Last Friday, two previously discussed option positions on Alpha Natural Resources ANR ($26 short puts and $34 covered calls) expired worthless. That means CCI successfully "threaded the needle" between these two strike prices. OK... so maybe "threading the needle" is a bit of an exaggeration given those positions represented a $8 (approx. 26%) wide gap. However, high volatility on this stock's options meant that those two mutually exclusive trades both were positive, yielded 4% and 3% respectively.
Of course, CCI still sits on lot of shares of the stock, with a cost basis just under $40, that is deep underwater. Hopefully, there is still some base under the stock. Additionally, implied volatility/price of options is still quite high. Hence CCI is thinking of trying to "thread the needle" again with two similar option plays in October. As a first step in that process, one lots worth of Oct $26 puts were sold late Monday for $1.35 (5.2% premium). Rationale for this trade (and another similar option trade on BAC) is contained at this article at seeking alpha. If ANR were to rebound, CCI would look to reestablish a covered call position against the already owned lot of shares.
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