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Fidelity Select Funds Portfolio Optimized For Low Volatility Performed Well In 2015

Summary LOW volatility portfolio: FIBIX, FSBIX, FSPHX, FSELX, FSCHX, FBMPX. MID volatility portfolio: FLBIX, FSBIX, FSPHX, FSELX, FSCHX, FBMPX. HIGH volatility portfolio: FLBIX, FIBIX, FSPHX, FSELX, FSCHX, FBMPX. The LOW volatility portfolio had a positive return so far in 2015 despite the interest rate uncertainty. In a previous article we presented the performance of a portfolio made up of five Fidelity select mutual funds. That portfolio had a stellar performance over the whole 27 year period starting in 1987. Back in July we decided to replace the GNMA fund (MUTF: FGMNX ) with two high quality government bonds. The performance of the two portfolios was discussed in the July article, the conclusion being that the new portfolio performed slightly better than the old one. In the first article I used a Relative Strength (RS) strategy based on a three-month look back evaluation period. In the second article I used a Mean-Variance Optimization (MVO) algorithm with 65-day look back evaluation period. While the MVO algorithm may approximate the RS algorithm if one selects the proper volatility target, the MVO strategy is very flexible, and it allows the investor to adapt it to the variable market environment. It turns out that during the first nine months of 2015 the RS strategy, as well as the Dual Momentum (DM) one, has performed poorly with a return of -15.22% for a 3-month look back, or -10.15% for a 12-month look back. The interested reader may verify the performance of Dual Momentum and Relative Strength on the portfoliovisualizer.com site. In this article we shall use only the MVO strategy and we want to emphasize the performance of the new portfolio during the first three quarters of 2015. We shall present three versions of this new portfolio for three levels of volatility: low, mid and high. The three versions are meant for investors with different risk tolerance. They also are meant for investors who may want to vary their risk level based on their evaluation of the markets. The portfolios are made up of the following funds: Fidelity Select Multimedia Portfolio (MUTF: FBMPX ) Fidelity Select Chemicals Portfolio (MUTF: FSCHX ) Fidelity Select Electronics Portfolio (MUTF: FSELX ) Fidelity Select Health Care Portfolio (MUTF: FSPHX ) Fidelity Spartan Long Term Treasuries Fund (MUTF: FLBIX ) Fidelity Spartan Intermediate Term Treasuries Fund (MUTF: FIBIX ) Fidelity Spartan Short Term Treasuries Fund (MUTF: FSBIX ) With the seven funds above, we created three portfolios to be used at three volatility levels: low, mid and high. All portfolios include the same four equity funds, but each one includes only two of the three treasury funds. The high risk uses FLBIX and FIBIX, the mid risk includes FLBIX and FSBIX, while the low risk has FIBIX and FSBIX. The data for the study were downloaded from Yahoo Finance on the Historical Prices menu for FBMPX, FSCHX, FSELX, FSPHX, FLBIX, FIBIX and FSBIX. We use the daily price data adjusted for dividend payments. The portfolio is managed as dictated by a variance-return optimization algorithm developed on the Modern Portfolio Theory ( Markowitz ). The allocation is rebalanced monthly at market closing of the first trading day of the month. In table 1 we present the performance of the portfolio for three levels of risk. Table 1. Portfolio performance from January 2007 to October 2015 TotRet% CAGR% VOL% maxDD% Sharpe Sortino 2015 return LOW risk 109.22 8.80 5.49 -7.50 1.60 2.10 1.75 MID risk 287.58 16.75 13.37 -16.97 1.25 1.69 -0.49 HIGH risk 569.16 24.26 20.22 -16.97 1.20 1.70 -2.45 The realized volatilities of the portfolios are in agreement with their names; the LOW risk had 5.49% annualized volatility, the MID had 13.37%, while the HIGH had 20.22%. Also, please notice the strong correlation between the returns CAGR and volatility of the portfolios. On the other hand, during 2015 the LOW volatility portfolio produced a positive return of 1.75%, while the MID and HIGH risk portfolio suffered negative returns. In