May Option/Stock Performance

May has come and gone for the stock market.  The saying goes, "Sell in May and go away!"  And sure did I sell some PUTs!

This month IB portfolio did better than I expected.  It gained 3.46%.  Could this be the top of the market?  On the last trading day of May, the markets turned red, very red.  I lost a couple percentage point that day alone.  But overall, I am very happy with the performance of my portfolio from option trading.  The stats speak for itself.  

In May, I ended up realizing $1,014.56 in net option premiums, but I spent $53.35 in commissions.  I let 14 expire worthless, I closed 1 position early, and I rolled 1 position to the next month. 

Till the next month.  Let's see if I can keep this up.

Set to Expire: May 29, 2015

Last week, I didn't have any expiries to report!  Sad week it was.  But I did close my $MA position early to capture 86% gain to free up some buying power within my account.

Transaction Date

Expiry Date

# of Days to Expiry

CALL/PUT

SYMBOL

STRIKE $

Contracts

Contract Premiums

Comm. Fee

Premiums Collected

Closing Date

# of Days Held

Realized Profit

% Capture

6-Mar-2015

17-Jul-2015

133

SELL PUT

MA

$75

2

$0.76

1.15

$150.85

22-May-2015

77

$129.87

86.09%

Lately, I've been selling too many low, but safe premium PUTs too far out and tying up margin funds.  I need to do more spreads to generate the income that I'm seeking.  Ultimately, this will increase my risk and commission costs, but the income generated will be worth it.  I'll just have to be more deligent in babysitting my trades.  

Sometimes, I am scared of trading too much and getting caught up in it.  I will need to evaluate my risk tolerance when making an option trade out months ahead of time.

This coming Friday,  I have a few options expiring:  

Option	Position	# Days Held
AAPL 29MAY2015 115 P	5	18
AAPL 29MAY2015 120 P	-5	18
SBUX 29MAY2015 50.5 P	-1	3

I will let my $AAPL bull put spread expire worthless.  This does not take up too much room in my buying power, so I will save around $8 in commission if I were to close my position early.  This trade, I will realize a gain of $177.08.

As for $SBUX, I sold to open my position yesterday when the market selling off.  I took a risk to make $20 in basically 3 days.  Right now, it can go either way.  I'll either end up making $20 if $SBUX stays above $50.50 or I'll end up owning $SBUX for 100 shares @ $50.50.  

My hunch is $SBUX will end in my favour and I walk away with $20 in my pocket.  

You can always find my same day trades on Twitter @PC_Trades.  I keep things simple and I intend to trade and keep on building my portfolio.  

I can not believe I've come this far in this short amount of time since I started option trading.  I am very thankful for the Twitter community that have open my eyes to this untapped market that is unbeknownst to most investors.  

Gambler in Me

Some ladies like to spend their thousands on a designer bag, but I like to buy investments that will give me returns that I seek forth.

Calculated risks are always gamble.  Weighing in my options, I decided to buy a LEAP out to Jan/2017 call on $AAPL with a strike price of $110. 

PC‏@PC_Trades

BOUGHT 1 AAPL Jan20'17 $110 CALL @ 29.54 - call me crazy lol

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12:55 PM - 21 May 2015

The reason behind my trade is I'm bullish on $APPL and I think in the next while it might head upwards.  Therefore, I can bank on the gains.

Currently, Apple Inc ($AAPL) is trading around $130/share.  I could buy 100 shares @ $130 for a $13,000 investment in today's market.  But I don't have $13K USD laying around unless my GTC order for $GOOGL hit $600 soon.  Instead of owning the stock for $13k, I put down $3K to play on the price movements.  

Yesterday, $AAPL went up by $1.15/share and my option also went up by like $0.80/share.  If I were to sell my option at any point yesterday, I could have made $80 on $3,000 vs owning the stock for $115 on $13,000.

The downside to this CALL option is if $AAPL share prices continues to fall from this range, I would lose money depending on when I want to cut my losses in the 606 days left to my expiry date.  Let's say by Jan 2017, $AAPL is trading below $110, my CALL option would become worthless and I would take a $3k realized loss vs owning the stock with a paper loss of $2k.  

Time will only tell whether I made the right call or not.

Goal Completed, What's Next?

Liquid from Freedom35Blog reminded me on Twitter recently that my goal for 2015 is to "Create more income through option trading:  $5000!"

Well, I'm done with my goal for 2015!  This past Friday's expiration pushed me over $5,000 mark!  You can check it out in my Progress tab up above.  Does this mean I can relax and enjoy the rest of the year?  Hells no, I will reset my goal to $10,000!  

Now, I better not lose all my $5,000 in option premiums that I worked so hard for the past few months of the year!  I can never be too cocky, right?!  The market is ever changing and I can not predict the future.  So I tread carefully and make small little wins whenever I can.

In life, we all strive to make money to sustain a certain lifestyle we want.  Everyone is different in their own ways and find their passion as time goes on.  Each passion can lead to opportunities.   What is your passion?

My passion is to grow money out of money!  Unfortunately, money does not grow on trees.  I have been working straight for a dozen years saving up as much as I can after all the expenses that goes out each month.  Even though, I get tired of the mundane routine, I do look forward to going to work and seeing that steady pay check at the end of the month.  But there is an inkling in me to break free of the constraint in the working for the bigger boss life.  

