CLOSING the $LNKD Options Action trade - mike

21 sep - LNKD has been crushing every bearish trade so far including this one from mike khouw, another max loss..actually more than max loss if you followed his advice on the revisit on 17aug which was to buy back the short put...in that case you spent an additional 10cents on top of what you paid for the spread originally. like i said below, unless you have some naked puts as in a ratio spread i see no reason to buy back a cheap put just because its cheap. if somehow its part of some other strategy you are moving into then maybe..seems more like throwing good money after bad. see all of mikes trades in this google docs spreadsheet

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17aug - little late posting this but on the last options action they revisited this trade from mike on LNKD, here is the clip LNKD clip . stock was near 102 then, both mike and dan mention to close out the 75put..i disagree with this, yes its going for a dime..but why PAY more money into this trade...you have to pay the .10 plus commissions..i can see if its a 1x2 put ratio..but closing out the 75 put does not change your margin or buying power..do they expect some huge downside breakdown all of a sudden and dont want to cap their profits? they were ok capping profits when putting on the trade.. i dont see an upside to closing the Put..if you want to stay with the trade then stay with it vs actually paying more money into it

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10aug - if you followed mike into this trade you are down about 50% with stock trading near 104. still 6 weeks to go but it was more an earnings play.. dont expect to see it revisited on air with cool music and lots of smiling.

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27july - mike khouw with a bearish trade on LNKD this week, heres the clip LNKD clip

Buy the SEP 95/75 put spread for $4.60 debit

ok trade, goes out to SEP with earnings on 2aug.. he doesnt set it up as an earnings play though. with IV over 120 already on the weekly options, id lean towards doing some type of put calender if i had a bearish thesis for less premium outlay. see all of mikes on-air trades in the google docs spreadsheet -->mike khouw spreadsheet

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$GMCR OptionsAction trade - Enis

11sep -  been about 6 weeks since airing, no dancing bears, slow motion smiles yet on optionsaction to update.. if you followed into this its worth about 20cents now with stock above 30 for about 80%paper loss.. still few months to opex, though need a good size move down to get back to even. the short puts are going for 5cents so you could close those out and get your buying power/margin back.

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27july - interesting trade by enis this week, here is the video with some added comments on GMCR by Herb Greenberg.. GMCR clip . desk is very bearish on the stock. Enis has a bearish 1x2 ratio put spread :

Buy the DEC 14 put
Sell two DEC 7 puts for total debit of 1.30

interesting structure .. the few times i actually do this is i try to get the ratio spread for as close to zero as possible.. but enis has a good setup.. as the stock drops towards 7 the profits increase and as it keeps dropping below 7 the profits start trailing off.. obviously can not go below zero. that is the risk on put ratio spreads..that the stock drops way past the bottom leg enough to start getting you a loss since you are short an extra put.. but in this setup , the bottom is zero so like he said in the video clip, the max loss is limited to the amount paid for the ratio spread right now.. downsides as usual are that since you are short an extra put you will have to have margin / buying power to buy the stock at 7 (get put the stock) at opex, and also that since this goes way out to DEC you will have to wait till near DEC opex to realize your max profits unless some event happens like a bankruptcy.

only alternatives for this are to maybe leg into the ratio spread since you have alot of time to opex.. as in buy the 14/7 put spread now and sell the additional 7 Put if the stock drops, ie the 7put increases in value so you take in more premium to help or fully pay off the initial put spread. see all of Enis's on air trades in this google docs spreadsheet

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CLOSING the 7/27 OptionsAction web extra $AAPL

