u/LabDaddy59

https://preview.redd.it/sqk9r2403x1h1.png?width=780&format=png&auto=webp&s=c036f6f73f2d2c9323d67908e7970b274c1b0de9

Thought I'd post this as folks may wonder how I approach things.

Pretty good drop in the market this morning, and it hit all 5 stocks I held in inventory over the weekend.

I opened up 5 new trades (AAOI, COHR, CRWV, LITE, and VRT) but, for the time being, have held off on selling any calls against the stocks I held in inventory; I'm taking a bit of a risk in thinking they'll rebound either later today or tomorrow. For those 5 held in inventory, some of the premiums for the same strike as last week are yielding only 0.5%. So we'll see how it goes.

https://preview.redd.it/sr3o0otsqi1h1.png?width=907&format=png&auto=webp&s=bc593b71a1d908266ac091e07a1b51b7f02034ab

For the week, premium realized gains of $45k or 6.1% on basis of $741,470. This brings May to $90k, the 2nd quarter to $171k, and the YTD to $266k.

This 5 DTE ATM B/W campaign returned 3.0% compared with buy and hold's 0.3% loss and S&P 500's 0.13% gain.

At week's end, 5 stocks remain in inventory: APLD, AXTI, BE, IONQ, and MU. One of my two CRWV buy/writes also did not expire ITM but I am moving those shares to my 'buy and hold' category.

See original for trade log.

https://preview.redd.it/hfy79o8roi1h1.png?width=907&format=png&auto=webp&s=6a8842a1e658463e86b8c07e526f037a07f3e4ed

For the week, premium realized gains of $45k or 6.1% on basis of $741,470. This brings May to $90k, the 2nd quarter to $171k, and the YTD to $266k.

This 5 DTE ATM B/W campaign returned 3.0% compared with buy and hold's 0.3% loss and S&P 500's 0.13% gain.

At week's end, 5 stocks remain in inventory: APLD, AXTI, BE, IONQ, and MU. One of my two CRWV buy/writes also did not expire ITM but I am moving those shares to my 'buy and hold' category.

Trade Log:

https://preview.redd.it/tswt9ev1pi1h1.png?width=671&format=png&auto=webp&s=9deaa6a20f56828bb8e9719075be12d6cbc0f2d1

https://preview.redd.it/t5p05efyxd1h1.png?width=721&format=png&auto=webp&s=426653aa6beaeb85d9014df78839a864deb9c308

Buy and Hold had a $1,938 (0.3%) loss for the week while the B/W campaign had a $22,491 (3.0%) profit.

The B/W 3.0% profit for the week compares favorably with the S&P 500's 0.13% gain.

Interestingly, even with the $21k of capped gains, only 2 tickers showed a performance worse than buy and hold.

YTD update coming tomorrow!

https://preview.redd.it/7ko1t6jphd1h1.png?width=698&format=png&auto=webp&s=ee26db62b1dd0ea9406d46dff5e78e30fc75599d

A nice week for premiums, but not so good on holding 5 stocks that dropped OTM and I'm holding for a loss. I plan to update with both a comparison with the S&P 500 and buy and hold, as well as the usual Saturday detailed update by ticker.

All told, $45k of premium received on a basis of $741k, or 6.1%.

If you've been following on from the start you'll know this has been a bit of an evolution.

Posting this campaign was the result of two things happening at the roughly same time, so they merged together.

Previously, I never tracked performance by structure (e.g., CC, CSP, LEAPS, etc.), but I decided to do so this year (i.e., starting January).

Then, late in Jan/early in Feb I decided on doing the 5 DTE ATM Buy/Write campaign and decided to post its happenings here.

You may remember that I originally just had a category for "CC" -- which I indicated were all short calls. I realized I should have had a category for PMCC, so went back and re-tagged transactions; later I removed PMCC from the weekly update as it distracted from the 5 DTE campaign.

That still left some issues, though, as there are stock which I hold and sell CC on, but aren't part of the 5 DTE campaign. HOOD, INFQ, and some others. So this past week I sat down and reviewed all transactions tagged as "CC" that should be assigned yet another category "CC-BH" for covered calls on my "buy and hold" stocks.

