11 Comments

The 5.00 strike options do not necessarily imply a move to zero in the stock, they also serve as a low cost hedge for traders selling premium at higher strikes . Also, the bottom leg frees up margin under RegT (retail) and JBO (market maker) rules.

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5.00 strike Options did not move with 9% fall in stock, I sold to close @0.17 (exch = EDGX) and repositioned with Buy To Open on 61-60 exp 3/31 Put Vertical @0.48 (exch = BOX).

101% gain if COIN is below 60 at close of day on Friday. 100% loss if COIN is above 61 at Friday close.

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Mar 28, 2023·edited Mar 28, 2023Liked by Portfolio Armor

STC (sell to close) 61-60 put vertical expiring Friday .18 loss / 37%.

Looked like a short covering rally was starting so closed the position.

This is similar to how the banks traded in 2008. Very choppy.

Different from CVNA earlier this year where you had a quick drop with follow through afterward.

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author

Yeah, CVNA probably had less institutional money behind it. Cathie Wood has been buying some dips in COIN recently (though she sold some before its drop last week).

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BTO COIN 5 strike Puts exp Sept 15 2023 1x0.15, 4x0.18

exch EDGX

Trade Preview: 5 point move down in very near term pushes this option up 88% to 0.32 if implied volatility remains constant. This is much higher leverage than nearby strikes and expirations.

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Out of my COIN call at $7 for a ~7% gain. If I knew COIN was going to tank today, I would have set a higher price on my limit order last night.

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Hey David, correct me if I am wrong. This trade alert will cost $655 for one contract, am I right?

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author

That's correct, Joe, but you could also consider buying cheaper put options further out of the money, as David Janello has done.

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If you monitor the market activity today, you will see that the 6% move down in COIN in the drove the option price of the Sept 40 put 655- priced put to 690- at the midpoints and the 5 strike puts have not budged. The closer to the money options expand faster than the far out-of-the-money options. But if there is a short covering rally the very expensive puts will get hit hard.

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Why do you think the $5 strike puts didn't move today as their implied volatility on Friday suggested they would?

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The 5- point puts usually don't move that much but the 40- strike put @6.55 was really sticky : usually on a shock move down this option would move a lot more than 0.50. If the far out in time OTM puts aren't moving it's time to adjust. Closer in and closer to the ITM strike made sense at the time. The options prices are really high hence the vertical spread.

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