Options Trading Monthly Report January 2021
“Oops! I did it again”. No, I am not talking about Britney Spear’s song. I am talking about how I sold Call options again and lost money again. This time it was BAD because they were GME and BBBY Call options. I lost most of the profits I made last year.
Why do we self-sabotage? Upon doing a quick Google search, it seems there could be certain aspects of my life that I am not doing well (either consciously aware or unaware of) and that might have led me to self-sabotage. I am getting so sick and tired of this behavior so added the following three books to my reading list to learn more about what self-sabotage behavior is all about. More to come on that topic once I finish these books.
- Stop Self-Sabotage: Six Steps to Unlock Your True Motivation, Harness Your Willpower, and Get Out of Your Own Way
- Get Out of Your Own Way: Overcoming Self-Defeating Behavior
- Stop Doing That Sh*t: End Self-Sabotage and Demand Your Life Back (Unfu*k Yourself series)
What puzzles me is that if the GME and BBBY short Call options were not included in the PNL, the Wheel strategy produced a 10% return (of the entire account) in January. There was no reason for me to take such stupendous action, yet I did it.
There are a few reasons I could think of why I short GME and BBBY.
- Overconfidence: The Wheel Strategy has been going on so well that I got cocky.
- Got bored: The Wheel Strategy has been going on so well that I felt like doing something different.
- FOMO: Everyone is talking about GME and short squeeze. Why not join the game so I can talk about it too.
- Ego: I want to prove that I am a good options trader, I can trade all kinds of strategies, even though I don’t need to do that.
- Greed: The Implied Volatility (IV) of GME and BBBY options were so high that I wanted to make a quick buck.
January 2021 PNL
NOTE: How I Record PNL for the Wheel Strategy
If I would get assigned for underlying stocks I would sell Covered call on them. I do not record PNL for such positions until I am able to close them.
In other words, I do not record the PNL unless the “Wheel” is completed.
Below is a brief summary of how the PNL is recorded.
Sell Put: If it expires out of the money (not assigned with a stock) or closed out early, it is recorded in the PNL. If a stock is assigned, it is not recorded.
Sell Covered Call: PNL is recorded when the Call is expired out of the money or closed out. It is also recorded when assigned.
Sell Stock: PNL is recorded.
Table of Contents
January 2021 PNL
| Spread Type | Month | PNL |
| COVERED | January | $ 169 |
| DIAGONAL | January | $ 2,192 |
| SINGLE | January | $ (32,267) |
| STRADDLE | January | $ – |
| STRANGLE | January | $ – |
| VERTICAL | January | $ 80 |
NOTE on Spread Type: When transactions are exported from Thinkorswim the spread type is already assigned by the platform. “Single” means a single leg option. Selling Put is considered “Single”. Selling Call is also considered “Single”. Since I only sell Call options when a stock is assigned, the system assigned the selling Call as “Single”. If a position is opened as a Covered Call (buying stock and selling a Call option at the same time), the system would assign it as a “Covered”.
For January 2021, short Call GME and BBBY were also included in “Single”.
January 2021 Top Winners
EOLS continues to be the top winner since November 2020. GNW remains on the list since December 2020 thanks to speculation that the merger with Oceanwide would be completed (which it did not). KNDI is a new entry and is a part of the electric vehicle-related stocks that kept popping up on the screener since late 2020.
| Symbol | January PNL |
| EOLS | $ 2,850 |
| GNW | $ 1,869 |
| KNDI | $ 1,258 |
EOLS
Positions closed were opened back in late November / early December when the stock was still hovering between the $3 and $4 range. The stock price took off so now is trading close to $7. IV is still pretty high so with the right market condition (such as elevated market volatility), there could be a good entry point again.
GNW
I already had some short Put positions in December but opened more at $4 strike and $3.5 strike short Put positions right before the stock price tanked at the end of December 2020. Some expired out of the money in January, which contributed to the January PNL. Also got assigned with some stocks since the stock price dropped below $4 at expiration so holding on to them until the price recovers back to $4 to get out.
KNDI
Entered in early and late December. It’s an electric vehicle-related stock that showed up on my screener just like these other electric vehicle-related stocks back in December. The IV was pretty high so opened options with a strike price below the $6 support/resistance line and still managed to get a pretty decent premium.