figure 1 we show the graphs of the portfolio equities for the period from January 2007 to October 2015. (click to enlarge) Figure 1. Equity curves for three portfolios adaptively optimized for low, medium and high risk targets. Source: All charts in this article are based on EXCEL calculations using the adjusted daily closing share prices of securities. In figure 2, 3 and 4 we show the time variation of the percentage allocation of the funds for the period since January 2014 to October 2015. We opted for this shorter time period to get graphs that are easily readable. We are mostly interested in the allocations during 2015. (click to enlarge) Figure 2. Percentage allocation of the funds for low risk portfolio January 2014 to October 2015. One can see in figure 2 that most of the time the portfolio was invested about 50% in the short term treasury fund FSBIX. In figure 3 we show the time variation of the percentage allocation of the funds for mid risk. (click to enlarge) Figure 3. Percentage allocation of the funds for MID risk portfolio January 2014 to October 2015. (click to enlarge) Figure 4. Asset allocations for the portfolio adaptively optimized for the HIGH risk target January 2014 to October 2015.. Since July 2015 the high risk portfolio was invested 100% in treasuries; in FSLBX in July and August, and in FIBIX in September and October. The current fund allocations are shown in table 3. Table 3. Asset allocations for October 2015 FSELX FBMPX FSPHX FSCHX FLBIX FIBIX FSBIX LOW risk 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 100% MID risk 0% 0% 0% 0% 88% 0% 12% HIGH risk 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 100% 0% Conclusion The low risk Fidelity select portfolio performed better than the mid and high risk portfolios. While the return of 1.75% is relatively modest, it is better than many other choices. The losses of the mid risk portfolio are very small at -0.49%, while the high risk portfolio lost the most at -2.45%. In hindsight, investing in a low risk portfolio was the better choice due to the fact that the market environment was very difficult since the beginning of 2015.

The iShares MSCI Belgium Capped ETF: What’s In A Name?

An interesting mix of economic alliances. A niche economy well integrated within the EU manufacturing network. Surprisingly consistent positive long term returns along with dividend distributions. One of the many nice things about 21st century Europe is the way it manages to lead the way in the arts, science, thought and politics being somehow, thoroughly ‘today’ and yet, managing to hold on to its own unique traditions, culture and ambience. Take the Kingdom of Belgium , for instance. Most people might think of Belgium as a quaint and charming tourist destination. Well, there’s more to it than that. In name, it’s a Kingdom, in actuality, a federation: Dutch Speaking Flanders, French speaking Wallonia and the capital, Brussels all governed by a parliament. Just briefly: after the 1830 revolt against King William I of Netherlands, Belgium seceded and formed its own government, under King Leopold I, succeeded by his son, Leopold II, Belgium evolved into a European industrial power to be reckoned with. In 1921, Belgium and Luxembourg formed an economic union. In 1944, a second economic-political union was formed with Netherlands and Luxembourg called the Benelux union. In 1957, the three nations of Benelux were among the original signatories to the Treaty of Rome, the foundation of today’s European Union. It’s interesting to note that the Benelux brand name and the Belgium-Luxemburg economic union still exist inside the larger EU, today. According to Europa.eu , geographically, Belgium is rather small, covering approximately 11,787 mi 2 , home to 2.2% of the total EU population; about 11.204 million citizens. So clearly, Belgium is far more complex than a mere tourist destination. Fund Return vs Index 3-Months Year to Date 1 Year 3 Year 5 Year 10 Year Inception 3/12/1996 EWK Market Shares 1.24% 4.48% 2.89% 12.60% 8.11% 2.14% 5.27% EWK Total Return 2.951% 6.48% 2.26% 12.56% 7.99% 2.11% 5.27% MSCI Index N/A N/A 1.81% 