Options Trades By Damocles

Options Trading for Income

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First Contact complete: Debriefing My Five-Year Mission into The Passive Income Frontier

Our five-year mission: to boldly explore the uncharted territories of Vertical Spreads, to seek out new income streams (and promptly watch t

Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship… uh… Longshot. Our five-year mission: to boldly explore the uncharted territories of Vertical Spreads, to seek out new income streams (and promptly watch them fizzle), to boldly lose… er, I mean, generate… a modest return on investment. Our continuing mission, for five years, has boldly… well, mostly broken even. But hey, at least the view from the holodeck is nice. Mission… complete-ish.

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A 5-Year Performance Review Selling Vertical Spreads (2019 - 2023)

As I recount my 5-year journey in the world of Vertical Bull Put Credit Spreads, I liken the strategy to the seductive but ultimately unfulf

As I recount my 5-year journey in the world of Vertical Bull Put Credit Spreads, I liken the strategy to the seductive but ultimately unfulfilling Mrs. Robinson. I shared my struggles, doubts, and moments of despair. Yet, small victories always rekindled my hopes, and I kept searching for my own “Options Income” of success. But now is the time to say, “Goodbye, Mrs. Robinson.”

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Not So Quicken - New Schwab Accounts Download to Quicken

My Ameritrade accounts were transferred to Charles Schwab on the weekend of Nov 3. And for the better part of this month, I’ve been picking up the pieces. I felt like Carl Fredricksen in a slow slog, trudging towards my new investment home. Towing my Schwab accounts over my shoulder as I seek Paradise Falls (a.k.a. Quicken). Table of Content Commentary – Not So Quicken This Month’s Market…

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How to Connect Excel with Thinkorswim

How do you connect Schwab’s Thinkorswim (TOS) desktop trading platform with your Excel spreadsheet? How about how to use the Thinkorswim RTD commands to live stream data into your Excel Watch List? Even better, how about downloading my Excel Options Watch List to see how it works? The Avengers (2012) is an action-packed superhero film that tells the story of a group of superheroes who must come…

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Why Bother Selling Vertical Bull Put Credit Spreads?

With the US deficit approaching $2 trillion this year, inflation at a gut-buster 17.5% above 2020's consumer prices, interest rates at a sti

With the US deficit approaching $2 trillion this year, inflation at a gut-buster 17.5% above 2020’s consumer prices, interest rates at a stifling 5.25%, expanding military involvement in the Middle East, Europe, and Asia, a dangerously polarized population, a politically dysfunctional Congress, and the uncertainty of another scorching election-year rematch between Biden and Trump. Why bother selling Vertical Bull Put Credit Spreads?

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Preparing for the Transfer: TD Ameritrade to Charles Schwab

Explore the implications of transferring TD Ameritrade accounts to Charles Schwab. Learn more about how your liquidity, functionality, and o

In this month’s Trade Journal post, I want to explore what to expect when my TdAmeritrade accounts are transferred to the Charles Schwab platform. There’s going to be a little sphincter tightening for me until the transfers are completed.

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Bidenomics Dances the Shipoopi (Bipoopiomics)

Has “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” been supplanted with “Inclusion, Equity and the pursuit of Climate Justice?” Bidenomics dan

Has “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” been supplanted with “Inclusion, Equity and the pursuit of Climate Justice?” It seems like Bidenomics is dancing the Shipoopi with Lady Liberty – Bipoopiomics

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Economic Outlook Supporting My 2023 Vertical Spreads

The S&P 500 is only 4% away from our pre-COVID high of 4,776. Any new Vertical Bull Put Credit Spread I open in the next few months will hop

Today, the S&P 500 is only 4% away from our pre-COVID high of 4,776 – the start of all this market management lunacy. Any new Vertical Bull Put Credit Spread I open in the next couple of months will hopefully trigger my exit rules long before the one-year expiration dates. The Economic Outlook for my 2023 Vertical Spreads looks pretty good.

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Out Perform the S&P 500 - Woo-Hoo!

My CND compels me to measure my Options income to gauge whether I’m making money or wasting my time. After a year of ill-reporting my P&L, I

My CND compels me to measure my Options income to gauge whether I’m making money or wasting my time. After a year of ill-reporting my P&L, I made one minor D’oh correction. I’m now relieved to see that my Vertical Bull Put Credit Spreads ARE outperforming the S&P 500.

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Exit Rules - Yearlys Vertical Bull Put Credit Spreads

I still have the goal of a monthly income, I still believe I can do so with Vertical Credit Spreads, and I still desire to be nerdy about it all. So here are my new Exit Rules for Yearly Vertical Bull Put Credit Spreads.

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Cover Calls WATCHLIST Using ThinkorSwim EXCEL

I will document my Cover Call Watchlist, which pulls live data from my ThinkorSwim trading platform into an Excel Spreadsheet.

This month’s Journal Entry feeds my nerdy side as I document my Cover Call Watchlist, which pulls live data from my ThinkorSwim trading platform into an Excel Spreadsheet. In addition, I will dissect my watchlist Excel spreadsheet and document how I calculated essential data points.

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Asking The Bing AI - 1 Month vs. 1 Year Vertical Bull Put Credit Spreads

This month I want to see if Microsoft's new Bing AI search engine can help me with a new Vertical Bull Put Credit Spread strategy.

In this month’s journal entry’s commentary, I want to see if Microsoft’s new Bing AI search engine can help me with a new Vertical Bull Put Credit Spread strategy.

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Index of S&P 500 Companies Trading Above Their 200-Day SMA

This month's Trading Journal will review a new chartable index - tracking the number of S&P 500 companies trading above their 200-Day Simple

This month’s Trading Journal commentary will review a new chartable index – tracking the number of S&P 500 companies trading above their 200-Day Simple Moving Average (SMA). Below I charted the S&P over the past 20 years and annotated some of the most egregious Feds machinations.

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Exit Strategy - Rolling Winning Vertical Bull Put Credit Spreads

This month, I want to revisit my Vertical Bull Put Credit Spreads’ Exit Strategy - particularly when to exit a winning position. I want to t

This month, I want to revisit my Vertical Bull Put Credit Spreads’ Exit Strategy – particularly when to exit a winning position. I want to take my painful experience of last year and craft a new strategy a bit more workable.

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Selling Vertical Credit Spreads for Income - 2022's Year-End Results

This month's journal entry is my 2022 year-end results and performance review for selling Vertical Bull Put Credit Spreads for income.

The downturn in the 2022 markets began on cue – the first week in January. And by the end of that first month, I  was already falling down the “Correction” rabbit hole. I am ending this year with a frustrating loss of 41.3%. But I still have a couple of bucks left, so I’m still in business! 

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Budget, Goals, and New Rules for 2023 Vertical Spreads

Budget for Vertical Options Spreads - With a little prestidigitation, this month's journal entry intends to redefine my goals, mission state

After 2022, Painful Experience will have to be approbation enough. But with a little prestidigitation, this month’s journal entry intends to define my Budget, Goals, Mission Statement, and new Entry/Exit rules for 2023 – Zimzalabim!

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Hunt for Red November

The 2022 mid-term election is just a week away. And I, for one, will be glad to see the crazy Progressive Experiment reined in. The McCarthy

The 2022 mid-term election is just a week away. And I, for one, will be glad to see the crazy Progressive Experiment reined in. The McCarthyismistic tactics of the past two years have done more damage to the unity of our country than any social-economic crusade of the past 50. Their haphazard approach to throwing a motley of social reforms against the Constitution to see what sticks, then viciously defaming everyone who disagrees, was painful.