Apple Stock this year provided a huge return. I did quite a number of Apple Stock trades using my Shark Option Trading Strategy which you can review below. In my annual summary for 2012, I have NOT INCLUDED the total amounts earned for Apple Stock and throughout much of the year I did not include or show a number of trades. This was because it will show an enormous gain for the entire portfolio and that is not the purpose of the FullyInformed Website.
My site is designed to show investors the trades I have done all year-long with an emphasis on Put Selling and what kind of returns to expect. Therefore to include the Apple Stock options done throughout the year would mean that instead of earning over $200,000 in the various stock and option trades for the year, it would have shown an additional $175,000 in income as Apple Stock options this year earned over $175,000 through a number of trades.
Apple Stock Call Options Done
For example, using the Shark Option Trading Strategy, the strategy advised buying call options on the following days:
January 5: 5 call options bought with Apple Stock at $414.00
March 1: 5 call options sold with Apple Stock at $538.00
March 8: 5 call options bought with Apple Stock at $534.00
April 5: 5 call options sold with Apple Stock at $630.00
May 21: 5 call options bought with Apple Stock at $534.00
July 6: 5 call options sold with Apple Stock at $605.00
July 27: 5 call options bought with Apple Stock at $573.00
August 28: 5 call options sold with Apple Stock at $672.00
These trades on their own earned more than $80,000.00
Apple Stock Put Options Done
Then as those who followed my Apple Stock articles know, on September 25 again using the Shark Options Trading Strategy I bought puts.
September 25: 10 put options bought with Apple Stock at $640.00
November 12: 3 put options sold with Apple Stock at $539.50
November 13: 2 put options sold with Apple Stock at $538.70
November 15: 5 put options sold with Apple Stock at $525.75
These trades on their own earned more than $80,000.00
The above put trades were in the small trades table for 2012 which can be viewed through this link.
The remaining Apple Stock trades were Put Selling trades done both as the stock climbed earlier in the year and this past November. A number of articles this year discussed some of the key aspects of my trades within Apple Stock. Here is a list of articles:
Technical Analysis For Income In Apple Stock
Income In Apple Stock Through Put Selling and Naked Calls
Put Selling For Income in Apple Stock
Apple Stock and Option Strategies For The Decline
Apple Stock and Why Technical Analysis Fails For Most Investors
For FullyInformed Members These Articles Were Available
Apple Stock Naked Puts Versus Credit Spreads
Apple Stock continues to remain volatile and should certainly provide additional gains in 2013. There is no reason to believe that the best trades in Apple Stock are in the past. I have used the Shark Option Trading Strategy with Apple Stock since 2009 and each year has provided superior returns. I doubt that will change in 2013.
Why I Did Not Include Apple Stock Options In The 2012 Annual Summary Totals
Throughout the year I indicated at various times that I was using the Shark Options Trading Strategy on Apple Stock but I did not do up a table. I realized after the first set of Call Options done in January of 2012, that the profits earned would be very high and would skew or tilt all my totals for 2012 to show very strong gains all because of this one stock. I did not feel this was doing a service to anyone who follows my Put Selling strategies, articles and trades.
In September when I bought puts I included those in the small trades table for 2012 as I never assumed Apple Stock would fall as hard as it did. As the trades progressed into the fall of 2012 I realized that again the returns would push up the overall income amounts shown and once more I feel that this is not a fair representation of what investors can expect through doing Put Selling and a handful of stock trades during a normal year.
Spy Puts Hedge and IWM Trading For Pennies Strategy
I decided in October when I saw the huge gain in the Apple Stock trades to breakdown the amounts that made up the totals to further assist investors in understanding how the earnings were being made so once again they could see the benefits of Put Selling while at the same time getting a good understanding of what they could expect if following the Put Selling strategies.
I broke out the Spy Puts Trade and the Trading For Pennies Strategy trades. However the income made in those trades ARE INCLUDED in the annual totals because I believe both of these trade strategies can assist an investor in building a cash cushion to help weather corrections and downturns that while not severe could exceed 10%.
In a normal bull market, 5% to 15% annual corrections are normal and using the Spy Puts Trades and the IWM ETF Trading For Pennies Strategy Trades can take full advantage of these periods of weakness and are very easy trades for most investors to make.
Apple Stock Option Trades – Final Word
I believe that most investors did not do many Apple Stock options trades this year and as such I feel it a disservice to my readers to see a huge annual gain, which in fact would be heavily weighted toward trading in one stock which almost no other investors who frequent my website would have done. For this reason I have shown the most recent Apple Stock Put Options trade but I have not included the totals in any of the annual summary amounts.
About The Shark Option Trading Strategy
For investors who are interested in learning unique options trading ideas, I believe the Shark Option Trading Strategy is well worth studying and paper trading to determine its usefulness. I developed this strategy years ago and use it each year on a very small handful of stocks. This year it was Apple Stock and Google Stock. I will probably continue to use it on both of those stocks through 2013.
Here is a short write-up of the Shark Option Trading Strategy. This strategy is available as a PDF in my shop for $25.00. It is part of the 4 Investment Strategies For Ultra ETFs
Interested investors can purchase this strategy through this link.
The Shark Option Trading Strategy Description
The Shark option trading strategy relies on the Fast Stochastic and Moving Averages combination of technical tools to pin point when to buy and sell both puts and calls. There are two versions of this strategy included in the article. The first looks at the Original The Shark strategy and the second studies The Shark Strategy with the adjustments I have made to it over the years in an attempt to gain larger returns that the original. The Shark Option Trading Strategy does not listen to news events, worry about analysts recommendations or care about overall stock market direction. The Shark follows the price action in the underlying security to determine proper periods to buy calls or puts depending on the shares price action and when to sell them. The Shark Strategy enjoys larger returns with higher volatility and loves the whipsaw of Ultra ETFs. While designed for ETFs this strategy can be used on other stocks and included is an example of Amazon Stock and Bank of Nova Scotia stock. There are distinct advantages to The Shark strategy including:
1) Small amounts of capital required for The Shark Option Trading Strategy.
2) No need to commit capital to shares.
3) No need for large capital positions in the underlying security.
4) Rarely caught at the top of a rally and rarely caught in a plunge.
5) No concern as to what direction the security is headed.
6) Rarely get caught missing a rally or a tumble in the stock.
7) Often capital is not in the market while waiting for the next signal to invest again.
I have used the Shark Option Trading Strategy on a variety of stocks before turning to Ultra ETFs. Most of the time I use it only on Ultra ETFs or stocks like Apple Stock, Priceline Stock and Google Stock because the volatility provides excellent option premiums, however throughout the year I find myself applying this strategy to stocks that fall within the guidance of the Fast Stochastic. Once in a while a quick trade such as recently in Amazon stock and in PepsiCo Stock can reap excellent returns for a few days of work. The Shark is an option trading strategy well worth learning even if an investor only used it once or twice a year.