Matt's Positions as of January 30

AAPL:
Long 1 FEB09/JAN11 95/100 Diagonal Spread
Long 1 APR09 80 Put (remnant of strangle)

AEMD:
Long 15000 shares

CTSH:
Long 1 FEB09/JAN11 20/15 Diagonal Spread

GLD:
Short 2 FEB09 86/89 Vertical Call Spread
Long 1 MAR09/JAN11 90/50 Diagonal Spread

GME:
Long 1 FEB09/JAN11 25/20 Diagonal Spread
Long 1 JAN11 20 Call

GOOG:
Short 1 FEB09 340/350 Vertical Call Spread

NOV:
Long 1 MAR09/AUG09 25/20 Diagonal Spread

RIMM:
Long 1 FEB09/JAN11 40/30 Diagonal Spread

SPY:
Long 2 FEB09 76/79/96/98 Iron Condor
Long 2 FEB09 80/83/92/88 Iron Condor
Long 2 FEB09 80/85/92/88 Iron Condor
Short 6 FEB09 87/91 Vertical Call Spread
Long 2 MAR09 78/80/90/93 Iron Condor

UA:
Long 1 APR09 25 Call

This month profit (loss): 5.6%
Year-to-date profit (loss): 5.6%
Lifetime profit (loss): (34%)

That big negative loss over the lifetime still haunts me, but that's two straight months of profit when the market has been generally down. I don't want to jinx myself here though, so let's just leave it at that for now.

Matt's Positions as of December 31

AAPL:

Long 1 JAN11 100 Call

AEMD:

Long 7000 shares

CTSH:

Short 1 JAN09 20 Call

Long 2 JAN11 15 Call

GME:

Long 2 JAN11 20 Call

RIMM:

Short 1 FEB09 40 Call

Long 1 JAN11 30 Call

SLV:

Long 100 Shares

SPY:

Short 2 JAN09 94/97 Vertical Call Spread

Short 2 JAN09 95/98 Vertical Call Spread

Short 2 FEB09 80/83 Vertical Put Spread

Short 2 FEB09 96/98 Vertical Call Spread

UA:

Short 1 JAN09 22.50 Call

Long 1 APR09 25 Call

This month profit (loss):  2.3%

Year-to-date profit (loss):  (37.5%)

December was, hopefully, a turnaround month and not a fluke.  Most of the December expirations ended up in the money for me and I was able to lock in some solid profits, both with the vertical spreads on SPY and with some diagonal positions traded against the long options on some preferred stocks.

Strategy going into 2009:  Stay the course and try to make this strategy work for me.  A 2.3% gain per month is not too bad annually, if December was not a fluke that is.

Matt's Positions as of December 1

AAPL:
Long 1 JAN11 100 Call

AEMD:
Long 8000 shares

CTSH:
Long 2 JAN11 15 Call

FSLR:
Short 2/1 DEC08 110/115 Backratio Spread

SLV:
Long 100 shares

SPY:
Long 2 DEC08 68/69/106/109 Iron Condor
Long 2 DEC08 68/69/106/108 Iron Condor
Long 2 DEC08 78/79/97/99 Iron Condor
Short 2 DEC08 85/87 Vertical Put Spread
Long 2 DEC08 84/86 Vertical Put Spread

UA:
Long 1 APR09 25 Call

This month profit (loss): (9.2%)
Year-to-date profit (loss): (38.9%)


Some adjustments I'm going to make:

• Not going to do backratio spreads any more, at least not for a while. They consume too much cash.
• Need to monitor the long positions a bit closer, to figure out how to sell premium against them.
• Need to be thinking about when to get out of the UA call.

All in all, even though I'm still going down, I'm not unhappy about this yet. I mean, I'm not really that happy with it either, but the bulk of my position is in SPY, and so far it is looking pretty positive for December expiration.

Matt's Positions as of October 31

I've kinda given up on logging each transaction, it is a lot of work. Here's the current positions:

AAPL:
Short 2 NOV08 75/85 Vertical Call Spread
Short 2/1 NOV08 120/125 Backratio Spread
Long 1 NOV08/JAN11 125/100 Diagonal Spread

AEMD:
Long 7000 shares

SPY:
Long 2 NOV08 82/84/123/125 Iron Condor
Long 2 NOV08 86/88/114/115 Iron Condor
Short 2 NOV08 105/107 Vertical Call Spread
Short 2 NOV08 106/108 Vertical Call Spread
Short 2 NOV08 110/111 Vertical Call Spread
Short 2 DEC08 97/99 Vertical Call Spread
Short 2 DEC08 106/108 Vertical Call Spread

UA:
Long 1 NOV08/APR09 25 Calendar Spread

This month profit (loss): (5.1%)
Year-to-date profit (loss): (32.7%)


Those numbers don't look very good, but they really don't tell the whole picture. A couple of weeks ago, the this-month loss was at around 13%. This have been turning around the latter half of the month, and we are starting to come back.

