As September gets under way, it’s time to review positions with September 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.

This month, we only have one position with September options remaining on the books. All the rest have already hit their profit targets or stop loss levels. In the scoreboard below I denote the date we exited each position.

Here’s the scoreboard:

A semiconductor name that we got into a few weeks back stopped us out, and that sucked. But the beauty of honoring stop losses and stepping aside is that it allows us to gain fresh perspectives on new setups.

Armed with this new perspective, as well as seeing the stock show up in a recent Under the Hood report has me ready to test the waters again.

One of the things I preach in the All Star Options service is to manage risk by defining risks up front or having strict stop loss levels in place. And on the flip side of that equation, I also repeat over and over the need to remove risk from winning trades when given the opportunity -- particularly in long call or put plays.

When holding long calls or puts, my rule of thumb is to always sell half of my position when I've doubled my money.

Salesforce, Amgen, and Honeywell were all welcomed into the Dow Jones Industrial Industrial average this week. And all three are being greeted by enthusiastic investors. (Especially Salesforce $CRM!)

While the first two names are in sexy industries, don't sleep on Honeywell $HON. Here's what JC said in a recent post on the new Dow additions:

Here’s a chart of Honeywell, which I’m not sold on yet. I think it does break out, but I think this is only something to be long if we’re above 165. Below that and there is too much opportunity cost, I believe.

It is undeniable that the current market environment is rapidly weeding out companies that cannot survive in a digital world, and handsomely rewarding those that can.

And it isn't always the super high tech, VC-backed, trendy startup company that benefits. There are plenty of "old-school" names positioning themselves for the new reality of commerce in our new world. Thankfully, we don't need to be "futurists" who can predict the future of social, economic, and government trends. All we need to do is keep a careful eye on where investors are allocating capital and the resulting price action tells us everything we need to know.

Our trade idea today is in one of those old school retailers that's reinventing itself in new school ways.

I know, I know. I'm showing my age with this reference. But even this one is old for me. But it goes with the theme for today's trade:

We want to be buying stocks in the healthcare tech space. And today's trade is in a stock that looks ready to resume it's march higher.

All Star Charts held its Monthly Conference Call last night, and the overriding theme for U.S. Stocks is: we're likely going higher. And JC shared a bevy of stocks with charts supporting high prices in the near future.

Of course technology is on the radar, and the software sector is offering a wide selection of names to choose from.

As the U.S. continues to deal with the Coronavirus situation, it makes sense that stocks in the healthcare space should be doing well. There's a lot of attention and investment happening here to help deal with the calamity and prevent future spread.

Of course, as traders we don't need to read the headlines to know this. Following price and charts tells us everything we need to know.

One of our favorite names in the space is setting up nicely and it's time for us to get involved.

A Post-Earnings breakout to new all-time highs, coupled with a collapse in options premiums always gets my attention.

Add in that it's in a hot space like semiconductors and you'll fully capture my interest.

I shared this tweet today which was a quote from author James Clear of the awesome book Atomic Habits:

How to achieve exceptional results:

1) Quantity: You take lots of shots.

2) Quality: You take thoughtful shots.

3) Consistency: You keep shooting for a long time.

4) Feedback. You take better shots over time.

5) Luck: You get a few favorable bounces.​"

-@JamesClear

— Sean McLaughlin, NLD 📈 (@chicagosean) August 13, 2020

... and it dovetails nicely with a discussion I had with one of my All Star Options clients recently.

JC published a piece on Monday highlighting the rotation we're seeing into Transportation stocks. A bunch of names on that list have already experienced some good moves. But one of the names is likely to start playing catch up and that has me interested.

The team published a piece last week highlighting a bunch of setups in the Natural Gas space. A few of these stocks are already pretty extended due to recent moves, but I've found that one of them still has a lot of meat left on the bone and we can get into it with some cheap call options.