Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Opened GLD call

I was unable to get a decent fill on an order to sell my existing December bear call spread on GLD, so rather than take a larger hit, I hedged by buying December 118 call for 2.16, with the underlying shares at 116.79. The calls hedge about a third of my originial position.

The call alone has a maximum loss of 0.65, with an infinite possibility of profit as the stock rises. In combination with the spread, there's a 0.08 loss below about 110 in price, large losses between 110 and about 121, and huge profits above that.

This combination of positions will require very active management to ensure a profit. The best way to think of the calls is as an insurance policy against the spread's loss. Like all insurance policies, it never covers everything perfectly.

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