This past week I took profits in a couple of existing short put option positions – one in a Brazilian bank and the other an oil driller – as their remaining option premium had dropped to almost nothing (see below). I’m still short some later-dated naked put options in the oil driller – a major [...]
I made a variety of options trades this week, even as the market firmed up and volatility declined. I initiated two new short options positions – I sold covered calls against a core long position in an energy pipeline company and naked puts against another oil driller (see details below). I also closed out several [...]
This past Friday was July options expiration and as usual I ended up collecting some options premium from short put option positions that expired out of the money. I usually have many such positions expiring each month – as I currently do for each of the next six months – but in this case I [...]
This week as the market bounced and volatility once again dropped back toward normal levels I made only one options trade. It was to adjust some covered call options on a losing position that I’m looking to weed out of my portfolio (see below). In the meantime I was intrigued by a post by Alex [...]
I sold more put options this past week as volatility spiked higher amidst fears of a “double dip” in the economy and as stocks experienced further weakness. The latter was accompanied by a chorus of technical pundits predicting much lower prices to come, but the truth is the technical picture will continue to look bad [...]
