Mid Week Position Updates

I have not initiated any new trades from the speculative account, but the recent down turn has allowed me to close the short XLF calls out at 0.09 (original credit of 0.31).  Also, I wanted to update a wildly speculative position I put on with MSFT.  I called it Long Term Double Calendars.  In a nutshell, I hold way out of the money long puts on the downside and long calls on the upside.  MSFT was about $25 when I opened, so $20 puts and $30 calls were my strike choices.  I bought APR options and sold NOV options at the same strikes.

MSFT earnings last week apparently made the street quite happy and MSFT shot up past $28 (briefly touching $29).  The NOV short put went way out of the money and I closed it for 0.01.  The APR puts are big losers, but they've lost much less than what the long calls have gained.  I did not expect MSFT to shoot up this fast and my plan at this point is to close the call side if MSFT stays around 28-29 by NOV expiration.  I may or may not keep the long put, depending on IV.  It's worth so little, I may just keep it as free insurance.

As I mentioned, the recent down draft hasn't allowed me to write any calls yet, but I am looking to write some puts.  There are some new faces I've had my eye on and they are indexes that I might like to hold, so whether I'm going to do spreads or run naked has not yet been determined.

Stay tuned.