The collar game: how I ran this stock without chickening out

Bought Intel at $26 last year. It's at $70 now.

Sounds simple when you type it out. In reality, there were at least four moments along the way where it looked overbought. I had that "I should just take the money" itch, and I needed a way to stay in without giving the gains back.

Every time, I reached for the collar.

Sell the upside calls. Use the premium to buy protective puts. Zero cost. Two jobs at the same time:

1. Gave me P&L if the stock pulled back
2. Capped my upside at a level I was happy to be called out at

If the stock dipped, I'd buy back the short calls and either monetise or roll down the puts. That way when the stock ripped again, I kept my shares and banked some of the collar premium.

If the stock kept ripping, I'd eventually get taken out of my shares at the short call strike. Which was always a level much higher than where I was tempted to sell.

In the latest rally, I finally sold some shares around $70 and closed out my short May 70 calls. Feeling pretty good about capturing the full run.

Still holding some May 55 puts as cheap optional protection against my remaining longs. Earnings are this week, implied move around 9%. Could be some fireworks.

"Let your winners run" is the oldest cliché in trading.

The advice is everywhere but from my experience, the structure that makes it work is rare to find.

Here's the gap:

Every time a winner rips, you feel the itch to sell. You fight it because "run your winners." It keeps ripping. Then eventually it pulls back 15% and you watch half your gains evaporate, selling in a panic right at the low.

Next time, you sell earlier. And earlier. And earlier. Until you're cutting winners at 30% and calling yourself disciplined.

A collar breaks that cycle.

It lets you stay long the stock while defining your gains. Dip lower, your puts make money. Rip higher, you get called out at a level you already decided was a win. In between, the decay bleed is minimal because you paid close to zero premium.

Picking up Intel at $26 and running it to $70 came down to position management. Plenty of people called the bottom. Fewer stayed in the trade all the way up without cashing out early or running it naked through every dip.

That's what gets taught inside the Ultimate Options Course.

The full decision process: market regime, volatility metrics, trade structure, risk management. Applied to live positions, week after week. Plus 3 months inside the Alpha Pod watching me manage my own trades the same way I managed Intel, every single day.

If you've ever sold a winner too early and watched it keep ripping without you, this is the framework helps you stay in the game.

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