Tag: how to trade options

My Vertical Spread Disaster, How Max Loss USD117 Became USD3,036 Loss | What To Do (& Not To Do) When One Leg Of Vertical Spread Gets Assigned

by Jason Cai

This was supposed to be a safe low-loss trade that went terribly wrong due to some bad decisions that I made. Hopefully, you can learn from my mistakes and not make these decisions that can balloon your losses. On 21 Nov 22, I had 20 open contracts of Apple Bull PUT Spread. I received USD4.87 … Continue reading My Vertical Spread Disaster, How Max Loss USD117 Became USD3,036 Loss | What To Do (& Not To Do) When One Leg Of Vertical Spread Gets Assigned

My 390.32% 2-Day Return On FOMC Meeting Trade (Bear CALL Spread On QQQ)

by Jason Cai

The stock market was feeling optimistic ahead of the FOMC meeting on 1~2 Nov, especially a Wall Street Journal article published the week before suggested that the Fed could pivot. I was in the camp that the Fed would not pivot and that the market would sell off after the meeting. So, I started a … Continue reading My 390.32% 2-Day Return On FOMC Meeting Trade (Bear CALL Spread On QQQ)

[Oct 22 Trading Review] 44.22K Increased Earnings (Trades, Profits & Losses For October 2022)

by Jason Cai

October was a very volatile month with huge swings within days. The most classic case was on 13 October 22 when the market first crashed when CPI readings were higher than expected (which meant that inflation was still not coming down) and then rapidly rose to record the top 5 highest intra-day fluctuations in the … Continue reading [Oct 22 Trading Review] 44.22K Increased Earnings (Trades, Profits & Losses For October 2022)

How Does Bull PUT Spread Work? | PUT Credit Spread Explained For Newbies (Part 2 of 4)

by Jason Cai

This is the part 2 explanation of the 4 Vertical Spread options strategies where I will explain more in-depth my favorite vertical spread strategy for bullish play, which is the Bull PUT Spread Strategy. The 4 vertical spread strategies are summarised below: A bull PUT spread is an options strategy that an investor uses when … Continue reading How Does Bull PUT Spread Work? | PUT Credit Spread Explained For Newbies (Part 2 of 4)

[Sept 22 Trading Review] How I Made 15.9k Gain Despite Losing 10.3k To Meta LEAPS CALL (Expired Worthless)

by Jason Cai

September has been a really choppy month traditionally for the stock market and this year (2022), it was worsened by the chaotic macro environment. The 2 events that caused the market to drop hard in September were the higher-than-expected CPI (Consumer Price Index) and the Federal Reserve's hawkish expectations of future rate hikes. In September … Continue reading [Sept 22 Trading Review] How I Made 15.9k Gain Despite Losing 10.3k To Meta LEAPS CALL (Expired Worthless)

Vertical Spreads Options Strategies Explained For Newbies | A Simple Way To Understand And Remember Vertical Spreads

by Jason Cai

I have long avoided using vertical spreads for a few reasons and choose to use simple one-legged options strategies such as selling/ buying PUT/ CALL contracts. One of the reasons was that I found vertical spreads quite complicated and confusing. Thus, I decided to stick to the most basic of options strategies, that is to … Continue reading Vertical Spreads Options Strategies Explained For Newbies | A Simple Way To Understand And Remember Vertical Spreads

[Aug 22 Trading Review] Cutting Massive Losses For LEAPS Portfolio In Aug 2022

by Jason Cai

The stock market rally came to an end mid way through August and started to trend down again, especially after Federal Reserves Chairman Jerome Powell's speech at Jackson Hole. He emphasized that more pain would be coming ahead in the Fed's fight against inflation. I tracked my LEAPS Portfolio more closely during this month and … Continue reading [Aug 22 Trading Review] Cutting Massive Losses For LEAPS Portfolio In Aug 2022

[1, 2 Aug Trades] What I Am Buying In The Recent Rally?

by Jason Cai

The market has continued its rally going into August 2022. I am hoping that the rally lasts as long as possible so I can minimize my losses on my LEAPS CALL portfolio. At the same time, I added some positions in order to reach that target earlier. When I looked at my top 6 biggest … Continue reading [1, 2 Aug Trades] What I Am Buying In The Recent Rally?

[July 22 Trading Review] Trades, Profits & Losses For July 2022

by Jason Cai

The stock market rallied strongly in the month of July, S&P 500 was up 8.10% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq was up almost 12%. My portfolio unrealized loss also dropped from the record 648k to 573k. Despite the negative news of record high 9.1% CPI data, Federal Reserves increasing the interest rate by 75 basis points … Continue reading [July 22 Trading Review] Trades, Profits & Losses For July 2022