$USO Options Action alternative trade

15 feb - mike with the trade for USO and Carter with the charts. pretty straightforward. Buy the Apr 11.50 call for .30 on a play that oil rebounds a bit. here is the video clip USO clip

as mike said the USO was just over 13 couple weeks ago. this segment got me looking at a couple of different trades. in general its rare that I buy an upside call, preferring to be a premium seller. but also along with most people thinking that oil will rebound at some point after the corona virus has run its course or a geopolitical event.

I first looked at my go to trade of buying a DITM call from jan2022 and selling a nearer month upside call. but not wanting to lay out a lot of cash to do so.

Second trade I looked at was doing a calendar spread based on mikes thesis. as in sell a nearer 11.5 to buy that Apr 11.5. but the IV difference between a Mar and Apr 11.5 is nearly zero so unless the thesis is that USO move up but not over 11.5 at Mar opex to expire worthless but Apr 11.5 increases in value, youre not getting the front month decay as hoped for with calendars.

Lastly looked at a Super Calendar using the Apr / Jan2021 , with the intent of letting the short front month reduce the cost of the long call in Jan2021. example:

(after hours pricing)
Sell the apr 12call at .20
Buy the Jan21 12call at .85 for net debit .65. 
thesis is to let the Apr12 expire worthless and resell a May/Jun 12 or 12.50 to continue to reduce the cost basis of the Jan21 calls for the move back towards 13.

.65 is not much of a debit for a one lot / $650 for 10 lot . my history with calendars is that many times the stock move up faster than expected and thru my front month short strike so I end up closing the entire trade much earlier than expected since im not gaining anymore if the stock goes thru the short call (lose on the front month short call while gaining on the longer term call). point being I first looked at the 11.50 level strikes for this. debit is a few cents more but im agreeing with mikes thesis that it does a rebound short term. but went with 12 strikes. personally think the better rebound comes later in year. Might actually put this trade on. see how it prices out in the morning.