Weekend Portfolio Analysis (August 6, 2016)

Royal Bank of Canada. 200 Bay Street.

This is what it looks like....what it feels like, that's indescribable.
The city of Toronto feels like home in my heart as much as it did the day I left 17 months ago. It feels great to be writing from this place today, where this blog itself was born in September of 2010. I will keep coming back, at least once a year.

But wait a minute? What the hell is this? This is not LT's Kardashianesque adventures in North America? This is not Departures Magazine, let alone Royal Le Page?! So, let's get down to it, shall we?

Recent Trading Activity

- Initiated a September RUT Lazy Elephant on Monday

- Closed September SPX 2260/2270 Credit Call Spread for $900 gain on Tuesday.

- Closed October SPX 2300/2310 Credit Call Spread for $1,000 gain on Tuesday.

- Closed the last August positions for a $225 gain on Thursday.

It was a good week. Some upside risk relieved (finally) and so much needed gains for the portfolio. Carrying much less inventory at the moment definitely makes me feel like a virgin without the psychological burdens of sexual performance.

Market Conditions
(Click on image to enlarge)

Stochastics: 69 (neutral)
McClellan: -16 (neutral)
Stocks above their 20 DMA: 60% (neutral)

No man's land. I'm not selling individual Credit spreads with the index here. My max upside target for the week, where I don't think the market will get, is 2,204. Still, not a good environment for selling Credit Call spreads.

Good news was again good news with a solid jobs report and it frankly looked like the market just wanted to rally anyways. It has certainly been a tough market for options sellers, now with a ridiculous 11.39 VIX.

My passive holdings are doing great, and basic, simple portfolios like the one I described in the "Invest and Retire before you die" series are doing wonders. That's the beauty of not being tied to a single approach and attack the market from different angles with a variety of edges.

Current Portfolio

SEP SPX 1825/1800 Debit Put Spread + 1625/1600 Credit Put Spread
Portfolio Insurance

OCT SPX 1825/1800 Debit Put Spread + 1625/1600 Credit Put Spread
Portfolio Insurance

September SPX 1970/1980 Credit Put Spread 
$1,200 credit. Just 6 deltas and 6 weeks to expiration. No concerns.

September RUT/IWM 1090/1100/113/1280/1290 Lazy Elephant
(Click on image to enlarge)

Not too bad at all. The position is simply doing what it is intended to do: deal with upside moves with much less pain. 17 deltas on those 1,280 short Calls, and yet the position is only down $69 bucks on a > 8 grand investment.

Action Plan for the Week

- Close the 1280/1290 Call side of the RUT Elephant at 50% of max profit given the chance.

- At the same time I would close that same Call side at a loss if we hit 1,260 or so, in which case I will be deploying a new CCS around 1,320.

- If we reach overbought conditions in the SPX index, I will complete the Iron Condor again. Selling the 2260/2270 Sept CCs for better than 0.95 credit would be an aphrodisiac. I'd go unbalanced anyways, so as to not anger Allah.


Economic Calendar

Much lighter this time around.

Monday: China's CPI
Wednesday: Crude Oil Inventories
Thursday: China's Industrial Production
Friday: Europe GDP. US Retail and Core Retails Sales.


Options Trading results: Up +2.94% YTD vs S&P up +6.80%. Portfolio 37% invested, 63% cash.
Forex Trading results: Down 4.16% for the year. No Position at the moment.

Take it easy, but take it anyways!
LT

If you are interested in a responsible and sustainable way of trading options for consistent income with solid risk management, consider acquiring LTOptions, my options trading system to the last detail.

Check out 2016 Track Record

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