RobinHood race from $2,500 to $250,000

[Fermion]

Hope so. I still have until Feb 1 before I can sell any of the March calls in my Roth (again, to avoid wash sale against taxable which would be very bad). Right now I am looking at over a 150% gain in the options so I would hate to lose that. I am ok with it going up $5,000 a day though!

 

[Running_Man]

Couldn't you buy an in the money put to lock in some of the gain if you wanted to?

 

[Fermion]

Couldn't you buy an in the money put to lock in some of the gain if you wanted to?

It is risky because the IRS does not have clear rules on what violates wash sale rules. Some option plays do.

 

[cloud9nd]

Is this app worth singing up for anymore after the recent events?

 

[Fermion]

Is this app worth singing up for anymore after the recent events?

No

 

[RVplusDog]

I do also have a small position in VERU - mainly to follow it. If any of you have looked it it, I’d appreciate your input. It seemed hopeful for a cancer drug a while back, and I saw Phase 3 headlines a few days ago also. I was thinking about looking at upcoming calls to see if any are priced attractively.

I guess I wish I had bought calls in it! Up almost 45% today. Times being what they are, I first searched Reddit to see if anyone pitched it there... no. And earnings arent out yet. Not sure why it’s spiking.

 

[skipro33]

I guess I wish I had bought calls in it! Up almost 45% today. Times being what they are, I first searched Reddit to see if anyone pitched it there... no. And earnings arent out yet. Not sure why it’s spiking.

Perhaps because there simply is not much research going on with cancer treatments lately. Even medical conventions have been on hold for COVID reasons. I'd suspect there are going to be more than a few medical advances from companies that have picked up slack while the big boys go after the low hanging fruit.

 

[Fermion]

I sold out of my Gilead calls in my Roth, recouping what I lost in Robinhood plus a bit more. I have switched to Merck calls now for a June 2021 expiration. I think they had a weak quarter/year due to COVID and with the CEO leaving maybe they can pull a Microsoft and really take off. The stock dropped when the forecast for future earnings was great. I kind of had to buy.

edit: Forgot to mention guts of the play: Purchased 50 Merck $80 June 2021 calls for $2.65

 

[bobandsherry]

I sold out of my Gilead calls in my Roth, recouping what I lost in Robinhood plus a bit more. I have switched to Merck calls now for a June 2021 expiration. I think they had a weak quarter/year due to COVID and with the CEO leaving maybe they can pull a Microsoft and really take off. The stock dropped when the forecast for future earnings was great. I kind of had to buy.

edit: Forgot to mention guts of the play: Purchased 50 Merck $80 June 2021 calls for $2.65

Interesting.... you have a target price in mind for June? Wish you the best with the trade.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

I've been following this thread for a long time now and thinking about opening a Robinhood account with some play money. I fully understand I will probably lose it all due to my complete lack of knowledge and that's okay, but can anyone recommend any decent books or videos how this kind of trading works so I can understand it and maybe even make a few bucks here and there. I would be a complete beginner so maybe Day Trading for Dummies is what I'm looking for although I prefer video learning. When I first retired there were a lot of free day trading seminars in my area and I meant to sign up but never got around to it. I knew they were going to try to sell me something and I really did not want the hassle at that time.

 

[Sunset]

^^^^^^^^^^^

I don't have a Robinhood account.
I just do my trades on my regular brokerage accounts, just sign up for margin and option trading for what you want to do.

 

[Sunset]

I just sold some calls for CLSN at $2.50,
Since I bought it at .85 cents it would be a nice sell, otherwise will keep the premium.

We are talking very tiny money amounts here as the initial purchase was a lottery ticket gamble.

 

[bobandsherry]

I'm still holding SGMO and ITCI.

With a little "fun money" I bought a couple scratch offs with CRBP, ZOM and OCGN. CRBP was a triple down from a put that went bad last year, picked up shares at $1.27 so lowered my avg, then grabbed a few more pennies with covered calls, so it's now overall profitable. ZOM is scheduled to come out with their first product, a diagnostic tool for clinical veterinarians, next month.

Didn't post any of this BS as a recommendation or suggestion as I was ready to just toss these like a non-winning ticket and not really a solid investment approach. But they have done well. Now considering my exit strategy.

I did pick up June calls for MRK, but went with $75 strike @$4.51 as that seemed slightly richer up to the $90 share price. If it goes over $90 I'll still be happy.

Have a great weekend everyone.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

^^^^^^^^^^^

I don't have a Robinhood account.
I just do my trades on my regular brokerage accounts, just sign up for margin and option trading for what you want to do.

Thank you, see I learned something new already...

 

[Sunset]

Thank you, see I learned something new already...

The super important thing about options is each option represents 100 shares.
Please read on option trading before doing any.

I lost my money on my first option trade... it was a teaching lesson

 

[Sunset]

I just sold some calls for CLSN at $2.50,
Since I bought it at .85 cents it would be a nice sell, otherwise will keep the premium.

We are talking very tiny money amounts here as the initial purchase was a lottery ticket gamble.

To clarify it was CLSN strike $2.50 @ $0.50 for March 19, that will bring down my basis to $0.35/share.

Also still have SGMO and ITCI. Was thinking of doing a covered call on them, but the nagging feeling that they might pop stopped me.

 

[RVplusDog]

I'm still holding SGMO and ITCI.
(Snip)
I did pick up June calls for MRK, but went with $75 strike @$4.51 as that seemed slightly richer up to the $90 share price. If it goes over $90 I'll still be happy.

I also chose $75 MRK for the June call, although VG gave it to me at $4.40, so I’m happy with that.

