March $20k in 20 Minutes Results...

I wanted to take a minute and update the trades we made in the $20k in 20 minutes class we held on March 5th. It's a long post but certainly worth the read. We're happy to report all 11 of the trades we placed in class were closed will what basically amounted to a full profit. Here's the individual results below:

1) AAPL - $1,882 Profit (33% ROI)
- Cash Required $5,618

The first trade we'll look at is AAPL. We traded a Bull Put Spread on this trade selling the $85 put and buying the $80 put to cover our position. Apple continued to move upwards into it's current channel and we let our options expire on Friday. You can see we brought in $3,806.22 and spent $1,923.75. With all commissions factored in we cleared $1,882.47 on this trade. Total cash in tied up was the $5 spread minus profit cash out. A $5 spread times 15 contracts = $7500 minus the $1882 profit leaves a total money required for the trade of $5,618. With a $1,882 profit that equals a 33% ROI in about 3 weeks.

2) & 3) AMZN - $3,439 Combined Profit

This was a double trade because we actually placed two credit spreads to make this one happen. A person could have easily placed only one and still made a fine profit. By stacking both a Bull Put Spread and a Bear Call Spread we created what is known as an IRON CONDOR. Let's break down both trades:

Trade Leg 1: Bull Put Spread
$1,829 Profit (22% ROI)
$8,171 Cash Required

The first leg we opened was by selling the $60 put and buying the $55 put to cover our positions. We brought in $3,354 with the sell of the $60p and spent $1,525 with the purchase of the $55p. That created a net credit of $1,829. We traded 20 contracts so total cash required was $5 x 2000 (shares) = $10,000. Subtract the profit of $1,829 = $8,171 Cash Tied up for trade. That's a 22% ROI in 3 weeks.

Trade Leg 2: Bear Call Spread
$1,609 Profit (19% ROI)
$8,391 Cash Required

The second leg of this trade was created by selling the $70 Call option for $2,394 and buying the $75 call for $785. That created a net credit of $1,609. Again we traded 20 contracts so total cash required was $5 x 2000 (Shares) = $10,000 and subtract the profit of $1,609 = $8,391 cash tied up for the trade.
That's a 19% ROI in 3 weeks after commissions are paid. (for the record we weren't going to place this trade because we typically do not place trades with less than 20% ROI, but the class voted and wanted to trade it - so we did)

It's also worth noting this leg of the trade we closed about 15 minutes before the end of the closing day just to insure no after hours trading forced the stock price above $70 leaving us open to getting called out and into a position we didn't want.

4) AZO - $1,913 Profit (34% ROI)
Cash Required - $5,587

The next trade we're going to look at was with Auto Zone. Unfortunately something messed up in the computer's trade analysis so I don't have a graphic to share. But you can reference the video if you doubt we really made the trade.

For AZO we traded a Bull Put Spread by selling 15 contracts of the $150 Put for $4.20/share which gave us an immediate credit of $6,281. Then we bought the $145 Put to cover our position for $2.90/share or an expense of $4,368. That left us with a total net credit of $1,913.

The trade went as planned and options expired on Friday. As such we cleared $1,913. Total cash required was $5 x 1500 (shares) = $7500 minus our profit of $1,913 = $5,587 total cash required for the trade. That's a 34% ROI in about 3 weeks.


5) CME - $1,462 Profit (24% ROI)
Cash Required - $6,038

CME is a fun one for us. We placed a Bull Put Spread expecting this stock to continue trading sideways. However the stock took off closing Friday at $228/share. A straight buying of calls certainly would have profited us more but we're still more than content with our % ROI.

We opened the position by Selling 15 contracts of the $170 Puts for a credit of $8,381. Then we covered ourselves by Buying the $165 Puts for a total of $6,918. Final net credit was $1,462. The trade went as planned and all positions expired Friday for a full profit. Cash required was $5 x 1500 (shares) = $7500 minus net credit of $1,462 = $6,038. That's a cool 24% ROI in just 3 weeks.

6) FSLR - $1,762 Profit (30% ROI)
Cash Required - $5,738


First Solar has been a fun one to trade over the last couple years. For this trade we again opened a Bull Put Spread. We did this by Selling the $100 Put with a credit of $6,881. We then bought the $95 Puts to cover ourselves. That left us with a credit of $1,762.

Cash required was for 15 contracts so $5 x 1500 (shares) = $7500 minus cash out of $1,762 = $5,738. That gave us a return of a fine 30% - oh yea, that was in about 3 weeks.


