On 2/4/10, I BTC 1 FCX Feb10 80 Put and STO 1 FCX May10 80 Put for a net deposit of $233.41 in an IRA account.  My basis for these FCX shares would now be 75.45 if Put to me.

I originally sold the Feb10 Puts on Jan 19.  Almost immediately, the stock began to fall.  That makes it my fault of course.    Actually, the market in general began to fall and in particular there appears to be some evidence that China may be reducing its copper purchases in 2010 by about 50%.  The two really hammered FCX down into the mid 60′s.  I would like to own additional FCX, but buying it with a basis in the high 70′s felt a little uncomfortable.

As I write this, FCX has been rebounding for a few days and is trading at about $72.  I will have to laugh if it continues to recover and is above 80 by expiration date in two weeks.  On the other hand, if it is still above $80 by expiration in May I will have made more that $455 on the series of transactions.  There is no real argument with positive returns.

By the way, with this post I am once again current with reporting my trades and dividend receipts.