Trade Alert: Technical, 12/18/2023
Two bullish bets from the same source as the one that got away last week.
The One That Got Away
In Saturday’s Exits post, I mentioned a trade that we missed out on last week:
I’ve mentioned in the past that I have a curated “Market Watchers” list on X (formerly Twitter) I set up as a source of trade ideas. Checking it earlier this week, I saw this:
Upstart Holdings (UPST 0.00%↑) was trading at $35.50 then, and I was about to place an order to buy the at-the-market calls on it expiring on 12/15 at $1.15, or something like that. I was going to add it as a bonus trade in my 12/13 trade alert. I put it off until the next day, then got distracted with the MBI business, and by then the UPST had already moved. UPST ended the week at $44.52, meaning we could have made nearly 800% on those $35.50 calls. Sorry about missing that. I’ll pay more attention to my Market Watchers list going forward.
Paying Attention Now
Over the weekend, that same technical trader posted two more setups, both of which happened to be on stocks that were Portfolio Armor top ten names earlier this year, but have languished a bit over the last few months. We’ve got options trades on both of them today.
Details below.
Bullish Technical Trade #1
The stock is Tesla (TSLA 0.00%↑), and our trade is to buy the $295 strike call expiring on January 19th at $2.80. The max upside on 1 contract is uncapped, the max loss is $280, and the break even is with TSLA at $297.80 (the initial target on this one is $300). This filled at $2.80.
Bullish Trade #2
The stock is Super Micro Computer (SMCI 0.00%↑), and our trade is a vertical spread expiring on January 19th buying the $340 strike calls and selling the $350 strike calls for a net debit of $1.85. The max gain on 2 contracts is $1,630, the max loss is $370, and the break even is with SMCI at $341.85 (The initial target on this one is $350). This trade hasn’t filled yet. SMCI spiked 7% today. Maybe we can get a fill on this on a pullback this week. Otherwise, we’ll reevaluate. $345 strike calls and selling the $350 strike calls for a net debit of $1.55. The max gain on 2 contracts is $690, the max loss is $310, and the break even is with SMCI at $346.55. This filled at $1.27 on 12/19.
Exiting These Trades
We’ll aim to exit if the stocks hit these targets, or as we get close to expiration, whichever comes first.
Out of the SMCI spread today at a net credit of $0.91, for a loss of 41%.
Please see above: I adjusted the SMCI trade and have an open order for it now.