Wiki Selling TSLA Options - Be the House

[SpeedyEddy]

Wow, Dec 2025 -c500's nearly $50, that's crazy money...

Do you have ability to write more CC's and CSP's? 2x -ATM straddle buys-back 1x -c500, whichever way the SP moves, you've halved the risk and can then roll up the calls from here, or let the puts assign and then go 2x -cATM the week after to remove another (to 10x, depending on how much wiggle-room you've got)

Always risk that the SP dumps or pops of course, although one would have thought that 300 would be strong resistance and support when, and if, it arrives

I‘d rather sell 240 puts for dec 2025, less chance they would be in the money and I am pretty sure it will be better for peace of mind when time goes by.
same premium, but you can loose if SP drops far enough below 190 (for a while, causing assignments as we experienced before).

 

[dl003]

Good point!

How are you positioned for the next few days?

I'm short 310Ps and 275Ps & 335Cs. The Cs I'm going to close for 30% gains. The 275Ps I'm going to roll to next week before ER tomorrow. The 310Ps I'm going to ride into ER.

 

[SpeedyEddy]

We're bumping up against a strong resistance going into ER, which means we should expect some defensive positioning from big players. It should not be taken as a predictor for what's going to happen tomorrow. Throughout TSLA history, shorts have been loaded again and again. Sometimes they paid, sometimes they didn't. TSLA still went from $1 to $290.

To be clear, I'm still net long into ER. While a pullback can happen, it's become more and more clear to me (personal opinion, still needs to be confirmed by the chart) that a new bull market in TSLA began at 102, therefore I'm willing to sell ATM puts until my upside targets have been hit. I'm not advocating for buying calls.

Agree, just did -P287,50 for Friday at 10 dollar premium, plan to close tomorrow, just to be sure.

 

[SpeedyEddy]

I'm short 310Ps and 275Ps & 335Cs. The Cs I'm going to close for 30% gains. The 275Ps I'm going to roll to next week before ER tomorrow. The 310Ps I'm going to ride into ER.

Your money where your mouth istruly

 

[Max Plaid]

I can’t write more CCs since all my TSLA shares are spoken for in the -C500 12/2025 and -C450 12/2025 short calls, so any new short calls will be naked. I’m 100% off margin fortunately, yet have a bit of room to try a few things due to the equity in the account.

What kind of ATM straddle are you referring to, buy call/sell put at same strike; buying both a put and a call same strike?

Thanks again!

"-ATM straddle" means a short call and put, the idea behind which is that one side will win, so you could write 2x -p290 + 2x -c290 and buy back one of the -c500's with the premiums. Come expiry you'll be left with either 2x ITM puts or calls, but not both. To make this work you'd need to free up one contract, so you could write 4x -pATM, but back one contract with the premiums, then write a -cATM to get the ball rolling

Not advice, just ideas

 

[phantasms]

Hey guys....quickish question. So, I just sold half my TSLA shares. I know that seems insane but I have a unique financial situation where cash now is better than cash later so it made sense to do. Anyway, I'm flush with a lot of cash and want to play the monthly options game. I also quit my job so I'll be out running in the mountains versus sitting at the computer all day. That's why I want to switch from weekly to monthly. More of a set it and forget it situation. Maybe I'll end up doing a mix.

Anyway, I looked into trying to find which online brokers actually give a decent yield on cash. I'm currently trading with JPM and TDameritrade and they give nearly nothing. I came across Interactive Brokers giving nearly 4.5%. Does anyone use them for options, are they any good? Is one able to roll options? I've had to suffer with closing and opening quickly up until now. lol Any real risk of them folding and my losing all my funds? I try and spread things out to stay under FDIC limits. I'm bullish on TSLA but still very worried about the macro.

Very much appreciated!

To the moon,
Gene

 

[dl003]

Hey guys....quickish question. So, I just sold half my TSLA shares. I know that seems insane but I have a unique financial situation where cash now is better than cash later so it made sense to do. Anyway, I'm flush with a lot of cash and want to play the monthly options game. I also quit my job so I'll be out running in the mountains versus sitting at the computer all day. That's why I want to switch from weekly to monthly. More of a set it and forget it situation. Maybe I'll end up doing a mix.

Anyway, I looked into trying to find which online brokers actually give a decent yield on cash. I'm currently trade with JPM and TDameritrade and they give nearly nothing. I came across Interactive Brokers giving nearly 4.5%. Does anyone use them for options, are they any good? Is one able to roll options? I've had to suffer with closing and opening quickly up until now. lol Any real risk of them folding and my losing all my funds? I try and spread things out to stay under FDIC limits. I'm bullish on TSLA but still very worried about the macro.

