Today I repurchased four positions in put option contracts to lock in gains and bolster our capital liquidity. Yesterday, I initiated two more short put contracts in Fastly (FSLY) – to which our portfolio exposure is now over five percent, third-most of all companies. To begin the day, but after one put option had closed on a limit order, we only held 7.9% of the portfolio in cash. With the election fewer than twenty days away and $68,500 assigned to secure put options sold short, I decided to take profit on three more put contracts.
First, our position in Chewy (CHWY) closed on our previous limit order for $43.69. We only held the position for one day because CHWY has been pretty volatile, see chart. We netted $40.61 on $5,250 which may only be 0.8%, but annualized – over one day - was 282.3%.
Second, I closed our BlackLine put option, we held it for 14 days and netted $129.30 with $7,500 exposed to the trade. The return of 1.7% over two weeks equates to a 44.9% return on an annualized basis.
Third, I closed one of our two short positions in Appian (APPN) for $50, netting $74.30. Over the 14 days we held the position, with $5,000 at stake, the trade returned 1.5%, 38.7% on an annualized basis.
Fourth, I bumped our limit order up to $78 to repurchase to close the Activision Blizzard put. Again, we held this position for 14 days and netted $74.30 or 1.1%. On an annualized basis, this return was 27.7%.
Altogether, these four closing transactions freed $24,500, or 3.4% of the portfolio, for further investment. Each of the four option contracts were due to expire after the election – the CHWY contract expires on November 13th while the three other contracts expire on November 20th. Hopefully, the market will reward our exposure to FSLY as it has the four transactions closed today.