I see people of all walks of life.  The rich wants to work, while the middle class are counting down the days and the poor doing whatever to get by.  One has to change to make a leap from one class to another.  When it comes down to it, it's all about your desire in life!  What makes you go round? 

Most people under estimate me.  Often, I go unnoticed.  I shy away from the attention.  Yet, sometimes I want to be recognized.  It's a double edge sword.  I am a thinker, not a talker.  This is my only outlet to speak my mind freely without any hesitation.  

Interactive Brokers Nickle & Diming Me Again

I have 10 shares of Alibaba from their IPO @ $98!!  My fingers got itchy going into the hype and placed an order.

Anyways, I noticed in my IB account that there's a "fee" for holding $BABA:

2015-05-11

BABA(01609W102) ADR Fee 0.02000000 USD per Share

-0.18

What the hell does that mean?

_________________________________________________________________________________

An update from my Interactive Brokers Reports post, they decided to take it back with multiple confusing transactions.  So I owe money now?

Set to Expire: May 15, 2015

May 15th is actually the third Friday of the month!  If you're on a bi-weekly payroll, then you'll have three paydays!  Unfortunately for me, I'm on a monthly payroll, so I'll have to make due till the end of month.  

That's why it is important for me to create weekly income from option trading!  I am focused on growing my Interactive Brokers (IB) account to set myself free from the working world.  Quite the ways to go, but I am chipping away at it one month at a time!

This coming Friday, I have a few options expiring:

Option	Position	# Days Held
AAPL 15MAY2015 117 P	-2	10
DRI 15MAY2015 62.5 P	-1	4
LMT 15MAY2015 180 P	6	25
LMT 15MAY2015 185 P	-6	25
MDLZ 15MAY2015 35 P	-2	18
XOP 15MAY2015 50 P	-2	7
PEY.TO 15MAY2015 34 P	-1	4

If all goes my way, I will get to keep my premiums of $401.76 that I collected right from the dates I sold them at.  

No major concerns, but the two trades I did recently on Monday for quick cash are starting to go sour... DRI & PEY.TO.  I will either let them get assigned or roll it down when it comes to Friday.  I shall see when the time comes!

Hmm, next Friday, I don't have any options expiring!  Time for to scour for premiums that still have some juice in them.  

Buying Lotto Call Options

Just last week, I bought a 649 ticket for the $18 million jackpot for $3.  I was called a sucker but hey there's always that slim chance of hitting it big!  I do not gamble my money away with lotto tickets often but I will make calculated bets like buying CALL options!

Once in a while, I like to buy a CALL option to spice up my portfolio.  I do it for fun.  I am not a technical trader nor am I that analytical.  Best to say, I trade with my gut instincts based on current trends.

On March 27, 2015, I decided to risk $93.00 to place a bet to see if I called it right as shown below in a tweet:

PC@PC_Trades

BOUGHT 1 V Jun19'15 70 CALL @AMEX @ 0.93

0 retweets0 favorites

12:27 PM - 27 Mar 2015

For most part I've held this Visa CALL, it has reached a high of $1.59 to a low of $0.26 per contract.  Below is a graph for your reference:

Through it all, I am still holding on to this CALL in hopes that it will go far ITM for unlimited gains.  With more than a month to go, I will have to make my exit in the most advantageous way.  I will not sell out prematurely like I did with my Starbucks CALL nor shall I lose everything like I did with my Apple CALL.

I blog to record my wins and losses in trading stocks and options.  For most part, I've been on the winning side!  

Set to Expire: May 8, 2015

Slowing down these days in terms of trading options as I am a little cautious for the month of May!  But most of my trades are selling PUTs... so maybe, I should do a whole bunch as the saying goes: "Sell in May and go away." 

Option	Position	# Days Held
DIS 08MAY2015 103 P	-1	7
MCD 08MAY2015 90 P	-1	8

Today's market is looking much better and currently both $DIS and $MCD is sitting $6-7 per share above my PUT strike prices.  So I'm looking good to let both of them expire worthless and keep my premiums of $59.42 from days back.  Not bad for a 7-8 day gig eh?  

April Option/Stock Performance

Stock fluctuation is one of the biggest factor to the performance of my Interactive Brokers (IB) account.  I am fully funded now, but I am not taking full advantage of my buying power as I am little cautious.  My option performance have been minuscule in this composition and will be lump inside this trading account.  

On the last trading day of April, my stocks took a hit and wiped away any gains I had for the month.  I ended up with a negative performance of -0.62%.

In April, I ended up realizing $1,019.30 in net option premiums, but I spent $60.58 in commissions.  I let 8 positions expire worthless, and I closed 4 positions early.

IB sold a fraction of my $GOOG shares for 0.0686 @ $563.5126 = $38.69 USD.  This is a stock dividend that I received on April 27, 2015.  IB does not allow any fractions so they sold the shares automatically on my behalf.  I might consider lessening my load of  $GOOG & $GOOGL shares in the next few months as I have significant money tied to this stock that does not pay out any dividend.  They have been stagnant and bouncing between $500-$600.  I would like to make an exit around $600/share mark.  Nothing is set in stone, if I do sell I will have to worry about capital gains for tax reporting.

Liquid from Freedom35Blog reminded me on Twitter recently that my goal for 2015 is to "Create more income through option trading: $5000!"  I am very close to meeting my goal by the end of May 2015!  

 My first love is stocks, but options is really creeping up on me.  With the combination, I can have the best of both worlds.