Set to expire: Oct 23, 2015

Yes, I'm still around.  No, I have not been updating my trades every week or every single trade I make on Twitter.  October would have been a profitable month, but I screwed up with just one-two trades.

1) Lost $500 on $YUM short put @ $75.00
2) Lost $200 on $SPY long put @ $197.50

It is what it is.  I'll survive another week.  

Option	Accounts (Position)
AXP 23OCT2015 74.5 P	(1)
GILD 23OCT2015 98 P	(-1)
KMI 23OCT2015 30 P	(-1)
SWKS 23OCT2015 74 P	(-1)
V 23OCT2015 65 P	(-1)

All of these trades I've put on in the last few days, except for Visa.  Selling PUTS, if all goes according to plan, I will pocket $110.36 that I have already collected.  All of them seem to be OTM, but I've been screwed before.  So this may be the last of the PUTS I will sell until I come up with a steady game plan. 

$AXP released their earnings after closing today.  I bought the PUT a couple days ago for 35c.  I risked $35 + commission to watch $AXP burn.  I will be looking to close my position early tomorrow for a pretty coin I hope.  The reason for my trade is American Express lost a big retailer ($COST) to $MA.  It is not accepted widely by all retailers... 

Lately, other's have been questioning the way I trade as I've had troubles with a few big names such as $WMT, $YUM, $NFLX.  This is causing me to re-evaluate the way I trade options and the risks I have taken on.  I usually sell PUTs that are very out of the money (OTM) to avoid assignment of the shares at my strike prices.  

The market made a sharp turn on August 21st.. and some stocks have threw up on me literally.  I am very much in recovery mode still.  

Life as we make it out to be

Last night at a friend's birthday party, I only knew a few handful of people that I briefly met over the years at her get together functions.  I don't know them all that well.  Most of the time, I would avoid going as I always feel uncomfortable around a group of acquaintances and new people.  It's been a few years since I have been to her house parties.  But this time, she texted me and asked so I decided to go for once. 

As the night wore on, more and more people showed up to her party (25+ people jammed into her apartment).  Yes, she is Miss Popularity.  She does have an eclectic group of friends to say the least. 

I sat in my corner most of the night... Right in front of the cheese, deli meat, crackers section where I pretended to look busy by eating and taking sips of my drink.  A few people came by and chatted briefly for a bit.

Her friend, Brian, is a motorcycle traveler who had been riding America/Canada for the past three years.  The only reason he is back in town was an accident last month.  He got thrown off his bike going down a ravine onto a soft patch of sand which he lost control of his bike in this rural road in Alberta.  He was 5 km away crossing the border to Idaho.  The plan was to ride down to Nevada to meet his friend in Vegas as he just did a 3 month road trip visiting Alaska, NWT and Yukon.

I have Brian on my FB so I get to see updates on his travels from time to time and asked him how he was doing?  He ended up with three broken ribs, not just cracked, and his collarbone.  The doctors were amazed that he was still walking around.  They gave him pain killers and sent him packing.  No bandages or anything told him it will hurt but heal in time.

Seems like Brian is healing up just fine.  His bike was a write off as the assessor saw the mileage on the bike and didn't bother to fix it.  I don't think he even got money for the write off from the way he was talking in disappointment. 

Brian told me his elaborate plans to travel the world on his bike.  He is already planning his next trip down to Central and South America before flying his bike out to Australia -> Asia -> Europe -> Africa.  He plans to live in Europe after his expedition for a while before coming back to Vancouver.

I'm amazed at how free spirited he is.  Not in the care in the world, just his bike and the places he is to discover.  Of course, he is single and nothing to tie himself down to. 

Did he win the lottery?  I was curious as to how he can afford all this without working. 

After I asked, he basically told me he sold everything he had.  Both of his parents are gone, so I would assume he had collected a sizable inheritance. 

One of the things that caught my attention was he invested in this Alberta oil company that given him great returns.  Turns out to be Penn West Petroleum (PWT.TO).  He started picking up shares around $10/share and yielding 20% at that time.  They went on to split three times all the while paying out a very nice distribution each month.  Anyways, he sold out all his shares at the top three years ago before leaving on his adventure.  Turns out to be a great move as we all know oil crude has come down significantly. 

Money isn't important to Brian.  It is only a tool to create your own life.  It was nice to catch up with him and seeing another life not in such a conventional way.

My path is very different from his.  Work, family, vacation from time to time... Its a routine. I hope someday I can break out of the box I live in and be free.

Set to Expire: Oct 2nd

Option	(Position)
AAPL 02OCT2015 111 C	(Closed my position for $41 gain)  1
V 02OCT2015 73 C	(Sold for 20c premium) -1
V 02OCT2015 68.5 P	(Sold for 23c premium) -1

Last Friday, I put on a STRANGLE on $V.  This is a weekly trade for me.  In order for me to keep my premiums that I collected when I sold my CALL/PUT, I need $V to trade in between $68.50-$73.00 by Oct 2, 2015.

Whenever I open up new positions, the market usually tanks right after causing me a headache.  If only I had been more patient, I would have gotten more premiums on my PUT.  Stay calm and wait it out.  Writing this today, I am out of harm's way... but who knows what will happen in the next two trading days that will follow.  

TD.TO - stock/option trade

I have some cash sitting around... basically earning next to nothing in my Interactive Brokers account.  When I am bored, I tend to trade more recklessly than not.  My methods are not recommended to the average investor by any means.

This is an example of what I do to try to make a few bucks.  Risking $5135.00 to make only $50 in 4 days by buying 100 shares of $TD.TO and selling a covered call.  

The only reason I can make this trade is the beauty of no assignment fees at Interactive Brokers.  My commissions were $2.50.  My net profit is $47.50 resulting 1% gain.  

Set to Expire: Sept 25th

Welcome to another edition of my options expiring for September 25th!

Option	Position
GOOG 25SEP2015 655 C (I lose $85)	1
KO 25SEP2015 39 P (I gain $18)	-1
PEP 25SEP2015 92.5 P (I gain $24	-1

What did I get myself into this week?  

1. I decided to gamble with another $GOOG CALL that didn't quite work out losing $85.00.  OUCH.  I also did $AAPL CALL which I ended up with a small gain of a buck after all said and done lol.  I thought I had made more but I got my premiums wrong.  I think I'll stop with long CALLS.
2. Selling PUTS on $KO & $PEP on Monday for a quick turn around profit of $42.00.  Tuesday would have given me more premiums.  My timing is always off.
3. Bought 20 shares of $RCL and sold at end of day for $8 gain. 
4. Bought 100 shares of $TD.TO @ $51.35 and sold a CALL for $51.50 expiring Sept 25th.  If $TD.TO stays above $51.50 today, I will let it assign and gain $49.00 from this short trade.  

This week, I made Interactive Brokers money by trading a lot for minimal gains.

Suck it up and eat my losses!

Nice gain today but it won't help my CALLS.  I'm going to eat my losses for the first time since I started trading options!  It's my stubbornness that led me to this loss.  

Option	Position
FIT 18SEP2015 55 C (-395)	1
SBUX 18SEP2015 62.5 C  (-54)	2
SPY 18SEP2015 208 C (-688)	6
WMT 18SEP2015 60 P (STC for a smaller loss)	1
WMT 18SEP2015 72.5 P (I haven't decided yet)	-1

August Option/Stock Performance

Opps I forgot to post up my August Option/Stock Performance.  It was a good run, but the bear is starting to show its claws!  I'm still up but not at its elated highs.  I made some moves that were questionable and it's starting to bite me in the arse.  Time will only tell whether I can pull through this rut or not!