This month has been especially volatile, with two major market drops shaking things up.
Market Drops: What Caused Them?
Early August (around August 1): Market volatility was triggered by concerns over renewed U.S. tariffs and rate policy uncertainty. Historically, August is one of the weakest months for equities, with corrective stretches being common during this period.
Mid-August (around August 20): The tech-heavy Nasdaq experienced a sharp 2.2% decline over two days, driven by renewed fears about overexposure to AI. The sell-off was about weak earnings and the skepticism regarding the sustainability of tech megacaps’ valuations.Reuters
My Hedge Activity & Results
On August 20, 2025, in response to a cut-loss contract closure, I initiated additional trades to further reduce downside exposure.
Noticed the realisation of the premium increased fast during the quick drop of the underlying share. I close 3 sell call on the same day.
A quick summary on trades closed till the 3rd week of Aug’25:
19 trades closed till 3rd week of August’25
📝 Observations
Losses were contained – despite 2 forced cut-loss exits, overall win rate stayed strong at 84%.
Volatility management was key – sudden market drops forced earlier exits and additional hedging.
Short-duration spreads (some less than 5 days) worked well for quick profits (e.g., NVDA, PLTR).
As I mentioned, I couldn’t wait to start, and I jumped right in by selling puts to collect premium, and later, testing out a bull put spread.
Important Notes: Although I attempted to sell a PUT option in my first options trade, please NEVER NEVER NEVER SELL NAKED PUT (you must have the money to buy the 100 shares at the strike price in the worst case scenario). I sold this PUT option at a low strike price, intending to buy 100 shares if the price dropped. However, I expected the share price to rise, allowing me to profit from the premium collected.
Here are the details of the options contracts I placed:
1. $MARA – Sell Put(Closed Early for Profit)
Contract Type: Sell Put
Strike Price: $12.00
Stock Price (at entry): ~$14.00
Open Date: March 24, 2025
Close Date: May 9, 2025
Original Expiry: May 16, 2025
Premium Received: $89.00
Option Bought to Close: $0.12 ($12.00 total)
Commissions (Open & Close): $ 2.84 total
Net Profit After Commission: Premium Received – Option Bought to Close – Commissions ($89 – $12 – $ 2.84) = $74.16
This was my very first options contract. I sold the put with the hope of collecting the premium, and the trade played out nicely (I will buy the 100 shares at cheap price if the share price drops). The stock price stayed well above the $12 strike, so I closed the trade one week early at just $0.12. After deducting commissions, I walked away with a solid $72.74 profit.
It was a small but meaningful win — it helped build my confidence and confirmed that a simple strategy like selling puts can work when done with a plan.
Screenshots are taken from the Fund Details page from Moomoo app:
The first screenshot shows that I sold MARA PUT option and received $89 premium by paying $1.42 commission.
The first screenshot shows that I buy back MARA PUT option to close it by paying $12 premium and $1.42 commission. And my net profit is $89 – $1.42 – $12 – $1.42 = $74.16
2. $SOXL – Sell Put(Closed Early for Small Profit)
Contract Type: Sell Put
Strike Price: $9.50
Stock Price (at entry): ~$13.20
Open Date: May 2, 2025
Close Date: May 12, 2025
Original Expiry: May 16, 2025
Premium Received: $17.00
Option Bought to Close: $0.02 ($2.00 total)
Commissions (Open & Close): $2.84
Net Profit After Commission: $12.16
A short-term trade that moved safely in my favor. With most of the premium collected and only $2 left on the table, I decided to close it early and lock in the profit. Another small step forward in learning how to manage exits.
3. $SOXL – Bull Put Spread(Expired with Full Profit)
Strategy: Bull Put Spread
Stock Price (at entry): ~$18.82
Trade Date: May 12, 2025
Expiry Date: May 30, 2025
Leg 1 – Sell Put
Strike Price: $15.00
Premium Received: $44.00
Leg 2 – Buy Put
Strike Price: $14.00
Premium Paid: $29.00
Net Premium Collected: $15.00
Total Commission: $2.84
Net Profit After Commission: $12.16
This was my first spread strategy — and it worked out exactly how I hoped. The stock stayed above $15 through expiry, and I kept the full premium. Limiting risk while collecting income is something I’ll definitely keep exploring.
I managed to find a screenshot I took on 3rd Option Trade that has expired. The total gain from this vertical spread is $15.00 (Note: Bull Put Spread is on of the Vertical Spread Strategy).
Screenshot taken from the Moomoo app on the option’s expiry day
All three trades turned out positive — not massive wins, but safe, real, and encouraging. More importantly, I learned by doing:
Selling puts is a solid way to get started and generate income.
Closing early once most premium is collected helps avoid unnecessary risk.
Spreads give me confidence with limited risk when I want to trade closer to the stock price.
In the next post, I’ll break down how I selected these trades, what tools I used to analyze them, and what I plan to improve going forward.
I’m still new to investing — at least to what I’d call proper investing.
Previously, my so-called “strategy” was really just guesswork. I’d buy well-known stocks or look at random share price charts, by buying when the price dropped a lot and avoiding anything at an all-time high. No real plan. No structure. Just instincts.
That changed after I read a few books that opened my eyes to the many strategies out there — from capital gain plays to dividend-focused stocks to quant-style trading. Those books gave me a glimpse of what serious investing could look like, and that’s when I decided to treat this journey more seriously.
I also had a nudge from a friend who encouraged me to dedicate some time to investing and trading outside of my full-time job. That’s how we ended up spending a few mornings each week in a Family Mart, digging into strategies and trying to build a portfolio from scratch.
We didn’t manage to finish that portfolio — at least not the way we initially planned. Instead, we decided to get a head start by trying K2Robot trading by ChartNexus on the Tiger platform. It was a faster way to get our feet wet while continuing to learn. Each of us invested about 10k MYR (total up 4,6k USD into Tiger Plarform for a start in Mar2025).
Then came the Outlook 2025 event by Piranha Profits. I joined mainly because my friend invited me, but I left with a whole new level of motivation. One speaker in particular really caught my attention — a Vietnamese options trader who shared his story of going from extreme hardship after the war to becoming a multi-million-dollar options trader. His story, along with the appeal of high leverage in options trading compared to stocks, inspired me to sign up for an options trading course. I paid about USD 1,8k for the course and the journey started.
I’ll be honest — I couldn’t wait to start. Even before finishing the course, I jumped into options trading and made my first few trades. With the help of the learning materials available in Moomoo Trading App, I started to get a better grasp of how options trading works and began to understand a few key strategies. Slowly, things started to click — from basic calls and puts to more structured strategies, like vertical spread a start.
In my next post, I’ll share the details of the first three options contracts I bought [My First 3 Options Trade] — and how they turned out.
Summarize It My Way 