Selling Puts Instead Of Buying Calls
We’ve got two trades today, one on our #1 name from last night’s top ten names.
The other is from our 7777 Chartmill screen (Profitability, growth, health, and valuation ratings of 7 out of 10 or better). Our top name from last night is a popular AI stock that has pulled back from its highs, and our 7777 name is a leading Chinese stock with the following Chartmill ratings:
Technical: 6
Set-up: 6
Profitability: 8
Growth: 8
Health: 9
Valuation: 9
We are structuring our bullish trades a little differently today, given current market conditions. We are taking advantage of current fear to sell puts instead of buying calls. Specifically, we are opening put spreads for net credits. Another advantage of this approach is that we don’t need a large positive move in the stocks to make money on these trades. If they are trading just a two or three dollars higher than they are now after they release earnings, we should be in the black.
The drawback is the maximum upside here is limited to 150% on one of the trades, and less on the other. In both cases, the maximum possible loss is 100%.
Details below.
Today’s Top Names Trade
The stock is Palantir Technologies (PLTR 0.00%↑), and our trade is a vertical spread expiring on May 16th, selling the $85 strike puts and buying the $80 strike puts, for a net credit of $2.80. The max gain on 2 contracts is $560, the max loss is $440, and the break even is with PLTR at $82.20. This trade hasn’t filled yet. I will keep it open until it fills or until March 11th, whichever comes first. This trade filled at $2.80 on 3/10/2025.
Today’s 7777 Trade
The stock is PDD Holdings (PDD 0.00%↑), and our trade is a vertical spread expiring on March 21st, selling the $125 strike puts and buying the $120 strike puts, for a net credit of $3. The max gain on 2 contracts is $600, the max loss is $400, and the break even is with PDD at $122. This trade hasn’t filled yet. I will keep it open until it fills or until March 17th, whichever comes first. This trade filled at $3 on 3/10/2025.
Exiting These Trades
Assuming these trades fill, I plan to buy-to-close both on their expiration dates, for as little as I have to pay to do so.
Exited the $PLTR trade today at a net debit of $0.30, for a gain of 114%.
Exited the $PDD spread at a net debit of $0.60 today, for a gain of 120%.