Happy Sunday!
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Just one trade to update this week because I'm in the midst of my first options course for the year, which is taking priority this weekend.
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This week:
$85 profit in Texas Instruments (TXN)
$85 profit in TXN
TXN has been on a downward trend since November last year, and down just over 5% over the last 6 months.Â
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In the middle of December, I sold the $175 cash-secured put expiring Jan 17 for $150 in premium.Â
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My initial outlook was that December is seasonally a strong month with a Santa rally, which should help lock in some profits.Â
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Unfortunately as we all know, the Santa rally didn't materialize in 2024, and I had the position on for a little while more.Â

You can see from the chart above that TXN never went below $180 over this period, which means my put strike of $175 was never actually tested.Â
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Despite that, I still opted to take profits when considering my portfolio as a whole had a few iffy positions that probably needed to be dealt with (and 2 eventually did).Â
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I paid $65 to close the trade, realizing $85 profit (about 57% of max profit)
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The idea is I while there was profit to be had, I wanted to make sure I lock them in rather than risk the trade going against me and needing to be managed instead, especially as December began to look more and more iffy.Â

TXN was a pretty decent performer in my portfolio in 2024 with 5 wins from 5 trades and a total of $426 in realized profit.Â
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I'm hoping for similar or better in 2025.Â
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This trade - and all trades I share here - are shared with my private community as updates within my real portfolio (not recommendations).Â
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If you'd like to be part of the community, consider checking out the link below.Â
Closing thoughts & useful links
Earnings week starts for real next week (at least for the stocks on my watchlist). The VIX has calmed down a little bit, so I'm looking forward to any volatility I can get from these announcements.Â
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Have a good weekend!
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This article is for educational purposes only. This is my own portfolio which is being managed according to my goals and risk tolerance. Your situation is likely different and you should do your own due diligence before investing in stocks or options.