In keeping with strategy parameters [indeed the market's action of late is...curious(?)]:
Data suggesting steady economic growth and mild inflation sent stocks sharply higher in early trading.
May core consumer prices rose less than expected, the fifth 0.1% rise over eight months.
Again, many leading stocks were in motion
Greenspan & Co. - my Hero!!
Volume was up 34% on the NYSE, 68% on the Nasdaq.
Volume HUGE (as expected with options expiry)
Indexes gapped up with timely 08:30 AM EST release of data!
So, the question is what to do? Well -
Around 7 AM (10 AM EST)
SPX Jul 1545 at 16 (11) now 20
DJX Jul 137 at 1.6 (1.1) now 1.95
QQQ Jul 48 at .66 (.52) now .8
thx
BJL BUT YES, SPX 1545's, DJX 137's, and QQQ 48's ALL stopped out - COOL (stops limit larger losses and keep head on straight)
Due to gap, losses as follows. Let's use max case scenario, as confident all will be well made up in due time. Remember, I wanted to bring in $250,000 into $1M account (yet was told this would take $3M so these stated losses would likely be ~1/3 less). Also, I was told that if I bought calls with the call sells, margin requirements would be less - and losses may not be as much(?).
By the next play...I will nail this info (knowledge) down...but for now let's take worst case:
I thought I'd get 100k/100k/50k (max) gains or 25% return into account, but in fact I incurred
SPX (81.81%) * 100k = $81,818
DJX (77.27%) * 100k = $77,272
QQQ (53.85%) * 50k = $26,923
or about $186,000 loss or 18.6% (ouch!)
This market dictated that I increase exposure with covered calls (a separate Collective2.com account). My recent positions had all been stopped into cash.
IOC purchase @ 38.94 to sell JUL 40 calls @ 3.9.
The allocation to this position was 35% of a $100,000 account - for a (max) possible return of 12.74%. At 35%, this would grow the fund 4.46% if called in 5 weeks.
Note: the naked option strategy - although can be implemented in conjunction with the Covered Calls Strategy, currently is not.
In keeping with my stand-alone Covered Call Strategy, getting kicked into cash and staying in cash benefited best
this time. Longer-term (1 yr+) I think it still benefits to combine the two strategies and I will do so in the near future with a separate C2 account (just like I will start a separate account to chart out the strictly naked option strategy).
If combined, the 18.6% drawdown would now be attempted to be lessened in the near-term with covered call positions as the market allows.
Again to sum, 25% max (possible) return turned into an 18.6% loss - more than the 12.5% stop target, due to market gap. Collar/Spread may have been MORE OPTIMAL for gains AND for losses - who knows? I WILL RETURN to this post and iron out specifics - eventually. So perhaps (guessing) 15% possible gain turned into a 11.1% loss. That DD is a little bit more than what happens to my Covered Call Fund (~10% - stock specific) about once a year - so by looking at my charts...this is made up with CC's rather quickly.
The most recent DD was stock-specific the previous was late-Feb's pseudo-correction - it was odd in that it only lasted 1 month. This pullback was odd in that - well, don't get me started
In conclusion, hopefully more than half(?) these trades eventually pan out - so stay tuned.
PaySense (GilL)