Options Income Blueprint members closed three trades last week – two winners and one loser – bringing our monthly cash total to $165 for traders who sold just one contract each.

Here’s a quick rundown of last week’s closed trades:

As you can see above, our weekly cash total was reduced by the loss we took on Block (SQ). Losses are never fun. And I rarely take them on a solid company if I believe in the long-term fundamentals. 

However, SQ is a volatile stock, and the market has run up far and fast — perhaps too far and too fast — on renewed investor optimism over recent inflation and retail sales date. Therefore, I decided the prudent move was to close the position at a loss rather than roll it out into or through a holiday and potentially have our capital tied up longer than I’d like. 

Now, if you’ve been with me for a while, you know that SQ has been one of the most frequently traded stocks in the service. In fact, we’ve been trading it since 2018, back when the company was known as Square.

Between April 11, 2018, and Nov. 18, 2022, we traded SQ successfully 40 times in a row, earning $2,665 in cash.

So, yeah, it stinks that we broke our winning streak. But that’s hardly something you should let guide your trading decisions. With a record of 40 and 1 on the stock, our win rate is an outstanding 97.6%.

Just because I was willing to take a loss on the most recent trade does not mean we’re throwing in the towel on SQ. We will trade it in the future when the opportunity presents itself. 

But given the current market, which could turn lower on a dime, I plan to continue being cautious and aggressively manage positions. This means we will keep taking profits off the table early (and the occasional small loss if necessary). 

Capital preservation is the name of the game. And it’s a game we’ve been killing it at recently.