Very much appreciated!

To the moon,
Gene

I love IBKR. Have been able to do everything I wanted to do, except making money, but getting there any day now...

 

[BornToFly]

I'm torn on what will happen after ER. Decided to sell 15X Jan 2024 250 Puts today. If it drops, will sell more for better premium on Thursday. If it goes up, at least I locked in some premium....

 

[UltradoomY]

Hey guys....quickish question. So, I just sold half my TSLA shares. I know that seems insane but I have a unique financial situation where cash now is better than cash later so it made sense to do. Anyway, I'm flush with a lot of cash and want to play the monthly options game. I also quit my job so I'll be out running in the mountains versus sitting at the computer all day. That's why I want to switch from weekly to monthly. More of a set it and forget it situation. Maybe I'll end up doing a mix.

Anyway, I looked into trying to find which online brokers actually give a decent yield on cash. I'm currently trading with JPM and TDameritrade and they give nearly nothing. I came across Interactive Brokers giving nearly 4.5%. Does anyone use them for options, are they any good? Is one able to roll options? I've had to suffer with closing and opening quickly up until now. lol Any real risk of them folding and my losing all my funds? I try and spread things out to stay under FDIC limits. I'm bullish on TSLA but still very worried about the macro.

Very much appreciated!

To the moon,
Gene

I know you have been around for a long time and around here so I will save you the normal read the first page stuff - but there really isn't some set it and forget it.
If you have a position that is monthly just be ready to roll just like weeklies or have it assign / called away.

Not really sure what your reasons are, hopefully everything is good with health and happiness.

If I was looking to do this "set it and forget it" I would be targeting 45 day expirations - 20% OTM and do it on 10% of my position per week -

Meaning week 1 - sell 45 days out 20% OTM CC - 20% of account size
Week 2 - sell next monthly (after above since weeklies are only for 60 days to exp) 20% above current strike 20% account size
Week 3 sell next monthly - 20% size - 20% OTM
Week 4 sell next monthly 20% size - 20% OTM

Repeat as they roll off and still have 20% left for "fixing"

 

[phantasms]

Thank you for this. Yes, I truly don’t mind if puts or calls get executed as it will be a small amount of cash or shares. Health is very good. Thank you. Honestly my wife comes from a very wealthy family so my kid is all set and our future wouldn’t change even if TSLA went 50x from here. It was just time for me to jump out of the daily grind and enjoy myself. In no way is this meant to be a humblebrag or anything stupid like that. I bought TSLA in 2018 hoping maybe I could buy a Roadster. My father in law always said TSLA going to zero. So, now I can quit my job and enjoy my time with my son and get a roadster [when it comes out in 2069 lol] and let the other half fly. I came from lower middle class and understand every single day how fortunate and purely lucky I am. You’re all awesome and thank you for everything.

 

[tivoboy]

Hey guys....quickish question. So, I just sold half my TSLA shares. I know that seems insane but I have a unique financial situation where cash now is better than cash later so it made sense to do. Anyway, I'm flush with a lot of cash and want to play the monthly options game. I also quit my job so I'll be out running in the mountains versus sitting at the computer all day. That's why I want to switch from weekly to monthly. More of a set it and forget it situation. Maybe I'll end up doing a mix.

Anyway, I looked into trying to find which online brokers actually give a decent yield on cash. I'm currently trading with JPM and TDameritrade and they give nearly nothing. I came across Interactive Brokers giving nearly 4.5%. Does anyone use them for options, are they any good? Is one able to roll options? I've had to suffer with closing and opening quickly up until now. lol Any real risk of them folding and my losing all my funds? I try and spread things out to stay under FDIC limits. I'm bullish on TSLA but still very worried about the macro.

Very much appreciated!

To the moon,
Gene

IBKR and Fidelity offer the best rates on cash. 4.75-4.8.

Options require a lot more attention and care and feeding than holding stock. So plan your times without any coverage accordingly and setup a LOT of alerts. TOS is my go to for alert config and planning.

