Friday, November 5, 2021 -- $114,722.57 (+$14,175.60, +14.10%)










Friday, November 5, 2021 -- $114,722.57 (+$14,175.60, +14.10%)

"It is better to be lucky than good!"  News came out today of Pfizer's test of PAXLOVID during a phase 2/3 trial showing it is very effective at preventing severe illness and death from COVID when taken within five days of the onset of symptoms.  Shares of CCL rose on the view that this pandemic might finally be ending soon and cruise lines will soon be able to begin operating at full capacity.  While my short position in CCL (I am long 20 $23 CCL puts) is down, I fortuitously had purchased 50 $22.5 CCL calls two days ago and these have moved from a loss position to being well up.

When trading options and trading on margin you will encounter new situations, often as a result of risk management practices by whichever broker you are using.  Today, Robinhood sold 22 of my CCL $22.50 call options 58 minutes before the market closed without any prior notice to me.  When I got online I could see the message:


This explains why my account now shows 6,800 CCL shares.  After the market closed, 28 of the $22.50 CCL call option contracts were exercised because they were "in the money" because CCL closed at $24.79 and these 2,800 shares added on to my initial position of 4,000 shares adds up to the 6,800 shares shown.

This amount will shortly be reduced by 2,000 shares because the 20 $23 CCL calls that I sold will be exercised, so I should end up with 4,800 CCL shares.  Once this has been completed the buying power, which now shows, "Account Deficit" will be updated.

Despite the number of things happening today, this would be a spectacular day for any normal portfolio.  My portfolio is up more in a single day (14 percent) than you should expect in an average year!  The downside is that this leveraged, concentrated and risky portfolio will likely have similar down days.

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