Author: Bryan Halliday

We have entered an order for a 1×2 call spread against our GM 100 shares owned as follows: Buy to open: GM Oct 20th (monthly) 33.00 strike call (ratio of 1) Sell to open: GM Oct 20th (monthly) 36.00 strike call (ratio of 2) Debit: 0.49 – this is a pending order and hasn’t filled yet Max risk = 0.49 or $49.00 per spread Max reward = 2.51 or $251.00 per spread We also entered into a call butterfly trade in ABBV as follows: Buy to open: ABBV Oct 20th (monthly) 150.00 strike call (ratio of 1) Sell to open: ABBV Oct 20th (monthly) 160.00 strike call (ratio of 2) Buy to open: ABBV Oct 20th (monthly) 170.00 strike call (ratio of 1) Debit: 2.10 – this order has been filled Max risk = 2.10 or $210.00 per spread Max reward = 7.90 or $790.00 per spread

We did a little bit of buying in the markets today. We took a larger position in TGT. Everything else was a very small purchase of shares as follows: Bought 5 shares of XLF at 34.14 Bought 2 shares of XLC at 66.22 Bought 10 shares of BKR at 35.48 Bought 15 shares of OXY at 61.93 Bought 5 shares of NEM at 39.29 Bought 15 shares of DKS at 113.55 Bought 4 shares of MTCH at 45.27 We entered into a new covered call in Target (TGT) Bought 100 shares at 123.62 Sold to open: TGT Sep 15th (monthly) 130.00 strike calls for 0.97 credit Total debit (cost basis) = 122.65 We have a protective put spread position in CVX. We sold the higher strike put today and will leave the lower strike put “naked”. If uncomfortable with the “risk” of owning 100 more shares of CVX, then one would buy back the lower strike put as well. Sold to close: CVX Sep 15th (monthly) 150.00 strike put Credit: 0.68 This leaves the 140 strike put “naked” through Sep 15th expiration

We were attempting to “leg in” to a VZ 1×2 call spread against our LEAPS calls. However, our short calls didn’t get filled. We are going to sell that long call bought the other day for a small profit. Then sell a short-term call against the LEAP as Closed the recently bought long call: Sell to close:  VZ Oct 20th (monthly) 33.00 strike call Credit:  1.20 This is a profit of +0.11 or +$11.00 overall. Sold a short-term call against our LEAP call: Sell to open:  VZ Oct 20th (monthly) 35.00 strike call Credit:  0.12