This table is a result of that process. Overall, the grand total is down $70k. With this process complete, I do believe that the table now just represents the short calls related to the Buy/Write campaign!

https://preview.redd.it/wmki0cnwgd1h1.png?width=850&format=png&auto=webp&s=779868bd58437d86862480b31602d3e2fff1912e

https://preview.redd.it/k2hkpf0d5j0h1.png?width=700&format=png&auto=webp&s=d8b93235c17748174a19834a867f1fc92e11e822

BE, COHR, CRWV, and LITE were in inventory over the weekend, so just the short calls were today's trades for those underlyings.

I got lucky with LITE as I bought back last week's short call mid-day Friday, capturing 85% of its premium for that week, and it would have expired ITM and hence, been assigned. My cost is $882.10, so with it's movement today, got a nice premium.

APLD, AXTI, IONQ, and MU are all current week combined buy/writes.

I was thinking about a buy/write on OKLO, but they announce earnings this week, so I'm on the fence. I may add it to the list at a later time.

Have fun out there!

https://preview.redd.it/kvcrboqsy30h1.png?width=843&format=png&auto=webp&s=8b6dcc8635678d6d7cfd8fd6ec9a646bf883c4f2

Total premium earned for the week of $31,149 bringing May to $48,989, the second quarter to $88,485, and the year to date of $291,367.

Amount at risk for the week of $616,754 for a rate of return of 5.1%.

Given the market dynamics, I opened an unplanned short call on AMD on their earnings date and was rewarded with an additional $4,493.76 in premium.

BE, COHR, and CRWV expired OTM so those stocks remain in inventory.

LITE is also in inventory, as it was an interesting case. With a strike of $882.50, even though it was only a fraction of a percent OTM mid-day Friday, I was able to capture 85% of its premium for the week. Since I was tentatively planning on doing a buy/write on them next week, I closed the call for a capture. As it turns out, the stock rose and closed at $903.80.

Trade Log:

https://preview.redd.it/zkp37nbqz30h1.png?width=664&format=png&auto=webp&s=672baa124bcabe5eb781ac49ce68f7d19d0d2dd9

I've been asked what size portfolio I'm running to get my results. Unfortunately, I haven't been tracking (but may start now), but here are the numbers for this week. Full report tomorrow.

$31k on $617k or 5.1% for the week.

https://preview.redd.it/m6kwothg800h1.png?width=693&format=png&auto=webp&s=16631169f65bcdab2f6a9dd07ef0b7c53b6f2bbc

I've been asked what size portfolio I'm running to get my results. Unfortunately, I haven't been tracking (but may start now), but here are the numbers for this week. Full report tomorrow.

$31k on $617k or 5.1% for the week.

https://preview.redd.it/qxitauoapzzg1.png?width=693&format=png&auto=webp&s=023c2334cbdcdad2581cd2ac52397df04f4b817d

Added AMD

https://preview.redd.it/nz6bcxtfzbzg1.png?width=688&format=png&auto=webp&s=fb65feacc26cd2302213e928699e047a499e0b93

https://preview.redd.it/8tdtec6p05zg1.png?width=691&format=png&auto=webp&s=9ec8277e754fd8c7d7bef39968d9226e2968593b

I use conditional formatting which shows the strike in red if it is currently in the money.

https://preview.redd.it/zvfeelzc05zg1.png?width=691&format=png&auto=webp&s=612453287626672f707e58277867c8d32d8c4154

I use conditional formatting which shows the strike in red if it is currently in the money.

https://preview.redd.it/n32rezvx7ryg1.png?width=863&format=png&auto=webp&s=61d2a38a0e1e58b8b1bbfd7185dd0fb6957be997

Total premium earned for the week of $17,840 bringing the second quarter to $53,087, and the year to date of $255,969.

A bit of a lackluster week. I brought into the week from inventory COHR, HOOD, and LITE. Monday was a down day, so I held off until Tuesday hoping for a rebound. No such luck, down again. Then Thursday and Friday a rebound. On Tuesday, due to the significance of the price drop, I set a short strike below cost; by Thursday I was rolling them to next week to get them back up to ATM; this is why COHR and LITE are showing losses.

See original for trade log.

https://preview.redd.it/9pwchu2d5ryg1.png?width=863&format=png&auto=webp&s=a4242b60810f07fccdc4927f5e143fe676433b56

Total premium earned for the week of $17,840 bringing the second quarter to $53,087, and the year to date of $255,969.

