Girl Genius's Investing

Bought more PPP

2012-02-07T05:38:00.001-08:00

The rest of my buy order on PPP triggered at $3.00

Sold GILD, PHYS

2012-01-24T06:49:00.000-08:00

I received shares of GILD from calls over option expiration day. I sold the shares for $47.06.

I sold my PHYS for $14.75, ahead of the gold options expiration day this Thursday. This was an error on my part; if I'd been paying proper attention, I'd have sold them Monday ahead of the traditional monthly bear raid.

Bought DIA puts

2011-12-30T13:01:00.000-08:00

Bought 2013 $120 puts on DIA.

Bought PPP

2011-12-20T06:58:00.000-08:00

Part of my limit order on PPP at $3.00 triggered today pre-market. The stock is trading at $3.27 at open, so I must just have gotten lucky when someone entered a market sell order. Yay! That fills half my target position; the other half is still open at $3.

Bought AAPL calls

2011-11-10T09:51:00.000-08:00

Bought AAPL 2014 $380 calls for $93.04

Sold GMR

2011-11-03T08:38:00.000-07:00

Sold GMR for $0.191--ouch! GMR was one of my super-deep-value, kill-or-cure stocks.

Bought ATVI calls

2011-11-03T08:32:00.001-07:00

Bought Feb 2012 $13 calls on ATVI for $1.18

Bought more PHYS

2011-09-23T09:24:00.001-07:00

Bought PHYS at $14.33.

Bought more PSLV

2011-09-23T09:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I bought more PSLV @ $17.30. Today, i bought more at $15.25. My cost basis is now $17.45.

Ugh, buying in the course of a falling market is always gut-wrenching.

Bought, yes, even more SCPZF

2011-09-22T07:26:00.000-07:00

Bought more SCPZF at $4.54. My cost basis is now $4.96.

Bought PHYS, bought SLW calls

2011-09-22T07:07:00.000-07:00

Bought PHYS @ $15.03. My cost basis for that position is now $15.13.
Bought SLW 2013 $25 calls @ $15.49.

Bought yet more SCPZF

2011-09-19T08:43:00.000-07:00

While I was writing the post below, my buy order for SCPZF at $4.76 triggered. My cost basis is now $5.10.

What is SCPZF?

2011-09-19T08:42:00.000-07:00

SCPZF is the pink sheet listing for Sprott Resources. It trades on the Toronto exchange as SCP.

Sprott Resources is one of the commodity-oriented companies created by Canadian resource investor Eric Sprott. Sprott is chairman and also receives a management fee through Sprott Consulting Limited Partnership. It's set up like a hedge fund; SCLP receives 2% of the NAV, plus an additional percentage if profits are over a certain level. Kenneth Bambrough is the CEO

SCP owns, in whole or in part, several resource-oriented businesses in Canada:

Energy:
Waseca Energy (oil)
Orion Oil and Gas (oil and natural gas)
One Earth Oil & Gas (oil and natural gas)
Westfire Energy (oil and natural gas)

Agriculture:
Stonegate Agricom (fertilizer)
One Earth Farms (crops and cattle).

Bullion:
73,971 ounces gold bullion, worth about $136.8 M at $1850/oz. Or, about 25% of market cap at the current share price of $4.80

The "One Earth" businesses are organized in partnership with several Canadian First Nations. This improves economic development and employment in the One Earth areas and this stable, long-term relationship with land owners allows One Earth to benefit from economies of scale which enhances the company's long-term profitability.

EDIT to add: SCP doesn't pay dividends, but they have a habit of making stock buybacks. The most recent was announced August 30, for 8% of shares outstanding.

Bought more SCPZF

2011-09-02T07:45:00.000-07:00

Bought yet more SCPZF at $4.99. My net buy price is now $5.19.

