Thursday, September 11, 2025 -- $219,622.34 (+$45,825.81, +26.37%)
I am breaking with my usual end-of-day posts since I am busy tonight. The big news is that the portfolio just hit a new all-time high of $219,622.34! This is up over 26% from my previous post. What you don't see is that the portfolio had plummeted recently, hitting a low of $122,953.19 on September 2nd, a staggering 43 percent drop from its previous high of $217,359.86 less than six weeks prior. The graph below shows that recent, gut-wrenching low. This volativity is not for the faint of heart!
So, what fueled this recovery? I made an extremely risky move that I neglected to post about earlier. On August 13th, I sold my entire INOD position of 1,580 shares for $43.04/share. I then used a large portion of the proceeds ($40,300) to purchase 50 INOD call options with a $43 exercise price expiring on November 21, 2025. Each contract cost $806. This was a massive gamble. If INOD closes below $43 on November 21st, I could lose the entire investment. You can see the trades here:
Of course, making aggressive trades like that requires leverage, which comes with its own costs. In the interest of full transparency, I have not been consistently showing my margin interest charges, which are a significant factor and drag in the account's performance. The latest interest charge was $482.47 on September 2nd. Here is a complete history of all margin interest paid in this account:
This brings me to today's gamble. I have a theory that Apple stock (AAPL) tends to dip after the September iPhone announcement and then rises once pre-orders begin. The iPhone 17 was announced on September 9th, and pre-ordering starts tomorrow, September 12th. Acting on that hunch, I made another highly risky move and used most of the remainder of my margin buying power to purchase 20 AAPL call options. They have a $230 exercise price and, critically, expire tomorrow. My cost was $1 per share or $2,000 total. To break even on this trade, AAPL needs to close at or above $231 tomorrow.
This is why you should NOT attempt to do anything like this at home, because the odds are never in your favor when throwing caution to the wind like this. One way or another, I'll find out if this was a genius move or a costly mistake by tomorrow's close. I'll post an update then.
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