A bit of a lackluster week. I brought into the week from inventory COHR, HOOD, and LITE. Monday was a down day, so I held off until Tuesday hoping for a rebound. No such luck, down again. Then Thursday and Friday a rebound. On Tuesday, due to the significance of the price drop, I set a short strike below cost; by Thursday I was rolling them to next week to get them back up to ATM; this is why COHR and LITE are showing losses.

Trade Log:

Trade Log

Background:

As you may know, I've been running a 5 DTE ATM Buy/Write campaign. This idea is a slight modification of that concept.

A while back, a post by u/pagalvin prompted me to consider this as a "routine play" as opposed to occasional use (mostly on 'troubled' CC).

Instead of selling short calls at the money, sell them in the money. This is a more conservative strategy which has two primary features.

1. Lower premium generation (targeting 1% per week)
2. Reduced breakeven

Test run:

On Apr 22 I purchased 100 shares of NVDA at $202.31 and sold a call with a $195 strike expiring May 1 for a premium of $9.61 per share.

"Wait. Wut?! You just bought it for ~$202 and sold at a $195 strike so you'll lose ~$7/share? I've been told you should never sell below cost!"

Well, let's look at it. The premium received is $9.61 and the capital loss on the stock price is $7.31, so I'd net a $2.30 gain, which is 1.1% on the $202.31 acquisition cost. I'll take 1% per week. In addition, the stock can drop by that same $7.31, or 3.6%, and my return will still be the same.

Think about that for a moment.

A 1.1% weekly gain that allows the stock to drop 3.6%.

I find that appealing.

I automated the closing of the trade by setting a GTC limit order of $194.65 for the strategy. The net entry cost was $192.70 ($202.31 - $9.61), so this represented a solid 1% return. The GTC limit order struck and was executed on Apr 29.

Identifying Candidates:

As you may know, I use an Microsoft Excel add-in, marketxls.com which I find incredibly useful. I put together a template that I can use to identify candidates for this strategy. Here's one for NVDA for options expiring next Friday, May 8, 2026.

https://preview.redd.it/vhy81c6rwlyg1.png?width=731&format=png&auto=webp&s=2cdcbe66c2324bcd078836f2e8bd3352309eeee6

The top left quadrant is where the user enters their own parameters for the trade.

• Ticker symbol for the underlying stock/ETF
• Expiration date
• Max Profit Rate (since this is a 'limiting' strategy which will provide different levels of downside protection based on the maximum profit rate to be achieved)
• Max investment

Once entered and the sheet is recalculated, the rest of the template is filled/calculated.

The bottom left quadrant, using MarketXLS, pulls in the current spot, next earnings date, RSI (21) and upper Bollinger Band (20).

The top right quadrant shows the trade.

• The selected strike and selected premium are brought in through a lookup-up of a table of data, provided by MarketXLS, of the options chain for the underlying/expiration date.
• The breakeven, downside protection, and number of contracts are all computed based on the selected strike and selected premium.

The bottom right quadrant shows the trade's P&L at expiration, assuming the stock has remained above the strike.

Here's how it looks in OptionStrat.

https://optionstrat.com/nODGJ2Y78RfF

https://preview.redd.it/r5w91j5zslyg1.png?width=1083&format=png&auto=webp&s=2e411d468474d2a276dc275cd111b90d675869ea

While I titled this post as being a 5 DTE targeting 1%, that's "just me" for purposes of a routine play. You could, of course, run this for any DTE and profit % you wish.

Summary:

By selling an ITM short call you trade off premium for downside protection. That trade-off may be an appealing one for traders.

https://preview.redd.it/2vhicj6gbdxg1.png?width=929&format=png&auto=webp&s=361144a6acf0837ac83a08d137108ef5a27a94c4

Total premium earned for the week of $33,170, bringing April and the second quarter to $35,247, with the year to date at $238,129.

CRWV calmed down this week, closing at $116.85 on Fri, Apr 17 and $110.14 on Fri, Apr 24, so no large negative impacts as in the prior two weeks. If you focus on CRWV, remember I have a short call with a premium of $58,600 set to expire Jun 18.

Five of the trades were OTM and hence I'm still holding the stock over the weekend (COHR, HOOD, INFQ, IONQ, and LITE).

The LITE is nice, if not being assigned, as the strike was $882.50 and the closing price was $881.64 -- just $0.86 (or less than 0.1%) below spot.

For next week, COHR, IONQ, and LITE all have ATM strikes priced with a 5% or better premium.