We just passed August monthly options expiration so we have a huge amount of new covered calls/adjustments to make today. Here they are as follows: Covered calls expired on the following stocks and we resold additional calls as follows (make sure you own the stock before selling covered calls, it is possible you have a different quantity of shares than us): Sold to open: BRKB Nov 17th (monthly) 380.00 strike calls Credit: 2.90 – this order has been filled Sold to open: TMUS Nov 17th (monthly) 155.00 strike call Credit: 1.01 – this order has been filled Sold to open: CVS Sep 15th (monthly) 70.00 strike call Credit: 0.70 – this order has been filled Sold to open: CVX Sep 15th (monthly) 170.00 strike call Credit: 1.00 – this order has been filled Sold to open: Z Oct 20th (monthly) 55.00 strike call Credit: 1.92 – this order has been filled Sold to open: OXY Oct 20th (monthly) 72.50 strike call Credit: 0.65 – this order has been filled Sold to open: DKNG Oct 20th (monthly) 35.00 strike calls Credit: 0.30 – this order has been filled We own 300 shares of BAC. We added the following 1×4 call spread against those 300 shares as follows: Buy to open: BAC Oct 20th (monthly) 30.00 strike call (ratio of 1) Sell to open: BAC Oct 20th (monthly) 32.00 strike call (ratio of 4) Credit: 0.37 – this order has been filled Max risk = only risk is being “called away” at 32/share Max reward = 2.37 We own 200 shares of SNOW. 100 have a cc already. The other 100 are uncovered and we added the following 1×2 call spread against those 100 shares as follows: Buy to open: SNOW Sep 15th (monthly) 160.00 strike call (ratio of 1) Sell to open: SNOW Sep 15th (monthly) 180.00 strike call (ratio of 2) Debit: 2.15 – this order has been filled Max risk = 2.15 Max reward = 17.85 We own 100 shares of NEM and they already have a cc against them. Adding this 1×2 call spread does make that prior covered call “naked” but it is way OTM and we feel ok with it. If you don’t, then you could spend 0.05 and buy it back early. Buy to open: NEM Oct 20th (monthly) 40.00 strike call (ratio of 1) Sell to open: NEM Oct 20th (monthly) 45.00 strike call (ratio of 2) Debit: 0.63 – this order has been filled Max risk = 0.63 Max reward = 4.37 Finally we added two (2) new trades. BRK-B put butterflys act as an “insurance” of sorts. Then BABA is an advanced pending order. It will be a very long-term trade if we can get filled. Buy to open: BRK-B Oct 20th (monthly) 345.00 strike put (ratio of 1) Sell to open: BRK-B Oct 20th (monthly) 335.00 strike put (ratio of 2) Buy to open: BRK-B Oct 20th (monthly) 325.00 strike put (ratio of 1) Debit: 0.90 – this order has been filled Max risk = 0.90 or $90.00 per spread Max reward = 9.10 or $910.00 per spread Buy to open: BABA June 21st, 2024 (monthly) 100.00 strike call (ratio of 1) Sell to open: BABA June 21st, 2024 (monthly) 120.00 strike call (ratio of 2) Buy to open: BABA June 21st, 2024 (monthly) 140.00 strike call (ratio of 1) Debit: 2.15 – this order is still pending and may not hit our prices, in which case it will be canceled Max risk = 2.15 or $215.00 per spread Max reward = 17.85 or $1,785.00 per spread

We have closed the short puts in DELL. This was a hedge style of trade. We are at breakeven and closed the position. Bought to close: DELL Aug 18th (monthly) 55.00 strike puts Debit: 0.30 We closed this for breakeven at 0.30 overall. We closed the Z bear put spread today. Sold to close: Z Sep 15th (monthly) 55.00 strike put Buy to close: Z Sep 15th (monthly) 45.00 strike put Credit: 4.86 We bought this for 3.15, the result is a profit of +1.71 or +$171.00 per spread

We have rolled-out and up on our DELL covered calls as follows: Buy to close: DELL Aug 18th (monthly) 52.50 strike calls Sell to open: DELL Sep 15th (monthly) 55.00 strike calls Debit: 0.60 We have rolled-out our Z covered call just 1 week as follows: Buy to close: Z Aug 18th (monthly) 55.00 strike call Sell to open: Z Aug 25th (weekly) 55.00 strike calls Credit: 0.60 We have closed our Target (TGT) 1×2 put spread for a little profit. We need a really big move to have our ideal gain, while possible some time has decayed and probability has taken a hit. We think it makes sense to exit for a small gain. Sell to close: TGT Aug 18th (monthly) 125.00 strike put (ratio of 1) Buy to close: TGT Aug 18th (monthly) 115.00 strike put (ratio of 2) Credit: 2.20 We have closed our Disney (DIS) 1×2 put spread for a little loss. We need a really big move to have our ideal gain, while possible some time has decayed and probability has taken a hit. We think it makes sense to exit for a small loss. Sell to close: DIS Aug 18th (monthly) 86.00 strike put (ratio of 1) Buy to close: DIS Aug 18th (monthly) 81.00 strike put (ratio of 2) Credit: 0.28

