Now that we are past the Fed we can focus what to do with December expirations from within the Standard Service Trading Portfolio. Since so many profit-taking exits should have already been hit, there is no one formula that is going to fit all, except this one: Wednesday's close below 10-month support suggests strongly that the worst case scenario for stock prices is at hand, Wave 3 of 3 down. Without a reversal back above support (S&P = 2530, Dow = 23,350, the is no real support until the February 2016 lows: 700 S&P points and 8,000 DJI points below.
Option Positions: Dec-to-Jan Rollover
With staggered profit taking strategies it is impossible for me to know how everyone's individual portfolio is looking insofar as bearish positioning after December expiration tomorrow. The portfolio is already filled with numerous January individual stock put ideas, so these ideas cover two contingencies:
(1) December index options that are expiring Friday; and,
(2) January index positions to replace any December options that were already sold via of profit taking. Accordingly you will see some new January options for trades that are still open, i.e., SPY Jan $270 put, but need a new strike price because they are already so deep in the money.
January 18, 2019 Expiration - Option Ideas
Index ETF's
SPY: Jan $245p
QQQ: Jan $150p
IWM: Jan $130p
*The market is moving so fast I've had to adjust down the above strikes two times since I started writing this. If in doubt, just use the general rule for strike selection, i.e., "at-or-near-the-money."
Special Situation
VXX Jan 4, 2019 $45 Calls (or $50 for a very speculative play on an imminent crash)
Finally, there are numerous other individual stock options that are expiring Friday that are still on Sell Signals from November. These are all still "Sells" and if you want to maintain your short exposure in those names remember the systems general rule of option selection:
Expiration date: "Next Month" (January).
Strike Price: "At-or-near-the-money."
Standard Service Trading Portfolio - Dec 20th Mid-Session