Wiki Selling TSLA Options - Be the House

[SebastienBonny]

Planning on holding through investor day?

Depends what the stock will do before investor day. Looks like I sold at a high, because it's already worth 0.60 less now.
It is a good strike considering the cost base of the 100 shares, so no problem holding it anyway, but I may close it early when there is 60% profit or more (again that depends when it reaches 60% profit ).

 

[juanmedina]

Planning on holding through investor day?

It is strange that Tesla has not rallied into the investor day. Maybe it will tomorrow or next week.

 

[SpeedyEddy]

I was right in time to the trade today, it seems . first -CC 202.5 for next week, but later on I sold all shares too, so C's went completely naked and I intended to close them at 10- 50% gain, or..... hold them and buy the shares really much cheaper. Watching SP closely: MM's trying to hold for @202.5-ish like I guestimated for tomorrow@close. But they first let go and now try to push. While writing the push came in (watching daily SPY options that indicate a 401.5 close today I saw the opportunity) . So closed the calls @ 10% gain and bought back all the former shares +9 today, so I will probably not press my luck too much any further. Planning to take at least 50% off the table before tomorrow when a sad and bitter anniversary might make Putin bold to go even more stupid, affecting markets on opening tomorrow. SPY clearly pushed into 401.5 leaving almost all option holders eating dust. As $TSLA is (options-wise) the biggest play in S&P they now use the stock as leverage for S&P which makes SP-move very predictable on minute-to hourly basis. Leading to that high volatility in SP for $TSLA. you just have to watch SPY and spy-options to know what direction $TSLA will go. for instance at this moment it will go up (10:44)
(EDIT, MM's letting it go a bit more apparently /Edit)

 

[dl003]

Very sobering and well said. I was hoping for a pop to at least $240 so I could sell some trapped shares from that period (1,900 to be exact) and have cash on hand to buy at new lows, but perhaps it’ll have to be next year or whenever TSLA’s visit to Hades is complete and we rebound.

What strike(s) and expiration(s) are you looking at for STO CC’s and when do you plan to set them in motion?

I sold 240C for next week, too.
The first leg down from 218 - 192 definitely doesn't look like a leading diagonal now. A zig zag it is. A zig zag for the first leg is bullish as the entire correction should be either a flat 3-3-5, a double 3 3-3-3 or a triple 3 3-3-3-3-3, the latter 2 being sideway corrections. The first option can extend beyond the end of the first leg (192) but normally not by much, targeting 187-180. Don't put too much weight on the timing shown on this chart. What I'm expecting is a bit of choppiness to send TSLA back to the 195-197 zone before taking off to 207-210 sometime next week.

There is a 4th option, much rarer. It's gruelingly bearish and infrequently observed - not worth talking about yet.

 

[jeewee3000]

I sold 240C for next week, too.
The first leg down from 218 - 192 definitely doesn't look like a leading diagonal now. A zig zag it is. A zig zag for the first leg is bullish as the entire correction should be either a flat 3-3-5, a double 3 3-3-3 or a triple 3 3-3-3-3-3, the latter 2 being sideway corrections. The first option can extend beyond the end of the first leg (192) but normally not by much, targeting 187-180. Don't put too much weight on the timing shown on this chart. What I'm expecting is a bit of choppiness to send TSLA back to the 195-197 zone before taking off to 207-210 sometime next week.
View attachment 910465
There is a 4th option, much rarer. It's gruelingly bearish and infrequently observed - not worth talking about yet.

And if the investor days turns out to cause a rally (not very likely, given the investor day reactions in the past), I'm assuming $210 won't hold?

 

[BornToFly]

I am dumbfounded by today's price action. Tesla is firing on all cylinders and something big is going to be revealed next week (either updates to Model 3, or new smaller car, etc). This feels like naked short selling. I wish I had sold aggressive CCs for next week and closed them an hour later. I would try it now, but that would probably guarantee a reversal.....

 

[dl003]

And if the investor days turns out to cause a rally (not very likely, given the investor day reactions in the past), I'm assuming $210 won't hold?

Correct. The momentum has completely stalled. The correction needs to fully run its course before buying begins again.

 

[willow_hiller]

I am dumbfounded by today's price action. Tesla is firing on all cylinders and something big is going to be revealed next week (either updates to Model 3, or new smaller car, etc). This feels like naked short selling. I wish I had sold aggressive CCs for next week and closed them an hour later. I would try it now, but that would probably guarantee a reversal.....

