Holiday markets are the time to be quiet - a few rounding up trades and one nuclear tech LEAPS trade and going short pharma
Portfolio News
In a week where S&P 500 rose 1.43% and Europe also rose 1.43%, my pension portfolio rose only 0.23%. Drags were US listed nuclear and uranium stocks and call options like NuScale Power (SMR) down 7.6% and Oklo (OKLO) call options down 33.8% the two worst. Personal portfolio did a lot better with a heavy weighting in commodities.
Big movers of the week were Neo Energy Metals (NEO.L) (57.7%), Grand Gulf Energy (GGE.AX) (50%), RocketBoots (ROC.AX) (32.1%), West Coast Silver (WCE.AX) (25.6%), Mithril Silver and Gold (MTH.AX) (23.1%), Rapid Critical Metals (RCM.AX) (22.4%), 29Metals (29M.AX) (20%), F3 Uranium Corp (FUU.V) (20%), Sun Silver (SS1.AX) (19.7%), Sigma Lithium Corporation (SGML) (18.9%), ADX Energy (ADX.AX) (18.2%), BPM Minerals (BPM.AX) (17.9%), American Uranium (AMU.AX) (17.6%), Earths Energy (EE1.AX) (16.7%), Pantera Minerals (PFE.AX) (15%), Elevate Uranium (EL8.AX) (14.8%), CGN Mining Company (1164.HK) (14.3%), Panther Metals (PNT.AX) (14.3%), Advance Metals (AVM.AX) (13%), Euro Manganese (EMN.AX) (12.9%), Aura Energy (AEE.AX) (12.5%), Genmin (GEN.AX) (12.5%), Hercules Metals Corp (BIG.V) (12.3%), Vulcan Energy Resources (VUL.AX) (12.1%), Broken Hill Mines (BHM.AX) (11.6%), PLS Group (PLS.AX) (11.4%), TechGen Metals (TG1.AX) (10.3%), Largo Inc (LGO) (10.1%), Cauldron Energy (CXU.AX) (10%)
29 stocks in the big movers list has a strong commodities feel. From the top - uranium (7 stocks), silver/gold mining (5 stocks), alternate energy (6 stocks). Not one of the big themes but a fair number of base metals stocks - maybe some of these could be slid into alternate energy materials - like manganese and nickel and zinc.
Stock on the top of the list is something of a surprise - Neo Energy Metals (NEO.L) - has been suspended since February 2025 - now relisted after filing annual reports and is a quiet mover with close to 100 mlbs in the ground in South Africa with near term production possible - currently included in 2027 on with a 2028 timeline. Image is an excerpt of a private research report - https://neoenergymetals.com/brokersval.html
US markets wanted to find reasons to go higher - broke the losing streak and did just that.
Crypto Sideways
Bitcoin price pushed lower to start and then found buyers finishing the week 1% higher than the open with a peak to trough range of 4.5%. There is a lot of year end liquidity management happening
Ethereum price pushed lower but did find buyers finishing the week 0.4% higher than the open with a peak to trough range of 6.1% making for a quiet week
Hive (HIVEBTC got a pump and dump the last day of the week with a pop of 37% giving away one third next day
Nuclear Energy Holdings
Adds in the week were small auto-invest adds. Had missed the Peninsula Energy (PEN.AX) SPP adds a little while back in two portfolios - slotted them in this week - they do drive big changes in valuations as price has better than doubled since the SPP. Encouraging is a 1.4% increase in valuations despite a bit of a dump in nuclear technology (again)
A few changes in the mix of holdings off valuation changes. Paladin Energy (PDN.AX) and enCore Energy Corp (EU) swap places in slots 7 and 8. Range Nuclear Renaissance ETF (NUKZ) comes into Top 10 in slot 10 and knocks out Centrus Energy Corp (LEU). Share of portfolios rises 0.5 points to 33.8%. Did find an error affecting this - had the wrong week in one portfolio.
Small point changes in the holdings by stage. Biggest change is 0.4 points drop in Technology
Alternate Energy Holdings
No change in holdings with a 2.8% increase in valuation. Still waiting for corporate action to be processed on takeover of The Furukawa Battery Co (6937.T)
A few changes in the mix on valuation changes. JinkoSolar Holding Co (JKS) goes back to slot 1 after a drop in value for ChargePoint Holdings (CHPT) facing tax credit changes. Sigma Lithium (SGML) jumps 2 places into slot 4. Share of portfolios goes up 0.2 points to 7.7% - looks like nuclear and alternate energy is now 40% - too much if this is wrong. Shape looks like an ETF now
Bought
Cauldron Energy (CXU.AX): Uranium. Exercised options in personal portfolio before expiry date - solid discount. Options allocated on one of the placements.