25 aug- scott doing another web extra on AAPL today, heres the link, AAPL web extra. viewer want to know what to do with AAPL and references this trade. scott says to close down the put, and roll the call to the oct670.. has been a great trade.. initially put on for a $200 credit and is now worth about $7000.. you can see why i like risk reversals and call spread risk reversals.... i agree on closing the Put..that will cost about $3.00 and frees up the margin youve had to set aside for the trade.. now look at the prices of the other strikes in question
Oct600 call at about $7200
Oct670 call at about $2600
so by rolling from the 600 to the 670 you will receive about a $4600 credit. you would do this if your thesis is that stock continues upward and the 670 gives you some more leverage to the upside..sure..i guess..alot can happen till Oct opex.. look at it this way.. if you didnt have the 600 call..would you buy the 670call outright..would you spend $2600 on an upside call like that.. i wouldnt. instead i would keep that oct 600 and sell either the Sep monthly or weekly upside calls till opex in oct. , maybe start with next weeks 685 short call for about $275 and try to get $200-$300 a week in income.
    or i would take the other side of scotts trade and "spread it out" by SELLING the Oct670 call for $2600 and giving you a max gain on this spread at $9600 as the time value decays on the short call. in the spreadsheet i will just close out the trade with a win instead of tracking the 670roll seperately. good trade

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27July ..scott nations with the options action web extra, here the clip web extra . covers a viewer email about AAPL. talks one of my favorite trades , that being a risk reversal.. the post-it note i have on my monitor says "wait for a big down day to sell puts and look at risk reversals" .. so the time to do the risk reversals was the next day after earnings when  you saw the carnage was not continuing CMG style. anyway.. scott recommends putting on a Risk Reversal on $AAPL as an alternative to buying the stock here and as a way to limit the risk. with the stock at 575:

Sell the Oct 550 put for $19.50
Buy the Oct600 call for $17.25 -- all for a $225 credit

now this is ok, but as usual what is not mentioned is that since you are selling a Put you need to have the margin/buying power to buy the stock at 550 at opex in oct. so figure $55000, so its not a free trade.. and i dont recommend you go into margin to put it on unless you have a big bankroll. the other thought is that its a bit far out into the future, i would look to do something in SEP first. next scott mentioned that the worst thing that could happen is you get long the stock near 550... second worst for me would be to be correct on direction and still not make money. so most viewers, especially those that write to OptionsAction for advice will not be trading in and out , but will hold to near opex.. so at opex the stock would have to be above 600 to make money.. i dont like being in a position where the stock (using scotts 575 price) as to go up 25bucks first , and then i make money, yes, i know it will start being profitable if stock moves up, but my expectation is hold to opex for JoeSixPack viewer.. i want to be able to make money right way, so using the closing prices (585) i would make this a call spread risk reversal

Sell the Oct 565 put for about $20
Buy the Oct 585/640 call spread for about $19ish -- all for flat to $100 credit

still have to have margin/buying power set aside but come Oct opex and stock is at 600.. mine makes $1500 vs zero for scotts... i am ok with "caping my upside" at 640.. that will mean a $5500 profit at 640.. point being is i want to have profits start now not at 600.. why did i pick the 565 strike? because the lowest the bears could take the stock after earnings was 570ish..so im right under that level.. which is still getting long the stock $20bucks lower than today.. just a thought.. both will likely make money on the ramp up into next earnings, iphone 5, new ipad,tv , etc. see all of scotts on-air trades in this google docs spreadsheet


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CLOSING the $WFM Options Action trade - mike

28july  - you didnt expect Options Action to revisit a losing trade did you? not good for ratings.. nevertheless, mike had a winner last week on his trade for Whole Foods so per todays show will exit at $3.50 per lot from the $1.60 entry, here is the video clip, whole foods clip .. see all of mikes on-air trades in this google docs spreadsheet

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20 july  - mike doing a bullish call spread trade on Whole Foods this week, here is the video clip Whole foods clip

Buy the Aug 87.50 / 92.50 call spread for $1.60

i like dans comments following mikes setup.. about the stock already seeming to be in downtrend.. the trade setup is ok.. the limiting your risk portion.. if i was going to make an earnings bet it would be bearish.see all of mikes on-air trade in this google docs spreadsheet

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CLOSING the $FB Options Action trade - Dan

27july  - dan closing this trade per tweet and on his site, here is his post at riskreversal FB comments .. had the direction correct, stock shot past it.. i still say if you would have waited till same day to enter trade with same thesis but using the strikes at that time would have giving you better result. closed the calender spread at .15 for .25 loss.  at least defined the risk and kept it small. here are all of dans on-air trade in a google docs spreadsheet

