Author: Bryan Halliday

We have closed our IBM Put Butterfly for a profit. NVDA is making the Technology space difficult to figure out. The details are as follows: Sell to close:  IBM Aug 16th (monthly) 165.00 strike put (ratio of 1) Buy to close: IBM Aug 16th (monthly) 150.00 strike put (ratio of 2) Sell to close:  IBM Aug 16th (monthly) 135.00 strike put (ratio of 1) Credit:  2.89 – this order has filled Profit of +0.52 per spread We sold a put to acquire 100 shares of U.S. Steel (X). This is a volatile stock and an acquisition is not out of the question. While it will be a bumpy ride, we see value in commodities. Sold to open: X June 21st (monthly) 37.00 strike put Credit: 1.33 – this order has filled Max risk = owning 100 shares of stock at a 35.67 cost basis In addition to the potential of owning 100 shares of X. We have bought a few shares of a couple other commodity stocks as follows: Bought 10 shares of NUE at 167.84 ($1,678.40 invested) – another Steel Company Bought 30 shares of CCJ at 53.97 (1,619.10 invested) – Uranium Company

We have closed our trading in AMD for a little loss. It hasn’t progressed to this point and closed above the 50-period moving average. We will keep the loss smaller and look for better setups. Sell to close:  AMD July 19th (monthly) 160.00 strike put (ratio of 1) Buy to close: AMD July 19th (monthly) 145.00 strike put (ratio of 2) Sell to close:  AMD July 19th (monthly) 130.00 strike put (ratio of 1) Credit:  2.78 The result is a loss of -0.20 or -$20.00 per spread.

We currently have a bearish trade on AMD. Today we are adding another bearish trade to the mix. The major markets hit new all-time highs today. However, ugly reversals are happening. In addition, market breadth is faltering. For example, on Monday 68% of stocks were above their 50-day moving avg. As of today it is only 58% of stocks, the short-term not looking so good… Bought a Put Butterfly in IBM as follows: Buy to open: IBM Aug 16th (monthly) 165.00 strike put (ratio of 1) Sell to open: IBM Aug 16th (monthly) 150.00 strike put (ratio of 2) Buy to open: IBM Aug 16th (monthly) 135.00 strike put (ratio of 1) Debit: 2.37 Max risk = 2.37 or $237.00 per spread Max reward = 12.63 or $1,263.00 per spread

We exited our QQQ put butterfly for a very small profit. We will discuss live in class in a few minutes. Sell to close:  QQQ May 24th (weekly) 453.00 strike put (ratio of 1) Buy to close: QQQ May 24th (weekly) 445.00 strike put (ratio of 1) Sell to close:  QQQ May 24th (weekly) 437.00 strike put (ratio of 1) Credit:  1.65 Profit of +0.13 per spread

We have reached the end of the old Trading Mentors program today with May (monthly) options expiration having arrived. Here is updates/adjustments to those trades before the close today. The two (2) positions we need to adjust/exit today are the covered call on NEM and the ratio spread on GOLD. The details for those adjustments are detailed below: We want to “roll-out” our covered calls in NEM as follows: Buy to close: NEM May 17th (monthly) 40.00 strike call Sell to open: NEM June 21st (monthly) 45.00 strike call Debit: 2.30 – order filled Buy to close: NEM May 17th (monthly) 42.50 strike call Sell to open: NEM June 21st (monthly) 45.00 strike call Credit: 0.10 – order filled Exited our GOLD 1×3 call spread and then sold covered calls against the rest of our stock. Sell to close: GOLD May 17th (monthly) 16.00 strike call (ratio of 1) Buy to close: GOLD May 17th (monthly) 17.00 strike call (ratio of 3) Debit: 0.44 – order filled Sold covered calls against the remainder of our stock that doesn’t have any. Sold to open: GOLD July 19th (monthly) 20.00 strike calls Credit: 0.23 – order filled The following covered calls are very likely to expire OTM for a profit: BRK-B May 17th (monthly) 440.00 calls DKNG May 17th (monthly) 50.00 calls MTCH May 17th (monthly) 42.50 calls OXY May 17th (monthly) 70.00 calls TMUS May 17th (monthly) 175.00 calls Z May 17th (monthly) 42.50 calls This will wrap up our old Trading Mentors program.

In our new program, we are taking our very first short-term trade. This is a lower probability strategy but we like the risk/reward/probability mix. Entered into a new very short-term QQQ put butterfly as follows: Buy to open:  QQQ May 24th (weekly) 453.00 strike put (ratio of 1) Sell to open:  QQQ May 24th (weekly) 445.00 strike put (ratio of 1) Buy to open:  QQQ May 24th (weekly) 437.00 strike put (ratio of 1) Debit: 1.52 Max risk = 1.52 or $152.00 per spread Max reward = 6.48 or $648.00 per spread

We made some hedges a couple of weeks ago on our GOLD position. We bought 300 more shares and sold the May 17th (monthly) 18.00 strike covered calls against those shares. That hedge has worked out well. Not because the stock made much, but the calls have lost most of their value and we can buy them back cheap. We are removing that hedge today. Sold: GOLD 300 shares we bought a couple of weeks ago Filled at 16.94 per share Buy to close: GOLD May 17th (monthly) 18.00 strike calls Debit: 0.06 In addition, we have a 1×6 ratio spread against our original 500 stock shares. Today, we bought back 3 of the May 17th – 17 strike short calls and rolled them into next month by selling June 21st – 18 strike calls in their place. Buy to close: GOLD May 17th (monthly) 17.00 strike calls Sold to open: GOLD June 21st (monthly) 18.00 strike calls Credit: 0.02 So, after all of the GOLD adjustments today. We are back to our original 500 shares. We own 1 contract long of the May 17th – 16.00 strike call. We have 3 contracts short of the May 17th 17.00 strike calls. And 3 contracts short of the June 21st 18.00 strike calls.