12.17% 9.38% 2.48% 5.57% (Data From BlackRock) One would think that such a small state could not provide notable investment returns. Surprisingly, that is not the case. In fact, the iShares MSCI Belgium Capped ETF (NYSEARCA: EWK ) has done reasonably well over the entire 19 ½ year history of the fund, even during the most difficult EU recession years. Further, it’s the only Belgium focused ETF with over 95% Belgium holdings. The first question to ask is about the general nature of the Belgium economy, including imports, exports and primary trading partners. (Data from Trading Economics) Belgium’s GDP growth measured 0.4% for the first two quarters of 2015, pretty much in line with the EU-28; Per capita GDP is 23% higher than the EU-28. Belgium does rank 15th in EU-28 unemployment, high, but below the EU-28 average. As an export economy, Belgium runs a positive balance of trade of about $3.07 billion; however, is a net borrower with a current account deficit of $1.827 billion. Lastly, wealth is well distributed as demonstrated by its GINI index of 29.9. In a nutshell, Belgium is reasonably well off nation with average growth and above average wealth distribution. (click to enlarge) (Data from Trading Economics) Belgium trades mainly within the EU. Almost 71% of total exports are destined for its top ten global trade partners; over 59% of total exports are destined for EU member states. The leading three destinations are Germany, 15.85%; Benelux partner Netherlands, 14.64% and France at 11.79%, of total exports. Similarly, over 74% of Belgium’s imports originate from its top ten global trading partners; over 59% of total imports originate from EU members led by Netherlands, 19.37%, Germany, 15.14% and France at 11.14%, of total imports. The next reasonable question, knowing now Belgium’s global trade relationships, is about Belgium’s primary exported and imported goods. Indeed, Belgium’s exports are well diversified. Belgium’s top 40 (of over 1200) exports account for just over 50% of total exports and similarly Belgium’s top 40 (of over 1200) imports account for about 50% of total imported products. (click to enlarge) It should be noted that, usually, when there’s a similarity between imported and exported products, it’s an indication of a semi -manufactured product trade. That is to say, partially completed or bulk products are imported for further processing or completion, then exported to another destination. What it all adds up to is that 30% of Belgium’s niche economy is nestled in the EU manufacturing network and a function of inter-EU trade. How, then, does the iShares MSCI Belgium Capped ETF allocate investment capital? The first thing to note is the fund’s sector allocation. The fund most heavily weights Consumer Staples at 32.06% and Financials, 27.42%; about 60% of the fund. This is followed by Health Care, 11.03%; Materials, 9.68%; Discretionary, 4.32% and Telecom, 4.17% comprising about 30% of the fund. The remaining 10% is allocated to IT, 3.64%; Industrials, 3.58%; Energy, 2.54%; Utilities, 1.33% and a small cash holding. (Data from BlackRock) Consumer Staples is the heaviest weighted sector. Anheuser Busch Inbev ( OTCPK:AHBIF ) has a 22.82% fund weighting, hence an overwhelming 68% of the Consumer Staple sector. Anheuser Busch is a global heavyweight with 200 beer and beverage brands spanning the globe. Recently Anheuser Busch attempted a takeover of SABMiller ( OTCPK:SBMRY ). If this takeover is successful for Anheuser, it will give the company a major presence in Africa and Asia; two markets where it is currently lacking. Top Consumer Staple Holding Fund Weighting Market Cap (billions) Yield Payout Ratio Price/earnings Price/Book Beta Anheuser Busch Inbev 22.8168% $174.9 2.31% 60.53% 18.86 3.69 0.81 (Data From Reuters and Yahoo!) Of the 27.41% of the Financial Sector 17.15%, or about 60% of the financial allocation, is concentrated in three holdings, KBC Group ( OTCPK:KBCSY ), Ageas ( OTCPK:AGESY ) and Groupe Bruxelles Lambert ( OTC:GBLBY ). Briefly, KBC is a financial holding company for KBC Bank and KBC Insurance, serving Belgium, central and Eastern Europe