I sold my very short-term (and small) holdings in SGMO & ITCI for small profits. I should have sold my VERU but didn’t yet. It’s also a small quantity.

Nice returns lately on selling some covered calls OTM - wish I had been doing this all along. I was just reading an article saying that I should be pricing those at .5 std dev for maximum profit (https://seekingalpha.com/article/4353418-selling-otm-covered-calls-systematically-30-year-backtest).

 

[Fermion]

You guys are in a great position with Merck at $75. The market will digest the CEO leaving and with the vaccine out there it should be a good year for people to get back seeing their doctor for the treatments Merck sells.

My theory is Merck will bounce back over $80 by March/April and at some point before the June expiration it will have touched $85. This with the caveat that we could get another market meltdown to throw a wrench in things.

I wish I had kept some ITCI, I sold all mine in the low $30s.

 

[bobandsherry]

You guys are in a great position with Merck at $75. The market will digest the CEO leaving and with the vaccine out there it should be a good year for people to get back seeing their doctor for the treatments Merck sells.

My theory is Merck will bounce back over $80 by March/April and at some point before the June expiration it will have touched $85. This with the caveat that we could get another market meltdown to throw a wrench in things.

I wish I had kept some ITCI, I sold all mine in the low $30s.

I looked at $75 and $80 strike price. At $85 the $75 had a higher % return (128% vs 104%). The $75's were also more plentiful, so market order had better chance of coming in slightly better. Looking at my notes, $87 was where the two were essentially the same. I was similar thought as you, I considered $85 as the best it could be by June, and probably a bit less. That's why I went with the $75. I could be dead wrong and MRK goes even higher, but need a target price in mind to evaluate a call position. The $75 did have a bit more downside protection, but let's not focus on that

BTW, Calls are not my bread and butter, so not claiming to be an expert by any means, just more a bean counter type who looks at the facts and figures. LOL

ITCI has been interesting trade, I appreciate you turning the group on to that issue. I had exited ITCI back in September, but then got back in mid-October and some more in December. I'm did covered calls again, and have been rolling them forward and moving the strike price up too. As I look back my original SP was $28. My current has a SP of $34 with 2/19 expiration and current price is almost $36. So I'm watching that one and will consider rolling it if I can get the right premium. If I have to let it go like I did in September. I won't be feeling too bad, my XIRR is a little over 200%, so that beats sitting in a CD for sure It's not been as juicy as it was last year, my XIRR's on the CC I had were 600% (or a straight up 50% return).

BTW, how's it looking with your race to $250K? You still ahead of the curve? I have to think you are given what the market has been doing.

 

[GreenEggs]

I haven't kept up with this thread, but I did buy a few individual stocks last Spring just to see how they'd do. One that had huge gains was AVNW. It's up +526% since 4/27/20.

I only have 205 shares, but it sure has been fun to watch. (Wish it was 205,000 shares...)

It was up 8% for the day when I checked it a few minutes ago.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I haven't kept up with this thread, but I did buy a few individual stocks last Spring just to see how they'd do. One that had huge gains was AVNW. It's up +526% since 4/27/20.

I only have 205 shares, but it sure has been fun to watch. (Wish it was 205,000 shares...)

It was up 8% for the day when I checked it a few minutes ago.

Woulda Coulda Shoulda, right? I went in with a $1500 gamble a few days ago on the crypto DOGE that has been hyped by the WSB folks. It ebbed and flowed for the week I had it until Elon Musk tweeted about it last night and I saw that my $1500 was now $3000. So, I took the 100% return and left the original $1500 in there. If it had it only been $150,000.

 

[RVplusDog]

Woulda Coulda Shoulda, right? I went in with a $1500 gamble a few days ago on the crypto DOGE that has been hyped by the WSB folks. It ebbed and flowed for the week I had it until Elon Musk tweeted about it last night and I saw that my $1500 was now $3000. So, I took the 100% return and left the original $1500 in there. If it had it only been $150,000.

I had a DOGE limit buy in that would have executed and doubled. But I talked myself out of it & cancelled the order.

However, BTC & ETH are doing so well that I can’t be too upset. I hold MSTR, MARA, & GBTC in my IRAs to keep some crypto exposure there, too.

 

[aja8888]

I had a DOGE limit buy in that would have executed and doubled. But I talked myself out of it & cancelled the order.

However, BTC & ETH are doing so well that I can’t be too upset. I hold MSTR, MARA, & GBTC in my IRAs to keep some crypto exposure there, too.

Can you please inform me how one can add Cryptos into an IRA? I'd like to get into the casino action too!

Thanks.

 

[RVplusDog]

Can you please inform me how one can add Cryptos into an IRA? I'd like to get into the casino action too!

Thanks.

AFAIK there are no providers of standard, individually owned IRAs who allow them to invest in crypto yet. Self-directed IRAs may be able to do so - you’d normally work with a company like Madison or Equity Trust to make that happen.

My approach ATM is to invest in companies that either own a lot of BTC (like SQ, MSTR, TSLA, etc), companies servicing it now or soon (like PYPL, V), crypto trusts (like GBTC), and crypto miners (like MARA). Other companies have filed for upcoming crypto trust vehicles with lower fees than GBTC - TBD if & when these become available. My direct crypto purchases are just in a taxable Robinhood account, although I may be moving that to Webull before too long.

 

[RVplusDog]

Oh and I meant to add a blurb about ETH to that last post. There’s a move afoot to include a reduction algorithm within the ethereum blockchain to gradually reduce the quantity of ETH over time. So it won’t just be a limited value store like BTC, it’ll actually be an ever-rarer cryptocurrency. Interesting proposal.