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26july - some followup comments to this trade... facebook reporting earnings today.its a good example of what i repeatedly say about waiting till right before earnings to put on a trade if you are going to play earnings. although the optionsaction show airs once a week, putting on a calender spread days ahead of the earnings date will often work against you since the strike you are hoping the stock moves to (the 27strike in this case) might hit before the event.. so your thesis may change..ZNGA dissappointed yesterday, so facebook drops 2bucks, now its hovering near 27ish.. now instead of expecting "a bit of a downside move" , you will need a "no-move" on earnings for your trade... so many times you are better off waiting till the day of the earnings to base your strategy on the stock price AT THATTIME vs 3-4 days prior and 10% higher.

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20july - dan has a trade on this weeks show for Facebook earnings which is on thursday.. here is the video clip facebook clip .. look at about 2:29 of it when dan announces his trade...look at the look on Brian Sullivans face.. A CALENDER SPREAD???? duh??? im on options action and i dont know what a calender spread is.. what an ass clown.. dan has to keep from laughing as he starts to discuss the trade. anyway.. dan has a put calender for facebook earnings, the July weekly / august 27 put calender:

Sell the July weekly 27 put
Buy the Aug 27 put -- all for .45 debit per 1 lot.. so a 10 lot for $450

i like this trade and was looking at it at lunchtime.. dan's thesis is well thought out.. might be doing this trade.. only thing i would add is that since earnings are thursday i would not put this on first thing monday mornings but would wait till thursday (if it reports after the close) to put this on since the stock could move a bit in either direction during the first part of the week. will base my strike selection on where the stock is at that time. see all of dans on-air trades in this google docs spreadsheet

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CLOSING $MS Options Action Trade - Enis

17 AUG - no change in 10 days, stock still over 14.. spreads expiring at max loss if you followed and held

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6aug - this spread is worth about 5cents now if you are still holding, going to need something drastic to salvage any money with stock trading over 14 today.

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13 july - Enis has a trade this week on Morgan Stanley, heres the video clip MS Clip

Buy the Aug 13/11 put spread for .30

might work, might not.. you dont need to hold to opex to realize a profit. since earnings are few days away a little bit of a down move and the spread might get a double. hard to get excited about this trade though for me..so will not be following
see all of Enis's on air trades in this google docs spreadsheet

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7/13 Options Action Web Extra $X

scott answers a viewer email asking how to lower the cost basis on 100shares of US Steel.. heres the video, US Steel video . tough spot to be in, based on the tone of the email id assume that the stock was purchased at a higher cost.. with only 100 shares it does not give you alot of options on what to do, scott recommends selling a covered call, but because you only have 100shares, ie a 1lot option sale, you have to go closer to ATM to make it worthwhile after commissions.. so this sale tops you out at 22...ok if you bought lower than that. also viewer seems like she wants to hold this stock, so only alternative i would have is to instead buy an AUG ratio spread.. the Aug 21/22 1x2 call ratio spread (buy one 21, sell two 22's). looks like you can get this for small credit... this ratio profits from 21-23 giving you the possibility of a little bit more upside (up to 23) vs getting capped at 22.  other possibility is if you have a better stock to commit $2100 to.. instead of trying to milk 100bucks a month on covered calls hoping to not get called away..just sell it and move on and look for a better opportunity.

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CLOSING the $GOOG Options Action trade - mike

21 sep - ding..ding...ding..ding..ding...thats the sound of a broken clock being right twice a day... big winner here for mike..with stock at 730 ish that 625 call can be closed for about $10800 when i looked at it this afternoon. impressive results on this trade. would have like to see another followup on-air or via twitter on what to do again..take profits or roll up again. i dont expect results like this from the traders on-air but at least better than a 30-40% win rate.
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20july - of course cnbc is going to revisit a winning trade..just ignore the bricks.. first off, read what i wrote below.. both of those suggestions would have been juicy with the stock closing at 610... would have kept that whole $500 from the short call or made an additional $1500 on the ratio spread.. anyway.. the show revisits mikes GOOG call from last week.. heres tonights video GOOG clip . so mike is going to take the profits on this call and now buy the sep 625 call... rolling up the call.. ok thats one way.. another way that id prefer.. again since its a SEP call is to sell a series of front month or weekly short calls against it...such as the Aug 635 is going for $400. so will close out mikes call from last week for a winner and enter new trade into spreadsheet for the Sep625 call. see all of mikes on-air trades in this google docs spreadsheet