 

[SpeedyEddy]

Yeah Data, It seems almost too easy and cheap, the options business and with IBKR (via Lynx here in Holland) you've got a rudimentary looking but quick and easy to understand and above that especially all-that-you-can-think-of-is-possible desktopkit. With also mobile apps that are more slick, but IMO easy to make mistakes with (especially mixing up sell/buy buttons ;-) low and very transparant fees, only to trade, not to hold (AFAIK, in Holland, via Lynx)

 

[juanmedina]

Thank you for this. Yes, I truly don’t mind if puts or calls get executed as it will be a small amount of cash or shares. Health is very good. Thank you. Honestly my wife comes from a very wealthy family so my kid is all set and our future wouldn’t change even if TSLA went 50x from here. It was just time for me to jump out of the daily grind and enjoy myself. In no way is this meant to be a humblebrag or anything stupid like that. I bought TSLA in 2018 hoping maybe I could buy a Roadster. My father in law always said TSLA going to zero. So, now I can quit my job and enjoy my time with my son and get a roadster [when it comes out in 2069 lol] and let the other half fly. I came from lower middle class and understand every single day how fortunate and purely lucky I am. You’re all awesome and thank you for everything.

I am so jealous. Congratulations. There is more important things than money and watching a stock every day is not really that fun.

I own some VUSXX Vanguard Treasury Market Fund with a yield of 5.06% right now which should be really safe. Or buy some AT&T it is at the lowest price since 1993 but pays a 8.19% dividend .

 

[Cherry Wine]

I love IBKR. Have been able to do everything I wanted to do, except making money, but getting there any day now...

+1 for IBKR. Solid platform - have been very content with them since switching about 18 months ago.

 

[SpeedyEddy]

looks like SP 296 incoming today on the close, which would make a big green candle, normally not a point to go out of long positions already, I guess 312 (old resistance!) is a possible top for the week too and I am guessing a rebound from that will (if we go up tomorrow) occur before ER.
I expect the stock to drop on Thursday if Gross margin is below 18, AND there is no news on pricing of CT (very low "MSRP") AND no brutal energy revenues (that could be very surprising I hope). Lots of variables, which makes me unsure. We did not get much "buy the news"signals out of earnings (last one was last Q though ;-) and that is my thesis for this one too (ie a SP drop after-hours). But normally when I think so, the opposite occurs. So see this post as me revealing my thoughts, nothing else!

 

[mickle]

Hey guys....quickish question. So, I just sold half my TSLA shares. I know that seems insane but I have a unique financial situation where cash now is better than cash later so it made sense to do. Anyway, I'm flush with a lot of cash and want to play the monthly options game. I also quit my job so I'll be out running in the mountains versus sitting at the computer all day. That's why I want to switch from weekly to monthly. More of a set it and forget it situation. Maybe I'll end up doing a mix.

Anyway, I looked into trying to find which online brokers actually give a decent yield on cash. I'm currently trading with JPM and TDameritrade and they give nearly nothing. I came across Interactive Brokers giving nearly 4.5%. Does anyone use them for options, are they any good? Is one able to roll options? I've had to suffer with closing and opening quickly up until now. lol Any real risk of them folding and my losing all my funds? I try and spread things out to stay under FDIC limits. I'm bullish on TSLA but still very worried about the macro.

Very much appreciated!

To the moon,
Gene

I use Etrade and have most of my cash in US Treasuries making over 5% (2-6 month bills). They are easy to buy. The margin requirement is only 1% on those so there is a lot of non-margin buying power left for options (if you had $1M in treasuries you would have $990,000 option buying power). And then you also don't need to worry about FDIC insurance.

 

[mongo]

I use Etrade and have most of my cash in US Treasuries making over 5% (2-6 month bills). They are easy to buy. The margin requirement is only 1% on those so there is a lot of non-margin buying power left for options (if you had $1M in treasuries you would have $990,000 option buying power). And then you also don't need to worry about FDIC insurance.

E-trade margin interest is 12% on accounts under $500k though, wouldn't going into margin for treasuries lose you money?

 

[SpeedyEddy]

Decided to wait out tomorrows surprises, so for the supposed stock-run, then sell the equivalent shares to my -P position in hope for a short drop to pick up stock via -P assignment, hopefully between 277.5 and 287.5 and if that doesn't play out (SP keeps rising) be quick to buy back after-hours* within 10-dollars rise, neutralized bij premium on -P which I got today. Will only go wrong if SP skyrockets, which some of optionholders apparently still expect... Sky-rocketing from these levels seems not very likely, so to me it sounds OK to plan for this.
* another nice thing about IBKR (via Lynx, but also US IBKR I think) @phantasms: You can trade stock after and before hours!!

 

[mickle]

E-trade margin interest is 12% on accounts under $500k though, wouldn't going into margin for treasuries lose you money?

No, the treasuries are bought with cash, then you get non-margin buying power for options. Never borrowing anything on margin.

 

[mongo]

No, the treasuries are bought with cash, then you get non-margin buying power for options. Never borrowing anything on margin.

Weird, so you can have 1 million of treasuries and 500k of options and not be in margin with $1M of original funds? I get Treasuries are low risk, but I don't see why they let you do that...