September 17, 2026. Nokia announced an expanded Microsoft partnership: Nokia Data Suite joins Microsoft Fabric, bringing agentic AI to telecom network automation. NOK opened +5% pre-market and touched +7% intraday.
Three days earlier, on September 14, NOK crashed 13% — and the first thing I did was buy back the Calls I had sold. Today, the direction flipped completely: on the rally day, I bought back two groups of Puts I had sold.
The two moves look opposite. They’re the mirror image of the same action. This journal is about why high tide and low tide days see me doing the same thing.
I. The Ledger First
📒 Ledger detail (click to expand)
| Time (UTC) | Contract | Side | Qty | Sold avg | Bought back | Realized |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13:37 | NOK SEP 18 ‘26 10P | BOT | 2 | $0.243 | $0.04 | +$40.60 |
| 13:54 | NOK SEP 25 ‘26 10P | BOT | 2 | $0.353 | $0.10 | +$50.60 |
| Total | +$91.20 |
Combined gross profit +$91.20 (76.5% of premium captured); roughly +$91 net of commissions on the settlement basis. Both Put groups were CSP short legs sold around 9/14. After NOK’s three-day run, their residual value evaporated fast — closing them here locks in most of the profit.
II. Why Buy Back Puts on a Rally Day Instead of Waiting for Expiry
Selling Puts gets paid for “not falling”. The harder the underlying rallies, the faster “not falling” gets settled — which means the profit has already arrived early.
Look at what was left on the table:
- 10P SEP18: 83.5% of profit banked, expiry tomorrow, $0.04 of residual left (≈$8 on 2 contracts). Holding $8 of residual through one more overnight of event risk? Not worth it.
- 10P SEP25: 71.7% banked, 8 days and $0.10 of residual left (≈$20). That hit my profit-taking line for short legs (60-70% and up). The remaining $20 isn’t profit — it’s a risk wage for holding 8 more days of directional exposure. NOK had just run three straight days, the news was out, and it faded from the high — sentiment is resetting and the next wave’s direction is unknown. A $20 risk wage isn’t worth boarding the ship for.
Realizing Put profits shouldn’t depend only on “waiting for expiry”. When the profit line is high enough and the residual is thin enough, buy back proactively — take the money you’ve already earned out of the next wave’s gamble.
III. Two Sides of the Same Ledger: Crash Day vs. Rally Day
Put the two days side by side:
| 9/14 Crash day | 9/17 Rally day | |
|---|---|---|
| Market action | NOK -13.30%, Call residuals evaporated | NOK +7%, Put residuals evaporated |
| My action | Bought back 12 sold Calls, +$166 banked | Bought back 4 sold Puts, +$91 banked |
| Logic | The down-wave already paid my Calls | The up-wave already paid my Puts |
Same muscle memory both times: whichever leg the wave is pushing toward fast profit, reel that one in.
Trading really is like surfing. When a wave comes, you either ride it or get slammed. But smart investors aren’t surfers — a surfer bets on the direction of the next wave. A helmsman bets on nothing: he only makes sure every wave that passes the boat leaves a little momentum behind. Premium is the momentum the boat collects. Big wave or small, rising or falling — the boat keeps moving forward.
Three straight up days, news out, faded from the high — whether NOK continues up or pulls back tomorrow is a question I don’t need answered. Because when this wave passed my boat, I had already stowed everything it owed me.
IV. The Ride-the-Wave Profit-Taking Discipline
- Act when the profit line hits. Short option legs: start closing at 60-70% profit (stock-direction positions use 20-30% — different standards, don’t mix them).
- Do the residual math. What’s left on the table, divided by days remaining, weighed against the event risk ahead. Not worth it? Close it.
- Never bet on the next wave. Replace “I think it’ll keep rising/falling” with “the profit is already settled”. Wave prediction is the surfer’s job; the helmsman just collects momentum.
Trade Journal · Mirror image of On the Day NOK Crashed 10%, I Bought Back Two Calls I Had Sold