Wednesday August 6

What Happened today:

Looks like a flat market overall today.  But that didn't stop some excitement happening in our account today.  We had 2 positions close today -- one favorable (read profitable), and one unfavorable (read losing side).  

It looks like the situation in Russia/Ukraine is impacting markets overall.  According to one article, the "failed merger" of Sprint and T-mobile is also a downer today.  On the flip side, there were some winners too.

Closed trades:

GLD -- Well, this one gapped up a lot today to open, and then closed slightly lower.  It didn't reach our strike prices, but it did change enough to trigger our stop on the option.  So we wound up losing on this one.  

My mom told me that one of her instructors or mentors told her at one point that the GLD index is one that you NEED to have a stop on regardless because it can gap quickly and without warning.  Seems like that's what happened here.  Overall, GLD has been a position that works well for us.  This time it just didn't.

IWM -- the weird one from earlier this week strikes again!  I'm honestly not entirely sure what's happened with this one this week.  Two things I know for sure -- we're finally out of this position, and it closed profitably for us (again) today.  Oddly enough, this is the position that closed out twice yesterday, but we were still in it.  It's closed out now for sure.  We made money on it!  Though I don't think this week's endeavors in IWM options are applicable to real world money.  But, that's okay.  I can handle a bit of weirdness here.  

Other ongoing trades:

MU -- Sold the September 33/34 Call vertical -- We have the trail stop in place, and I'm pleased to note that we are not at gross breakeven.  Meaning that if we stopped out tomorrow at the current stop price, we'd only lose the amount of the commissions.  It looks like this might be in the middle of a bear flag pattern, so we should be good to ride it out.

QQQ -- Sold an Iron Condor with a September Expiration 99.63/100.63/92.63/91.63 -- Looking good.  It's staying in our range, despite some ups and downs, which is what we want an iron condor to do.  We already have a trail stop on, so we won't lose our max, but we're still not to breakeven yet.

Attempted new trades:

EEM -- attempted to sell the September 45/45.50 call vertical -- But I had a condition on.  Even though the price hit the condition by one penny, we didn't get filled.  I looked at this again for tomorrow, but this particular position is outside our delta rules.  The next one down 44.50/45 has too wide a bid/ask spread, so this one is off the table for tonight.

Now to find 3 new positions for tomorrow.

Plans for tomorrow:

AAPL -- the difference in strike prices is too high at the moment and puts us outside our acceptable risk range.  We need to stick with strikes that are at most $1 apart, so AAPL is off the table for a bit.

BAC -- no positions in our delta rules.

BX -- Looked at a potential put spread at 31/30, but the bid/ask spread is too wide for our rules, and the return is too low.

C -- Citigroup -- News on Citigroup is interesting.  After the close, things are going down, and there was a settlement to the tune of $285M with the SEC...  Yet, it looks to me like the stock price is sitting at a support level with a potential to go up.  So, I think I'll put on an order with a condition that the stock has to go up.  Here's what I'm thinking:

Sell the September expiration 47/46 Put vertical with the condition that the stock must hit $48.73 or better.

GM -- outside our return rules.  

INTC -- the delta that fits our rules is too close to being in the money, so we're skipping this one.

MSFT -- oohh -- a pretty color on the chart!  (I have mine set up to be a deep blue to jump out with the reds and greens of the other candles on the chart.)  A doji, I believe that's called, and it can indicate a potential turning point.  Bottom line, it doesn't know what it's going to do, so we're going to watch it and see what happens tomorrow.

ORCL -- deltas outside our rules.

PFE -- no deltas in our rules either.

(This is hard work tonight!)

PLUG -- no interest.  Trading an option with only 1 in the open interest category probably isn't the best idea.  

SPY -- I'm not sure what is happening on this chart yet to even begin to figure out what to trade.  It looks like it might be trying to turn around again, but we'll see.   We missed the beginning of the short-term downtrend, and I'm not sure if it's hit the bottom and is turning around, or if it's going to fall further.  So, tonight, I'm not trading based on this chart.

TWTR -- I looked at this last night, and I think it is at the support of the latest down trend.  It looks like it's leveling off around $43 and change.  I think it's going to go back up.  But I'm going to confirm that with a conditional order that the stock has to hit $0.20 higher than today's high before I get in.  Here's what I'm thinking:

Sell the September expiration 41/40 Put vertical with the condition that the stock must hit $44.24 or higher to enter.  

(2 out of 3 -- need one more.)  

VZ -- What the heck has happened here over the last several days?  What a drop!  Wish I could have gotten in on this when it hit the high last week.  though it looks like it might be trying to turn around with a hammer pattern today, almost.  I'll watch it again and see if there's a higher close before deciding what to do.

TWX -- Wow...  doesn't look like people liked what they heard in the earnings announcement today.  that's a pretty significant gap down!  Looks like Fox and Time Warner have officially broken up.  So sad.  Yet, interestingly enough, the earnings report itself isn't bad, at least not according to this article.  

However, it's useless for me to attempt to trade options tonight because it doesn't fit my rules at all.

FOXA -- is another one to watch tomorrow, if there's positions that fit my rules.  Right now the bid/ask spreads are all HUGE!

CAT -- Looks interesting, but no deltas fit my rules right now.  

NFLX -- Looks like it would be great for an Iron Condor, but the positions don't fit my rules.  Bid/ask spreads are too wide.

INSM -- no volume in the positions I would want to do, and the bid/ask spread is way too big again.

SLW -- no deltas on the put side, which is what I'd want to do.

AMZN -- I should know better than to look for a while.  At least until our account grows larger and we can tolerate a higher risk profile.

FB -- See above.  same applies.

DIS -- bummer!  It looks good for a potential condor, but the risk is too high for our rules.

IWM -- Do I dare even consider this one after the craziness of the last 2 days?  Well, I did the math, and it just doesn't work at the moment.  Return is too low.  

And I've exhausted my watch lists for tonight.  Hmmm....  Guess it's time to quit then.  I'll have to come up with more stocks to add to our watch lists. 

Question for the night:

We've been talking to a friend of ours about all this today (Thanks Joe!), and in addition to testing my level of understanding, he brought up some really good points. 

So, the question for the night:

Is there a way in the TOS platform to put a closing order on a position at the same time as an open?  Perhaps as a condition so that it only comes into play once the initial order is filled?  

It would be great if we can do that because right now we've got a whole day where we could potentially lose our shirts on a position if something wonky happens between when it goes on and when we put the stops on after market close.  

I tried to do this tonight, but had no luck figuring it out.  If anyone can give suggestions, that would be greatly appreciated!  Assuming, of course, that it is even possible.