Portfolio Cracks 13K While NVDA Tests My Options Strategy
Greetings from Riga! What was meant to be a family holiday in Ireland somehow turned into… a family holiday in Riga. Nevertheless, against the odds and while sipping the local beer we keep pushing our stock portfolio to new highs.
Which, to be fair, makes me a bit worried. New highs feel great, but history has a habit of reminding us that big rallies can eventually be followed by some pretty painful downturns. Anyhow, as of August 7, 2026, the stock portfolio closed at $13,473, which is a strong up by 4.93% week over week.
The biggest push has come from NVDA, which has rallied from the low $190s to around $223 in just a few days, ahead of its earnings later in August.
At one point, I was seriously considering stopping the NVDA credit-spread strategy and looking for opportunities elsewhere. But then again - why break what’s working?
Our previous, somewhat troubled credit spread eventually expired worthless, allowing us to keep the full premium. So we went back in and opened another one.
NVDA keeps testing both the strategy and my nerves — but so far, the numbers keep making the case for staying with it.
The portfolio is now up 29.54% year to date, comfortably ahead of both the S&P 500 (+13.1%) and NVDA (+18.70%).
Current Options Positions
NVDA AUG 14, 2026 207.5/197.5 Bull Put Credit Spread
LHA FRA Sep 18, 2026 7.6 Cash-Secured Put (EUR)
ARCC Sep 18, 2026 16 Cash-Secured Put
HEL STERV SEP 18, 2026 8.5 Cash-Secured Put (EUR)
NFLX Sep 18, 2026 80/85 Bear Call Spread
BMY OCT 16, 2026 57.5/52.5 Bull Put Credit Spread
NVDA Jun 17, 2027 $125 Covered Call
NFLX Dec 17, 2027 64 Cash-Secured Put
With our open positions having grown quite large, I’ve decided not to add any new trades until September 18 expiry. The only exception will be our weekly NVDA credit spreads.
For now, the priority is managing the positions we already have rather than adding more exposure.
Total options premium collected this week reached $29. That’s certainly one of our smallest options income figures, but given the current positioning, I don’t expect it to increase much over the next several weeks.
Most of the premium income was reinvested directly into the portfolio through the purchase of 0.1 share of NVDA and 0.1 share of NFLX
The current margin balance has increased slightly to −$2,587. This week’s options premium was relatively small and was used to purchase fractional shares, while roughly $10 was also paid in monthly interest to service the margin debt.
At the current weekly premium of around $29, it would take roughly 89 weeks to eliminate the margin debt — and that assumes none of the premium is reinvested into shares.
So after the September expiry, I’ll need to rethink the approach and find a faster way to reduce the debt. Over the next few weeks, I doubt the weekly options premium will even reach $40, which means the actual repayment period is likely to be longer.
Looking ahead to next week, the main focus will remain the NVDA $207.5/$197.5 bull put spread.
Should the position come under renewed pressure, the plan is to roll it forward—ideally for a net credit—while keeping the risk controlled. Assignment remains a possible outcome, and if it happens, the next chapter of the strategy may involve covered-call writing on NVDA.
Now this one really feels special: for the first time, the portfolio has crossed $13,000.
It took exactly 70 weeks to get here, and, somewhat fittingly, the milestone happened while I was visiting Riga during my 41st birthday.
Definitely one of those portfolio milestones worth remembering.