Exits, 5/1/2026
How we did on the trades we exited this week.
This Week’s Trade Exits
As soon as I exit a trade, I note that in the comments of the post where I first mentioned the trade; at the end of the week, I try to track them all in one post. Starting in July, 2024, I have also been tracking them in this spreadsheet. These are the trades I exited this week.
Stocks or Exchange Traded Products
None.
Options
Put spread on dLocal (DLO 0.00%↑). Entered at a net credit of $0.55 as part of a 4-leg hybrid combo on 3/27/2026; exited at a net debit of $0.12 on 4/27/2026. Profit: 78% (return on max risk: 17%). Signal: Market Watchers.
Short calls on Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises (BW 0.00%↑). Sold-to-open at $1.42 as part of a 4-leg hybrid combo on 4/6/2026; bought-to-close at $0.20 on 5/1/2026. Profit: 86%. Signal: Market Watchers.
Put spread on Bunge Global (BG 0.00%↑). Entered at a net credit of $1.49 as part of a 4-leg combo on 3/20/2026; exited at a net debit of $0.20 on 4/30/2026. Profit: 87% (return on max risk: 37%). Signal: PA Top Names.
Put spread on Camtek (CAMT 0.00%↑). Entered at a net credit of $1.63 as part of a 4-leg combo on 4/6/2026; exited at a net debit of $0.20 on 4/27/2026. Profit: 88% (return on max risk: 38%). Signal: PA Top Names.
Put spread on Enova International (ENVA 0.00%↑). Entered at a net credit of $1.70 as part of a 4-leg combo on 2/6/2026; exited at a net debit of $0.20 on 5/1/2026. Profit: 88% (return on max risk: 45%). Signal: Chartmill.
Short call on Freeport-McMoRan (FCX 0.00%↑). Sold-to-open at $3.79 as part of a 4-leg combo on 2/4/2026; bought-to-close at $0.20 on 4/28/2026. Profit: 95%. Signal: Me (Macro).
Short call on Robinhood Markets (HOOD 0.00%↑). Sold-to-open at $3.98 as part of a 4-leg hybrid combo on 3/5/2026; bought-to-close at $0.15 on 4/29/2026. Profit: 96%. Signal: Market Watchers.
Short call on Frequency Electronics (FEIM 0.00%↑). Sold-to-open at $4.85 as part of a 4-leg hybrid combo on 2/11/2026; bought-to-close at $0.20 on 4/29/2026. Profit: 96%. Signal: Market Watchers.
Diagonal calendar spread on Applied Materials (AMAT 0.00%↑). Entered at a net debit of $8.50 on 3/24/2026; exited at a net credit of $17.15 on 4/30/2026. Profit: 102%. Signal: PA Top Names.
4-leg hybrid combo on SLB (SLB 0.00%↑). Entered at a net debit of $1.90 on 3/20/2026; exited the put spread at a net debit of $0.20 on 3/30/2026; exited the calendar at a net credit of $5.40 on 5/1/2026. Profit: 174% (return on max risk: 56%). Signal: Market Watchers.
3-leg combo on USA Rare Earth (USAR 0.00%↑). Entered at a net debit of $2.45 on 12/4/2025; sold half of the calls at $10.00 on 1/23/2026; exited the put spread at a net debit of $0.20 on 4/17/2026; sold the other half of the calls at $9.00 on 5/1/2026. Profit: 280% (return on max risk: 154%). Signal: PA Top Names.
3-leg combo on Vistance Networks (VISN 0.00%↑), formerly CommScope Holding (COMM). Entered at a net debit of $0.60 on 9/26/2025; exited the put spread at a net debit of $0.20 on 10/30/2025; sold half of the calls at $3.00 on 11/20/2025; sold the other half of the adjusted VISN calls at $5.85 on 4/30/2026. Profit: 604% (return on max risk: 139%). Signal: PA Top Names.
4-leg combo on Dycom Industries (DY 0.00%↑). Entered at a net debit of $2.85 on 11/3/2025; exited the put spread at a net debit of $0.20 on 11/19/2025; exited the call spread at a net credit of $24.00 on 5/1/2026. Profit: 735% (return on max risk: 163%). Signal: PA Top Names.
Comments
Stocks or Exchange Traded Products
No exits this week, as I haven’t been doing our basic strategy, which involves buying stocks and ETFs, and have been focusing on options instead. Nevertheless, the performance of our system’s top names have nearly doubled that of the SPDR S&P 500 Trust (SPY 1.32%↑) since I launched this Substack in December of 2022.
Options
Another Strong Week
This was another strong week for our options trades: 13 exits, all profitable.
What stands out to me this week is how many different parts of our trade-management process contributed to those gains. Some of these were routine financing-leg exits, with put spreads on names such as Bunge Global, Camtek, Enova International, and dLocal coming off for gains in the high double digits. Those are not the most exciting exits, but they matter: harvesting those credits reduces risk and lets the bullish side of the trade keep working.
We also had several short calls in hybrid combos collapse enough for us to buy them back cheaply. That happened with Babcock & Wilcox, Freeport-McMoRan, Robinhood Markets, and Frequency Electronics. Those exits did two things at once: they locked in 86% to 96% gains on the short calls, and they restored uncapped upside on the remaining long calls.
Letting The Structures Work
Then there were the bigger full-combo exits. Applied Materials gave us a 102% gain on a diagonal calendar spread. SLB gave us a 174% gain on a hybrid combo tied to the oilfield-services / Gulf reconstruction theme. USA Rare Earth turned into a 280% winner, Vistance Networks—formerly CommScope Holding—turned into a 604% winner, and Dycom Industries closed as a 735% winner.
The Dycom Industries exit is a good example of another rule that has served us well: not trying to squeeze every last dollar out of a call spread. We exited that call spread at $24 on a $30-wide spread, which is the same basic idea as our usual target of around 80% of max width. That leaves something on the table, but it also gets us out before time, volatility, or a reversal can take back too much of the gain.
The broader point is that these trades do not all need to work the same way. Sometimes the put spread does its job and comes off for most of the credit. Sometimes the short call in a hybrid collapses and gives us an uncapped runner. Sometimes the call spread hits our exit target. And sometimes, as with Vistance Networks and USA Rare Earth, we scale out of calls over time and let the second half work.
This week’s exits are a good reminder that disciplined structures matter, but disciplined exits matter too. The goal is not just to find good ideas. It is to structure them so we can survive volatility, harvest premium when it makes sense, and take profits before greed turns a win into something less than a win.