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

This morning I sold 4 FRE Jan10 3 Covered Calls for a net deposit of $49.00 in an IRA account.  My basis for these FRE shares is now 7.64, excluding dividends received.

Yes, I still own some FRE shares.  I just figured I would get all I can from them before I need to sell them or they become absolutely worthless instead of just worthless. 

The reason I sold the options so far out is that only the Apr09 and Jan10 options are still available on FRE.

FRE actually rose .07 today on more that 12 million share volume.  I must admit that I don’t really understand what the deal is with FRE.  Somebody thinks it is worth something.  I originally thought that it was a total loss for me but now I don’t know.  So, I will just hang on to it and get what I can until all that is left is to sell it.

I sold 4 FNM Mar09 2.50 Covered Calls on 10/22/08 for a net deposit of $37.00 in an IRA account.  My basis for these FNM shares is now 8.72 excluding dividends received.

FNM is no longer paying any dividends since the Feds stepped in and established a conservator-ship.  I am actually confused as to what exactly that means to me as a stock holder.  The same with FRE.  Both stocks continue to trade and I continue to be able to sell Covered Calls on them.  I guess I’ll continue to do so until I can (if I can) recoup my investment.