Locksley Resources (LKY.AX): Rare Earths. Update on placement in personal portfolio - was at a discount when announced - not anymore.
Viking Mines (VKA.AX): Rare Earths. Announced acquisition of US-based tungsten assets a week ago. Added a second small parcel to personal portfolio - on the pending order below the first entry price. Next Investors idea - these tend to be front-run ideas. So it seems with a 20% discount 2nd time around
ENCE Energía y Celulosa (ENC.MC): Europe Paper Products. Dividend yield 5.27%. Averaged down entry price in personal portfolio - options market is not very liquid for using covered calls to find an exit. Averaged down price will allow tighter strike writing. Stock screen idea. Dividend yield 5.27%.
Builders FirstSource (BLDR): US Building Materials. Rounded up holding in pension portfolio to average down entry price - will use covered calls to find an exit in a market hit by dropping house sales. Wrote covered call for 0.3% premium with 20.7% price coverage - wider strike offers smaller premium.
Builders FirstSource (BLDR) has recently been in the spotlight due to a 35% decline in stock price over the past year and an unchanged earnings estimate of $1.31 per share. Analysts express mixed sentiments, highlighting both potential undervaluation and risks related to the housing market.
Source: Yahoo Finance AI
Solstice Advanced Materials (SOLS): Specialty Materials. Rounded up holding in pension portfolio to write covered calls - price was at 1.4% premium to assigned price - will recover that in 1 or 2 covered call cycles.
OKLO Inc (OKLO): Nuclear Technology. With price opening at $85.78 (Dec 22) put in place a May 26/February 26 90/75 diagonal ratio risk reversal in pension portfolio. The sold put ratio fully funds the call option premium. Return on sold put is 11.6% with 14.4% price coverage. Breakeven is $74.50 if sold put gets assigned and $89.50 if bought call gets exercised.
Lets look at the chart which shows the bought call (90) as a blue ray and the sold put (75) as a dotted red ray with expiries the vertical green lines to the right. Have put in a blue arrow price scenario at the current level - not convincing as price has not reversed yet but it is trading around a support level at the top of the last modest run up. Might need two or three of those to see the call (90) go solidly in-the-money. A steep run like either of those seen in Q4 would be a delight. Am not putting a sold call cap on these trades.
Novo Nordisk A/S (NVO): Pharmaceuticals. Saw the announcement about FDA approval of weight loss pill - bought a parcel of stock in pension portfolio - last month had done a first credit spread which worked well. Dividend yield 3.3%. Wrote covered call for 0.82% premium with 13.8% price coverage.
Sold
No Sales
ASX Portfolio
The segment reports trading in ASX fractional share portfolio. Trade entries are made based on stock screens looking for undervalued stocks (price to book, price earnings, price to sales) that are showing technical signs of breaking a downtrend. Exits are made at 35% profit or 25% if 52 week high is lower than 35% advance. New buys are in $500 lots. Scale ins and top ups in $250 lots
Top Ups
Lindsay Australia Ltd (LAU.AX): Logistics. Dividend yield 4.38%
A third trade averaging down again. Chart shows price not holding momentum on the first two entries but now showing a reversal off the previous lows - maybe this time.
Sold
AIC Mines Ltd (Australia) (A1M.AX): Gold Mining. Sold at 52 week high new target for 62.3% profit since September 2025. A few weeks back I revised targets - 52 week high (25%), 35% standard, 45% Gold, 55% Lithium, 65% Uranium. I had let this one run a bit.
Chart shows the model for the strategy - beaten up stock reversing off support and moving ahead to profit. Rising gold price helped this maintain momentum
Lycopodium Limited (LYL.AX): Mining Services. Sold at 52 week high target for 26.6% profit since February 2025.
Chart shows the model for the strategy does not always start out well. Beaten up stock reversing off support and moving up and falling back before moving ahead to profit. Rising commodity prices helped this maintain momentum in the end.
Auto-Invest
Third month running mini-ETF investment for my two granddaughters for $100 a month spread across a mix of uranium and rare earths stocks. Auto-invest programs carry no fees on entry
- Orpheus Uranium Ltd (ORP.AX): Uranium.
- Global Uranium and Enrichment (GUE.AX): Uranium.
- American Uranium (AMU.AX): Uranium.
- Dateline Resources Limited (DTR.AX): Rare Earths.
- Locksley Resources Limited (LKY.AX): Rare Earths.
Shorts
Pfizer Inc (PFE): US Pharmaceuticals. With price opening at $25.03 (Dec 26) put in place a February expiry 24/22 put spread. This offers maximum profit potential of 25% for a 13.7% drop in price. With increasing coverage of the myocarditis and cancer risks from mRNA vaccines, feel the pressure building for a court case. Not sure that February is enough time but did choose to not do a ratio put spread this time - skin in the game time. One thing running in favour of the trade there is a $0.43 dividend with an ex date before expiry - that should come out of the price.
