Trade Alert 6/9/2026

Today we have entered into a new 1×2 put spread in UBER. If the stock goes higher then we make a smaller profit. If the stock goes lower, we can make much more. This has the “risk” of owning 100 shares. However, if that happens then it will be at a much lower cost basis. Details below:

Buy to open: UBER Aug 21st (monthly) 70.00 strike put (ratio of 1)
Sell to open: UBER Aug 21st (monthly) 65.00 strike put (ratio of 2)
Credit: 0.50
If the stock is above 70/share at Aug expiration = 0.50 or $50.00 of profit
Max reward = 5.50 or $550.00 per spread traded
Max risk = owning 100 shares at a cost basis of 59.50/share (losses occur below that share price)

In addition, we recently got “put” 100 shares of NKE stock from a short put position. We have sold a covered call against those shares today as follows:
Sell to open: NKE June 18th 47.50 strike call
Credit: 0.32

Trade Alert 6/5/2026

Today we have entered into 1×2 put spreads on PayPal (PYPL), which involve buying one higher-strike put and selling two lower-strike puts. This strategy allows us to potentially acquire additional shares at lower prices if PYPL continues to decline, effectively using the options market to express a bullish long-term outlook. If the stock stabilizes, moves sideways, or rises, the maximum risk is generally limited to the premium paid for the spread. However, because one of the lower-strike puts is uncovered (naked), significant downside movement below the short strike can create additional risk. While it is unlikely that PYPL would decline below our estimated cost basis of $30.70 per share, this strategy does require a willingness and the capital to purchase 100 shares of stock for each spread traded if assignment occurs. The trade breakdown is shown below.

Buy to open: PYPL July 17th (monthly) 40.00 strike put (ratio of 1)
Sell to open: PYPL July 17th (monthly) 35.00 strike put (ratio of 2)
Debit: 0.75
Max Risk = owning shares of PYPL at a cost basis of 30.75/share (huge discount)
Probable Risk = 0.75 or $75.00 per spread traded
Max Reward = 4.25 or $425.00 per spread

Trade Alert 6/1/2026

Hello Investors,
What a time to be investing!
We are living through a period that will likely be studied for decades to come—the creation and rapid buildout of Artificial Intelligence. The potential is enormous. AI has the ability to transform industries, increase productivity, accelerate scientific discoveries, improve healthcare outcomes, automate routine tasks, and create entirely new business models. Much like the internet revolution reshaped the global economy, AI has the potential to impact nearly every aspect of our daily lives and the way companies operate.
While we remain excited about the long-term potential of many of the businesses we own, investing is always about balancing risk, reward, and probabilities.
With that in mind, we have further reduced our DELL position by selling an additional 7 shares at $452.15 per share. This sale locks in another couple thousand dollars of profit and continues our disciplined approach to managing risk after a significant move higher in the stock.
Could DELL continue to climb from here? Absolutely. No one knows exactly how high a stock can go in the short term. However, successful investing is not about capturing every last dollar of upside—it is about consistently making sound decisions and protecting gains when appropriate.
As always, each investor should consider their own goals, risk tolerance, and desired level of exposure when deciding how they want to be invested.
Sold 7 shares of DELL at 452.15
Have a great week!

Trade Alert 5/29/2026 #2

We sold some shares in DELL and UNH earlier today. We will follow that up with a few more changes today.

Exited the Bear Call Spread in DELL. This locks-in a loss but obviously our gain in the stock far exceeded this overall
Buy to close: DELL June 18th (monthly) 380.00 strike call
Sell to close: DELL June 18th (monthly) 390.00 strike call
Debit: 5.75
Loss of -4.70 or -$470.00 per spread

We aren’t prepared to buy TSSI shares on the upswing. The stock has moved up nicely. We suspect this is a good opportunity as a seller in the markets.
Sold all 29 shares of TSSI at 15.43 (profit of +$137.75)
We still own our 1×2 put spread and will see if we can pick up a more meaningful position size at lower levels.

Exiting our BX Call Butterfly. The timing on this was not great and it is a little shorter expiration.
Sell to close: BX Aug 21st (monthly) 125.00 strike call (ratio of 1)
Buy to close: BX Aug 21st (monthly) 135.00 strike call (ratio of 2)
Sell to close: BX Aug 21st (monthly) 145.00 strike call (ratio of 1)
Credit: 1.21
Loss of -0.19 or -$19.00 per spread

Trade Alert 5/29/2026

We own a total of 20 shares of DELL in our current Trading Mentors program. While I have personally owned DELL for years, and we also own shares from our very first Trading Mentors program, the stock has recently made a tremendous move higher following earnings. The future remains bright for AI and for DELL, but we always need to evaluate whether a stock’s current valuation justifies its price.

For that reason, we are going to sell 10 of our 20 shares. While many of our investments have performed well, DELL has generated more than $5,000 in profits , making it one of our largest winners and a much larger position than originally intended.

By selling half of the position, we are rebalancing the portfolio. Rebalancing simply means trimming a position that has grown too large and bringing it back in line with the rest of the portfolio. This helps reduce risk, lock in profits, and prevent any one stock from having too much impact on our overall results.

We also currently have a bear call spread on DELL with a maximum risk of approximately $895. While we are up over $5,000 on the stock position, there is still a possibility of giving back some of those gains if the spread loses money. The spread expires in a few weeks, and ideally we will see the stock pull back slightly after its strong earnings rally.

By selling half of our shares, we lock in a portion of our profits, reduce risk, and still maintain exposure to any future upside in DELL. At this point, we believe taking some profits while continuing to hold a position is the prudent course of action.

