This morning I BTC 2 NYX Jun08 80 Puts and STO 2 NYX Sep08 80 Puts for a net deposit of $441.00 in an IRA account.

My basis in NYX if put to me at 80 would now be 65.84, well below it current price of 73.11.  I might actually let it be put to me in September and start collecting the dividends along with Covered Call premiums.  Or, who knows, this might keep going and I might end up owning the stock for $0.

Rolling these NYX puts out did several things for me.  It generated the additional $441, probably postponed an assignment, reduced my potential basis and locked in $1280 in premiums from the prior put sale which is the difference between what I garnered when I STO the Jun08 Puts and what it cost to BTC the Jun08 Puts.

This morning I BTC 1 TIE May08 17.50 Covered Calls and STO 1 TIE Dec08 22.50 Covered Call for a deposit of $42.51 in my taxable account.

I don’t normally like to sell Covered Calls so far out and for such a small premium but I wanted to roll up enough to provide some additional room for the stock to continue moving up.  The 22.50 strike price may not be enough but by December I should be able to roll it out and maybe up again.

The market is moving so fast in some areas that I can’t seem to keep up with it.  After April 2008 expiration I sold Covered Calls on several stocks at strike prices that I thought would allow them to expire worthless.  I was expecting the market to continue moving essentially sideways.  TIE is one example that did not behave as expected causing me to roll out and up.  Yesterday it was AA, MNST and NYX.  Again today I see that NYX has already moved ahead of my new strike price.  I have the same situation with DIVX but have not dealt with it yet.   In this case I need to call the broker (E*Trade) because for some reason (they gave me a reason but it sounded lame) they will not allow on-line trades on DIVX options.  With the exception of AA the other stocks I felt compelled to take action because my basis is below the strike price.  I am never happy just getting out of a stock with a loss when I can attempt to “fix” it with options.

This morning I BTC 2 NYX May08 70 Covered Calls and STO 2 NYX Sep08 75 Covered Calls for a net deposit of $461.01 in an IRA account.

NYX has been languishing until recently.  I sold the May08 70 Calls thinking they would probably expire worthless.  I guess they may have but with the run up of 3.27 to over $71 as I write this I got a little nervous and decided to roll these calls out and up.  I originally was put these NYX shares at 95 and with this latest transaction I now own them for $81.01.