Bought more PSLV

2011-08-24T07:18:00.001-07:00

Bought more PSLV at $18.38. My cost basis is now $18.93

Bought PHYS

2011-08-24T07:14:00.001-07:00

Bought PHYS at $15.29

Bought PSLV

2011-08-23T12:01:00.001-07:00

Bought PSLV at $19.48

Sold ROIC

2011-08-19T12:09:00.001-07:00

Sold ROIC for $10.93. I may buy it back later at a lower price.

Bought even more SCPZF

2011-08-19T09:22:00.000-07:00

Bought SCPZF for $5.03, bringing my average cost for this position to $5.32.

Sold AAPL calls

2011-08-15T09:14:00.000-07:00

Sold my AAPL 2013 $330 calls for $93. Better to regret not making as much money than to regret losing money, I say.

Sold IWM puts

2011-08-15T08:22:00.000-07:00

Sold my IWM August $81 puts @ $10.40. This was the bear fraction of a put spread I started in March. The bull fraction was closed in May.

Sold PHYS, UPL, BPI, FNF, HNR, EPM

2011-08-04T14:49:00.000-07:00

Well, that was bracing.

Every one of my stop-loss orders triggered today.

Sold PHYS @ $14.09
Sold UPL @ $43.61
Sold FNF @ $15.50
Sold HNR @ $12.00
Sold EPM @ $7.03
Also sold BPI @ $22.09 (not a stop-loss order--it was up on the day due to news and I booked my profits while I had 'em).

My portfolio is almost exactly 70% cash now.

On the plus side, my old August $81 IWM puts, which were showing a 50% loss as late as yesterday, are now in the money with a 40% gain.

Sold PCL

2011-08-03T06:53:00.000-07:00

My sell order on PCL triggered at $37.45.

So, last Wednesday I bought:

DGS (emerging markets dividend ETF), PG (international consumer necessities), PCL (timber), NRT (northern European energy royalty trust), SJT (South American energy royalty trust), BPT (North American energy royalty trust), PEB (US REIT) and PHYS (paper gold).

And of that diversified list of assets, the only one which has outperformed the USD is gold. Gosh. (Oh, the Swiss franc is up, too).

Sold BPT

2011-08-02T13:14:00.001-07:00

My sell order on BPT triggered at $112.61. Golly.

Sold PG

2011-08-02T11:27:00.001-07:00

My sell order on PG triggered at $61.01

Sold NRT, DGS

2011-08-02T11:16:00.000-07:00

My sell order for NRT triggered at $33.41.
My sell order for DGS triggered at $52.10.

I had tightened the sell trigger on both positions.

Sold PEB

2011-08-02T11:00:00.001-07:00

My sell order on PEB triggered at $19.09

Sold SJT

2011-07-29T13:24:00.000-07:00

I made several purchases Wednesday; I put a trigger on many positions so they'd automatically be sold if they dropped 5% below my buy price. SJT triggered today, selling for $23.45. That was fast.

Many purchases

2011-07-27T08:15:00.000-07:00

Today I bought the following:

DGS @ $52.94, 5%
PG @ $62.76, 5%
PCL @ $38.65, 5%
NRT @ $33.40, 5%
SJT @ $24.71, 5%
BPT @ $114.00, 5%
PHYS @ $14.08, 5%
PEB @ $20.09, 2%

Closed DDD puts

2011-06-28T10:19:00.000-07:00

Bought to close my DDD puts for $5.05

Bought 2013 AAPL calls

2011-06-10T11:48:00.000-07:00

Bought Jan 2013 AAPL $330 calls for $52.50 per share. I already had calls for that date and strike so this brings my cost basis to $57.75 (from $63.00).

Sold NTZ

2011-06-10T11:45:00.001-07:00

Sold NTZ for $3.71

Closed OXM calls

2011-05-06T14:36:00.001-07:00

Sold to close my OXM calls for $13.50

2011-05-05T10:22:00.000-07:00

Sold a whole bunch of positions, as my favored seasonal indicator went bearish (Nasdaq NH-NL 5/17 day moving average, here: http://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=$NAHL&p=D&yr=0&mn=1&dy=0&id=p65895739383 ). I also closed the lower-strike option of my bear put spread.