7) GOOG - $2,418 Profit (19% ROI)
Cash Required - $12,582


Oh Google Google Google... This one gave us a scare right towards the end as it pushed up beyond $330. Fortunately we were already profitable at the point because of time value decay, but we almost unraveled this one and rode the call on up. THEN... well those google traders just decided it was a tad over priced. And sure enough we closed right under $330. You'll notice we paid $168 to close the trade. That's because it was the end of the day and Google showed some intraday signals that it may break back through $330. Since we didn't want to take the chance we paid to close the position.

This trade was a Bear Call Spread. We did it with the $330 and $340 calls. Receiving a net credit of $2,418 after commissions. We traded 15 contracts so:

$10 x 1500 (shares) = $15,000 minus cash out of $2,418 = $12,582. That's a 19% profit. We would have had greater than 20% but with the extra $168 we threw in to close the trade it pulled us under the 20% mark. Still not too bad for 3 weeks.

8) HES - $2,349 Profit (30% ROI)
Cash Required - $7,651

HES was a nice trade for us. Just like the most of the other spreads we did a Bull Put Spread on this trade. We executed it by Selling the $50p and bringing in $4,174 through 20 contracts. Then we bought the $45 puts which cost us $1,825. That left a net credit of $2,349. Everything went as planned and all positions expired on Friday.

Total cost was $5 x 2000 (shares) = $10,000 Minus the $2,349 credit. That left us with a total cost of $7,651. A smooth 30% ROI with commissions factored in.


9) ISRG - $3,149 Profit (45.9% ROI)
Cash Required - $6,851

ISRG is our highest ROI trade with nearly a 46% ROI in 3 weeks. We again did a Bull Put Spread. Sold the $90 put and bought the $85 Put. We traded 20 contracts and ended with a net gain of $3,149.

Total cost was $5 x 20 contracts = $10,000 minus net credit of $3,149 = $6,851 That gives us an ROI of 45.9%. You won't get that in too many bank CDs these days!


10) IBM - $1,849 Profit (22% ROI)
Cash Required - $8,151


IBM is a staple Blue chip stock which most people have held for years. Yet few have managed to receive the ROI we got in less than 3 weeks. Again we did a Bull Put Spread by using the $85 put and the $80 put. With all the math done we cleared $1,849 on this trade.

Cost? $5 x 2000 (shares) = $10,000 minus $1849 cash out = $8,151. It's not quite as good as our ISRG trade, but 22% isn't too bad for IBM.


11) RIMM - $1,709 Profit (20% ROI)
Cash Required - $8,291


And finally we've made it to RIMM. By now you see the pattern.. We did a Bull Put Spread using the $35 and $30 puts. Gave us a credit of $1,709. Again we traded 20 contracts.

So total cash was $5 x 2000 (shares) = $10,000 minus cash out of $1,709 = $8,291. Or a 20.6% ROI.



Conclusion:
So let's count the profits. We promised we would make at least $20,000 with $100,000. Let's see how we did:

Total cash required was $83,069
Total Profit Made was $21,932

So we made $8 short of $22,000 and only needed $83,069 invested to make it happen. That's an ROI of 26.4% across our whole portfolio between March 5 to March 20.

Now I'd like to answer some questions which have come up. The most common question is "what if I don't have $100,000 to invest?"

No problem. You can use this strategy with much smaller amounts of capital. The important part is the ROI. If you did the same trades at 1/10 the scale it would have required $8,306 and you would have profited $2,193. Not a bad month trading even for the most seasoned trader.

The second question we always get is "can I really do this?" The answer is YES! If you learn how you can do anything. This is one of the most consistent strategies you can make, allowing you to bring in around 20% or better every month.

So "How Do I Learn How?" First of all learn from someone who's experienced. We offer this $20k in 20 min class every month giving you the opportunity to watch and copy the very same trades I place in class. As you watch an experienced trader you will learn better how to place your own trades. The next class is scheduled for March 27th. Go here to sign up to take the class.

An even better way to learn to place these trades is to sign up for our Foundations of Stocks and Options class. In this comprehensive course you will not only learn how to read the market and place the credit spreads, but you will also learn several additional strategies which will allow you to trade the market profitably no matter what market conditions.


For more immediate reading be sure to check out my Free Special Report "How To Retire in One Year with only $10,000".

Until next time.... Happy Trading!