selling VZ covered calls

The VZ, Verizon story so far per this blog can be read in these postings :

Monday, July 07, 2008 - covering shorts in XLY +16%, SPG +17% . long VLO, VZ

Tuesday, December 09, 2008 - selling BTU and VZ covered calls, shorting GCI

Tuesday, March 31, 2009 - long ZSL, closing VZ covered call position

If from our effective cost of $33.93 we subtract the dividends we've enjoyed so far (and also factoring the declared dividend to be paid November 02), we then revise the effective cost of our Verizon shares (as of November 02) to $31.62

Against our shares we'll now sell April $30 calls which were last bid at $1.70

The premium earned here via the sale of April calls will reduce our effective cost below the strike price, thus preventing a possible overall loss on our holdings if our shares are called away.

If our shares are not called away, we'll update as we take additional action. Our plan is to continue reducing our effective cost via covered call sales when the timing seems right.



We receive no remuneration or incentive directly or indirectly in any way, shape, or form for buying or selling the stocks we do, or for mentioning any stocks or companies in this blog. If we hold existing positions we divulge the fact. This blog is merely a diary of some of our thoughts and trades and is in no way whatsoever to be considered investment advice of any kind. Always without fail consult a competent, experienced, and honest broker or investment advisor before making any investment or speculative decisions.

To be notified when this blog is updated :
Please e-mail christianguinness@hotmail.com with "Subscribe to blog" in the subject line or click here to do so automatically if your computer is configured accordingly. We have never shared our mailing list with anyone, nor will we. Please note that we only send update notifications when a trade idea is diarized, not if a blog entry only contains general commentary.

bidding on DUG & SRS, sold SRS -6%

We remain skeptical that the U.S. dollar will continue to drop and that markets will continue to rise. Oil is nearing a "make or break" point with some credible analysts predicting a price below $40 by year's end, while others say the price will rocket higher. We doubt there's any demand either real or speculative for much higher oil prices, but whatever the move it could start as early as this morning when the inventory figures are announced.

Obviously given the above paragraph we're bearish oil, however we do not wish to commit ourselves financially to that position unless the market is moving in our direction. Thus we bid to purchse DUG, the ProShares UltraShort Oil & gas ETF if it trades as high as $14.05 intraday.

Should we then become owners of DUG, we'll set our protective stop at $13.70 thus limiting our potential risk to only 2.5%

These orders will remain open until further notice.


We were recently stopped out of our position in SRS, the ProShares Real Estate UltraShort ETF. Shortly after purchase in early August we had a paper profit of over 20% and sadly this became a real loss of roughly 6%. Such is the game we play, and since we are hoping to catch a major turn we will not satisfy with even gains of 20% for the time being.

Fortunately per the previous blog entry we had raised our stop, so the loss on SRS was minimal as we traded responsibly.

We shall repurchase SRS if it reaches a price of $9.60 intraday and will keep this order open until further notice.

Should we become owners of SRS per this bidding, we'll set our protective stop at $8.45 thus limiting our risk to 12%



We receive no remuneration or incentive directly or indirectly in any way, shape, or form for buying or selling the stocks we do, or for mentioning any stocks or companies in this blog. If we hold existing positions we divulge the fact. This blog is merely a diary of some of our thoughts and trades and is in no way whatsoever to be considered investment advice of any kind. Always without fail consult a competent, experienced, and honest broker or investment advisor before making any investment or speculative decisions.

To be notified when this blog is updated :
Please e-mail christianguinness@hotmail.com with "Subscribe to blog" in the subject line or click here to do so automatically if your computer is configured accordingly. We have never shared our mailing list with anyone, nor will we. Please note that we only send update notifications when a trade idea is diarized, not if a blog entry only contains general commentary.

closing UNG straddle +96% in 3 weeks, raising stop on SRS

We now close our straddle of UNG, the entry details for which are found in the post immediately below dated August 8.

We "close" this position effectively by selling the puts only at this time, last traded at $2.55

Selling the calls for the $0.05 currently bid is not worth it in our view, as there may be a rebound in UNG before the October expiry which may add significantly to the value of these calls. If that happens we'll update accordingly. For now consider this straddle closed for a profit of 96% in just 3 weeks.


We raise our stop on SRS to $10.45 thus limiting risk on this position to roughly 6% rather than the risk of roughly 15% represented by our original stop level. Details of this entry can also be found in the post immediately below dated August 8.



We receive no remuneration or incentive directly or indirectly in any way, shape, or form for buying or selling the stocks we do, or for mentioning any stocks or companies in this blog. If we hold existing positions we divulge the fact. This blog is merely a diary of some of our thoughts and trades and is in no way whatsoever to be considered investment advice of any kind. Always without fail consult a competent, experienced, and honest broker or investment advisor before making any investment or speculative decisions.

To be notified when this blog is updated :
Please e-mail christianguinness@hotmail.com with "Subscribe to blog" in the subject line or click here to do so automatically if your computer is configured accordingly. We have never shared our mailing list with anyone, nor will we. Please note that we only send update notifications when a trade idea is diarized, not if a blog entry only contains general commentary.