Sold to close:

LLL Jan 2013 $60 calls @ $22.20
GSK Jan 2012 $40 calls @ $4.12
JNJ Jan 2012 $50 calls @ $15.37
MDT Jan 2012 $35 calls @ $8.11
AAPL Jan 2012 $260 calls @ $98.00
AAPL Jan 2012 $230 calls @ $124.00
AAPL Jan 2012 $180 calls @ $171.00

Bought to close:
IWM Aug 20 2011 $72 puts @ $1.50
AAPL July 2011 $330 puts @ $7.90

I'm now in 50% investable cash. I have one written put position, on TDSC. I have one bought put position, the higher-strike part of my bear put spread hedge on IWM. I also currently own calls on OXM, HEK, GILD, and AAPL.

Closed AFSI puts

2011-04-29T07:23:00.000-07:00

Closed my June $17.50 puts on AFSI for $0.15.

After I sold these puts, I put in a buy-to-close order to sell as soon as I'd made 80% of my potential profits. This is my SOP when selling puts.

Remember, I sold these puts on January 20 for $0.90.
The term of the put was six months. Holding to expiration would have paid me 5.14%, or 0.86% per month. [ $0.90/$17.50 * 100 = 5.14% 5.14%/6 months = 0.86% per month ]
I bought the put back early, having made 80% of my potential profit. The effective term was four months. My profit was $0.75 or 4.29% total or 1.07% per month [ $0.90 - 0.15 = $0.75. $0.75/$17.5 *100 = 4.29% 4.29%/4 months = 1.07% per month ]

So by closing early, I made 0.21% per month more than I would if I had just held the out-of-the-money puts to expiration.

0.21% per month isn't much, but it's 2.52% annualized--more than my bank account is paying right now.

Closed GSK puts

2011-04-13T06:51:00.000-07:00

I bought-to-close my $38 May puts on GSK for $0.30.

Sold BH

2011-04-11T12:40:00.001-07:00

Sold BH at $404.31

Sold AAPL puts, TDSC puts

2011-04-11T09:03:00.002-07:00

Sold AAPL Jul 16 2011 $330 puts for $18.80.
Sold TDSC Nov 19 2011 $45 puts for $6.00

Bought TDSC, SSYS, GMR

2011-04-11T09:03:00.000-07:00

Bought TDSC for $57.89
Bought SSYS for $52.50
Bought GMR for $2.38

Bought ES

2011-03-31T11:39:00.000-07:00

Bought ES at $5.93

Sold MAXY, bought ROIC

2011-03-30T11:27:00.000-07:00

Bought ROIC for $10.88
Sold MAXY for $5.10

Remember, MAXY spun off CDXS, which I sold.

Bought FNF

2011-03-29T07:34:00.000-07:00

Bought FNF at $13.79

Bought GKK, Bought BPI

2011-03-29T07:27:00.000-07:00

Bought GKK for $4.43
Bought BPI for $16.95

Risk vs. volatility

2011-03-22T12:34:00.000-07:00

I consider "risk" to be the possibility of losing capital. Volatility is fluctuation in value. Risk should be avoided; volatility can bring opportunities.

Bought HEK calls

2011-03-22T12:32:00.000-07:00

Bought HEK Sep 17 $2.50 calls for $3.83. The stock is currently trading for $6.28. If exercised, these calls would make HEK 4% of my portfolio at a net buy price of $6.33. The net buy price is about the same as it would be if I bought it now, but my investing has a more defensive posture right now and this strategy reduces my risk exposure. That is, is HEK drops to zero I will have lost "only" $3.83 per share rather than $6.28.

