🚨 I’ll be live at 10 a.m. ET with Graham Lindman🚨
We’ll cover the Iran conflict and a theme I see emerging, some notes on how to handle trend vs. chop, an indicator Graham will share and more [tap to join us for Opening Playbook]
So I got assigned on a few trades recently — three, to be exact.
Assignments have been coming in fast, and when that happens, it forces you to be adaptable whether you like it or not…
Every time this comes up, I get the same question: “What do I do now?”
Here’s my baseline answer: I typically just exercise the other side, take my max loss and move on. That’s the disciplined approach.
You went into the trade knowing your max risk. Now you’re in that scenario — own it and move forward.
But here’s where it gets interesting — because I don’t always follow my own advice, and understanding when to break the rule and why is just as important as knowing the rule itself.
The Exception I Made on Lowe’s
I got assigned Lowe’s (LOW), and instead of exercising both sides like I normally would, I closed the put first and held onto the stock. I thought it had a decent shot at filling the gap, and I could squeeze out a few extra bucks…
And it worked. What would have been a full loser if I just exercised both sides turned into more of a break-even trade.
But let me be clear — you have to have a lot of comfort doing that because you’re actually opening up a lot more risk when you hold the stock. You’re no longer in a defined-risk options position and now you’re holding shares with all the exposure that comes with it.
So unless you really understand what you’re doing and you’re OK with that added risk, stick with the baseline — take your full loss and move on.
The NVDA Assignment I Didn’t Keep
I also got assigned Nvidia (NVDA). At first I didn’t even realize it because I had so much going on, but sure enough it landed along with the others.
Honestly, I was tempted to hold onto it for the same reasons I held LOW, but there were just too many shares to comfortably hold onto, so I closed it out.
The interesting part is that this assignment didn’t exist in a vacuum. I had just made over 100% on Salesforce (CRM), and if your risk is consistent across trades, sometimes the wins help offset the tougher outcomes.
Even in NVDA’s worst-case scenario, the net across both trades still looked fine. That’s a good example of why I emphasize risk balance across a portfolio, not just trade by trade.
You adapt, manage the exposure and rely on the fact that your risk planning was there from the start.
The point is this: The disciplined move is usually the right one, but there are moments where breaking your own rules — strategically — can turn a loss into something better.
Just make sure you know why you’re doing it and make sure you’re comfortable with the risk you’re taking on. Because at the end of the day, you had your max risk going in and you should have been comfortable with that.
If you weren’t, that’s a different problem.
Now don’t forget to join us at 10 a.m. ET weekdays for Opening Playbook, and at 3:30 p.m. ET Closing Playbook!
Nate Tucci
Tucci Trades
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*This is for informational and educational purposes only. There is inherent risk in trading, so trade at your own risk.Â
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