Reminds me of a comic on the Efficient Market Hypothesis: Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - AGS

The hidden punchline at the bottom is "Finance is just looking for anything that makes sense, then destroying it first."

 

[CHGolferJim]

• Rolled $200 buy-writes from 3Mar$205 to 10Mar$210 for $0.04 debit and the strike improvement, avoiding a more expensive roll if we have a pre-1Mar spike; would like to let assign if we’re nearing a top, but may continue another week or two
• Considering to close 3Mar$230 (73% unrealized profit)
• Holding 10Jul$200 from 3Feb$160 roll since Sept is next available roll; might go down and in if there’s a dip

 

[Jim Holder]

Correct. The momentum has completely stalled. The correction needs to fully run its course before buying begins again.

Are you holding the -P 172.50 still, if yes when do you plan to close them?

 

[dl003]

Are you holding the -P 172.50 still, if yes when do you plan to close them?

before EOD on Wednesday or at 207, whichever comes first.

 

[Jim Holder]

before EOD on Wednesday or at 207, whichever comes first.

Thanks. Based on this, I have 700 TSLA shares trapped at $215. Thinking of cutting them at $207 too since it sounds like a local top, and save the cash to rebuy lower. Is that sensible?

Also how long is the duration of the next wave down before we see 220s and above?

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge and thoughts so generously!

 

[dl003]

Thanks. Based on this, I have 700 TSLA shares trapped at $215. Thinking of cutting them at $207 too since it sounds like a local top, and save the cash to rebuy lower. Is that sensible?

Also how long is the duration of the next wave down before we see 220s and above?

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge and thoughts so generously!

Ideally, at some point in late April. you can turn those shares into short puts 2 months out. That's what I'd do. 207 is a bit low for my taste - I'm leaning more toward 210 but of course the chart will rule. Say you cut your losses at 207 for $8 loss. You can probably sell 180P 2 months out for $8 each.

 

[Jim Holder]

Ideally, at some point in late April. you can turn those shares into short puts 2 months out. That's what I'd do. 207 is a bit low for my taste - I'm leaning more toward 210 but of course the chart will rule. Say you cut your losses at 207 for $8 loss. You can probably sell 180P 2 months out for $8 each.

Thank you

 

[gabeincal]

S&P hit 3970 today as a low so far. I'm smelling blood...

 

[SpeedyEddy]

S&P will still end above 4010 today IMO. too expensive not to...

 

[adiggs]

I started dipping my toes back into the water yesterday, opening this Friday 180/170 put spreads at .40.

On $10 wide spread that is 4% on capital at risk - I remind myself of that constantly, because my immediate reaction to .40 is its a rounding error. That's pre-split thinking that its a rounding error, when its actually really good money.

Still open - if I'd checked in at the end of the market today I would have closed the position. End of today was .17.


I'd like to see a lot more trading around this level - I still view this $200 range to be too low to sell cc at, but I also consider it to be a great price to be selling puts at.

Closed today at .06. If it were Friday I'd let 'em coast and get a few more pennies, as I'm confident I'm not opening a replacement today.

I'll be looking for a new position for next week starting tomorrow - best guess is I won't open anything until Monday so I avoid weekend volatility.

 

[SpeedyEddy]

And below 4020 indeed. I’m beginning to unveil the pattern and learning to let it come to my advantage. Sold all shares because of feb. 24 coming. Tomorrow I will be back buying ..
Edit: naked -c 212,5 next week in portfolio. /Edit

 

[Max Plaid]

Weird day on the markets (again), nice to see a green close given where we were

Still holding 15x -p200’s for tomorrow as the extrinsic very stubborn and still valued at $2.25 even though they're $2 OTM, so that's to sort out tomorrow, maybe, have the 3/3 -c200's still hedging them, so no fear of those puts going ITM

Haven't decided yet on next week's strategy. I was going to go wide -p180/-c220, but I realised that if I keep the -c200 and then straddle (AGAIN!!!) with -p200, I get a slightly higher risk with the straddle compared to the spread, but also potentially larger profits. As I really have no idea where TSLA is heading, I might just do that again. Will see tomorrow - if I need to close the -c200's to salvage the -p200 I'll rethink

 

[intelligator]

Closed 2/24 BPS -177.5/+167.5 for .14, sold at 1.25 , same rationale as @adiggs AND I want Friday off . I had the other for -182.5/172.5 for .04 that was also sold at 1.25 but that didn't fill. Ideally the -177.5 could have sat unfilled instead. Nonetheless, extremely happy to lock in those credits.