Trade of the Week: ABBV

ABBV another big Pharma/biotech companies.  Earnings was Friday January 27 before market opened.  I opened several positions (1 or 2 calls each) at the 92.5 strike expiring on Feb 16 on 1/3, 1/6, and 1/13.

I started selling this week, and sold all before the actual earnings report making a good 50% return.  This was a decent trade.  However earnings was a monster.  Up nearly $15 or 14% in the stock alone. The current call has a bid/ask between 30 and 32.  Had I held on through earnings, that 50% would have been 250%.

My original $3.4k position would have been $12.0k instead of my $5k.  But there's no need to be emotional about missed gains.  I stayed disciplined and stuck with my plan and reduced my risk before earnings.  My goal is capital preservation, and if it accelerates in this melt-up, so be it, but that is not the point.

Stay sober in this drunken stupor of a market.

Happy Investing and God bless!

Leaving money on the table

What does the bible say about leaving money on the table?

"And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the LORD your God." - Leviticus 23:22

You can't time market top or market bottom, but you can have a price target and don't be greedy.  The scripture really speaks towards our culture today, even though this was written thousands of years ago.  We don't have to "maximize" profits, we could take enough and then leave the rest for others, in this case, the poor. 

How many times have I tried to market time the top or guess a reversal?  How about stop doing that and start trading according to your plan? 

May God bless you and keep you.

Week 3 Trade of the Week LRCX

Trade of the Week was LRCX.

I opened on 1/10/2017 CALL (LRCX) JAN 26 18 $185 (100 SHS) @ 10.55 after it dropped on the open and went below 20 MA.  I closed 1/17/2017 @ 17.50 for a 66% return in one week and saved 1 more option in case it goes further up.

1/16 gapped up to 196 but fell back down below 190.  I picked up an extra 185 Call there.  What a wild ride LRCX was this week.  We banked some profits and have an open position for earnings on 1/24/2018.

Portfolio has been rocking this year even in the midst of a government shutdown.  Will keep you updated!

Keep vigilant and happy investing! God bless!

Week 2 Trades of the Week BABA, IBM

This week was a little tricky.  I took some profits in BABA +120%, PYPL +80%, IBM +126%, WHR +34%.  I closed out some laggers FB, SVU, and rolled some other call options to a lower strike price GS, LRCX, INTC.

It was an interesting week as we prepped for earnings release next week.  FB had some guidance and dropped almost $10.  I had to cut my losses on FB calls.

Week 1 Update - Portfolio up 25%

With week 1 complete, we are collecting the gains from a super upward trending week.

Took profits on calls bought in 2017: NVDA, BABA, GOOGL, IBM and cut losses in: RIOT, CELG, and WBA.

Here at Options Harvest, we employ a simple strategy:

1. Casting the seeds (open positions in high performing stocks 2-4 weeks before earnings reporting)
2. Weeding the garden (managing stocks by cutting losers before earnings)
3. Harvest the winners (take profit for huge gains before earnings), and
4. Repeat the process for the next round of earnings.

It's a simple strategy, that has resulted in a bountiful harvest.  I hope to share my strategy with you and I also hope you will gain an advantage in your trades.

May God bless you richly!

Foundations. Looking back and moving forward.

As week 1 of 2018 has ended and a new trading year begins, I can only be grateful for all the things that have been happening.

I started the year with around 15.5k and traded it up to around 53k, a 240% return.  This was the year I had and I felt confident that this trading system is robust enough to allow for more funds.  I then got permission from my wife, aka the Boss, to borrow another 50k from my 401k.  I highly discourage this, but since my 401k has brought in about 20% last year, I could use those earnings for trading.

I have already deposited 20k into my trading accounts and have another 30k sitting on the sidelines ready for action if needed.  It's good to have extra money in the emergency fund, just in case.

Here's a brief description of my trading history.  

My dark decline in the stock market started even prior to 2010, but I can't seem to access my records for Scottrade and Etrade.  I started with about 7k plus another 27k transferred from my other accounts.  This included IRAs and taxable accounts.  In 2011, I was able to lose 30k in some Chinese company I never heard of.  I was making money left and right and ended up with WAYYY too much into this one stock, only to see it be involved with some accounting discrepancies, then having the stock delisted.  Needless to say, I lost a load of money and it was quite demoralizing.

I had a couple good years in 2012-2013, but again, I fell into the trap of being too cocky with my positions and was WAYY committed to some lousy stocks.  I started dabbling with covered calls, and cash secured puts, and was up on some cheap companies with large premiums.  Then things turned south and my large premiums turned to large losses.  2014 was a bad year.  I had no idea how to manage my losses, nor did I know how to manage my own impatience and emotions.  Needless to say I lost a load of money and it was quite demoralizing.

Then came 2015, I wanted to test out a new theory.  I was trading options around earnings.  I started off making lots of money, but then got greedy.  Of course when you make some, you want to make more, and I started being risky again and that was when things fell apart.  I needed an intervention.  I realized that I didn't know what I was doing.  I was losing again.

In 2016, I wanted to retest my theory again, this time I still made the same mistakes. But, I did learn something along the way because I was losing less.  Even though I was still losing, I was losing less.

Then came 2017, my watershed moment, when everything changed.  The clouds departed and I was no longer losing.  Instead I was able to stick to my plan, more or less.  I made money.  And I was able to keep that money.  I was able to buy a car, I was able to buy my kids new furniture, I was able to pay the kids tuition, I was able to buy my wife things without complaining that she spent too much, I was able to give to charities and people in need like never before.  It was a nice feeling to have money.  I was finally winning.

And then came week 1 of 2018.  My portfolio was up almost 25%.  My Total Portfolio.  UP. 25%.  I don't know what else to say, but i was able to finally crawl back out of that dark, dark place of shame and punishment.  I finally broke even after all those years of losing.

How did I do it?  Well, this is what this site is about, I hope to share my plans and goals throughout to as I begin harvesting my options.  May God bless you this year and beyond!