There are just three weeks left in December trading, with Christmas and New Years' weeks making up two of them. It's unlikely that any major moves for the market or individual stocks will emerge from this holiday spirited period, and with the political landscape getting less unpredictable, the threat of news-related spikes is lessening. Nonetheless and as set out Friday, I added some short positions to my personal trading portfolio going this this weekend. Since they are all January 15th expirations, there is the opportunity to hold through the rest of the year. It would also hedge some of the longs, especially TSLA and PLTR, that are still being held. Coming up in the next few weeks will be the "2021 Stock of the Year" with a long term call for holding throughout 2021, as well as a new long term TSLA call to replace the Jan 2021 call from last December. That these two new long term recommendations could be one and the same will have to wait until the stock of the year unveiling, so no front running please. One thing we did learn from trading TSLA calls this year is that the price of any individual option should not be a factor choosing to take a trade. Buying one call or put for $5,000 is no different than buying 10 @ $5.00. Just one TSLA Jan 15th 2021 call cost about $3,500 last December and it's currently at about $53,800. What if I had punted because the call was too expensive? Important lesson learned. Trade Tables - Updated Note: The right columns set out returns generated if a 50% trailing stop were used to exit trades - as a way to limit risk. You can see by the returns how that exit strategy limits risk but also limits gains in some cases. Which is right for any individual trader is a personal decision, based on capital and risk tolerance. There is no one "correct" way to exit that is right for everyone. PRO - SHORT-TERM SERVICE Premium - Intermediate Term Service
