Closing 3 option positions and a market outlook

May 08, 2014 - 9:47 am

We are closing our option positions on Blackberry, Toll Brothers and Akamai.  

We sold the May $52.50 Puts short on Akamai on Feb 26th at $1.05, and they are currently trading at .87 cents.  Close these for a 17.1% gain.

On Feb 18th we bought the June  $9 Calls on BBRY at $1.62, and they are currently at .14 cents,  close these for a 91.4% loss.  

On April 23rd we bought the May $33 Puts on TOL at .58 cents, and they are currently trading at .10 cents.  Close these for a 82.8% loss.  

The net of these 3 trades is a cumulative loss of 157.1%, and also our worst streak to date of all of our trades that we have made.  Shorting the homebuilders is a play that we still like, however the XLB is currently only .19 cents away from a 52 week high so we may be early on that trade. Blackberry was just flat out a trade that we shouldn't have made, lesson learned.  We'd like to get into Akami at below $52.50, but with the recent volatility in tech, and the selloff in the Nasdaq vs. the S&P, the tide isn't in our favor on a long tech trade just yet.  Positioning for an entry into Akamai at below $50 may be attractive, and a potential trade that we make in the near term.  

So far as of our most recent market update, we're starting to see the S&P break out of the sideways trend to the upside.  However, we need to see the market close above 1885 today and with a follow through tomorrow day tomorrow on stronger volume to acknowledge that the market may move higher from where we have been range bound since mid February.