Last week, I set up a straddle on APP as implied volatility (IV) began to rise ahead of the upcoming earnings announcement. The position consisted of a short put at $280 and a short call at $490. My expectation was that the stock price would remain within this range by the time the options expire this Friday.

Over the past few days, the stock had been trending upward steadily, and the momentum looked strong. To mitigate risk, I decided to close the short call position. This not only reduced potential upside exposure but also locked in over 60% of the profit on that side of the trade.

Now that the earnings report is out, the share price appears to be moving in line with my expectations and staying comfortably within the straddle range. I’ll likely let the short put position ride through to expiration over the next two days.