February Option Performance

February 2015 marks my sixth month anniversary since I opened my Interactive Brokers account (IB)!  So how am I doing thus far?  Well check out my results in the graph below:

This month, I ended up realizing $1,125.43 in option premiums, but I spent $81.21 in commissions!  Not bad for a side gig eh?  The fruits of my labour is starting to sprout in full force.

IB is my starter account to see how successful I would be at trading options. Month after month, I've been growing this account with limited funds.  I am quite surprised with my results.  A cumulative gain of 23.44% since inception!

Finally on February 24th, I decided to move my Virtual Brokers (VB) account over to IB.  Hopefully by early March, I'd be at full trading power.

Take that Dividend bloggers!  

Covered Calls on my Horizons

The more I dive into the world of options, the more I want to learn and grow as an option trader.  Finally, I deployed the $5000 cash sitting in my RRSP since early January 2015.  This is very unusual for me to just leave a significant amount of cash sitting in a trading account.  But I was stumped.  The markets are at all time highs and every time I pick a stock to buy, it goes down.  

Last Tuesday, I finally took a leap and bought NA.TO for 111 shares @ $48.10 in my Questrade RRSP account.  Unfortunately, I wasn't set up for option level two trading.  So I couldn't do a covered call (CC) for my newly bought shares right away.  

Once set up, I entered in my CC for Jan 2016 strike @ $50 looking to collect a $2.80 premium.  But my good till cancel (GTC) order was in queue and it didn't fill.  Of course, banks took a tumble for the next few days.  The premiums were getting lower and lower.  But I stood my ground, I didn't want to sell for less than $2.80.

Today, NA.TO jumped back up to my buy in price once again and my CC order got filled.  Patience is key.  Set your limits and play within it.  Haha, I know I'm stealing the casino slogan sort to speak.

I am quite attached to my stocks.  The reason why I never sold covered calls is that I don't want to lose my shares and option commissions in QT ain't cheap.  But I am starting to realize that I need to be less emotional and try to milk as much as I can from my stocks.  

For years, I've been holding a few hundred shares of BMO.TO and IPL.TO in my QT RSSP just DRIPing and collecting dividends.  I think it's time for me to deploy some CC on them to generate more income!  But I would hate to get them assigned though.  To be continued...

Small Positions Set to Expire Feb 20, 2015

There are a few small positions that will expire Feb 20, 2015.  

Transaction Date	Expiry Date	# of Days to Expiry	CALL/PUT	STRIKE $	Contracts (BPS 2x)	Contract Premiums	Comm. Fee	Premiums Collected
12/26/2014	2/20/2015	56	SELL PUT - MDLZ	$34	1	$0.24	0.79	$23.21
12/28/2014	2/20/2015	54	BPS - PNRA	$155/$150	1	$0.38	0.68	$37.32
12/29/2014	2/20/2015	53	SELL PUT - MDLZ	$34	1	$0.32	1.09	$30.91
2/13/2015	2/20/2015	7	SELL PUT - H	$55	1	$0.2	0.34	$19.66

Looks like MDLZ will expire worthless and I get to keep my premiums collected $54.12 after holding for 56 days.  Slow rate of return but better than not doing anything right?

As for H, this is a bit risky move on my part as I wanted a quick $20 for the week.  They will report earnings on Feb 18th before opening bell.  Wish me luck!  (Update:  Closed my position for $15 less commission on Feb 18th)

The only major concern is my PRNA bull put spread.  After they reported poor earnings for the quarter, PNRA took a 20% drop on February 12th.  Currently, it is sitting at $153.68.  I need PNRA to stay above $155 in order for my spread to expire worthless to keep my premiums collected $37.32.  If it doesn't, then I'd have to buy to close my spread and sell to open another spread at a later date to get a higher premium.  

PRNA was a mistake trade.  Being new to Interactive Broker's TWS,  I was fiddling on their trading platform going over scenarios.  I wanted to pull out the probability of the spread, but l hit wrong button being SUBMIT and my order went through and got at a price I did not want.

Of course, this is no excuse for the turn of events.  But shit goes down sometimes and you need to plan your escape plan.

Mini Getaway Trip

For Family Day this year, my Fiance and I decided to do a mini getaway trip to Las Vegas!  We did not vacation in 2014, so we've been itching to escape our monotonous daily grind of life for some excitement!  We've been to there a number of times, but it is nice to fly out of dark and gloomy Vancouver weather to nice and sunny Vegas!  

We found a decent package deal through Allegiant Airlines and stayed three nights in Paris Hotel for $660 USD.  We brought $475 USD spending cash for meals and shows.  

First thing, we did was to check out half priced ticket booth for discounted shows on the Strip.  We decided to check out David Cooperfiled @ MGM Grand.  His show was amazing and he was quite entertaining.  You never know when he'll call it quits as he has been performing there for quite some time.  

Next up, we waited a while to have lunch at Gordan Ramsey's BurgR joint.  The line was was long and kept on building.  For two burgers, onion rings, and a pop, it ended up costing us $50.  Gourmet burgers @ $15 each with no sides, it's a tad on the expensive side.  But you go to Vegas expecting to spend money.  

There's no free lunch sort to speak unless you end up at a gruelling 2-3 hour presentation at Wyndam Resorts that was a 15 minute drive off the strip.  We got suckered in by their promise of free breakfast on them, two Cirque Du Soliel KA tickets, and a $25 free play at one of their selected casinos on the strip.  Their main objective is to get us to buy ownership into their condo/resorts where you can save money down the road by staying at their place or affiliated hotels.  Seems like a good deal for those who have deep pockets to go on vacations every year.  For us, we don't want to feel obligated to go on vacation every year for a certain time to use up our credits.  So we politely declined and got our freebies!  WOOT WOOT!

