I started 2023 with renewed hope that it will be a better year than 2022. After great gains in 2021 and heavy losses in 2022, I reached the breakeven point in my investment and options trading journey, as my total gain in 10 years of investing and options trading covers the losses suffered in both investing and options trading.
However, things turned out totally different from what I had hoped for. Firstly, I spent the first half of the year traveling and was in a different time zone. The US market started mid-day while I was out and I had no time to monitor the share prices. The biggest mistake was my decision to follow a guru, instead of listening to the opinions of multiple sources as it was more convenient for me to do so, given my travel schedule.
As a result, I was overly bearish and placed more than $40k into bearish vertical spreads which eventually all expired worthless. On top of that, I also sold Covered CALL on my share positions at the worst possible time, just before they bottomed out, and had since then gotten stuck in my positions. The worst thing is that I couldn’t take profits on my stocks even when they turned profitable, one such example was my Nvidia positions.
The 2nd half of 2023 was better as I returned home after my travel and had more time time to monitor the market and learn from my mistakes. I eventually came out with a new strategy that was less risky than the vertical spreads strategy.
Monthly Profit/ Loss Table for 2023
From the above monthly profit/ loss table, I started getting positive returns in the second half of the year. September was an exception as I realized losses in my vertical spread positions that expired worthless. I ended the year with a decent amount of profit in the last month of 2023. Overall, I am still down $43k in options trading losses but my net total in both investing and trading is positive and has increased due to the profits I made after selling my Nvidia shares.
Despite the ups and downs of 2023, I am still hopeful that things will get better for my investing and options trading journey in 2024. The biggest takeaway from 2023 is to always be prepared for the unexpected, just like the bull run that came in 2023 and the bear market that happened in 2022.
Portfolio Reveal for 2024
This is a summary of my capital allocation for 2024:
I started a dividend portfolio by investing into SG REITs for capital gain and passive income. I have spare cash inside my IBKR account earning 4.31% pa interest while it awaits my next deployment. I have some bullish vertical spreads positions and a tiny bit in short-term trades (you can view them on my Patreon page). The majority of my capital allocation is in my bonds and shares.
These are my current US share positions, which I use for selling Covered CALL.
I am still waiting for the market crash to come so that I can get out of my Covered CALL positions that have been stuck for a long time. Even if the share price increases for my shares, being stuck in my options positions means I will not be able to cash in on them. Also, I will not be able to free up my capital for other purposes, for example, to use it to buy a property. Therefore, do read this article on the risk of selling Covered CALL.
My current Covered CALL positions:
My Current SOP positions:
All of my opened positions and the advance premium collected:
The latest updates on my options positions, trades, and portfolio will be shared on my Patreon page. I usually share my trades on the same day or latest on the following day. You can follow me there if you need them for reference.
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Concluding Thoughts
I don’t want to be predicting the outlook for 2024 because the market always has a way to surprise us, just like in 2022 and 2023. When everyone was feeling euphoric at the end of 2021, the bear market came in 2022. When everyone was fearing for the worst in 2023, the bull market began. 2024 seems like a good year for the stock due to the Fed signaling a cut in interest rates and the presidential year but nothing is guaranteed until it happens. So, my plan for 2024 is to always protect my downside and to go with less risky trades. Earning less is still better than not earning or losing money. I wish everyone the best of luck in your investing and trading journey. May it be a good year for you.
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Good article, thanks for sharing the details.
Looks like need to upgrade Patreon to view your portfolio – https://www.patreon.com/posts/my-investment-2-97751871?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_fan&utm_content=join_link
Do you have any Portfolio tracker to track Options portfolio? Also, how do you size these positions, especially naked put?
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Hi R B,
Thanks for dropping by. The portfolio spreadsheet is something that I thought can value add to our paid members, as most of the trades were shared openly with everyone. I do not use any app to track my options portfolio as I thought it is better to update it on my own every day, after I complete each trade. My total capital required for my CSP should not exceed my cash in my brokerage + my 90k reserves in bonds. Sometimes, I do exceed a little but those are very OTM LEAPS PUT that has very low chance of being exercised early. E.g. I am selling Nvidia at USD330, with expiration in Jan 26. If the buyer wishes to exercise the PUT contract early now, then I will get an instant profit of USD33k by buying 100 shares at USD330 and selling at USD660.
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