I sold 15 contracts of McDermott Intl (MDR) with a loss.
Back on 10/30/19 I bought options on MDR. This is a very low priced stock and not my typical trade. I really never heard of the stock before, and I saw the Najarian Bros talking about it on their Unusually Activity segment on CNBC. I was having a great year and I guess I did a little gambling with a small amount of money. Even though it’s a small amount of money I still hate losing it, and possibly giving readers of Main Street beats Wall Street a bad example. I guess if it worked out I would look like a great trader, but it didn’t, and I don’t like making trades like this. However, we are in December so I’ll look at this as a tax write-off.
10/30/19 – Buy to Open 15 MDR 1/17/20 $1.50 C @ 65¢ ($975)
12/10/19 – Sell to Close 15 MDR 1/17/19 $1.50 C @ .05 ($75.00)
Loss -$900
When I preach about the dangers of buying options this is what I’m talking about. Even though I went out to Jan with the Strike Price, it wasn’t far enough. When I bought this option the stock was at $1.50. Today it’s at about 75¢. When the stock started down the Time Decay started hurting me immediately. Then I held on to long with the hopes the stock would recover. The problem is, while you wait for the stock to recover the Time Decay is killing the premium and the value of the option is moving down rapidly. If I fall into this situation after so many years, you can imagine what happens to new traders. This is why 80% of options expire worthless. This trade is a great learning tool for Grasshoppers.
I own a few more Long options I’m concerned with. But at least they’re with good companies, and I went out to June 2020 on the Strike. One is with DISH and the other is with PayPal. Like I said, I’m concerned with both. I can hope for a Santa rally and a good January, or I can take another tax write-off. Let’s watch and see.
Successful trading,
Steve
The Options Coach