Option to Profit
Week in Review
MARCH 7 – 11, 2016
| NEW POSITIONS/STO | NEW STO | ROLLOVERS | CALLS ASSIGNED/PUTS EXPIRED | CALLS EXPIRED/PUTS ASSIGNED | CLOSED | EX-DIVIDEND |
| 1 / 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 0 | 0 | 6 |
Weekly Up to Date Performance
March 7 – 11, 2016
No matter how each week ends, it’s still pretty clear that all that matters was, is and maybe always will be, oil.
Seems like I’ve said that more than just a few times, because I actually said exactly the same thing last week and very similar words in previous weeks.
This past week again saw multiple examples, including multiple examples of intra-day reversals in oil and then the obligatory intra-day reversals in the stock market.
This week did have another rare event, which was the opening of a new position.
That new position was 1.9% higher on the week, finishing 0.8% higher than both the adjusted and unadjusted S&P 500, as the latter was still a nice 1.2% higher, continuing a series of nicely performing weeks.
While there was some significant give back in the advance in commodities this week, it continues to be nice seeing portfolio values climb, especially when that performance exceeds the market, as it did again this week and continues to build on its relative out-performance for all of 2016.
Also feeling good was the ability to sell calls on another uncovered position and seeing some more become candidates as there’s lots of catch up going on.
The key is whether that catch up will continue to continue.
While oil continued to be center stage, there really was nothing else of interest going on for the week.
Following some steep climbs higher over the previous 2 weeks, commodities gave quite a bit back this week, but the market’s rally did broaden a little.
Next week comes the potential for some big news as there’s another FOMC Statement release and a Chairman’s press conference to follow.
That combination often has a way of making things pop, but its really uncertain what may be said, just as it’s really uncertain what the reaction could be, because it’s also not clear how we are willing to treat good economic news at the moment.
I think that it should be treated as welcome news, but that doesn’t really matter. The heat of the moment is all that really will matter.
There’s not too much likelihood of any change in interest rates next week, but you never know what minor change in wording can trigger fear or exhilaration.
I was just happy this week to actually make some trades and generate some revenue.
That was in addition to another nice week for ex-dividend positions, which slows down some next week, with only 3 ex-dividend stocks to contribute to the cash accumulation effort.
Next week is also the end of the March 2016 option cycle and there are only 2 positions sets to expire, so it’s not likely to be a very busy trading week.
With having used longer options the past few months the expiring ones are spread out more than before in a hope to buy time for continued price climbs and to get paid a little extra by waiting, in the form of premiums and dividends.
As long as there continues to be some relative out-performance and better yet absolute performance to the upside, I don’t really mind less trading, but I really do like it when positive moves are accompanied by more trading.
By my historical trading, three trades in a week is far from a busy week, but if 2016 is going to be the standard, well, then I’m absolutely exhausted.
This week’s details may be seen in the Weekly Performance spreadsheet * or in the PDF file, as well as in the summary below
(Note: Duplicate mention of positions reflects different priced lots):
New Positions Opened: GM
Puts Closed in order to take profits: none
Calls Rolled over, taking profits, into the next weekly cycle: GM
Calls Rolled over, taking profits, into extended weekly cycle: none
Calls Rolled over, taking profits, into the monthly cycle: none
Calls Rolled Over, taking profits, into a future monthly cycle: none
Calls Rolled Up, taking net profits into same cycle: none
New STO: IP
Put contracts expired: none
Put contracts rolled over: none
Long term call contracts sold: none
Calls Assigned: none
Calls Expired: none
Puts Assigned: none
Stock positions Closed to take profits: none
Stock positions Closed to take losses: none
Calls Closed to Take Profits: none
Ex-dividend Positions: HPE (3/7 $0.06), HPQ (3/7 $0.06), KSS (3/7 $0.50), NEM (3/8 $0.03), GM (3/9 $0.38), M (3/11 $0.36)
Ex-dividend Positions Next Week: BBY (3/15 $0.28), JOY (3/16 $0.01), LVS (3/18 $0.72)
For the coming week the existing positions have lots that still require the sale of contracts: AGQ, ANF, AZN, BBBY, BBY, CHK, CLF, COH, CSCO, CY, DOW, FAST, FCX, GDX, GM, GPS, HAL, HFC, HPQ, INTC, IP, JCP, JOY, KMI, KSS, LVS, MCPIQ, MOS, NEM, RIG, WFM, WLTGQ, WY (See “Weekly Performance” spreadsheet or PDF file)
* If you don’t have a program to read or modify spreadsheets, you can download the OpenOffice Suite at no cost.