Author: Bryan Halliday

We have taken profits in our OXY long put position.
Sell to close: OXY March 21st (monthly) 47.50 strike put
Credit: 2.08
Profit of +0.69 or +$69.00 per contract

We have purchased a call butterfly in Snowflake (SNOW) as follows:
Buy to open: SNOW April 17th (monthly) 210.00 strike call (ratio of 1)
Sell to open: SNOW April 17th (monthly) 240.00 strike call (ratio of 2)
Buy to open: SNOW April 17th (monthly) 270.00 strike call (ratio of 1)
Debit: 3.40
Max Risk = 3.40 or $340.00 per spread
Max Reward = 26.60 or $2,660.00 per spread

We have also bumped up our share count in U.S. Steel (X).
Bought 20 shares of X for 37.34

Finally, we have purchased 20 shares of BRK/B Berkshire B shares today. If you were in the prior program, then you may have about as many shares as you want.
Bought 20 shares of BRK.B shares for 465.20

This is our 2nd newsletter today. OXY is not acting right and building a low base. We expect lower prices and will spend a little to “hedge” up the position. Buy to open:  OXY March 21st (monthly) 47.50 strike put Debit: 1.39 Max risk = 1.39 or $139.00 per contract

We own a diagonal call spread in NKE. The stock is currently right around our short call strike. We have purchased a few shares of stock and will place a stop loss on the shares. This will delta hedge and create a better situation if the stock moves higher. If the stock falls down to hit our stop loss, then the odds of the short call expiring for a max gain improve. The details are as follows: Bought 35 shares of NKE at 77.27 We have a pending GTC stop loss on those shares. Sell 35 shares of NKE Stop price: 74.73 GTC (good til canceled) order on the stop loss

A new trade idea around the Fed meeting and technical setup in the markets. We are purchasing a short-term QQQ put butterfly. We don’t think the downside is finished specifically in large cap tech names. The details are as follows: Buy to open: QQQ Feb 21st (monthly) 510.00 strike put (ratio of 1) Sell to open: QQQ Feb 21st (monthly) 490.00 strike put (ratio of 2) Buy to open: QQQ Feb 21st (monthly) 470.00 strike put (ratio of 1) Debit: 2.23 Max risk = 2.23 or $223.00 per spread Max reward = 17.77 or $1,777.00 per spread

We have passed January monthly options expiration. As such many of our covered calls have expired for a max gain and we have replaced them today as follows (all orders have been filled): Sell to open: X March 21st (monthly) 45.00 strike call Credit: 0.78 Sell to open: OXY March 21st (monthly) 57.50 strike call Credit: 0.44 Sell to open: INTC March 21st (monthly) 27.50 strike call Credit: 0.46 Sell to open: CCJ March 21st (monthly) 65.00 strike call Credit: 0.87 Sell to open: APA March 21st (monthly) 27.50 strike call Credit: 0.34 We also sold a Feb call against our long calls in Nike (NKE) Sell to open: NKE Feb 21st (monthly) 77.00 strike call Credit: 0.56

We are closing the butterfly on QQQ we entered yesterday. Yesterday (our entry day) was nice as the stock formed a bearish engulfing pattern. Then today we gapped sharply. This would have been perfect for our trade if it had been to the downside. Instead, it was a big gap up and since this is a really short-term trade (Jan 31st expiry), we don’t have time to waste. We will take the smaller quick loss today. Sell to close:  QQQ Jan 31st (weekly) 505.00 strike put (ratio of 1) Buy to close: QQQ Jan 31st (weekly) 485.00 strike put (ratio of 2) Sell to close:  QQQ Jan 31st (weekly) 465.00 strike put (ratio of 1) Credit:  1.55 Loss of 0.55 or -$55.00 per spread

We are going to speculate a little bit with a trade. This is a very short-term put butterfly. The risk is we lose the full premium paid (very  possible outcome). The reward is that we get a big drop in markets within the next 2-weeks. If that were to happen, then the reward potential explodes. Buy to open:  QQQ Jan 31st (weekly) 505.00 strike put (ratio of 1) Sell to open:  QQQ Jan 31st (weekly) 485.00 strike put (ratio of 2) Buy to open:  QQQ Jan 31st (weekly) 465.00 strike put (ratio of 1) Debit: 2.10 Max risk = 2.10 or $210.00 per spread Max reward = 17.90 or $1,790.00 per spread

 

We converted our EQT covered call into a 1×2 call spread previously. We did this through buying the 45-50 call spread. We are going to take off that entire position today for a big profit. Sell to close:  EQT Jan 17th (monthly) 45.00 strike call (ratio of 1) Buy to close: EQT Jan 17th (monthly) 50.00 strike call (ratio of 2) Credit:  3.48 Profit of $3.05 or +$305.00 per spread Since we have removed the 1×2 call spread in January we are free to sell another covered call against our 100 shares and have done that today as follows: Sell to open: EQT Mar 21st (monthly) 60.00 strike call Credit: 0.52