and Russia. Ageas is primarily an insurer, serving, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Continental Europe plus a wholly owned subsidiary in Hong Kong. Lastly Groupe Bruxelles Lambert [GBLB] is also a holding company, whose portfolio is focused on diversified industrials in France and Spain, plus wholly owned subsidiaries in the ‘Benelux region’, Germany and Ireland. Top Financial Holdings Fund Weighting Market Cap (billions) Yield Payout Ratio Price/earnings Price/Book Beta KBC Groep 8.7022% $26.37 2.66% 44.33% 12.49 1.39 2.36 Ageas 4.7507% $9.68 3.01% NA 9.27 0.75 1.66 Groupe Bruxelles Lambert 3.6953% $12.76 2.96% 41.20% 10.34 0.79 0.93 (Data From Reuters and Yahoo!) The third major sector is Health Care at 11.03%. Of the six Health Care holdings, UCB ( OTCPK:UCBJY ) is weighted heaviest at 5.3852% of the fund, or 48.8% of the sector’s holdings. UCB is classified as a biopharmaceutical, focusing on immunology and the central nervous system. UCB is Belgium based with international reach: 25 offices distributed in Europe as well as the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas and Central Asia. Top Health Care Holding Fund Weighting Market Cap (billions) Yield Payout Ratio Price/earnings Price/Book Beta UCB 5.3852% $14.84 1.17 NA 60.10 2.24 0.48 (Data From Reuters and Yahoo!) The next major sector, Materials has five holdings dominated by Solvay ( OTCPK:SVYZY ), 3.5838% of the fund and Umicore ( OTCPK:UMICY ) at 2.811%. Together they comprise 6.3948% of the fund and thus about 66.1% of the Material sector’s holdings. Solvay focuses on chemicals used in consumer goods, healthcare, and agriculture, to name a few as well as the development of advance materials, chemicals and polymers. Umicore is similar producing industrial chemicals, metal alloys materials. It’s interesting to note that Umicore generates most of its revenues from clean technologies. Top Material Holdings Fund Weighting Market Cap (billions) Yield Payout Ratio Price/earnings Price/Book Beta Solvay 3.5838% $9.39 2.58% 92.60% 26.71 1.17 1.31 Umicore 2.811% $4.705 2.00% 47.34% 23.58 2.27 0.95 (Data From Reuters and Yahoo!) For the sake of completeness, the table below briefly outlines the top holding in the remaining sectors along with dividend yields and payout ratios when available. Top Remaining Sector Holdings Business Sector Fund Weighting Yield Payout Ratio Price/earnings Price/Book Beta Telenet ( OTCPK:TLGHY ) Diversified media Discretionary 2.0525% 0.00% 0.00 32.15 NA 0.58 Proximus ( OTCPK:BGAOY ) Mobile and Internet Telecom 3.2881% 0.00% 0.00 18.29 3.51 0.62 Melexis ( OTC:MLXSF ) Semiconductors IT 1.3538% 2.19% NA 18.51 7.28 1.19 Bpost ( OTCPK:BPOSY ) Parcel Post Industrials 1.5226% 4.36% NA 14.90 5.50 NA Euronav ( OTC:EONVY ) Crude oil Transport and Storage Energy 1.8389% 3.59% NA 16.96 1.36 1.34 ELIA System ( OTC:ELIAF ) High Voltage Transmission Utilities 1.3307% 2.62% 54.65% 15.61 1.16 0.15 (Data From Reuters and Yahoo!) The fund itself has 8,800,000 shares outstanding with a 20 day average volume of almost 64,000 shares. The fund’s price to earnings ratio is 21.52 and price to book multiple is 1.89 times. The beta is low at 0.87, and it deviates from its 3 year average price by about ±12.4%. The fund has a current annualized yield of 3.38% and a twelve month trailing yield of 2.21%. Lastly, the fund is trading at a premium of 0.68% to its net asset value. Lastly, it has at least one annual dividend per year since inception, 12 March, 1996. (click to enlarge) To sum up, here’s a single country fund outperforming larger single country EU member focused funds. It has a niche economy in the EU as well as two other regional economic unions. Belgium is also home to dividend paying global powerhouse companies. All in all, for those investors wishing to construct their own global economic ETF portfolio, here’s a relatively unknown single country fund, with good returns, and perhaps a guide to a nice vacation destination! Editor’s Note: This article discusses one or more securities that do not trade on a major U.S. exchange. Please be aware of the risks associated with these stocks.

