I find that I am not doing a good job of reporting my new option sales for the week right after option expiration each month.  It just hangs over me and for one reason or another I don’t get it done in a timely manner.  To help solve that problem for me I am trying this new bulk format where I only make comment on those trades that seem to require additional comment.

Beginning on Monday, March 22, 2010, after the Mar10 Options expired I began to sell new Options for Apr10 and beyond.  Below is a picture of my new transactions so far.  I have additional transactions to make and will write about them as they occur.

I have written about most of the underlying stocks before so most of these transactions do not require additional comment.  For the Covered Calls transactions I generally select strike prices that I feel give me the best chance of the underlying stock not being called away.  For the Put transactions I generally select strike prices that I feel give me the best chance of the underlying stock not being assigned to me.  In some cases I don’t care if the stock is called away or put to me or some other situation is worth mentioning about the transaction.  I note those cases below.

The 3 CKR Sep10 Covered Calls at 12.50 are probably going to expire worthless if they even make it to September.  CKR has received and accepted an offer to go private at a price of $11.05.  CKR has the right to continue to search for better offers. 

DSX is already above the $15 strike price I sold for April.  $15 has appeared to be resistance going back to July of 2009 with a couple of higher peaks of around $18 and $16.50 in Nov and Jan.  DSX is certainly capable of being above $15 by April expiration just as it is capable of being below $15 at that time.  I chose the April expiration date because I was not real comfortable with where DSX might be going and the $15 strike price because I wanted to get a better option premium. I might need to roll the DSX Calls out to September if I want to do so at a profit.

I sold the AA Oct10 16 Covered Calls and the AA Oct10 14 Puts with the thought that AA would probably be above 14 in October but if not I could add some additional shares and reduce my basis for my total AA holdings.  If AA turns out to be above $16 in October I will need to roll it out simply because my basis is well above $16.

I have sold NYX Covered Calls at the $30 strike on 5 prior occasions since Jul09.  They have expired worthless each time.  NYX seems to have a hard time getting above, or staying above, $30.  I sold the current Calls only one month out because I am a little nervous about where it is going and did not want to be exposed very long to that strike

On Tuesday, 9/22/09. I sold 4 FNM Mar10 3 Covered Calls for a net deposit of $74.98 in an IRA account.  My basis for these FNM shares is now 8.41, less dividends received.

Of course, FNM is not currently paying a dividend but I suspect that it will again one day.  In the meantime, I continue to decrease my basis by collection option premiums.  Unfortunately, I need to sell the options about 6 months out in order to collect a reasonable amount.  The risk I run is that something really good is report

On 3/23/09, I sold 4 FNM Sep09 3 Covered Calls for a net deposit of $49.00 in an IRA account.  My basis for these FNM shares is now 8.60, excluding dividends received.

Yes, I still own FNM shares and am still able to sell options on them.  Of course, they are not paying dividends now.  I don’t know when they will again or even if they will again.  I’ll keep selling Covered Calls on them, probably for as long as I can.  At some point, my basis will get so low that my effective return will be pretty good.  All I need is for options to continue to be offered and I live long enough.