After the recent pullback, the All-Weather portfolio is now up 0.55%, with the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) doing the heavy lifting, up 7.19% since it was introduced to the portfolio back on 6/15/23. Besides DBC, we’ve rolled all of our positions to the April 21, 2023 expiration cycle. Our DBC 24 calls are due to expire this week. I will most likely allow them to carry through expiration and sell more calls after expiration, unless we have an opportunity to buy back our DBC 24 calls for $0.05 or less.

Thanks to the bulls, we are seeing a nice pop in all of our portfolios.


While our passive portfolios continue to perform well, our Dogs of the Dow portfolio, particularly the Small Dogs portfolio, has shined, up 12.51% in just over a month’s worth of performance. In fact, all but one of the stocks that reside in the Small Dogs are seeing positive performances with CSCO being the laggard, down -2%.

We finally added our Dogs (and Small Dogs) of the Dow portfolio to the mix! As it stands, we have five portfolios in the Fundamentals service, three passive portfolios and two active. While our passive portfolios are fully up and running, we still need to add several more positions to our active portfolios to get them fully situated.

We have some exciting times ahead as our Dogs and Small Dogs portfolios will be coming on board at the beginning of 2023. I will be discussing the details of the approach, strategy, positions and potential trades in our subscriber-only webinar tomorrow so you will not want to miss the event. If you do happen to miss, no worries, if you sign up at least you can immediately receive the recording once it’s available.

There really isn’t too much to report at the moment. Our passive portfolios continue to impress in the midst of a challenging market which displays the overall power of the passive approach. And I continue to mostly sit on the sidelines in our active portfolios, although that approach will be changing soon. I intend on adding several new positions to the active portfolios this expiration cycle as we are starting to see some good entry prices for several of the companies on our watchlist.

At the close of the August expiration cycle, back on the 19^th, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) was trading for 422.14. Now it’s trading 3.7% lower at 406.60.

For the year the S&P 500 (SPY) is down 14.7%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) and small-cap Russell 2000 (IWM) indexes are lower by 22.8% and 15.7%, respectively.

Nothing has changed from last month’s issue. I still expect to see bouts of volatility going forward. I would like to say that most of the weakness is behind us, but unfortunately, I don’t have a crystal ball. Although, I will say that barring any real setbacks in inflation data or ongoing geopolitical concerns, I expect the market to hold the 2022 lows and potentially rally, particularly if inflation data subsides.

At the close of the August expiration cycle, back on the 19^th, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) was trading for 422.14. Now it’s trading 3.7% lower at 406.60.

For the year the S&P 500 (SPY) is down 14.7%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) and small-cap Russell 2000 (IWM) indexes are lower by 22.8% and 15.7%, respectively.



Nothing has changed from last month’s issue. I still expect to see bouts of volatility going forward. I would like to say that most of the weakness is behind us, but unfortunately, I don’t have a crystal ball. Although, I will say that barring any real setbacks in inflation data or ongoing geopolitical concerns, I expect the market to hold the 2022 lows and potentially rally, particularly if inflation data subsides.

What a difference an expiration cycle makes!

The close of the June expiration cycle, back on the 17th, marked the low set in 2022. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) hit an intraday low of 362.17 before rallying to close the June expiration cycle at 365.86.



Who knew that was just the beginning of what would become a historic short-term rally? Since then, the market has rallied an astounding 16.7%.

The close of the June expiration, back on the 17th, was witness to the low set in 2022. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) hit an intraday low of 362.17 before rallying to close the expiration cycle at 365.86.

Since then, the market stalwart ETF has rallied 6.2%.



To put things into perspective, SPY was trading for over 410 when we first established positions back on June 3 before losing roughly 11% into the close of the June expiration cycle.



Thankfully, the bulls stepped back into the fray when the July expiration cycle began, prompting the 6% rally.

So far, so good. As of Friday, all three of our open positions are in the green, even though the overall market has pulled back rather significantly.

We still have a lot of trades to place as we begin to build out each one of the portfolios. So, that being said, I’m going to keep it rather short today as we are just in the early ramp-up phase of the five portfolios that reside in the Fundamentals service. This will no doubt be the shortest issue you will ever receive. Enjoy!

Today, I simply want to go over the ins and outs of the service so that you can efficiently and effectively take advantage of all the content provided including details on issues, trade alerts, webinars and more.

That being said, expect to start seeing several trade alerts over the next week. I will begin trickling out positions over the five different portfolios over the next few weeks. So have an understanding of what each portfolio is trying to accomplish.

Cabot Options Institute Fundamentals is focused exclusively on the Poor Man’s Covered Call strategy, which is a way to collect reliable gains from a relatively simple options strategy, without the substantial up-front cost of a regular covered call strategy.

Cabot Options Institute Fundamentals is focused exclusively on the Poor Man’s Covered Call strategy, which is a way to collect reliable gains from a relatively simple options strategy, without the substantial up-front cost of a regular covered call strategy.

INTC has pushed through our 31 call strike, and the delta of our short call is nearing parity with our current LEAPS contract. As a result, I want to buy back our short calls and sell more calls.

As a reminder, this trade is for the CVX position in the Growth/Value Portfolio, not the CVX position that resides in our Dogs of the Dow Portfolio. I have a CVX position in both, as both portfolios are looked at as separate entities to keep things mechanical and consistent.

INTC has pushed through our 27 call strike, and the delta of our short call now stands at parity with our current LEAPS contract. As a result, I want to buy back our short calls and sell more calls. Reestablishing our deltas will allow us to participate in any further near-term upside in INTC.

We need to roll our short calls in TIP prior to expiration. However, I intend on allowing our DBC short calls to expire worthless and sell more premium at the onset of next week.

With the market tumbling, GLD and TLT have surged higher. As a result, the deltas of both positions are at parity, so we need to buy back our short calls and sell more.

We currently own the MMM January 17, 2025, 90 call LEAPS contract at $41.40. You must own LEAPS in order to use this strategy.

We currently own the INTC January 17, 2025, 17.5 call LEAPS contract at $11.40. You must own LEAPS in order to use this strategy.

We currently own the VTI January 19, 2024, 145 call LEAPS contract at $54.50. You must own LEAPS in order to use this strategy.

We need to buy back the short calls in several of our Dog positions as there is little to no premium left. I plan on rolling most of our Dog positions over the next few days starting with VZ, IBM and DOW today.

I’ve decided to hold on to my current LEAPS positions. Theta, or time decay, is still incredibly low so I’m going to hold on for another expiration cycle but plan to sell my LEAPS as we near the April 21, 2023, expiration cycle.

As a reminder, this trade is for the CVX position in the Growth/Value Portfolio, not the CVX position that resides in our Dogs of the Dow Portfolio. I have a CVX position in both, as both portfolios are looked at as separate entities to keep things mechanical and consistent. However, for most subscribers, it is unnecessary to have double exposure. Just understand that I will be treating each CVX position as two separate entities. I hope this clears up any confusion.

I am buying back out short calls today and immediately selling more premium. The underlying stock position is up 7.06% since we initiated the position. Our CSCO position is up 19.42% over the same time frame.