Yesterday I sold 2 DSX Nov08 20 Covered Calls for a net deposit of $140.50 in an IRA account.  My basis for DSX is now 32.46.

DSX has been a good dividend payer but the stock price has suffered with the slowdown in the world economy.  I am waiting to see what the current quarter payout will be.  As long as I don’t called away I think I will end up being okay with DSX in the long term.

As I said earlier I was out of town and pretty much out of touch for a few days.  During that time E*Trade issued me a margin call and then swooped in on 10/13/08 and did some trading for me.  I had previously spoken to my E*Trade representative and given him my cell phone number but of course he lost it and could not contact me.  So, with that background, here is what happened.

BTC 5 AUY Jan09 15 Puts at a cost of $4961.74 which represents a net cost of 2323.53.

BTC 2 WFC Oct08 30 Covered Calls at a cost of $279.49 which represents a net profit of 31.01.

BTC 4 AA Apr09 40 Puts at a cost of $10850.99 which represents a net cost of 6962.01.

BTC 4 MSFT Jan10 35 Covered Calls at a cost of $330.99 which represents a net profit of 814.00.

BTC 2 DSX Dec08 40 Puts at a cost of $5195.49 which represents a net cost of 2525.00.

Sold 200 WFC for $5789.97 which represents a profit of 679.97.

Sold 400 MSFT for $9803.95 which represents a lost of 784.05.

When all is said and done I didn’t feel too bad this time about their actions to satisfy my margin call when I could not be reached.

On 8/22/08, I sold 2 DSX Oct08 35 Covered Calls for a net deposit of $60.50 in an IRA account.  My basis for these DSX shares is now 33.16.

DSX pays a good dividend, .91 in the most recent quarter and up each quarter from .58 four quarters ago.  I would have preferred to have sold Sep08 calls but needed to go out to Oct08 this time to be able to get a reasonable premium for the 35 strike price.  I intend to keep DSX as long as I can collect the dividends and option premiums.