The E*Trade margin department came in with virtually no notice again on 10/16.  They normally allow 3 days to satisfy a margin call but this one happened so fast that it was done before I even saw that the call existed.  They are really getting nervous.  So, here is what happened this time:

BTC 2 HOG Nov08 42.50 Covered Calls for a net profit of $531.01.

BTC 2 FCX Jan09 50 Covered Calls for a net profit of $1920.94.

BTC 2 PNRA Nov08 Covered Calls for a net profit of $511.01.

Sold 200 HOG for $4991.98 for a net loss of 6560.02 on the stock.

Sold 200 FCX for $6805.97 for a net loss of 194.03 on the stock.

Sold 200 PNRA for $8051.96 for a net loss of 3160.04 on the stock.

I am a little disappointed in how quickly E*Trade took action this time.  I would also have been a little happier if they had BTC some of my open Puts.  I know they need to protect themselves and I am responsible for the decisions that led me here but I still feel a little violated.  Oh, well this too shall pass.

This morning I BTC 2 HOG Aug08 40 Calls and STO 2 HOG Nov08 42.50 Calls for a net deposit of $211.01 in my taxable account.  My basis on these HOG shares is now 57.76.

HOG has been moving up recently and surpassed my AUG08 strike price of 40.  As you can see above I am still underwater on HOG so do not want it called away yet, if ever.

These transactions, in addition to generating additional cash, raised my strike price by 2.50.  This will help my return if HOG is called away early.  It also helps me make the next step up if necessary down the road.  Ideally, I would like to hold onto HOG because it is a dividend paying stock at about 3.3% annually at the current price (about $41).

On 7/21/08, I sold 2 HOG Aug08 40 Calls for a net deposit of $80.50 in my taxable account.  My basis for HOG is now $58.51.

HOG has been moving up recently and even raised their dividend 10% last quarter.  HOG is trading at 38.97, up .94 as I write this.  I may need to keep an eye on it so I can roll it out and up if possible.

I have read and heard that HOG has suffered somewhat because of the lack of available finance dollars for buyers of motorcycles.  It would seem that there would still be renewed interest because of the cost of gasoline.  Even with gasoline going down right now it is still generally cheaper to ride a bike to work than to drive a car.  And, does anybody really believe that oil and gasoline are going to stay down?