We have sold 10 shares of DELL and all of our shares in UNH. Both have performed well. However, since we don’t plan to add to UNH, we will exit the full position at this time (locks-in a profit of +$185 in that  position as well).

Sold 2.015 shares of UNH at 382.40
Sold 10 shares of DELL at 423.73

Trade Alert 5/27/2026

Took profits on our IBIT put butterfly spread today as follows:
Sell to close: IBIT Sep 18th (monthly) 45.00 strike puts (ratio of 1)
Buy to close: IBIT Sep 18th (monthly) 35.00 strike puts (ratio of 2)
Sell to close: IBIT Sep 18th (monthly) 25.00 strike puts (ratio of 1)
Credit: 2.95
Entered at 1.97 and exit at 2.95. The result is a profit of +0.98 or +$98.00 per spread.

Trade Alert 5/26/2026

Hello Investors,

Yesterday in class we discussed the growing challenges facing the Magnificent 7 stocks. Today we have entered into a couple of new trades.

Bought a Put Butterfly Spread on Apple (AAPL) as follows:
Buy to open: AAPL Sep 18th (monthly) 300.00 strike puts (ratio of 1)
Sell to open: AAPL Sep 18th (monthly) 275.00 strike puts (ratio of 2)
Buy to open: AAPL Sep 18th (monthly) 250.00 strike puts (ratio of 1)
Debit: 3.50
Max risk = 3.50 or $350.00 per spread
Max reward = 16.50 or $1,650.00 per spread

Bought a Put Butterfly Spread in Meta (META) as follows:
Buy to open: META Oct 16th (monthly) 550.00 strike puts (ratio of 1)
Sell to open: META Oct 16th (monthly) 500.00 strike puts (ratio of 2)
Buy to open: META Oct 16th (monthly) 450.00 strike puts (ratio of 1)
Debit: 5.50
Max risk = 5.50 or $550.00 per spread
Max reward = 44.50 or $4,450.00 per spread

Have a great week!

Trade Alert 5/22/2026

Markets are closed on Monday but we will still meet for a short lesson.

We own shares of DELL, and the stock has been on fire lately. Today, we sold a far out-of-the-money bear call credit spread against the position. If the stock continues to surge higher, gains in the shares can help offset potential risk in the spread. If the stock cools off or consolidates, the bear call credit spread can expire for a full profit, helping reduce some of the risk on the stock position.

Sell to open: DELL June 18th (monthly) 380.00 strike call
Buy to open: DELL June 18th (monthly) 390.00 strike call
Credit: 1.05
Max reward = 1.05 or $105.00 per spread
Max risk = 8.95 or $895.00 per spread
This credit spread is 90 points above the current stock price. So, probable to expire OTM but not a sure thing.

Have a great long weekend!

Trade Alert 5/19/2026

Today we exited our Citigroup call butterfly that was entered yesterday. While that was a very quick exit, our priority is to keep losses small and controlled. Yesterday’s price action did not look quite right, and today we are seeing downside follow-through.

In addition, the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF) is forming a bearish engulfing pattern over the top of yesterday’s bullish engulfing candle. We suspect the market may be starting to roll over.

We have also added some bearish put spreads in broad market ETFs.

The details are as follows:
Sell to close: C July 17th (monthly) 130.00 strike call (ratio of 1)
Buy to close: C July 17th (monthly) 140.00 strike call (ratio of 2)
Sell to close: C July 17th (monthly) 150.00 strike call (ratio of 1)
Credit: 1.21
Loss of -0.34 or -$34.00 per spread.

Entered into put butterfly spreads in SPY and QQQ as follows:
Buy to open: SPY Sep 18th (monthly) 710.00 strike put (ratio of 1)
Sell to open: SPY Sep 18th (monthly) 680.00 strike put (ratio of 2)
Buy to open: SPY Sep 18th (monthly) 650.00 strike put (ratio of 1)
Debit: 2.01
Max risk = 2.01 or $201.00 per spread
Max reward = 27.99 or $2,799.00 per spread

Entered into put butterfly spreads in SPY and QQQ as follows:
Buy to open: QQQ Sep 18th (monthly) 670.00 strike put (ratio of 1)
Sell to open: QQQ Sep 18th (monthly) 640.00 strike put (ratio of 2)
Buy to open: QQQ Sep 18th (monthly) 610.00 strike put (ratio of 1)
Debit: 2.29
Max risk = 2.29 or $229.00 per spread
Max reward = 27.71 or $2,771.00 per spread

Trade Alert 5/18/2026

Hello Investors,
Today we added two new positions to the portfolio. The CEG trade is one that could potentially evolve into a 1×2 put spread if and when the stock experiences a sharp move lower. If the stock declines in a more gradual fashion, that outcome becomes less likely.
The C trade is based on what we believe is a bullish turn developing within the financial sector. We particularly like the overall trade structure from a risk/reward/probability standpoint.
The details are as follows:
Buy to open: C July 17th(monthly) 130.00 strike call (ratio of 1)
Sell to open: C July 17th(monthly) 140.00 strike call (ratio of 2)
Buy to open: C July 17th(monthly) 150.00 strike call (ratio of 1)
Debit: 1.55
Max risk = 1.55 or $155.00 per spread
Max reward = 8.45 or $845.00 per spread
Buy to open: CEG Aug 21st (monthly) 240.00 strike put (ratio of 1)
Sell to open: CEG Aug 21st (monthly) 210.00 strike put (ratio of 2)
Buy to open: CEG Aug 21st (monthly) 180.00 strike put (ratio of 1)
Debit: 4.55
Max risk = 4.55 or $455.00 per spread
Max reward = 25.45 or $2,545.00 per spread
Have a great week!