Protection (And Profit!) From a 10% Downside Move in AAPL

6/11/12
Stock gapped up today with the WWDC anticipation.  Closing out the put spreads for close to max profit.  Not going to take a chance with the call side.  Going to use the cash to look for better opportunities in July.

Trade:
BTC AAPL June 12 545/540 put spreads for ($0.33-$0.24) x 100 x 5 spreads = $45 paid vs. $230 received = $185 profit
BTC AAPL June 12 600/605 bear call spreads for ($2.73-$1.71) x 100 x 5 spreads = $510 paid vs. $450 received = $60 loss


Net P/L = $185 - $60 + $230 = $355

6/7/12
Rolled the put spreads up to higher strikes to collect a little more premium prior to next week's opex.  Not getting too aggressive, staying under the rising trendline on the weekly & daily charts.  90% chance of max profit on this adjustment.

Trade:
BTC AAPL June 12 505/500 put spreads for ($0.12-$0.06) x 100 x 5 spreads = $30 paid vs. $260 received = $230 profit
Sold AAPL June 12 545/540 put spreads for ($1.63-$1.17) x 100 x 5 spreads = $230 premium received

5/15/12
This isn't a true roll in the sense that I'm not re-using the margin from these spreads for this new trade.  However, since I like to treat the legs of iron condors as two separate trades, I'll consider it a roll.  Looking for AAPL to continue trading in a range with a close between 505 and 600 on June opex.  Using the 50-day sma and resistance now since the price currently sits below it.  Max pain theory puts the peg around 574 for now.

Trade:
Sold AAPL June 12 600/605 bear call spreads for ($5.10-$4.20) x 100 x 5 spreads = $450 premium received

5/7/12
So the world didn't end this weekend.  Futures looked ugly at one point but made a nice reversal.  The market made a decent bounce from Friday's selloff.

None of that is any reason to get aggresively long though.  And because of that I gave Apple (AAPL) plenty of room to slip with my latest credit spread trade.

Here I'm using the two intermediate support lines as well as the lower Bollinger band to keep my short strike under.  At the time I openend the trade, the 505 strike was ~12% below the current stock price.  OptionsHouse says I have an 86% chance of max profit.  There is also high put OI at 550, and the current peg is 575.

Note that this trade is for June opex.  Not a whole lot of premium left in May.

Trade:
Sold AAPL June 12 505/500 put spreads for ($4.44-$3.92) x 100 x 5 spreads = $260 premium received

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