Options Portfolio Update – 2021-01-12
Current Long Options Swing Portfolio: $DBX, $ED, $SRNE, $ZNGA + $SPY
Newly Added: NONE
Profits Taken: $SURF, $ON
Stop-Loss Activated: $FISV
Day Trade: $SPY
Tonight, I will re-examine my entry points for my watchlist and make any adjustments as needed. But, nothing on my watchlist came to my entry point today, and I am not chasing, even though I do see some running without me.
Day Trade:
SPY
As I mentioned yesterday, I believe that the market will pull back slightly before moving up again. So, I was looking for an opportunity for a quick $SPY play, and it presented itself as the market was opening, so I took it.
Given that this market has a propensity to go up when you don’t expect it to, I approached it with the potential for increased risk from other positions. Thus, I only went in with about a half-sized position.
Before the first half hour had passed, $SPY took a quick and sudden dip and rewarded me for a quick 50%. Given that I have a small margin account, I’ll gladly burn one of my weekly day trades for that quick profit.
I look at the number of day trades as if I was a football coach. For the half (one week time period), I have 3 timeouts that I can use. For the first, or even second, timeout in any week-long period, I may use for something like this, or where a planned swing trade unexpectedly spikes that same day and why risk losing profit overnight. For the 3rd and final time-out (trade), use that only in an emergency (critical moment).
SPY Bonus #1
I also have what I call a micro account. On Dec 18, I set the account to $50. The goal is to show that it doesn’t take much to make money and to show how it can grow.
Now, this does limit what I can/cannot do from a position size. But, it is also a cash account, meaning that I can get in and out of a trade the same day without worrying about the day trade rules. (Being a cash account though, the money does need to settle overnight before I can use it again.)
So, given my conviction that $SPY will be trying to go down, I got one put contract that expires tomorrow shortly after the market went back up after the dip down above. Shortly after noon, $SPY took a dive and rewarded me with a 50% win ($50 > $75), bringing the value of that account up to about $130.
As a note, I haven’t been as actively trading in this account as I haven’t had the time during the day to monitor it, seeing as I have a day job that is what currently pays the bills.
SPY Bonus #2
I’m putting my $SPY winnings from my swing account into action overnight, picking up a couple more PUT contracts, as my indicators say that there will be a pullback, even if brief. So, I do have $SPY holdings overnight and looking for a quick win at market open.
Taking Profits:
SURF
$SURF’s wave up stalled around the 11.00 mark. That wasn’t my primary target, but it was my intermediate target for the trade.
With what appears to be a stall at a key line, coupled with what looks like market weakness (or consolidation), it was a good time to take profit and run for now. (About a 40% win)
ON
Last week, I opened this position around the time that I closed my previous position in $ON. And this position did not disappoint.
It came close to my target yesterday, and then hung just under the line for much of the day. It finally had a small push up and hit my target and sold for a homerun of 95%.
Activating Stop Loss
FISV
I’ll need to look back at this trade to see what, if anything, I should have done differently, as it was green for a couple of days while holding but took a dive over the last couple of sessions. Is there something I missed, did I have the wrong target (too high), or was it just a matter of the market for that sector turning against me? I’ll review and take a closer look at the charts.
But, $FISV came down around the second support level which was my stop-loss area, as per plan. So, I pulled the trigger. This was a 40% loss on this trade. The general chart still looks good for an upside here, but not just right this moment. I’ll be looking for a new entry, but in the meantime, freed up that capital for something else.
Holdings
DBX
$DBX had a positive day, climbing back closer to my target. With another similar day, it could push up to my target as early as tomorrow.
SRNE
$SRNE showed life today and moved up a notch after bouncing off the lower, strong support. This appears to be gaining energy for a move, as the fractal energy at multiple time frames is high or getting there.
I’ll continue to watch this, but it appears that it may be starting to move.
ED
I liked the chart setup on this and am looking for $ED to run back up to the top of the channel. However, given the nature of this ticker, it was one of the riskier ones. As such, I’ll be watching the stop-loss on it.
I didn’t like today’s dip down further, so this is close to calling it a day and readjusting, but it still has a little more room that it can move in the wrong direction before it hits the stop loss, however, it is a bit frustrating.
ZNGA
Moby Dick what Moby Dick does. It hunts you instead of you hunting it. I’m a touch up on this play (a whole 1%), but that little bit of green may be there just as a decoy while it gets ready to crash yet another boat.
$ZNGA does that time and time again. I’ve heard from more than one person how this ticker just puts them in tears.
But, it started showing some positive life today, so we will see how it goes. I have some time in this, and held key resistance earlier today, which is a level above that of my stop loss.
New Holdings
No New Holdings