Sold PCL, BBL, DGS

2011-03-18T12:33:00.000-07:00

Sold PCL for $42.50
Sold BBL for $74.39
Sold DGS for 49.83

Sold SH

2011-03-17T13:29:00.000-07:00

Sold SH for $42.97.

Bought SH

2011-03-16T10:55:00.001-07:00

Bought SH at $43.27

Bought BBL

2011-03-14T08:58:00.000-07:00

Bought BBL for $73.70.

Closed KCI calls

2011-03-11T06:57:00.001-08:00

Sold-to-close my Jan2012 $30 calls on KCI for $21.40 per share.

Hedging with a put spread on IWM

2011-03-10T10:53:00.000-08:00

I bought Aug3011 $81 strike puts on IWM for $5.81, then sold twice as many Aug2011 $72 puts on IWM for $2.93. That is, I bought the right to sell IWM for $81, and sold my promise to buy twice as much IWM for $72. The two dollar amounts cancel one another; this position was started as a hedge against a drop in IWM.

IWM is the Russell 2000 index. It was at $82 when I made this trade.

So, if IWM declines $10 per share (12%) I will be obliged to buy it at $72. At that point, the $81 puts I bought will be profitable.

If IWM rises above $81, the puts I bought will be worthless--but they would cost me nothing because the purchase of the $81 puts for $5.81 would be covered by the puts I sold for $5.86 (2 * $2.93).

If IWM ends between $81 and $72, the puts I sold will expire unexercised. The puts I bought will have a value which will vary according to the market price.

Keep in mind that I'm on the hook to buy IWM at $72. I initiated this position only because I'm willing to own this amount of IWM at this price. The purchase would also be subsidized by the value of the $81 puts I bought (if IWM drops enough that the $72 puts are exercised by the buyer, I will be able to sell half as many shares at $81 due to the puts I bought).

Sold ROC, TRAD, CRL

2011-03-08T12:35:00.000-08:00

Sold ROC for $47.51
Sold TRAD for $7.18
Sold CRL for $38.36

Sold TQQQ

2011-03-08T07:26:00.001-08:00

Sold TQQQ for $84.00

Bought TQQQ

2011-03-07T10:54:00.000-08:00

Bought TQQQ at $82.85. I will probably be out of it by tomorrow's close.

Sold PCBC, Sold MSFT

2011-03-07T07:32:00.000-08:00

Sold PCBC for $29.81
Sold MSFT for $25.92

Sold KRE

2011-03-07T07:08:00.000-08:00

Sold KRE for $26.59. If it drops a few dollars, I may write puts again for income.

Bought more SCPZF

2011-03-02T09:49:00.001-08:00

Bought SCPZF at $5.66

Bought CRL

2011-03-02T09:39:00.000-08:00

Bought CRL at $36.76

33% in cash

2011-02-28T13:18:00.000-08:00

I'm now about 33% in investable cash. Another 9% is securing puts.

Closed calls on MDT, GOOG

2011-02-28T13:15:00.000-08:00

Bought-to-close MDT Jan 21 2012 $25 calls for $14.84
Bought-to-close GOOG Jan 21 2012 $510 calls for $126.20
Bought-to-close GOOG Jan 21 2012 $530 calls for $111.70

These are long calls I had purchased earlier. They still have ten months to expiration. I'm closing them and selling the calls to a new buyer. This provides a good example of why I like LEAP options.

I bought the $510 calls on GOOG in May 2010 for $91 per share. I'm now selling them for $126.20 per share, with ten months remaining until expiration. GOOG is currently selling around $613 per share. I could have exercised the calls, bought GOOG for $510, and resold it for $613--a $12 per share profit [ sales price - purchase price - premium = $613 - 510 - 91 = $12 ]. Instead, I sold the calls to a new buyer for a $35.20 per share profit [ sales price - purchase price = $126.20 - 91 = $35.20 ].

