Bumper edition after road trip for two weeks - did not spend much time on markets. Options expiry did the work - not all good in a tough fortnight.
Portfolio News
In the two week spell where S&P 500 dropped 3.54% and Europe dropped 6.02%, my pension portfolio dropped a massive 8.11%. The surprising part is the drop in gold and silver stocks - not much hedging power in these two weeks. Uranium stocks took a pounding too.
Big movers of the two weeks were Lodestar Minerals (LSR.AX) (66.7%), Blue Star Helium (BNL.AX) (50%), 88 Energy (88E.AX) (36.4%), Yancoal Australia (YAL.AX) (31.3%), Resolution Minerals Ltd (RML.AX) (21.9%), Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. (PTEN) (21.6%), Earths Energy (EE1.AX) (20%), AuKing Mining (AKN.AX) (16.7%), WhiteHawk (WHK.AX) (16.7%), Dateline Resources (DTR.AX) (15.2%), Zinc of Ireland (ZMI.AX) (14.3%), Scorpio Tankers (STNG) (13.3%), Viva Energy Group (VEA.AX) (12.4%), Tasmea (TEA.AX) (12%), Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) (10.9%), Woodside Energy Group (WDS.AX) (10.7%), Beach Energy (BPT.AX) (10.%), Cheniere Energy (LNG) (10.1%)
Only 18 stocks in the big movers list - no surprise there with a war going on. The major moves are in energy related stocks - oil, gas, helium, gasoline retailing, oil shipping. The big themes are somewhat missing in action. But from the top rare earths (3 stocks), gold/silver mining (1 stock), and oil services (1 stock)
US markets clasped onto every inkling of news about an early end to the war - but then sagged into correction territory when it was not happening as hoped.
Crypto Diverges
Bitcoin price pushed higher for the first week and then dropped back finishing the fortnight 0.8% higher than the open with a trough to peak range of 13.4%. Price wans to break the $72k level - tried once but failed to hold
Ethereum price pushed higher for the first week and then dropped back finishing the fortnight 3.9% higher than the open with a trough to peak range of 21.3%.
Nuclear Energy, Alternate Energy and Precious Metals
No updates on Nuclear Energy, Alternate Energy and Precious Metals this report. Look for a 3 weeks update next post. Had some data issues to get prices lined up on the cut-off dates.
Bought
A few orders placed before my road trip began.
Investigator Silver (IVR.AX): Silver Mining. Pending order placed in personal portfolio below the market at the time Next Investors announced this as a new portfolio addition taken up one week later. Averages down entry price.
Island Pharmaceuticals (ILA.AX): Pharmaceuticals. Company has potential to evolve their dengue fever anti-viral as a bioweapon treatment.
Added a small parcel in personal portfolio/Next Investors idea.
Company's biodefence drug has already been shown to be effective against ~20 viruses in lab tests - many of which sit in the “weaponisable” category
Peak Processing (PKP.AX): Marijuana. Next Investors idea.
PKP owns and sells the technology to "infuse any drink with THC”. THC is an increasingly popular alternative to alcohol in drinks. PKP sells white label “cannabis infused drink production” to drink makers that either: Sell cannabis infused drinks OR Sell non-alcoholic, cannabis infused alternatives to their most popular alcoholic drinks.
Added a small parcel in personal portfolio
Titan Minerals (TTM.AX): Gold Mining. Company announced a major expansion of resources estimate for Ecuadorean Dynasty gold project.
Scaled in holding in personal portfolio - might have been a bit quick as price has since sagged.
OD6 Metals (OD6.AX): Rare Earths. Pending order placed in personal portfolio below the market at the time Next Investors announced this as a new portfolio addition taken up one week later. Averages down entry price. Interest is in fluorspar options acquired in Nevada, USA
A huge swag of options expiry action - mostly assignments of sold puts and a few covered calls in the sales column.
Amplify Junior Silver Miners ETF (SILJ): Silver Mining. Assigned early on sold put in sp. Breakeven $35.05 vs $31.53 close (Mar 17) - 2 cycles one losing.
Deutsche Bank AG (DBK.DE): German Bank. Assigned early and at expiry on sold put in managed portfolio. Breakeven €26.76 vs €25.86 close (Mar 17) - 12 months cycle. In pension portfolio too - Breakeven €26.45 vs €25.78 close (Mar 18) - 17 cycles. Long been a solid sold put stock. In personal portfolio too - Breakeven €25.52 vs €25.78 close (Mar 18)
Alamos Gold (AGI): Gold Mining. Assigned early on sold put in pension portfolio. Breakeven $51.18 vs $41.89 close (Mar 18) - 2 cycles. Long term hold needed to recover this gap.