Let's look at the chart which shows the bought put (24) as a red ray and the sold put (22) as a dashed red ray with the expiry the green line on the right margin. Price needs to follow a red arrow price scenario borrowed from a few months back. Of course, if a court case is decided there will be a big move down like the top of the red line showing from last time.
Income Trades
Covered Calls
New cycle sees 53 covered calls written (UK 3 Europe 6 US 44)
Denison Mines Corp (DNN): Uranium. Am holding a few call spreads with January expiry where the bought call is out-the-money and looking like price might not reach the sold call strike. With price closing at $2.74 (Dec 19), January expiry 3/4 call spread is the first example. Sold some of the bought calls to claw back premium on a trade that could well fail. This then leaves the sold calls (4) as the covered call for the next cycle. Does trigger a 75% loss on the sale of the bought call - likely to lose 100% at expiry anyway - making a 25% claw back if nothing else changes. Also wrote a tighter covered call on the holding not covered.
enCore Energy Corp (EU): Uranium. With price closing at $2.68 (Dec 19), next example is 3/4 call spread here. Closed out some of the 3 strike call options to match the number of shares held and converts the 4 strike short calls into covered calls. Small 15% loss on the close out in this case.
Uranium Royalty Corp (UROY): Uranium. With price closing at $3.82 (Dec 19), managed to sell 5 strike calls which were not matched with sold calls higher up - trading mistake - incurs a 60% loss on the sale. Does leave behind a small number of call options covering a stock position.
Naked Puts
Sold puts happy to own at lower prices
- Deutsche Bank AG (DBK.DE): German Bank. Return 0.98% Coverage 4.2% - 2 portfolios
- Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA (FRE.DE): German Healthcare. Return 0.75% Coverage 3.6% - 2 portfolios
- Lloyds Banking Group plc (LLOY.L): UK Bank. Return 0.65% Coverage 5.6%
- Commerzbank AG (CBK.DE): German Bank. Return 0.95% Coverage 10.2%
- Crédit Agricole S.A. (ACA.PA): French Bank. Return 1.32% Coverage 1.0%
- DHL Group (DPWA.DU): Europe Logisitics. Return 0.62% Coverage 2.5%
- Rolls-Royce Holdings plc (RR.L): Aerospcae/Defense. Return 0.44% Coverage 8.2%
- iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT): US Treasuries. Return 0.44% Coverage 1.1%
- NANO Nuclear Energy Inc. (NNE): Nuclear Technology. Return 5.0% Coverage 21.1%
- CleanSpark, Inc. (CLSK): Bitcoin Mining. Return 4.29% Coverage 11.9%
- Coty Inc. (COTY): US Consumer Products. Return 3.33% Coverage 1.3%
- POSCO Holdings Inc. (PKX): Korean Steel. Return 1.92% Coverage 3.5%
- enCore Energy Corp. (EU): Uranium. Return 2.5% Coverage 36.5%
Credit Spreads
No new trades and exercise risk across all portfolios is within cash margins
Resources
Cautions: This is not financial advice. You need to consider your own financial position and take your own advice before you follow any of my ideas
Images: I own the rights to use and edit the Buy Sell image. News headlines come from Google Search. All other images are created using my various trading and charting platforms. They are all my own work
Tickers: I monitor my portfolios using Yahoo Finance. The ticker symbols used are Yahoo Finance tickers. Crypto tickers come from TradingView
Charts: http://mymark.mx/TradingView - this is a free charting package. I have a Pro subscription to get access to real time forex prices
Investing: Interactive Brokers provides comprehensive global markets coverage with very competitive commissions. Open an account to earn up to USD 1,000 in IBKR stock. https://mclnks.com/ibkr
Crypto Trading: Binance offers a wide range of coins to trade, tight spreads and low fees if you use BNB to pay https://mymark.mx/Binance
Kucoin offers a wider range of altcoins than many of the other exchanges. I do like to diversify my holdings in case an exchange gets knocked over. Grab 15% discount on your trades when you open an account on this link https://mclnks.com/kucoin15
Gate.io offers a solid range of coins many of which have been delisted elsewhere. Have chosen to share the commission rebates. 40% is the rate - split 30% for me and you get to keep 10% for any people you invite. https://mclnks.com/gateio
Tracking: Keeping track of your crypto trades is a whole lot easier with CoinTracking.info. Get 10% off all your account upgrades https://mymark.mx/CoinTracking
Aus/NZ Investing Sharesies provides low cost, fractional share investing for Australian and New Zealand residents covering stocks in those countries and US. Start investing with as little as $20 https://mclnks.com/shares
December 22-26, 2025