Our Top Trades Review – October

Summary A review of our recent Top Trade Ideas. A snapshot of our Current Option Opportunities Portfolio. Several trade ideas that are still great opportunities for new trades. How interesting the markets have been! In our August Top Trade Review , I mentioned we were starting a new product – which began as the 5% Portfolio and was renamed the Options Opportunity Portfolio – which has been a huge success, now up 16.7% at the close of the second month: (click to enlarge) These are, for the most part, short-term trades, but we’ve been layering in some longer-term trade ideas – using our profits to invest in trades that will generate steady monthly gains over time, rather than only focusing on “quickies”. Our Top Trade Ideas generally tend to be longer-term trades, and we don’t have a portfolio that tracks them specifically. They are generally selected trades from the ones that we are adding to PSW’s Short-Term Portfolio or Long-Term Portfolio, and tend to be of the “set and forget” variety, while our OOP trades require a bit more active management. (click to enlarge) While 30 of our first 45 (66%) Top Trade ideas were winners, 4 of our 15 losers were Lumber Liquidators (NYSE: LL ) trade ideas – all of which are now coming back as LL pops back to $20! Hopefully it can break over $20 and we can put all that silliness behind us. Getting two out of three trades right is plenty to move the investing ball towards the goal line. Combine that with sensible portfolio management techniques (diversification, managing losses, hedging), and you’ll beat the S&P by a mile with no sweat. Generally, with our Top Trades, we’re simply picking stocks we feel are underpriced, and we’re using our various options techniques to give ourselves even better discounts and hedged entries – but these are patience plays that do take time to get going, though we did call for a cash-out of our winners in July, so August was kind of a fresh start. Without further ado, here’s the next month of trades for review – some are still good for new entries : (click to enlarge) On August 4th, we saw a news article that Windstream (NASDAQ: WIN ) won a contract for $450M to build out wireless services for the VA. As WIN was a company we had played in the past, this was a trigger for us to jump in with a new play, which was: In the STP, let’s go for 40 WIN Sept $5 calls for 0.50 ($2,000) and let’s do 10 in the $25KP ($500). As you can see, WIN popped nicely right off the bat and finished September 18th (expiration day) at $6.92, with the calls at $1.92 – up 284% . Well, they can’t all be long-term trades… 😉 (click to enlarge) August 11th was a double alert: In addition to a play on Terex (NYSE: TEX ), we also included a long oil Futures trade idea: You can still sell the TEX 2017 $23 puts for $3 and that’s net $19, which is very fair, even if the merger fails – I like that and you can add the $20 ($7.60) /25 ($4.30) bull call spread at $3.30 for net 0.30 on the $5 spread but that’s betting the merger does go through just to make another $1.70 – not really worth the risk. Our timing on that one was good, but then bad, as people first loved, then hated, the merger deal, and now they are warming up to it again. Nonetheless, since we were fairly conservative in our play, the short puts are still just $3.30 (down 10%) , and the additional spread I said was not worth the risk is now net $1.50, down 50%, and NOW it’s worth the risk! A much better trade that day was my Futures pick on oil (/CL) to go long at $43. We pretty much caught the dead bottom there and, as you can see, we popped all the way to $55 before the rally failed – up $12,000 per contract . Of course, we don’t just get in and ride them out – but if you are still in this trade back at $52.50 (up $9,500), it’s time to stop out, as we’re short again! August 24th was our next trade (we didn’t like anything enough in the prior week), and our trade idea that Monday was for our Stock of the Decade, Taser (NASDAQ: TASR ), as it fell back to the $20 line. We liked this one so much that not only was it a top trade, but it was the first long-term trade idea added to our Options Opportunity Portfolio as well: (click to enlarge) Buy 20 TASR 2017 $20 calls at $6.20 ($12,400) Sell 20 TASR 2017 $25 calls at $4.15 ($8,300) Sell 20 TASR 2017 $15 puts at $2.40 ($4,800) Our net on the spread was a $700 credit and, as you can see, this is another one we caught a nice bottom on. They are now back to testing the $25 level, which is all our very conservative target is looking for to make the full $10,700. At the moment, the net on the spread is $2,500, so already net $3,200 off our original $700 credit is up 457% in just over a month, and only just getting started! On August 26th, we got very busy indeed as we reviewed Goldman Sachs’ 25 most oversold stock list to see which ones we thought were playable. Our trade ideas were: (click to enlarge) Cheap food costs tip the scales for me on this one and sure, I don’t like paying 18.8 for a grocery store but I do like paying 12x earnings and that would be $22 and you can sell the 2017 $23 puts for $1.55 to net in at $21.45 (30% off) and we can play that with the $30 ($5.50)/$35 ($3.45) bull call spread at $2.05 to net into the $5 spread for 0.50. Margin on 10 short puts is a negligible $2,300 and I REALLY would like to own $46,000 worth of WFM at $23 so let’s do 20 of those