ASP Isotopes (ASPI): Nuclear Technology. Assigned early on sold put in pension portfolio . Breakeven $5.08 vs $4.64 close (Mar 18) - 3 cycles. Two tranches on different days. Market has fallen out of love with this stock or this industry or the country of origin (South Africa)
ING Groep (INGA.AS): Dutch Bank. Assigned early on sold put in pension portfolio. Breakeven €23.80 vs €22.21 close (Mar 19) - 4 cycles
Silvercorp Metals (SVM.TO): Silver Mining. Assigned early on sold put in pension portfolio. Breakeven $12.76 vs $12.52 close (Mar 20) - 1 cycle of income trades to cover
Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR): Bitcoin Mining. Assigned early on sold put in pension portfolio. Breakeven $23.60 vs $20.94 close (Mar 20) - 4 cycles with one losing buyback. This is going to have to be a long term hold on crypto
Oklo Inc (OKLO): Nuclear Technology. Assigned early on sold put in pension portfolio. Breakeven $51.14 vs $53.97 close (Mar 20) - 3 cycles. Part of 90/70 risk reversal with the bought call (90) still open - May expiry.
Power Solutions International (PSIX): US Industrials. Assigned early on sold put in pension portfolio. Breakeven $71.11 vs $52.84 close (Mar 20). Swiss Transparent Portfolio idea - they best be right - got a long way to go.
Scorpio Tankers (STNG): Oil Shipping. Assigned early on sold put in pension portfolio. Breakeven $70.95 vs $67.98 close (Mar 20) - 2 cycles. One covered call will recover this gap.
Wheaton Precious Metals (WPM): Gold/Silver Mining. Assigned early on sold put in pension portfolio. Breakeven $131.56 vs $114.62 close (Mar 20) - 2 cycles. Need the war to end to recover this one and then average down.
Commerzbank AG (CBK.DE): German Bank. Assigned on sold put in pension portfolio. Breakeven €26.58 vs €30.33 close (Mar 20) - 18 cycles - been a solid naked put stock. In personal portfolio too - Breakeven €30.62 vs €30.33 close (Mar 20) - 4 cycles
Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA (CO.PA): French Supermarket. Assigned on sold put in pension portfolio. Breakeven €0.16 vs €0.168 close (Mar 20) - 2 cycles - working well for the time management gets the turnaround working.
Fresenius SE (FRE.DE): German Healthcare. Assigned on sold put in pension portfolio. Breakeven €45.82 vs €43.69 close (Mar 20) - 7 cycles - work to do for this portfolio. In managed portfolio too - Breakeven €42.45 vs €43.69 close (Mar 20) - 12 cycles. In personal portfolio too - Breakeven €41.44 vs €43.69 close (Mar 20) - 14 cycles
Rolls-Royce Holdings plc (RR.L): Aerospace/Defense. Assigned on sold put in pension portfolio. Breakeven £5.54 vs £5.20 close (Mar 20) - 2 cycles
Lithium Americas Corp (LAC): Lithium. Assigned on sold put in pension portfolio. Breakeven €3.90 vs €3.71 close (Mar 20) - 1 cycle.
Westwater Resources (WWR): Graphite Mining. Assigned on sold put in pension portfolio. Breakeven $0.74 vs $0.65 close (Mar 20) - taking in account all holdings and all sold puts. In personal portfolio too, 2 months early part tranche - Breakeven $0.70 vs $0.65 close (Mar 20) - one cycle
Barclays Group (BARC.L): UK Bank. Assigned early on sold put in personal portfolio. Breakeven £4.43 vs £3.99 close (Mar 18) - one cycle - some work to recover this.
NatWest Group plc (NWG.L): UK Bank. Assigned on sold put in managed portfolio. Breakeven £5.54 vs £5.20 close (Mar 20) - 2 cycles. In personal portfolio too - Breakeven £5.59 vs £5.20 close (Mar 20) - 2 cycles.
**Lloyds Banking Group plc (LLOY.L): UK Bank. Assigned on sold put in managed portfolio. Breakeven £0.98 vs £0.91 close (Mar 20). In personal portfolio too - Breakeven £0.96 vs £0.91 close (Mar 20) - 3 cycles
Denison Mines Corp (DNN): Uranium. Assigned on sold put in managed portfolio. Breakeven $2.49 vs $3.33 close (Mar 20) - a few cycles. In personal portfolio too - Breakeven $3.39 vs $3.33 close (Mar 20) - one cycle
Mirion Technologies (MIR): Nuclear Technology. Assigned on sold put in managed portfolio. Breakeven $19.30 vs $18.45 close (Mar 20)
Sixt SE (SIX2.DE): Europe Vehicle rental. Assigned on sold put in personal portfolio. Breakeven €57.02 vs €60.10 close (Mar 20)- 4 cycles.
Cameco Corporation (CCJ): Uranium. Assigned on sold put in personal portfolio. Breakeven $98.12 vs $101.55 close (Mar 20)- 3 cycles.
Lightbridge Corporation (LTBR): Nuclear Technology. Assigned on sold put in personal portfolio. Breakeven $11.15 vs $10.34 close (Mar 20) - 1 cycle
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH): Cruising. Assigned on sold put in personal portfolio. Breakeven $20.48 vs $18.95 close (Mar 20) - 1 cycle. Ouch - outbreak of war and rising oil prices crunched this idea.
