoptions
Opened AAPL put @ 345 to test the waters till Friday.
I also have AMZN @ 175.
AMZN still holding nicely @ above 208, even with today's big drop at the open.
My OTM puts and spreads for Sep 17 still look "safe."
I hope Obama helps the mkt on Thursday.
stay cool.... and out of bad positions
@RHM, good open there for .25 return. Looks like 150 points of cushion on it right now.
I think I will wait 1 or 2 more days before I open anything. Obama will speak Thurs and I want to be sure I have enough cushion for whichever way this market will go when he is done. Then again he may not move the markets at all. It just depends on what his word have in store.
Waiting to sell AAPL calls as well. Last week sold calls on Thurs for 3, expired worthless on Fri. Wonder if it'll work again this week?
@Paul, I sold some AMZN 170 put, keeping an eye at 204 level,below which it may test the lows again...
Bit the bullet today and took the 1070 / 1065 SPX put spread for .20.
RH you got some capital there using the 25 point spread. I can only use the 5 point right now haha.
About 100 points of cushion for 3 days of trading. I will be ready for Obama if it goes south.
My indicators are showing a good resistance around 1120. If this goes under 1100 I will most likely bail out.
pretty bothered by the Franc being pegged to the Euro! These types of central bank moves are usually last resort situations. Another thing....NO NEWS on it at all. For Pete's sake....this should have been blasted in red all over the place. 4am 10% devaluation of the Franc!
Still trying to process this whole thing. I am disturbed by the move to say the least.
Are we now entering a race to see who can devalue the fastest?
Are we going to see another 1000 pt dow drop like last yr?
This is gonna get interesting! RK
Well it looks like investors don't care about overseas it seems like. Huge issues but the DOW up 170 and SPX up 20. All they care about is Obama and the information that 300 billion is POSSIBLY coming.
This is fine. I have a put play for this week and it just gives me that much more cushion.
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