Buy the Sep 625 call for $1500

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13 july - this week mike lays out his case to make a bullish trade on GOOG by buying a call, here is the video clip GOOG clip

Buy the Sep 575 call for $29.50 ($2950)

Not exactly risking less to make more, spending 3000 bones on one option is no joke. the desk mentions that you might want to "spread this out" as in selling a higher strike call at some point if the stock moves up in order to lock in some profits.. sure thats an ok strategy but im not seeing the risk mediation part of this trade..going to get a little IV reduction after earnings..not as much as near term calls.. but what if anything is being done in case stock sells off.. going out to Sep makes me think to turn this into a diagonal spread from the get go.. such as also selling a July upside option since IV will be juiced since earnings are thursday before opex.. the july615 is going for about $5.00 now.. this lowers your cost 15% or so, gets a quick time decay to opex. plus if it closes below 615 on july opex you can sell additional weekly/monthly options all the way to SEP.. this is one way to reduce the cost.. could go up could go down..who knows.. but would try  to take a cheaper bet than an outright call purchase. if instead you are bullish and agree with mike and carter and want some double upside.. add a July call ratio spread to this SEP spread.. as of right now, July options are pricing in about a $35 move..that gets you to about 610.. add a July 595/615 1x2 ratio spread for about 50cents gets you a double upside to 615..with max profit on the ratio at 615 pin on opex. max profit on the ratio is $2000.. the ratio profits from 595-635 in addition to any gain on the SEP call. lots of choices to be had.
see all of mikes on-air trades in this google docs spreadsheet


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CLOSING to $JPM Options Action Trade - Enis

17 aug - per the risk reversal website/twitter..Enis closed this credit call spread today at $1.85 for a $1.20 loss with stock near 37 today.  Enis is trying hard to unseat the current OptionsAction Brick Laying Champion

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13july - after just one week, options action decides to revisit this trade despite a dozen other losers, heres tonights video, tonights video . the advantage of this is its an august spread so enis has some time for stock to move in his favor despite having a paper loss.. enis sticking with the trade so far.

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6 July - big lead in on options action with the desk discussing financials and JPMorgan.. heres the video segment JPM clip . Enis has a bearish trade via a credit call spread

Sell the Aug 35/37 call credit spread for .65

dont see credit call spreads on the show too option.. max gain is .65 , max loss is 1.35 if close above 37 on opex. in general i dont do credit call spreads unless its part of an iron condor / trade repair.. just dont have a good track record with them.. this trade violates 2 of my credit spread rules.. first being it is a spread ahead of earnings.. never know what could happen.. second its too close to ATM for my taste.. trademonster show the spread has a 60% probability of max profit.. i shoot for levels at least at 75% or higher.. you dont have to hold till opex of course.. might close out if stocks drops a big after earnings.. might be profitable but i would not follow into it. all of Enis's on-air trades here --> google docs spreadsheet

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CLOSING $DBA Options Action Trade - mike

17aug - another brick from mike khouw. with DBA at 29.85, this option trade will go out at worthless, max loss. do you expect to see this trade on Options Action tonight? so much for Carter Worths 50year chart.

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31july - you are down about 80% if you following mike and carter worth on this one and are still holding, Puts going for about .10 now and DBA over 30.

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6july - armed with his trusty 50year chart Carter Worth recommends selling DBA and mike has a bearish trade ..buying a put with stock at 28.98..here is the video DBA video

Buy the Aug 29 puts for .65

ok, taking a bearish position, defines the risk.. instead i would look at buying a put calender spread..buying a jan2013 put , and selling the monthly puts against it to reduce the costs. mikes on-air trades in the google docs spreadsheet

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