Volatility in the markets is what makes Options Traders money.

During the volatile times, you start to notice what stocks are holding up, and what stocks are reacting to news very poorly.

Sentiment around a stock is key… If the market doesn’t like it, you’ll find even the most solid company’s stock price in the toilet.

I’m a big fan of growth stocks, but they’ve been slashed from their high prices and the narrative has changed — With all the Trump Tariffs, most people think that their growth will suddenly just disappear.

As Traders our job is to turn a profit based on the inefficiency of the markets.

As Investors our job is to pick great companies at very attractive prices and hold them for the next couple of years.

Being an Options Seller is a hybrid of these two…

You have to choose high quality companies (at good prices), and exploit the inefficiencies of the options market.

It allows you to cash flow from your positions, and if done correctly…

It can get you BIG MONEY. The market doesn’t matter, only the positions and where you’re allocating your money.

Here’s a recap of the income I generated from my portfolio this week:

SOFI (Total Profits this week: $15.03)

• I have 1600 shares that have a higher cost basis ($16.77), so I had to sell (16) of the 17C.

• If your cost basis is high in a stock, you’re going to have to Sell Options that are further dated — This position was actually started in the 3rd week of March.

• I never sell options below my cost basis because markets can turn very quickly and you’ll be underwater trying to keep rolling your position

HIMS (Total Profits this week: $107.84)

• I have 200 shares of this stock and had sold (2) 36.5C — Right above my cost basis of $36.23.

• I knew HIMS is a volatile stock, so I wanted to sell Covered Calls that are very aggressively priced to allow my shares to get called away and free up the cash in this position.

• On Friday the markets absolutely dumped and now this position is under water, but I’m going to stick to the plan and keep Selling Cash Secured Puts

• If there are consecutive drops in the markets, I’ll likely use margin again to sell puts (when doing this, my goal is to not get assigned because then I have to start paying the interest on the capital borrowed)

TSLL (Total Profits this week: $24.84)

• I had (2) 7.5 CSPs of this stock which were sold and closed early on Monday.

• If you’re trading leveraged ETFs, this is a market that you’ll want to take profits very quickly when you see fit (I usually close these at +70% if it’s only been a few days)

• I usually don’t trade TSLA or it’s derivatives, but everyone was talking down about it so I knew it was time to jump in.

SOXL (Total Profits this week: $107.72)

• I had sold (2) 20C, and the 21.5C on the 300 shares that I have.

• The cost basis right now is sitting at $19.50s for these positions (in different accounts)

• For now, the plan is to babysit these positions and continue to sell Covered Calls, a bit further out

• Cash Secured Puts might be in the books for me if this ETF drops a bit more, but it’s levered so I don’t want to mess around with it too much

AMD (Total Profits this week: $45.84)

• I had sold (2) of the 120C. My cost basis in the 200 shares that I own was around $117.

• I genuinely like this stock for the long term, so it’s tricky to sell options on it for me — On one hand the premium is juicy, but the longer term picture/profits seem to be a lot better

• Because of that, I sparingly sell Covered Calls on this name… It’s got to be compelling for me to sell the Call and have a low probability of assignment

HOOD (Total Profits this week: $218.50)

• I have 300 shares sitting at an average price of $45.75, and I had sold (3) of the 46.5C.

• With the news earlier this week that Robinhood is disrupting the banking sector I thought these were going to get called away… I still didn’t roll the position because I knew that the hype will eventually die down.

• This is another company that I don’t mind holding onto for the long term, but these short term premiums are too good so I try to sell options close to

  At-The-Money to maximize the profits.

UVXY (Total Profits this week: $48.88)

• In Volatile markets, this stock is usually a key holding for me — Until I get called on my shares and it becomes expensive…

• I had sold the 19P / 20.5C on the shares that I had. I did this because I wanted to capture gains from my shares getting called away, but I was also okay with buying more shares at a discount from the put I sold.

• When Volatility is high, this stock rips… Only problem is, Volatility usually doesn’t remain elevated for more than 2 days, so I try to purchase this stock when it’s very cheap (<$20 lately)

Thoughts on the Markets for the next few weeks:

These are volatile times, but it’s very expensive to hedge… In this case I usually try to average down on stocks very slowly. This is more effective in the long term, and buying hedges when volatility is high can be expensive.

The long term story on the companies that I trade always remains strong, but I’m trying to take advantage of the market fluctuations to make Cash Flow through Selling Options.

There will be times when you get caught and can be stuck in a position for a little bit of time — The best thing to do to avoid this is not to go all in and preserve some of your capital.

The money is always made on your buys, so always leave some laying around for when the dips come… Because they will come…