See source for comparison with 'buy and hold' and the trade log.

https://preview.redd.it/6oclcvrl7dxg1.png?width=929&format=png&auto=webp&s=7ac0d1d0dbe429b2bfe7c16cb0a9c7e185518fd1

Total premium earned for the week of $33,170, bringing April and the second quarter to $35,247, with the year to date at $238,129.

CRWV calmed down this week, closing at $116.85 on Fri, Apr 17 and $110.14 on Fri, Apr 24, so no large negative impacts as in the prior two weeks. If you focus on CRWV, remember I have a short call with a premium of $58,600 set to expire Jun 18.

Five of the trades were OTM and hence I'm still holding the stock over the weekend (COHR, HOOD, INFQ, IONQ, and LITE).

The LITE is nice, if not being assigned, as the strike was $882.50 and the closing price was $881.64 -- just $0.86 (or less than 0.1%) below spot.

For next week, COHR, IONQ, and LITE all have ATM strikes priced with a 5% or better premium.

For those interested in how this week's results compare with buy and hold:

https://preview.redd.it/zv1888oczhxg1.png?width=992&format=png&auto=webp&s=c6c2bb3456fa4686f9596f4410ae898f6353cacf

Trade log:

Trade Log

https://preview.redd.it/cu35kumzpkwg1.png?width=847&format=png&auto=webp&s=3297323ddb2d1678a5492c9f448e0f008d9150a1

My previously troubled child, MU, is set to expire this week. Let's hope it is assigned.

You'll also note that I have two lines for VRT as I'm trying something different. I should have bought all 200 shares at one time, but I didn't...oh well. Anyways, the thought was, in addition to the standard buy/write, that I would buy shares at the open, but wait in the hopes of an increase in the underlying, then selling the call at that point...at the ATM when bought. At the time of open, the $310 short call expiring Apr 24 was selling for $16.40. At this moment, it's $17.85.

Edit: I entered the VRT CC mentioned above. At the time of buying the stock at $310, the $310 call sold for $16.40, by waiting until today as the stock has increased, I sold the $310 for $19.50, a $3.10 per share pick up.

https://preview.redd.it/lpxwfwk6kzvg1.png?width=842&format=png&auto=webp&s=3611f2bcbbc9a7575990c7ec8f5c357de0dd6318

Another down week, by $4,014, as CRWV again had big gains.

CRWV

Last week, I talked about CRWV increasing 24% during the week and my various rolls.

This week, CRWV increased from $102.00 to $116.85, a 14.6% gain. Cumulative gain was 44.4%, from $80.94 On Apr 6.

I started the week holding a $95 strike, May 8 expiration short call.

I rolled that on Apr 13 to a $97.50 strike, May 15 expiration for a loss of $10.8k.

I rolled that on Apr 17 to a $97.50 strike Jun 18 expiration for a loss of $8.1k.

I did the last roll as I'm considering rolling it at the same strike as long as it makes sense. As you can see from the trade log below, I BTC it for $50.7k and STO the new one for $58.6k, so picked up almost $8k. My cost basis is $97.81.

MU

I also rolled MU from a $427.50 strike expiring Apr 17 to a $437.50 strike expiring Apr 24. That gets me back to above my cost of $436.09, so I plan to let that one go next week, assuming MU holds above the strike.

HOOD

I'm also nursing my HOOD back to health and had a $1.6k loss on a roll for it.

Summary

Total losses for the week were $23.6k and total gains were $19.6k for the net loss of $4k.

For those wondering, here's a pro forma look at results allowing for the outstanding CC I have that will, if either called away or expire worthless. For example, for CRWV I have a Apr loss of $46k and a YTD gain of $8k. If I allow the Jun $97.50 strike option to be assigned as is, that would generate a gain of $58.6k for the current CC, covering the Apr loss and bringing the YTD total to $66.8k.

https://preview.redd.it/gq5epc7nnzvg1.jpg?width=1011&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fdc7e2420fbb849bee244b698c3b7b23991d4e76

These kind of situations can occur, it's just a matter of managing your way out of the position. There aren't many situations where a stock rips 44% over two weeks, but even if it does, it's manageable.

Trade Log

https://preview.redd.it/ztjpbujclzvg1.png?width=659&format=png&auto=webp&s=b1f273e0db0e8699bd94df3383c6bb42cb0be51b