Slope of Hope Blog Posts

Slope initially began as a blog, so this is where most of the website’s content resides. Here we have tens of thousands of posts dating back over a decade. These are listed in reverse chronological order. Click on any category icon below to see posts tagged with that particular subject, or click on a word in the category cloud on the right side of the screen for more specific choices.

The Wayward Fish

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I just took a glance at my portfolio spreadsheet, where I also keep a record of the options positions I have closed to see what happened with them afterward. As you might guess, many of them continued to throw off profits, some of them into the triple digits. Of the top three, two of them are no surprise – – AMZN and TSLA – – since I told those puts way too soon. But the biggest “fish that got away” of them all is much less well-known, which is Lincoln Savings (LNC) whose ability to plunge after tops is in its nature.

It’s Twue! It’s Twue!

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Well, considering the tremendous “up” move by MDB last night, I figured my put options would be worthless this morning, since they are $40 out of the money. I assumed I’d be bid about a penny for them. Mercifully, that turned out not to be the case. They fell “only” 50%, which I considered a miraculous godsend, so I took my less-than-horrible beating. Here’s a live capture from the opening bell:

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Sticking with Costco

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Moments ago, I decided to take profits on Costco (symbol COST) because my March $550 puts have a 75% profit and they are announcing earnings on Thursday after the close. Just before I clicked the Sell button, however, I glanced over at my spreadsheet and noticed that 94% of the value of my puts was intrinsic. In other words, I’m paying virtually nothing for the uncertainty between now and March 17, which is over 100 days from now! I’m going to therefore stay put. It COST goes rocketing, oh, well, too bad, but my rational for dumping based on the earnings has been dispatched. I remain in position.