Note: As stated in the first article for the GTC Sample Portfolio, we’re keeping our quantitative processes private; but will share the moves we make on an actual portfolio, and then show the results via a Grid, VAMI and performance statistics. And please note our risk statement. You can find the previous post for the GTC Sample Portfolio here.
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We post adjustments to our trades to both Tier 1 and Tier 2 Members as they occur. But it’s been a while since we have updated the trades in the various programs here at the public site. So let’s do that …
Equity Income Hybrid Core:
We still have all of the longer term positions. There is a small hedge here. We bought 219 of SH at $11.47 on July 24th. That portion of the portfolio is currently paying an average monthly income of $17.29 which we are rolling back into similar future purchases. The yield on cost at the moment for these longer-term positions is 2.79% and growing. Year to date, for 2024 that account is at +3.31%. Currently, the positions consist of …
6 shares of Medtronic (MDT) at $82.979
3 shares of International Business Machines (IBM) at $170.06
30 shares of Invesco’s Emerging Markets Sovereign Debt ETF (PCY) at $18.72
13 shares of Invesco’s S&P 500 High Dividend Low Volatility ETF (SPHD) at $42.31
9 shares of SPDR’s Utilities Sector Fund ETF (XLU) at $62.22
6 shares of SPDR’s High Yield Bond ETF (JNK) at $91.17
13 shares of Kroger (KR) at $45.92
1 share of Coscto (COST) at $506.90
3 shares of Union Pacific (UNP) at $206.73
13 shares of Wells Fargo (WFC) at $41.82
4 shares of Diageo PLC (DEO) at $152.06
15 shares of WisdomTree’s U.S. Efficient Core Fund at $35.67
3 shares of Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) at $198.48
And beyond that, at the moment we are simply counting the dividends and capital deposits as they come in.
Long-Short Valuation Process:
At the moment, we don’t have a whole lot going on in this portion of the GTC Sample Portfolio.
We are currently long 420 TBIL from $49.82. We also put on short position against the S&P 500 Index, by purchasing 100 shares of SH at $11.47 on July 24, 2024. At the moment? The Long-Short Valuation book stands at +0.39% for the month of July, and even with this short position on, +4.78% for the year.
Not great. Not bad.
Short-Term Trading:
Where did we leave off on the 14th? We did cover that initial loss in IBIT at the beginning of the month, and the NVDA Puts we sold and some of the other option trades we put on in SPY and EWZ.
I may repeat some of what we covered in the last post on the GTC Sample Portfolio; but I want to make sure that we get everything listed properly.
Let’s start with NVDA. We bought back the puts for a really small profit. Buying the 92 Puts back at 0.08, for something like 5 BPS worth of profit. The SPY 565 / 670 Call spread we had? We closed that one down when it rallied against us for something like another 46 BPS loss, by buying that call spread back at 1.16; or -0.59 on that trade overall. We had the 536/531 SPY Put spread on, and closed that one down at 0.18 for another small 3 BP gain (Seeing a bad pattern here? Small wins, and too large of gains … although statistically in this periodicity, this is more than acceptable. Trading is about iterations).
We then sold another SPY Call spread, this time the Aug 16 SPY 580/590 Call spread for 0.80; 1 per 50k. And with IVR so high, we also sold an IWM Aug 23 240/250 Call spread for 0.68; 1 per 50k. This kept our option positions, still net-net profitable ( -0.59 (-$59.00 per 50k) on the SPY loss of the call spread, +0.04 on the SPY Put spread = -0.55. The second rolled SPY Call spread we brought in 0.80 which brought us to +0.25. Then, selling the IWM spread adds +0.68, brought us to +0.93. When you add in the NVDA 92 put at 0.06; we were then at +0.99 of collected premium )
Then we stacked on a few more wins. We bought back the EWZ naked puts; and this stacked on a very small win, at +0.04. Bringing us to +1.03 ($103) per $50k
Oh, I almost forgot. We also had a small trade in the outrights in NVDA. On 07/8/2024, we bought 4 NVDA at $130.27, hoping to play a small bounce if the euphoria continued. It did not. In the early morning hours of July 11th, we watched NVDA sinking lower and lower and didn’t want to lose our profits; so we closed that one at $131.63 for another small +0.05 win, if we look at it in Option profit/loss terminology. Bringing us to +1.08 per $50k after costs.
Then we raised some more premium. We sold the 16 Aug TLT 89/98 strangle for 0.37. So in collected premium, with losses, we’re at something like +1.45 per $50k after costs. We bought a SMALL hedge against that strangle for 0.06, so that takes us down to something like +1.39 per $50k after costs.
And we also sold a 16 Aug USO 74/89 Strangle for +0.60, 1 per 50k. This brought us to 1.99 ($199) per 50k. Barely squeaking by for the month.
Then, we had to roll the USO 74 Put, by closing that down for a -0.55 loss, which brought us to 1.44 ($144) per 50k. We rolled by selling the USO 71 Put 23 AUG for 0.49, 1 per 50k. That brings us to +1.93 ($185) per $50k.
We were ahead, and tried to play a bounce in risk. On July 22nd, per $50k, we bought 38 SPLG at $65.30, 32 QQQM at $198.71; 53 TLT at $92.57, and 136 SHY at $81.91. But … the bounce in risk did not come to pass. So we had had to sell it all, selling the 38 SPLG at $64.05; the QQQM at 192.60; the TLT at 92.47; and the SHY at 82.05. This took us down -2.29 per 50k. So now we’e at -0.36 (-$36) per $50k.
And there was one final brief trade. When the market started to melt-down earlier in the month? I hadn’t had a chance to review much of what was happening; and review the news. So I instantaneously put on 100 SH in the Trading Account at $11.43, until I got a handle on what was going on. We exited a short time later once we had reviewed all of the markets, went through our morning note and placed hedges and protections where they needed to be. This only added +0.03 to trading balance, bringing us to -0.33 (-$33) per $50k
Some of those trades are before costs. And at the same time you have to consider the IBIT trade loss that we outlined in the previous post. So at the moment, with costs, everything tallied together? In the short-term trading account at -1.06 (-$106) per $50k, with costs. Not much. We just didn’t get the cards this month in the trades that mattered. Thus, for July of 2024, the short-term Trading account is -1.06%; and +4.66% for the year.
Thankfully, the Valuation Account and the Equity Fixed Income Hybrid Core accounts are more than making up for this deficit; and at the moment? We are still net-net profitable in the Portfolio overall for the month of July.
Remember, that we are running a 7 day free trial for Tier 2 Members, in which we discuss the quantitative why, and how of these trades.
Stay safe and trade well …
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Disclaimer: None of the thoughts or posts at GTC Traders / gtctraders.com constitutes a recommendation that any particular security, portfolio of securities, transaction or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person. None of the information providers or their affiliates will advise you personally concerning the nature, potential, value or suitability of any particular security, portfolio of securities, transaction, investment strategy or other matter. GTC Traders simply writes such articles to delineate their thoughts for their own edification; as they allows ones to ‘look over their shoulder’ through such posts. All thoughts posted are simply individual thoughts as to process as of the time of writing, and are subject to change without notification to readers of this website. Stocks and options trading involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for every investor. The valuation of stocks and options may fluctuate, and, as a result, any trader may lose more than their original investment; especially in the case of the use of options. Any content on gtctraders.com should not be relied upon as advice or construed as providing recommendations of any kind. It is your responsibility to confirm and decide which trades to make.