We got pretty good seats at KA which was also playing at the MGM Grand.  The show was quite grand and lots of action.  The stage was beautiful.  It was boring at times as I found the acts to be drawn out a bit long for my taste.  

Time to gamble my $25 freeplay chip!  I won $25 at the new Linq hotel by betting black on Roulette.  Too bad, I didn't win the next round of Roulette or I could have kept on going.  But roulette is a game of 50/50 chance when betting on red or black.  I decided to cash out and walk away.  Knowing my luck, I'll most likely squander my winnings.

Of course, we walked around a lot checking out the sights and all.  It's amazing how many tourists pass through this city each year.  We caught Bellagio nightly water show and Mirage fire show.  We also took a ride in the new Linq main attraction the High Roller which gives a great view of the strip at night or daytime if you choose be.  I finally got to try White Castle burger.  I paid a little extra for cheese.  It was soft and small, but salty.  Two bites and I was done.  Left a little unsatisfied.  (I still like my MCD value burgers over them anytime).

Overall, we enjoyed our mini getaway trip.  We stayed on budget and even had enough money to pay for parking at Bellingham Airprot, filled up gas and $30 bucks worth of groceries at Costco. 

Vacations can be a lot of fun, but it comes with a price tag.  You pay for flight & hotel which is the bulk of your costs.  When you get to your destination, you'll have to find food and entertainment to spend your free time.  But you'll make memories to last you a lifetime and experience new things like you would never have done at home.  

Meal Planning

Random thoughts spilled out onto blog...

I don't usually have breakfast.  I know I know breakfast is the most important meal to kick start your day.  Usually, I roll out of bed last minute to get ready for work and don't have time to eat breakfast.  So essentially I'm saving money on a meal?!  Breakfast doesn't always have to be expensive but it does add up over time with even the simplest cereal and milk or toast.

Note to self:  I really should wake up 30-45 mins to prepare myself for work rather than 15 mins and take the time to eat breakfast instead of starving myself before lunch time.  I always feel a bit flustered in the mornings as I don't like to be late for work (Ms Punctuality here).  My fiance slows me down in the mornings and I get grumpy at him as we carpool in the mornings.

Lunch is my start to the day.  I spend a good 5/7 days at work.  This past week, I was good.  I didn't go out to buy lunch at all versus previous week where I did almost everyday to the tune of $16.38.  It really depends on meal preparation. 

If I make more for dinner then I'd have leftovers for lunch.  I cook for my fiance and I just enough usually for dinner.  Simple meat and veggies with rice..  If its pasta or casserole, then we usually have leftovers for lunch next day.  I should make bigger portions so we can bring more leftovers for next day lunches more often than not.

The key to saving is to make your own lunches instead of going out to eat!  Buy a loaf of bread and lunch meat... of course cheese/veggies is a great filler as well to make your own sandwiches.  If you find that too boring, switch it up with English muffin, bagel or wrap!

Bring fruits and yogurt for healthy snacks.  It is all about choices.  Am I going to stop buying lunches and brown bag it from now on?  Hells no, its all about balance.  I am not going to deprive myself if I have the money to do so.  I like going out to eat!  Life is about living a little too right? 

Some people are so strict with their budget that they rather sit at home alone in the dark than going out and having fun. All to save a few bucks?  Know when to spend and when not to.  Find that balance.

Do you go out for lunches or do you bring your own lunches?  Or is it a combination?

Comments within Portfolio

Alibaba Group Holding announced disappointing numbers and the market has turned its back on them. They have since retreated back to $90/share from a high of $120/share.  Is this an opportunity to pick up more shares? 

Chipotle Mexican Grill missed guidance in their earnings report.  Share price dropped dramatically from its highs of $728 to $673 (-6%).  I opened a bull put spread earlier this week for $655/$650 expiring Friday, Feb 6th.  If CMG holds above $655, I will stand to profit $140 less commission.  I am trying close this earlier to avoid any surprises for tomorrow. Update:  Closed position for 20c debit @ Feb 5th.

Costco announced a special one time dividend payout of $5 per share.  Stock is up 8% since announcement from Jan 30th and holding.

Disney also reported earning this week with great magical numbers.  Stock jumped 7% last couple days.

Oil is up from last week boosting my overall stock portfolio.

Option Performance Since Inception

Shifting my focus to growing and trading options in my Interactive Brokers (IB), I will showcase my performance to date since inception.  Each month, I will post my Cumulative Performance Statistics to keep me in line.  

Since opening my IB account, I have deposited $15,000.00 CAD into the account.  I have also transferred over two stock positions from Scotia Itrade.  Their book value are $6,212.00.  Both of these stocks have not been realized at a gain and their market value at the time of the transfer are reflected in the "deposit" total.  Do you get what I mean?!  So complicated, I know.

IB has a lot of great features like generating a bunch of in depth reports about the performance of your account!  There are so many different options you can choose from.  IB is truly a real interactive full blown brokerage.  It is still a little foreign to me, but eventually, I will get around to learning their interface to the full advantage.

I never really kept track of my overall performance.  Seriously, I lost track of how much of my own money put into my margin accounts..  I've switched from TDW -> Investorline -> Itrade -> Questrade -> Virtual Brokers.  I do not have a detailed account history report from all of my brokerages.

Moral of my story:  Be organized and keep track of your performance!  Do not lose years like I did.