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Options Trader
Basic Strategies for Big Profits in Any Market

Buy Put QQQ

November 16, 2023
Sell Existing Position, and a New Stop: Sell your Nasdaq (QQQ) December 370 Puts for $1.90 or more

After a steep dive for the market in October, the Nasdaq has soared back to life, which is good for most of our portfolio, but bad for our QQQ puts. Because time is becoming such an issue with these puts we are going to exit the trade, but will simultaneously add a stop to our very successful DKNG calls (more on that below).

To execute this trade you need to:
Sell to Close your QQQ December 370 puts.

Back to DKNG …

The QQQ puts that we are exiting today helped us hold our INTC, DKNG, XLE, CCJ, NTNX positions through the market’s steep decline. However, now that we are exiting our puts, we are going to add a mental stop to our DKNG calls that are now at a potential profit of approximately 190%.

The DKNG January 25 calls which were originally bought for $4.25 are now worth $12.30. Today I am setting a mental stop on those calls at $10, which would trigger a sell alert should the stock fall approximately $2.

June 27, 2023
Sell a Third of Existing Position: Sell a Third of the QQQ December 370 Puts for $20.25 or more.

The Nasdaq ETF (QQQ) broke to a new recent low yesterday, though still looks fine. Let’s lock in a profit of approximately 15% on a third of our position, and then step back and evaluate the market in the days to come.

To execute this trade you need to:
Sell to Close a Third of your QQQ December 370 Puts

The reason I’ve decided to take partial profits on this position is because we have taken partial profits on many of our bullish positions recently as well, and for now at least, the market looks pretty good.

Stepping back, if you prefer to hold your full position as a hedge against your personal portfolio, that is a fine choice as well.

June 16, 2023
Sell your SPY September 400 Puts and Buy a Full Position of the QQQ December 370 Puts (exp. 12/15/2023).

Today we are going to make some moves, based on the positions in our portfolio. This is what I mean …

The three best performing stocks we own right now are SHOP, UBER, DKNG(though BSX is making a move as well). These three stocks largely move with the Nasdaq (QQQ). Because of that, let’s sell our SPY puts, and roll that capital into QQQ puts that should protect SHOP/UBER/DKNG.

Please note, we will need to put fresh capital into this QQQ put buy, and I am buying a full position.

To execute these trades you need to:
Sell to Close the SPY September 400 Put
Buy to Open the QQQ December 370 Put.

To clarify, I am NOT calling a top in the QQQ. In fact, I can see a scenario where the QQQs continue to run, maybe even to a new high.

However, that would be a fine scenario as we would likely continue to ramp up our bullish exposure as the market strengthens, and it is likely that SHOP/UBER/DKNG will also continue to move higher.

Finally, our FTI June Covered Call position is likely to be called away today as the stock is trading $0.75 above our short strike price. We will simply let our stock and option position expire today, and you do not need to address this position.

Position (Original)
QQQ December 370 Put
Position Strategy
Buy Put
Opened Date
June 16, 2022
Expiration
December 15, 2023
Net Price
17.87
Strike
370
Jacob Mintz is a professional options trader and editor of Cabot Options Trader. Using his proprietary options scans, Jacob creates and manages positions in equities based on unusual option activity and risk/reward.