Restocking

I bought GTLS shares and calls yesterday.

Today I bought calls in CLMT, FTK, and MPEL, and shares in FTK.

CMI hit its trailing stop today, +3.99%.

This Little Piggy

didn't get slaughtered, but instead rang the register today.

I didn't particularly care for AAPL's news of a dividend and stock buy-backs, nor did I like the way it was trading this morning. I set a limit order for my calls that would close 'em out with a nice gain. It triggered later in the day, netting +44.9%. Not too bad for seven trading days. I'll come back to the well after some consolidation.

I also opted to close out my ABMD calls at even and change, +3.5%.

I bought some OTM September KOG calls, just in case the fit hits the shan with Iran.

Ye of Little Faith

That was me this month. In almost every instance I sold too soon - either the position or the short call of a spread.

FTK made me nervous when it dropped over 2 points from $12.50. I locked in my spread at $10. It closed Friday over $12. Net +10.3%.

I made a good move with my WPRT spread when I rolled the short call from $42 to $44 when it was running good, then covered the $44 calls when it pulled back. But again, I sold-to-open the $42 calls too early. WPRT closed Friday over $47. Net +49.6%.

My ABT $47.50 covered calls are for May, so those shares haven't been called yet. The WYN $45 covered calls did expire ITM so my shares closed out. Net +3.0%.

Other cases were CMI and MPEL, and to a lesser extent SPRD, STLD, SCCO, all rebounding somewhat. But at least I called it right by selling my SIMG puts and HMY calls.

And in the rear view mirror department, perhaps I should have bought ATLS calls instead of OAS, up 23.5% Friday. It wasn't because I didn't consider it.

'Twas the Night Before Expiration

I started getting nervous about WPRT so I sold my April calls when the stock gapped up at the open, netting +28.6%. Too bad I didn't wait for later in the day when I could have grossed 50%. WPRT closed up 5.4%.

AAPL hit $600 but closed down. ARR and CMI picked up the slack on the stock side, with an assist from CMG call options.

FTK and WPRT call spreads will close out tomorrow. ABT has blown through the $57.50 strike of the covered call, and my WYN shares will probably get called too. This week's rally was a pleasant surprise. It's nice to have such high quality problems!

An Eye for a G

Having sold my CMI calls (I still have stock), I picked up some April CMG calls.

I also bought some April OAS calls. I see ARR is having a sale. I guess folks don't like it when you trim the dividend ... or have a big secondary offering.

CMI Gone

There are times when you're just glad to be invested in the market.Today was one of those days.

Last week I converted my CMI calls to a bull call spread by selling March $120 calls when the stock moved above that price intraday. It closed below that Thursday and even lower on Friday, but had a nice rally today which triggered a limit sell order. I could fret about losing some profit, but not after seeing how WPRT dropped late in the day. Netting +34% in 6 days will have to do.

ARR++

I bought more ARR. Who didn't see that coming? :-)

All the March calls for MPEL have been sold. I like this pick but there are too many factors affecting the timing. So rather than let it run through next week or convert it to a call spread and be at risk, I took the conservative approach. Maybe if last month's petro plays had panned out better I would be more aggressive here ... but I'm still smarting from that beating.

ARR Secondary

I was rather concerned in my first post on this subject but now that I have some history with this stock I regard these secondary offerings as buying opportunities. The price drops have been minimal with a gradual move upward afterwards, and the dividend payout has been maintained (nearly a 17% annual yield, paid monthly). I have no way to know how long this will last, but I'll take it while it lasts.

Selling Scared

This headline driven market is too choppy for me to sit on profit long as we're heading into options expiration next Friday. So I'm closing out well-ITM March calls rather than convert them to bull call spreads. I closed out KEG and most of my MPEL calls.

I bought well-ITM May AAPL calls. Go Apple.

MIC has been cranking along, FTK had a nice +9.2% day. Too bad I locked in my profit two points ago.

Cautiously Cautious

Yesterday morning the futures were up huge pre-market, so I covered my stock shorts which worked well for MPEL, but LGF barely got out of the gate before turning around. I sold under-performing STLD and bought shares and calls in CMI.

Dodging Bullets

My MPEL stock position closed when it hit the trailing stop. My SIMG puts were sold at a profit. Finally, I went delta neutral on my LGF and MPEL call options by selling short matching shares of those stocks. 4 for 4 for the day.

Moving Toward Cash

I didn't care for the charts Friday with the Russell 2000 topped out and the Nasdaq and S&P Mid-Cap 400 about to start down. Then there were all of the good stocks that were losing their footing. Even VectorVest was signalling caution.

I took some money off of the table here, trimming option positions that are more apt to trail down.

I sold KEG calls in one small account (no option for spread conversion). I put in "execute and sell orders" for HMY and STLD (no liquidity), and sold my calls for SCCO and SPRD.

Flip Flop

I did the opposite of Wednesday's game plan. I sold (to open) March calls to restore bull call spreads on FTK and WPRT. Then I sold my March calls for MYL and WYN netting -0.75% and +12.04% respectively. I'll let MPEL and some others run another week or so. I bought April calls for LGF.

Nice Bounce

WPRT and KEG rebounded somewhat, MPEL is surging ahead, I bought some more March HMY calls, and sold some covered calls.