4/16 - 4/17 Option Expiration Trades

I caught some good moves the past few days leading up to options expiration. I like this time of the month because the premiums dry up, allowing me to trade expensive, high-flying stocks with minimal capital. Depending on the setup, I can also lever up 2-5x my normal position size. The key is to trade the same set-up as you would any time of the month but to consider increasing your position size with ATM or OTM options. Here are a few setups I took, both moving on earnings momentum:

GOOG - I rarely trade off the 1-min charts but there was a ton of movement in GOOG afterhours yesterday following earnings so I wanted to see how it moved at the open. I picked up the Apr 390 Calls and sold a few minutes later @ $396 for about $5.

ISRG - This has been quite volatile the past few days. I picked up the Apr 120 Calls on the break of $120. I like to trail my stops with the low of the previous candle but after that $5 bar printed, I got out for $5. I was multi-tasking with too many positions and didn't think to add the Apr 125 Calls. The range on the Apr 125 Calls was $0.05 - 7.68 today...amazing if anyone caught the low and dumped at the high.

GOOG - Below is a close-up of GOOG's 5-min chart for today. I picked up some Apr 390 Calls on the break of $393 and sold 15 minutes later for $1.40 on the calls. Again, only on options expiration day can I trade a $400- stock for $3.