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It has not been what you would call a profitable period. Hopefully it could be squared to the long holiday period?

Among my 5 open positions, I had 2 short call vacancies, Yamana Gold Inc. (AUY) and iShares MSCI Canada Index fund (EWC). These are the bread and butter of Covered Call Option Trades. Due to the low value of AUY January call on offer, I could only manage to sell 5 February $14 calls for a lowly $0.21, after waiting since December expiry until my patience ran out today. It was the opposite for the EWC short call vacancy. I sold 5 January $27 calls for $0.15 soon after last expiry. I found I could sell that for $0.35 today. That is investment, you are expected to play hide and seek with prices constantly. What matter most is the eventual bottom line of the entire portfolio.

For now net cost of my EWC position is reduced to $27.05 while insured by the long March $27 put, guaranteed to a negligible loss. It is a different story with the AUY position, it is one position I am taking the risk of totally unhedged. The total net cost was further reduced from $13.16 to $12.98 per share by today’s short calls, not taking into account of past profit already taken. Right now the share price is languishing in the $12 range. I am still relying on Gold price to provide the floor for it even if down to just at $8 if necessary. Hopefully, it would not get to that!

My Rent A Center INC (RCII) is still in the dog house. Hey still months for it to come right!? To be honest though, I am not hopeful, expect an eventual bottom line loss to be about $0.5 per share. Occasional loss positions can be expected, part of the investment process. As mentioned earlier, it is the bottom line of the whole portfolio that counts.

My remaining 2 positions EWH and CHT are progressing as planned. No further action needed till January option expiry!

From results so far, I have to say I wish I have latched on this method of investing long time ago. However, it is fair to say that I shall need to evaluate these 5 positions much further, at least for several 6 month cycles before I will devote more assets to it. Due to the much reduced risk level of my positions with the exception of AUY, I can only expect single digit yearly yields, unlike the annualised 150% profit from the previous closed AUY covered call position. As mentioned AUY position has no put option insurance. You take the risk and you reap the reward, or the loss. Right now my current AUY covered call position is showing a loss not that I am very worried, at least not yet.