Here's the math for all three transactions:
GOOG $510 calls, exercising calls:
[ sales price - purchase price - premium = $613 - 510 - 91 = $12 ]
GOOG $510 calls, reselling calls:
[ sales price - purchase price = $126.20 - 91 = $35.20 ]

GOOG $530 calls, exercising calls:
[ sales price - purchase price - premium = $613 - 530 - 88 = - 5 ] <---NOTE THE LOSS
GOOG $530 calls, reselling calls:
[ sales price - purchase price = $111.70 - 88 = $23.70 ]

MDT $25 calls, exercising calls:
[ sales price - purchase price - premium = $40 - 25 - 8 = $7 ]
MDT $25 calls, reselling calls:
[ sales price - purchase price = $14.84 - 8 = $6.84 ]

This is a good example of why it's important to go through the math for each possible outcome of your options. For the GOOG $510 calls, a profitable trade was made more profitable by reselling the calls. In the GOOG $530 calls, a loss was avoided by reselling the calls. For the MDT $25, I would have made slightly more money ($0.16 per share) by exercising the calls. In that case, I chose to resell the calls because I'm already exposed to MDT through $35 calls I own and I'm no longer confident enough in the stock to justify that much exposure.

In each case, the calls began as multi-year LEAPs, and I've owned them for enough time to see if my investment thesis will play out. Longer expiration periods for calls tend to give more time to see results, are more flexible in providing a variety of profit-taking options, and are often reasonably priced for what you get.

Sold BRS, Sold BHP

2011-02-28T12:25:00.000-08:00

Sold BRS for $47.10
Sold BHP for $94.39

Sold MDT

2011-02-24T11:54:00.000-08:00

Sold MDT for $39.35

Bought PCBC

2011-02-18T07:20:00.001-08:00

Bought PCBC at $28.81

Bought DGS

2011-02-17T13:12:00.001-08:00

Bought DGS for $52.00

Bought SCPZF

2011-02-17T12:51:00.000-08:00

Bought SCPZF at $5.52

Sold LLY, sold GSK puts

2011-02-17T09:53:00.000-08:00

Sold GSK May $38.00 puts for $1.50.

Sold LLY for $34.59.

Sold INTC, bought ROC, bought OXM calls

2011-02-15T12:35:00.000-08:00

in the past few weeks I have performed the following actions:

Sold INTC at $21.06
Bought $22.50 strike July calls on OXM for $3.80
Bought ROC for $44.00, making a 4% position.

Sold AFSI puts, bought AAPL calls, sold PG

2011-01-26T07:53:00.000-08:00

In the past few days I have performed the following trades;

I sold June 2011 $17.50 AFSI puts for $0.90 per share.
I bought Jan 2013 $330 AAPL calls for $63.00 per share.
I sold PG for $66.57 per share.

Exercised CCJ calls, sold CCJ

2010-12-30T07:08:00.000-08:00

I exercised the Jan2011 $20 calls I bought on CCJ. I then sold the stock for $40.84.

I bought the calls in June2010 for $4.50 per share. As the price of CCJ increased, the value of the calls increased apace.

At this time I had two profitable choices:

1) Exercise the calls. I would pay $20 for a stock currently selling around $40. I could then either hold CCJ in anticipation of further appreciation, or sell it immediately and bank the cash gain.
$ profit = (Revenue - Cost) * # shares
$ profit = ((current price) - (premium paid + strike price)) * # shares
$ profit = (($40.84) - ($4.50 + $20.00)) * # shares
For a profit of $1,634 per contract.

2) I could sell the calls to another buyer. The bid price for the calls at that point was about $20
$ profit = (Revenue - Cost) * # shares
$ profit = (current premium of calls - premium paid) * # shares
$ profit = ($20.00 - $4.50) * # shares
For a profit of $1,550 per contract.

It's useful to look at different scenarios to see which is more profitable.

Sold CDXS, bought more MAXY

2010-12-21T06:33:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, MAXY spun of CDXS. I've now sold the CDXS shares I received. I bought more MAXY.

