Monday, December 24, 2012

Summary of Recent Trading...


I was so psyched to discover the beauty of short puts - totally thought they were the best thing since 9FM.  I started the month by anticipating four figure gains if all the put options I shorted were to expire.  I now have Level III trading capabilities on my Roth IRA and Level II on my regular brokerage account.  

I was able to close out two short put positions on substantial gains before expiry:

JRCC @ $0.30 gain on $2.50 put = +12% gross
TC @ $0.90 on $4 put = +22.5% gross


Only one position expired with gains:

ALXA @ $0.50 gain on $4 put = +12.5% gross


Two positions with early assignments were closed out @ market with losses more or less equal to commissions plus a few cents per share here or there:

ZQK 
GGS


Two assignments on expiry, unfortunately leading to substantial unrealised losses in my portfolio, which I'll attempt to fix with covered calls:

FOLD @ unrealised -43%
DRYS @ unrealised -9%



Stock Trades:

Long BAC (closed out partial position @ +$1.1233 per share or +11.86% gross)
Long AMD @ unrealised +15% gain
Long PES (closed out two positions @ aggregate per share gain of $0.8086)
Long PKD @ unrealised -2%
Long CENX from way back in 2011 @ unrealised -26%
Long HWD from way back  in 2011 @ unrealised -9%
Long MFG ditto @ unrealised -9%
Long NMR ditto @ unrealised -8%


In the process, my cash balances grew and my portfolio value became respectable, especially my Roth IRA.  

October to December 2012 growth @ +18.7% on Roth IRA - partially due to an up-trending market and partially due to my own efforts...

I'm excited about trading again, but I'm also worried about how I'll grow my portfolio next year.  

If Santa is hearing this, I'm wishing for sustainable market strategies that will allow me to make more money on less risk and even if I get stuck in a losing position, I'll trade myself out with financial dignity...

Merry Christmas, Professors of Finance - especially the Masters of the Universe ones with dark-framed glasses...




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