Recap: $416 (0.65% ROC) From Another Week of Boring Trades. +17% YTD on a 9% max-drawdown.

The major indexes finished a quiet week slightly higher. From Friday to Friday, the S&P 500 gained 0.4%, the Nasdaq added 0.1%, and the Russell 2000 rose 1.1%. VIX fell from 14.90 to 14.25, while crude climbed 5.4% to $82.40.

We started Monday by buying back the NFLX put at 78% of max profit, then sold covered calls on DG and WMT. Both calls expired worthless Friday. Tuesday we opened the TXN 8/14 $275 put. On Thursday, we rolled it down to the 8/21 $270 strike and rolled the existing CSCO put from the 8/14 $113 strike to the 9/11 $110 strike. Five contracts opened this week produced $416.26 in net premium after fees and roll debits on $63,971 of peak deployed capital, a 0.65% weekly ROC.

The longer view remains solid.

Period	Return	Net P/L	Max Drawdown
Year to date	+17.01% (SPY +13.48%)	$13,223.14	-9.92% (SPY -9.32%)
Rolling 1 Year	+36.53% (SPY +20.65%)	$29,989.65	-9.93% (SPY -9.87%)
Since Launch (Late June 2025)	+42.32% (SPY +28.81%)	$32,903.67	-9.93% (SPY -10.54%)

Since launching the strategy in late June 2025, realized income stands at $34,579.78, including $25,309.25 from option premiums. We are ending the week with two cash-secured puts open, $38,000 of collateral deployed, and 56% of the account in cash. The results are good, but the plan stays the same: keep the names boring, keep position sizes reasonable, and wait when the setup is not there.

Year-to-date portfolio snapshot through August 14, 2026. Click to enlarge.

This Week’s Totals

0.65%

Return on Capital

33.9%

Annualized Yield

$416.26

Premiums Collected

$63,971

Capital Used

$12.50 covered calls + $318.87 TXN chain + $84.89 CSCO roll credit = $416.26 net premium.

This Week’s Opening Trades

Scroll to see all columns →

Type	OpnOpen	Exp	ClsClose	TicTicker	StkStrike	Qty	Fill	ExtExit	Fee	Cap	P/L$	ROC
CC	8/10	8/14	8/14	DG	135	1	0.06	0.00	1.05	13.5k	4.95	0.04%
CC	8/10	8/14	8/14	WMT	117	1	0.09	0.00	1.45	11.7k	7.55	0.06%
CSP	8/11	8/14	8/13	TXN	275	1	1.39	1.63	2.08	27.5k	-26.08	-0.09%
CSP	8/13	9/11		CSCO	110	1	3.12	2.25	2.11	11.0k	84.89	0.77%
CSP	8/13	8/21		TXN	270	1	3.46	0.00	1.05	27.0k	344.95	1.28%

📥 Download Full YTD Trade Log (CSV)

This Week’s Assignments

None

Open Carryover Positions

Open positions from previous weeks that are counted towards deployed capital. These positions did not generate premiums this week.

None

Closed Carryover Positions

Closed positions from previous weeks that are counted towards deployed capital. These positions did not generate premiums this week and may have reduced premiums earned from previous weeks.

1 x NFLX 8/14 CSP @ $70 (bought back, +$30.11 trade P/L; $9.85 closing debit this week)
1 x CSCO 8/14 CSP @ $113 (rolled, -$100.62 trade P/L; replacement 9/11 $110 CSP opened for an $84.89 net roll credit)

Current Holdings

100 shares DG @ $135.00 cost basis, $129.24 YTD start, now $125.28 (IBKR)
100 shares WMT @ $117.00 cost basis, $115.39 YTD start, now $115.27 (IBKR)
100 shares SMCI @ $50.00 cost basis, $46.30 YTD start, now $39.84 (A1)

All trades have been immediately posted in the mLabs Trading Discord community upon execution.

Join the mLabs Trading Discord server