BRS, FNF, HNR calls expired

2010-12-20T07:34:00.000-08:00

My calls on BRS, FNF, and HNR expired in-the-money over the weekend. I now own BRS @ $30, FNF @ $12.50, and HNR @ $5.00.

Bought LLL calls

2010-11-11T13:15:00.000-08:00

Bought Jan 2013 $60 calls on LLL for $15.50 per share.

Closed SLW puts

2010-11-05T08:46:00.001-07:00

Sold-to-close my December $21 puts on SLW, for $0.10 per share.

Sold DENN

2010-10-07T08:57:00.000-07:00

Sold DENN for $3.15/share.

Bought TRAD

2010-09-24T06:02:00.001-07:00

Bought TRAD at $6.72.

INTC Puts assigned early

2010-09-15T08:15:00.000-07:00

The buyer of my Sept INTC $21 puts chose to exercise their option early--I bought INTC at $21, filling my targeted 5% allocation in this stock.

Sold SLW Puts

2010-09-09T10:35:00.000-07:00

Sold Dec 2010 $21 puts on SLW for $1.15.

Bought EPM

2010-09-09T09:02:00.001-07:00

Put 3% of my portfolio in EPM at $5.54 per share.

Bought PCL again

2010-08-20T09:27:00.001-07:00

Bought PCL at $34.

Bought LLY&BHP, Bought POT puts

2010-08-18T06:39:00.000-07:00

Bought LLY for $34.75.
Bought BHP for $68.97.
Bought Sept $140 puts on POT for $3.10.

Sold EBIX, ORCL, AFSI

2010-08-13T09:33:00.000-07:00

Today I sold EBIX for $17.57, ORCL for $22.64, and AFSI for $13.86. AFSI was sold on valuation; I'll buy again if it goes lower. EBIX was sold for a 10% loss; I think the current price increase (due to a great earnings report) will recede. I'll look to pick it up again at a lower price. ORCL was sold for a gain; I sold it due to management reliability concerns.

Bought PG, Sold INTC puts

2010-08-05T07:03:00.000-07:00

Filled the remainder of my targeted 5% position in PG for $59.78.

Sold INTC Sept $21 puts for $0.97.

Bought FNF Calls

2010-07-21T06:58:00.000-07:00

Bought FNF Dec 2010 $12.50 Calls for $1.64

MDT, KCI, LNN, INTC options

2010-07-16T15:35:00.000-07:00

Bought MDT Jan 2012 $35 strike calls for $6.60
Bought KCI Jan 2012 $30 strike calls for $10.50
Sold LNN Dec 2010 $30 strike puts $2.10.

The July INTC puts I wrote will expire unexercised this weekend.

Bought BRS calls, bought QQQQ puts

2010-07-07T13:11:00.000-07:00

July 1st, I bought BRS Dec 2010 $30 calls for $3.00 per share.

Today, I bought Sept 2010 $43 puts on QQQQ (the Nasdaq long index) for $2 per share. I happen to own a lot of tech right now, so this is insurance. Most of that tech is owned in the form of 2012 calls, so there is relatively little capital at risk (versus owning the stock outright). The Nasdaq puts would cover loss of the option premiums. In the best of all possible worlds, the Nasdaq would decline by September, but recover (along with my individual tech stocks) by 2012. By September I would exercise my puts, covering the loss of option premiums, and in 2012 I'd exercise my calls, getting the techs essentially for free.

Worst case, the Nasdaq rallies through September (leaving my puts worthless) then declines through 2012 (taking my tech stocks with it, and leaving the calls worthless) and I lose the premiums paid for both sets of options.

Closed INTC calls

2010-07-01T08:57:00.000-07:00

Bought-to-close my July INTC calls for $0.15 each. I wrote these calls for $0.97 each. I made 84% of the potential profit [ 1.00 - (0.15/0.97) = 0.845 ]. With 16 days until expiration, who knows what could happen? I closed early to bank the profit.

