$100,000!
Not bad considering we began with $10,000 in our virtual portfolio only last June. We missed our goal last year of making $50,000 in 6 months - perhaps a bit too ambitions - but we got to $35,000, put $10,000 away in the virtual bank and began our $25,000 Portfolio (this one) on January 31st. Here we are, just 9 months later and already at our $100,000 goal.
I've decided, since we're done so early, to reset the clock and let's make a White Christmas Portfolio, where we'll start with a $15,000 XMas Budget and limit our losses to $5,000 (so we don't end up with a Tiny Tim Christmas) and see if we can earn enough money (virtual, of course) to put a few extra gifts under the tree. It will be a good chance to practice our loss limits!
Keep in mind that these are very aggressive portfolios that are meant to be the risk portion of much larger portfolios - this is in no way, shape or form a sensible way to play with money you care about (see "Smart Portfolio Management - the $10,000 Portfolio").
Meanwhile, we still have a little bit of cleanup to do with this portfolio. Our last update was on the 29th, when our realized gains had climbed to $98,480 and we only needed $1,520 more to hit our goal. Fortunately, we were very bullish with our remaining positions at the end of September, still playing our range. We have been pretty busy the past two weeks, closing the following positions:
- 40 GLL Oct $17 calls at net $1.76, out at $2.75 – up $3,960
- 20 DIA 9/30 $112 puts at $1.05, out at $1.60 - up $1,100
- 10 QQQ 9/30 $53 calls at $1.45, out at $1.55 - up $100
- 20 DIA $110 puts at .80, out at $1.10 - up $600
- 10 FAS 9/30 calls at $1.28, out at $1.60 - up $320
- 30 IWM 9/30 $64/65 bull call spreads at net .68, expired at $1 - up $960
- 10 RUT 9/30 $645 puts sold for $2.55, expired worthless – up $2,550
- 20 USO 9/30 $30 calls at .67, out at .54 - down $130
- 10 TLT 9/30 $121/118 bear put spreads at .95, out at $2.20 – up $1,250
- 5 TLT 9/30 $122 calls sold for $1.75, expired worthless – up $875
- 5 VXX 9/30 51 puts at net $2.05 (half of a spread), out at $1 – down $525
- 5 VXX 9/30 $52 calls sold for $1.60, expired worthless – up $800
- 40 IWM 9/30 68/69 bull call spreads at .50, expired worthless – down $2,000
- 5 TLT 10/7 $124/121 bear put spreads at $1.70, expired at $3 - up $650
- 5 TLT 10/7 $122 calls sold for $1.65, expired worthless - up $825
- 20 USO 10/7 $30 calls at net .53, out at $2.25 - up $3,440
- 10 QID Oct $51/56 bull call spreads at $1.50, out at $1 - down $500
- 10 GOOG 10/14 $590 puts at $1.10, out at $1.60 - up $500
- 10 DIA Oct $115 calls at .95, out at .85 - down $100
- 20 DIA Oct $115 calls at .50, out at $1.40 - up $1,800
- 20 DIA Oct $115 puts at $1, out at $1.30 - up $600
- 10 DIA Oct $114 puts at $1, out at .85 - down $150
- 20 USO Oct $33 calls at net .50 ($1,000), out at $1.50 - up $2,000
That is a LOVELY $18,925 added to our realized gains for a grand total of $117,405!