Kandi Technologies Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, and commercializes electric vehicle (EV) products and parts and off-road vehicles in the People’s Republic of China and internationally
January 2021 Top Losers
| Symbol | January PNL |
| GME | $ (37,985) |
| BBBY | $ (9,010) |
| K | $ (250) |
GME
If you have been following the market lately, I believe no introduction is needed for this one. I somehow thought selling a Call option was a good idea when the stock price went up beyond $100 and dropped significantly the day prior on 1/25/2021 (red arrow). Opened a short Call position at a $200 strike when the stock was trading around $90 the next day (1/26/2021). The position was going to expire in 3 days so I was pretty confident it would not spike beyond $200.
Who could predict that the stock would climb to more than $150 the same day and went on to reach more than $300 the next day (1/27/2021). It also overlapped with the VIX spike because S&P 500 was dropping significantly on 1/27/2021 so IV for the options jumped even further and made it more expensive to buy back the open positions. Closed my positions on 1/27/2021.
BBBY
Bed Bath & Beyond was also a stock that was heavily traded around the same time GME was going crazy. It had a spike then retraced back lower the day prior to my entry (1/25/2021). Same kind of thinking as GME. Opened multiple short Call positions at $60 strike with weekly options on 1/26/2021 (red arrow). Did not think about potential loss and was just thinking how unlikely it would be for the stock to go beyond $60. Combination of a large spike in stock price and an increase in IV, it got really expensive to buy back the options. Closed my positions on 1/27/2021 on the day the stock price jumped up to $53.9 at one point.
K
This is one of those positions that I did everything right even though I lost money. The stock price breached the support/resistance line (around $62) a few days prior to me exiting my position. My position was at a $60 strike so I gave it a few days to see if it would recover but it just kept going down so got out when it got closer to $58. The stock price ended up recovering about 2 weeks later, then started declining again. Who could have predicted that?
Cumulative PNL for 2021
| Spread Type | PNL | Trade Count | PNL / Trade |
| SINGLE | $ (32,261) | 69 | $ (467.55) |
| STRADDLE | $ – | 0 | #DIV/0! |
| DIAGONAL | $ 2,192 | 4 | $ 548.00 |
| COVERED | $ 169 | 1 | $ 169.00 |
| VERTICAL | $ 80 | 2 | $ 40.00 |
| STRANGLE | $ – | 0 | #DIV/0! |
Win/Loss Ratio
| Spread Type | Win | Loss | % Win |
| SINGLE | 63.00 | 6.00 | 91% |
| STRADDLE | – | – | #DIV/0! |
| DIAGONAL | 4.00 | – | 100% |
| COVERED | 1.00 | – | 100% |
| VERTICAL | 1.00 | 1.00 | 50% |
| STRANGLE | – | – | #DIV/0! |
Thoughts for January Report
I was really upset the day I closed GME and BBBY positions but I was really surprised at how fast I recovered psychologically this time compared to so many times before when I made a bad mistake.
This experience made me realize that I am just not ready in so many aspects yet to be a successful options trader. I know success is relative. In my case, if I could produce a consistent profit from trading options, I consider it a success. Not hitting a million dollars. Not flying around with a private jet. I just want to be a consistently profitable options trader.
My primary option trading strategies incorporate volatility and I am constantly experimenting with various trading strategies to improve my PNL.
I hold two Master’s degrees (MSc and MBA) with career experience as a cancer research scientist and a digital marketer.
- Thanks, FOMC Meeting. Here We Go Again –VIX & SPX Review 11/5/2022 - November 5, 2022
- The Market Bottom, For Now – VIX & SPX Review 10/23/2022 - October 23, 2022
- Wow, CPI Data Wild Ride! – VIX & SPX Review 10/16/2022 - October 16, 2022
We learn everyday!. Thanks for sharing your experience with the Wheel Strategy. I enjoy reading your articles every month. I have been using the same strategy for couple of months and was able to generate about 10% every month so far. As you said, we need to make this return consistent for long term growth. Keep up the great work!
Hi Sandy,
Thank you for reading my articles and glad to hear your positive result with the Wheel Strategy!
Hey Tony, you are not the only going through this rollercoaster. I respect you because of you openness on your trades. I’m sure it will also help you to think about it thoroughly. Keep it up!
I didn’t do the deepdive on your website but did you report all the positions that you are taking? Or do you only report afterwards? I will look at them more closely.
Hi Jan,
Thanks for the kind words.
As of now I only share some of the positions I had in the monthly reports. I do share a few positions that I am taking here and there as trade ideas here https://alphapursuits.com/category/trading-strategies-and-ideas/
I generally have open positions with 20 – 30 underlying at any given time.
Do you have Subscription based Wheel Strategy Options top picks either monthly or weekly ?
Many thanks
Hi Francis,
Subscription-based service is now available. You will be able to see what open positions I have for the Wheel strategy.
https://alphapursuits.com/wheel-positions/