cfoe- I didn't manage quite as neat an exit from my QCOM position as you but, given the constraints that I was operating under, I did OK. An hour or so after the open I saw that the May 65s were trading 1.50X1.80, moving up and down. I put in a GTC order to buy to close at 1.10 and left for work (7:30 local time). I knew I would have another chance about an hour later to check prices once more. Then they were trading 1.00X1.10 and I saw that got filled. I didn't follow the market after that but see I could have done better had I been able to wait.
QCOM has been fairly profitable, after a rough start, since I began writing calls on it in December. Perhaps it would be instructive to record the short history.
11/24/00 wrote Dec 90s for 4 1/4
12/11/00 bought back at 9 1/8 (should have waited as I think it ended up expiring worthless)
1/4/01 wrote Jan 85s for 4 3/8
Expired
1/23 wrote Feb 85s for 4 1/4
Expired
2/20 wrote Mar 85s for 4 1/8
2/27 bought back for 1/4
2/27 wrote Mar 65s for 2 3/4
Expired
3/27 wrote Apr 65s for 3 1/8
4/6 bought back for 1/4
5/2 wrote May 65s 2 1/4
5/18 bought back for 1.10
Since tomorrow is expiration day and assuming that there is no big news between now and then here is how this past month's covered calls came out.
GLW May 25 sold for .95 on 4/26, expired
JDSU May 22.5 sold for 2.10 on 4/24, expired
QCOM May 65 sold for 2.25 on 5/2, bought back at 1.10
RMBS May 20 sold for 1.95 on 4/25, bought back 5/9 for .10
RMBS May 15 sold for .30 on 5/10 (same shares as above), expired
SEBL May 50 sold for 2.40 on 4/26, expired
I did two buy writes this past month, one turned out as planned, the other is looking doubtful.
4/30
Bought 400 SEBL @ 47.18 and sold 4 May 40 Calls for 8.80, net with commissions = 15,429.75
Will get called away for 15,985.05 return, net 555.3 or 3.6% in 19 days.
5/2
Bought RMBS @ 16.15 and sold June 15 Calls for 3.90. Underwater here but still have a month to go.
Win some, lose some. A dollar here, a dollar there and it adds up. April was a discouraging month in that I got called out of NTAP, CSCO and GMST. Waiting thirty days or more to re-enter because of wash sale rule and for further clarification as to what is going to happen with them. I don't regret sitting on more cash for the moment. |