We had poor timing on our initial “protective” butterfly positions in SPY and QQQ a few weeks ago. With the recent downturn, we can get some real value back from the SPY positions and will do that today. We will look to re-enter something similar at a later date but at much better strike prices. The details are as follows: Sell to close:  SPY Oct 20th (monthly) 420.00 strike put (ratio of 1) Buy to close: SPY Oct 20th (monthly) 390.00 strike put (ratio of 1) Sell to close:  SPY Oct 20th (monthly) 360.00 strike put (ratio of 1) Credit:  1.55 – this order is filled We bought this for 2.83 so the result is -$128.00 overall. Sell to close:  SPY Sep 15th (monthly) 420.00 strike put (ratio of 1) Buy to close: SPY Sep 15th (monthly) 390.00 strike put (ratio of 1) Sell to close:  SPY Sep 15th (monthly) 360.00 strike put (ratio of 1) Credit:  1.05 – this order is filled We bought this for 3.60 so the result is -$255.00 overall.

We have rolled our BRK-B covered calls in to August expiration. The details are as follows: Buy to close: BRKB Sep 15th (monthly) 365.00 strike calls Sell to open: BRKB Aug 18th (monthly) 365.00 strike calls Debit: 4.33 This will push our expiration forward to August and be a nice adjustment assuming the stock levels out here. We have rolled up our OXY covered calls as follows: Buy to close: OXY Aug 18th (monthly) 65.00 strike calls Sell to open: OXY Aug 18th (monthly) 67.00 strike calls Debit: 0.63 This will push our expiration forward and be a nice adjustment assuming the stock levels out here. Our DELL covered calls have moved ITM and we will sell puts at a higher strike to improve the overall position. This is ideal if the stock pulls back but not too far. We don’t see it getting below 52.50/share by Aug 18th but if that were to happen, our overall position size would be doubled. As long as we are above 55/share, this improves our next roll-out by 0.30 per contract. Details as follows: Sold to open: DELL Aug 18th (monthly) 55.00 strike puts Credit: 0.30

We got filled today to close the butterfly on SQ for a profit as follows: Sell to close:  SQ Dec 15th (monthly) 70.00 strike put (ratio of 1) Buy to close: SQ Dec 15th (monthly) 60.00 strike put (ratio of 2) Sell to close:  SQ Dec 15th (monthly) 50.00 strike put (ratio of 1) Credit:  2.25 – this order has filled Profit of $0.95 per spread In addition, we added a new 1×2 put spread in Target (TGT). Earnings are out next week before expiration. This trade requires being willing to own 100 shares, details as follows: Buy to open: TGT Aug 18th (monthly) 125.00 strike put (ratio of 1) Sell to open: TGT Aug 18th (monthly) 115.00 strike put (ratio of 2) Debit: 1.73 – this order has filled Max risk = owning 100 shares at a $106.73 cost basis Probable risk = 1.73 or $173.00 per spread Max reward = 8.27 or $827.00 per spread

In our meeting today, we discussed a few aspects of the market and made a few changes. We closed a “naked” put in OXY. This position has worked well as time/volatility have decayed over the past few months. We entered into a new “bear call credit” spread in ARKK. This is a trade that works well if the stock is sideways to lower over the coming months. And, we have an order to take profits on our SQ put butterfly if it hits our price. Bought back the short put in OXY and locked-in the profit. Buy to close: OXY Jan 19th (monthly) 55.00 strike put Debit: 1.63 – this order has filled This locks-in a profit of +252.00 overall Entered into a new bear call spread trade in ARKK as follows: Sell to open: ARKK Jan 19th (monthly) 50.00 strike call Buy to open: ARKK Jan 19th (monthly) 55.00 strike call Credit: 1.30 – this order has filled Max reward = 1.30 or $130.00 per spread Max risk = 3.70 or $370.00 per spread This order is still pending to take profits: Sell to close:  SQ Dec 15th (monthly) 70.00 strike put (ratio of 1) Buy to close: SQ Dec 15th (monthly) 60.00 strike put (ratio of 2) Sell to close:  SQ Dec 15th (monthly) 50.00 strike put (ratio of 1) Credit:  2.25 – still pending order Profit of $0.95 per spread