in the LTP . Whole Foods (NASDAQ: WFM ) just took off and headed back to the $35 line, and the net on the spread has gone from $500 to $1,470, which is up $970 (194%) , but merely on trace to the full $5,000 we expect if it can get above $35 and hold it through January 2017. Good time to make a note that you don’t HAVE to make short-term trades to get great short-term returns on your cash. This trade was a very sensible entry on 8/24 and it’s only 10/10 and already we’re up 194% – that’s enough to satisfy all but the greediest of short-term trades yet we took no particular short-term risk because we are BEING THE HOUSE and selling more premium than we bought . (click to enlarge) 10 2017 $35 puts can be sold for $3.20 ($3,200) and $35 is already another 20% off and we can use that money to buy 10 of the $40 ($9.40)/50 ($5.50) bull call spreads for $3.90 for net 0.70 on the $10 spreads that are $4.77 in the money to start. I fully expect these to get cheaper and we’ll spend $4.50 more to roll down to the $30 calls (now $17) when and if we have the opportunity. For the LTP. Marathon Petroleum (NYSE: MPC ) was one we put our foot down on as it tested the $45 line. As we are supposed to do – we took advantage of the OPPORTUNITY to buy low, and we took up an option spread that would give us an entry even lower ($35.70 in this case) in our worst case. As it happens, we nailed the bottom, and already, this $700 spread is netting $3,300 for a $2,600 (371%) gain in just over 30 days. Again, you do not need to take big risks to make big rewards – even in the short run. (click to enlarge) Buy 10 April $40 puts for $2 ($2,000) Buy 10 April $50 calls for $4 ($4,000) Sell 10 Oct $50 calls for $1.55 ($1,550) Sell 10 Oct $45 puts for $2 ($2,000) This Lincoln National (NYSE: LNC ) spread was for our Butterfly Portfolio, and that’s one that needs managing. The long puts and calls are still net $4,900 (down $1,100), but the short puts and calls are down to $560 already (expire next Friday) for a $2,990 gain, and that’s an overall net gain of $1,890 (+77%) off our $2,450 investment in just over a month – not bad for a well-hedged Butterfly! The way our Butterfly plays work is we simply make our next target sale once the first one runs down so, for example, we expect LNC to be around $52.50 into the end of the year and the November options don’t pay well so we can sell the Jan $47 puts for $1.90 ($1,900) and the Jan $53.50 calls for $1.50 ($1,500) and drop another $3,400 in our pocket for the next 3 months. (click to enlarge) On September 2nd, we reiterated our long call on TASR (above) and added this one on Skyworks Solutions (NASDAQ: SWKS ): As we’re always looking for our monthly $4,000(ish) in the LTP, let’s sell 5 of the SWKS 2017 $60 puts for $7 ($3,500) as that’s certainly a stock we don’t mind owning way down from here. While that one got off to a good start, we’re right back where we started (a bit below), at $8.20 for a $1,200 (34%) loss . For the purpose of our LTP, we really do want to own the stock for net $53, so we don’t care what the PRICE (not value) of the option is at $79.60. But this is a patience play for sure. On September 4th, we reiterated our warning to cash out winning positions, and we reviewed all of our Portfolio Positions. As I’ve noted, we don’t have a Top Trade Portfolio, as these trades are mainly picks from other portfolio plays, but the same rules apple – mainly cash and well-hedged is our current position in all 4 of our Member Portfolios! (click to enlarge) Since we had plenty of cash, we were free to add more trades, and on September 9th, we added Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO ) with the following spread: Sell 10 2017 $30 puts for $3.80 ($3,800) Buy 10 2017 $25 calls for $8.50 ($8,500) Sell 10 2017 $38 calls for $2.20 ($2,200) YHOO is really only back to where it was on that day after a nasty dip, but once again our “Be the House” strategy pays off, and the net $2,500 entry is already at $3,240 for a $740 gain, which is only +29% – but that’s on a stock that’s gone nowhere in 30 days. Isn’t that a trading style that’s worth learning? (click to enlarge) Our second Top Trade on the 9th was for the only Chinese company we like, China Mobile (NYSE: CHL ), with the following trade idea: While we’re on the top of positions – CHL is up 0.86 today but still cheap at $60.22 and we can sell 5 2017 $50 puts for $3.90 and that drops $1,950 into the LTP and keeps our eye on it . That one has improved since we called it, though off the highs, as China is having a very rough ride (and we knew that, but we still like CHL down here). The $50 puts are now $3.83, or $1,915, on 5 contracts versus the $1,950 we collected, up a not very exciting $35 (2%) , but on track and still great for a new entry. Our other Top Trade ideas are too new to review, but clearly it was a good month, with 8 winners and just two losers (so far), both of which make even better entries now than they were when we called them. Our Option Opportunities Portfolio is a partnership with Seeking Alpha and you can sign up for that portfolio HERE , which aims to make $5,000 a month in a $100,000 portfolio using a variety of option trading strategies (the portfolio at the top of this page is through Friday after just 2 months). It’s similar to Top Trade Alerts but focuses on quicker opportunities that tend to require a bit more active involvement.