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Friday Fun Thread for March 29, 2024

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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So I've spent three weeks selling short dated covered calls for COIN and walked away with a whopping $250 I didn't have before. Doesn't sound like much, but so far the stock has never come within $50 of my strike price. If, and I understand it's a big if, I keep this up for a whole year, I'll have earned over a 10% return on underlying assets worth $25,000-ish.

The first week was nerve wracking. The second week less so, except for one day where the stock shot up $30 intra-day with $50 left to go to my strike price. But with 3 days left, I sincerely doubted it wouldn't pull back. It did. The third week as soon as I sold my covered call a judge issued a decision allowing an SEC lawsuit to move forward and the price of the option I sold immediately got cut in half.

The more of these I successfully sell, the more I feel I have a buffer to close my position at a loss if things start going badly. I'm more shocked that there are enough degenerate gamblers out there willing to throw a Benjamin at the off chance COIN shoots up 50% in 4 days.

We shall see when I receive my comeuppance.

This sounds less entertaining to me than just putting a hundo on the Bills to win the AFC East.

Is it weird that, to me, the options trading scheme would be a lot more fun than the sports bet?

The bets appeal to different types of gamblers. The NFL future allows for potentially months of sweat, but generally the real adrenaline doesn't start flowing until the last game or two when the outcome is really decided. The options scheme is more of a true gambling experience in that there are semi-constant rushes and downs - more like playing craps at a casino.

Of course from an EV standpoint the options trading is much more likely to be profitable but they are simply different things.