Uranium Energy Corp (UEC): Uranium. Assigned on sold put in personal portfolio. Breakeven $13.32 vs $12.09 close (Mar 20) - 1 cycle
Uranium Royalty Corp (UROY): Uranium. Assigned on sold put in personal portfolio. Breakeven $3.35 vs $3.29 close (Mar 20) - 4 cycles
Sold
Amundi MSCI Eastern Europe Ex Russia ETF (CEC.PA): Eastern Europe Index. Closed out to release capital in pension portfolio for 81% profit since June 2017. Average of 9% annual profit (not compound) is in line with long run stock market returns of 8.5% - the chart shows this was all done in the 2nd part of the holding time
Initial purchase idea was to get exposure - from TIB99
What I liked is the country exposure matched the target countries I wrote about in TIB98 - namely, Poland, Hungary, Austria and Czech Republic. What I also liked is that energy exposure was modest.
Gevo, Inc (GEVO): Specialty Chemicals. Assigned on covered call in pension portfolio at breakeven since November 2025. Call premium was 7.5% return for one month.
Netflix (NFLX): TV Streaming. Assigned on covered call in pension portfolio for 10% profit since February 2026 - beneficiary of the withdrawal of the Warner/Discovery bid
Venture Global (VG): US Oil. Assigned on covered call in pension portfolio for 38% blended profit since February 2026 - see TIB798 for the rationale
Chart fits the stock screen model a bit better - price has been beaten up, bottoms out and makes a higher low. There is also LNG capacity news in the story and the gap to Alerian MLP (AMLP) is 52 points
The chart shows this was a good call - done and dusted in 3 weeks - the war and $100 oil helped the story
Patterson-UTI Energy (PTEN): Oil Services. Assigned on covered call in personal portfolio for 10.8% profit since February 2026
Expiring Options
NexGen Energy (NXE): Uranium. With price closing at $11.26 (Mar 20), sold put leg of 10/15/7 call spread risk reversal expired out-the-money. This leaves the January 2027 10/15 call spread as a free trade and in-the-money.
Quick look at the chart shows price did better than the Elliot Wave price scenario (12345) and looks like it will not do the Fibonacci retracement to where the dark blue arrow begins. Will need a bit better than the light blue arrow to make it to the maximum.
Sprott Junior Uranium Miners ETF (URNJ): Uranium. With price closing at $26.80 (Mar 20), 30/25 risk reversal expired out-the-money on both bought call (30) and sold put (25) legs incurring a loss of 96% since October 2025. The war pushed this into loss territory
Chart price did follow the re-modelled green arrow price scenario and then fell over. Only a few times that price was below the sold put level (25). The chart is setting up for another trade like this with solid support around $25 and headroom to get back to $40.
ASX Portfolio
The segment reports trading in ASX fractional share portfolio. Exits are made at 35% profit or 25% if 52 week high is lower than 35% advance.
Sold
New Hope Corporation (NHC.AX): Coal Mining. Closed at 52 week high target for 25% blended profit since May/July/August 2024/March/October/November 2025.
The chart shows the trading strategy eventually working after a false start at the first break out. It did take a second run at the blue arrow price scenario to clock the win. Old man coal is not dead.
Hedging Trades
Coeur Mining (CDE): Silver Mining. Assigned on sold put in personal portfolio. Breakeven $19.34 vs $17.67 close (Mar 20) - 2 cycles - some work to become a solid hedge
Income Trades
Covered Calls
Cronos Group (CRON): Marijuana. Double sale relative to holding expired safely in personal portfolio
57 covered calls went to expiry with 4 only assigned (UK 2 Europe 7 US 45 (4) Canada 2)
Naked Puts
Sold puts happy to own at lower prices
- Venture Global (VG): US Oil. Return 6.8% Coverage 2%
- Gevo Inc (GEVO): Specialty Chemicals. Return 4% Coverage 17.8%
Kicked the can down the road on sold puts that could be assigned:
- Fermi Inc. (FRMI): Nuclear Technology. 19% profit on buy back. 25% cash positive.
- NuScale Power Corporation (SMR): Nuclear Technology. 7.6% loss on buy back. 27% cash positive.
- Invesco Solar ETF (TAN): Solar Power. 8.3% loss on buy back. 32% cash positive
- Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L): UK Bank. 312% loss on buy back. 16.7% cash positive
- NatWest Group (NWG.L): UK Bank. 194% loss on buy back. 15.5% cash positive
Liquidated
- Cameco Corporation (CCJ): Uranium. With proce closing at $101.55 (Mar 20), 105 strike sold put liquidated in pension portfolio - not enough margin to buy the stock. Frustrating as price has since passed $105.
53 naked puts went to expiry with 38 assigned - thanks for the war (UK 8 (6) Europe 14 (11) US 29 (20) Canada 2 (1))
Credit Spreads
Elevance Health (ELV): US Healthcare. Assigned early on sold put leg and exercised two days later on bought leg. 178% loss on net option premium.
iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF (ITA): Aerospace/Defense. With price closing at $222.56, broker liquidated sold leg of 230/220 credit spread - not enough funds to buy the stock at $230. Disappointing outcome as the buy back was at an 262% loss adding to the cost of the bought put premium.
Ends a losing month for credit spreads.
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
March 9-20, 2026