Bought HNR calls

2010-06-24T12:53:00.001-07:00

I bought December 2010 $5 calls on HNR for $3.40 per share. This is a small, speculative position.

Closed SPXU calls

2010-06-24T12:52:00.000-07:00

At the close of trading today, I sold-to-close my SPXU calls for $3.50 per share. I paid $2.65 per share; a successful transaction.

Bought SPXU calls

2010-06-23T13:00:00.000-07:00

At the close of trading today, I bought $33 July calls on SPXU for $2.65 per share.

In and out of SDS

2010-06-23T12:58:00.001-07:00

I was in and out of SDS today for a small (1%) profit.

Bought CCJ calls

2010-06-18T13:27:00.000-07:00

Bought Jan 22 2011 $20 Calls on CCJ for $4.50 per share.

My June $108 SPY puts will expire unexercised.

SPXU, FPL, SPY calls

2010-06-11T07:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was in and out of SPXU, with a 1.4% loss--ouch. I sold FPL for $50.27. I also closed my June $12.50 GTI puts for $0.05.

Today I sold my SPY June $107 calls for $3.00.

Sold SPXU

2010-06-09T12:32:00.001-07:00

Sold SPXU for $37.05.

SPXU, SPY straddle

2010-06-09T11:06:00.000-07:00

Ahead of the Beige Book release:

Bought SPXY (S&P 500 3x short), for $35.80.
Bought a June straddle on SPY (bought June $107 calls @ $2.23, bought an equal number June $108 puts @ $2.42).

One buys straddles when one anticipates a large move in a stock or index, but doesn't know in what direction.

Sold AAPL puts

2010-06-07T12:00:00.000-07:00

Sold the AAPL puts I just bought for $6.36, a nice little gain. Nothing earth-shattering at the WWDC event, just good business. A nice little profit on the puts, though.

Bought AAPL puts

2010-06-07T10:01:00.000-07:00

About 5 minutes before the WWDC speech is scheduled to start, I've bought enough AAPL puts to cover the calls I currently own. The reason is, that even though I don't own AAPL outright, the calls make up a significant enough portion of my portfolio (about 5%) that I want to be covered. I bought June $250 puts for $5.20 each. I'll probably sell them later today.

Sold BP calls, RIG calls

2010-06-01T11:44:00.000-07:00

I sold my June BP calls for $1.00 and my 2012 RIG calls for $12.00. Ouch.

Sold newly put GSK shares

2010-06-01T11:42:00.000-07:00

I sold the GSK shares I was put for $34.10 (they cost me $33.50; the $35 strike minus the $1.50 premium). I made the option trade because it was an unusually good option premium for such a short time frame (four days, from May 20th to May 24th).

I sold the shares because I already have sufficient exposure via 2012 $40 strike calls.

GTI, GSK, INTC, NE, SDS, PCL, MELA, BP, KCI, RIG

2010-05-29T12:49:00.000-07:00

Sold GTI $12.5 strike June puts @ $0.35.
Sold GSK $35 strike May puts @ $1.50. Was assigned shares.
Sold INTC $20 strike July puts @ $1.04
Bought NE $30 strike Jan 2012 calls @ $7.60
Hedged: Bought SDS @ $35.44; sold same day for $34.79
Bought PCL for $33.38. Sold for $35.12 a few days later.
Sold-to-close MELA calls for $2.75, on a 30% stock price pop. I may repurchase longer-dated calls later, cheaper.
Bought BP $44 strike June calls for $2.74.
Sold KCI @ $41.27. I may buy LEAPS on the stock later.
Bought RIG $50 strike Jan 2012 calls @ $15.20

Sold GTI, Sold GSK

2010-05-11T19:05:00.000-07:00

I sold GTI for $16.59 and GSK for $35.42. I'd buy GTI back at a lower price. I sold GSK because I just bought 2012 calls on the stock, which gives me as much exposure to it as I want right now.