To put it another way, I think last month's strategy was sound and paying off. Record highs in the VIX allowed me to leg in, a vertical spread at a time, into some very wide iron condors on SPY, and I have managed to turn my delta around to a better number.

Next month will be telling, so we'll have to watch carefully and see.

Matt's Positions as of October 3

DISASTER! Who can figure out what securities are going to do when the US government selectively bails out, or doesn't bail out, companies at their own discretion and whim? Arrgh.

I've fallen a bit behind on recent transactions, so I'll just do the monthly position update, and forward strategy.

AAPL:
Short 2 NOV08 75/85 Vertical Call Spread
Short 2/1 NOV08 120/125 Backratio Spread

AEMD:
Long 6000 shares

FSLR:
Long 4/4/2/2 OCT08 185/190/230/260 Iron Condor

GLD:
Long 1 JAN10 85 put

RIG:
Short 2 OCT08 100/110 Vertical Put Spread
Short 5 OCT08 115/120 Vertical Put Spread
Short 2 NOV08 95/100 Vertical Put Spread

SPY:
Long 2/2/4/4 OCT08 110/112/130/132 Iron Condor
Short 2 OCT08 116/123 Vertical Put Spread
Short 2 OCT08 119/125 Vertical Put Spread
Short 2 NOV08 123/125 Vertical Call Spread

UA:
Short 2 NOV08 35/40 Vertical Call Spread
Long 1 APR09 25 Call

This month profit (loss): (24.73%)
Year-to-date profit (loss): (29.08%)


This month's strategy:

1. Keep last month's #1 - Greater focus in fewer positions. I forgot this a bit, still need to try to focus more.
2. Buy in on strong upward indicators for Rule #1 stocks. Sell diagonals against the call options to fund the transaction over the long term.
3. Adjust SPY strategy so delta is in better harmony with sentiment (bearish).
4. Don't force any positions. Cash is king. Great opportunities are going to come soon, and I want to be prepared to take advantage.
   

Matt's Trade Log - 9/30/08

Forgot to enter yesterday's trades, so I will do those first:

• Sell 1 RIG JAN10 100 call
• Sell 1/2 AAPL NOV08 120/125 backratio put spread
• Sell 2 AAPL NOV08 75/85 vertical put spread

Today's trades:

• Sell 2 RIG NOV08 95/100 vertical put spread

Yesterday was a horrible day for most novice investors, I'd imagine, along with probably a lot of very experienced investors. News, or rather the lack thereof, of the government bailout plan sent stocks dropping. And it didn't help that AAPL was inexplicably downgraded yesterday morning.
That downgrade, in my opinion, can only be reasonably explained by market manipulation. AAPL is one of the strongest stocks around, and they've already taken a beating recently. Earnings are coming up in one month or so. The iPhone 3G was released in July. If you do the math, you realize that the previous earnings announcement really had no iPhone 3G sales accounted for in those earnings - so earnings for AAPL have yet to be impacted by any sales of the new iPhone 3G. In addition, we are approaching the holiday season. I expect AAPL's picture to only get rosier.
Likely, those downgrading AAPL are hoping to drive the price down so they can stock up. Many of these individuals have had to exit strong AAPL positions (causing the recent price fall) in order to cover other losses they've sustained in this market. Being able to make a killing in AAPL can help them, and downgrading AAPL can help them make a killing.
That's why I entered two AAPL trades yesterday, both bullish positions.

Yesterday I sold my RIG leap, primarily because a) I got a strong sell signal and b) because the sell criteria I established at entry were breached, as RIG plunged through 120 down to under 110. That option was purchased for $38.80 and sold just a few days later for $27.50, for a loss of $13.30. However, today I've taken on a lower-risk bullish position in RIG, selling a put spread at 95/100. Frankly, RIG would have to break a 52-week low in order for this position to fall out of the money. Sure, it can happen, but I have to say I don't expect it will.

Matt's Trade Log - 9/25/08

Two trades today, both on UA:

• Sell 1 UA APR08 25 call
• Sell 2 UA NOV08 35/40 vertical call spread

The sell of the one call was to exit a position. I had a buy signal going in, but it turned to a sell quickly; this is happening a lot in today's market. Originally I bought 2 calls, and I sold a diagonal on one of them, so I'm keeping that position and getting out of the other while UA falls. Purchase price was $14, sold today for $9.90 for a $4.10 loss.

With UA going down, however, it seemed reasonable to sell premium against it on the way. I sold this 35/40 vertical call spread for $1.55. UA has a fairly strong resistance at about 37 so hopefully we'll be okay on this one.