[Options] July Positions Review

Sean McLaughlin
July 1, 2020

As July gets under way, it’s time to review positions with July options that remain open (haven’t already hit profit targets or been stopped out).

Most trades I put on for All Star Options tend to have a minimum duration of 30 days (short premium plays) and often as long as 6-8 months (for long premium plays). As options approach expiration, greeks like theta and gamma start to become my enemy and whipsaw my P/L. Therefore, as options and spreads get into the expiration month, my best practice is to put each position on notice — it’s time to take action.

In what is starting to become a trend, this month most of our positions with July options have already closed. There only two that need any real attention.

Here’s the scoreboard:

July positions closed for profits: $TDOC (1/21), $AMZN (3/13), $SLV (6/1)

July positions closed at a loss: $OKE (2/27), $LOW (3/2), $USO (3/2). $XLU (6/24)

Remaining Open Positions:

  • $MRVL Long July 35 Calls: As I write this, $MRVL is trading just below $35, which is our strike. The good news is, we already sold half of our position on 6/2 when we saw a double in the value of our options. We held on with the rest in hope for larger gains. Unfortunately for us, MRVL has been stuck in a bit of a range for the past 3-4 weeks just below our strike. And now time is running out. So we'll be closing the remainder of our position here. Since these calls are just slightly out-of-the-money (OTM), there's still plenty of premium --- which in our case is pure profit. Win.
  • $AU Long July 25/30 Bull Call Spread: Great timing, our profit target was hit this morning at the open. We are out with profits. Beautiful.
  • $MA Long July 335 Calls: Back on January 17th, we were able to sell half of our position at a double. Which turned out to be fortunate since the stock hasn't worked out since! There is currently a 14 cents bid for these long 335 calls. But at this point, I'm just holding them as lottery tickets.

If you have any questions about these trades, email me here.

~ @chicagosean

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