With a small market decline today, along with weak housing data, I decided to take some profits on my July ITB 17.50 puts.  I sold 2 of them for $5.60 each.

I still believe housing pain is yet to come as I continue to hold eight more put options on ITB.  Below is my trade history of ITB since I first established a negative position in February 2009.  The two red boxes highlight the culmination of today’s trade while the green shaded cells are the put options that I still hold.

While I haven’t played this as tactfully as I would have liked, I am managing to eek out nice gains.  The thesis remains sound, and I continue to believe that my positions against homebuilders will payoff.