So nevermind that bit about the market going down.  Up, up, & away we go!

While I had some limit orders in for calls in (ILMN: 27.98 -3.52%), (LFT: 13.95 -1.41%), (LUFK: 46.19 +4.60%), (SJM: 41.85 -3.64%) (none of which filled), the main emphasis was on selling/dumping May options before they expired. 

After yesterday’s near-breakeven, booked a definite net loss on the account for the first time since the 1st of the month…but this was overshadowed by the massive gains (unrealized, yet) in (SIGM: 11.89 +11.64%) and measured gains in (ALEX: 0.00 N/A), (AVB: 81.31 +12.51%), (STP: 21.90 -6.33%).

DP Sells:

• (BX: 7.99 -8.27%) calls & (YGE: 5.37 +4.07%) puts from their respective straddles based on initial earnings reaction.  Some benevolent soul later bought my (CTRP: 33.02 -6.06%) calls as well for pennies on the dollar.  Better than worthless, though.
  • (BX: 7.99 -8.27%) later decided to turn positive and shred the bears.  Sold the puts just before they became worthless, booking a decent loss on the straddle.
  • (YGE: 5.37 +4.07%) did the opposite, stopping out the calls in the first hour.  At least this straddle finished in the black, although not by much.
  • (Safe to say I was terrible at picking ‘direction’ today.  Both faked me out.)
• (MELI: 17.20 -0.86%) & (ZOLT: 10.00 +16.14%) puts stopped out on the unrelenting rally, closing the positions, and chalking up 2 more for the losing side in earnings plays.
• (KWK: 9.05 -16.28%) wasn’t playing ball with the rally-monkey…calls hit their trailing stop on a mid-day wave of selling.  Another loss, similar in size to the other 3.
• The rally did help a couple positions that were essentially worthless in the morning:  (BBBY: 26.19 -1.32%) 32.50 calls and (NVDA: 6.81 -1.59%) 22.50 calls (from its earnings strangle).  Sold both at the close, BBBY for 100% profit (unfortunately, it was just a small position).
  • The NVDA strangle is technically not yet completely closed…the 20. puts are still open, although it’s likely that they will expire worthless.  Still, the calls sold have already guaranteed a profit on the position. 

All-in-all a decent ‘housecleaning’ day.  Got rid of almost all remaining May options with the exception of 2 worthless ones (NVDA 20. puts, PALM 5. puts) and 2 ITM ones that will be sold tomorrow (AMAT 20. puts, CTRP 60. puts).  Need those 2 to drop just a little more tomorrow so that their respective starddles/strangles can end in profits.