Case Study #4 — GOOG $385 Lost Only $3: Why “Not Losing Is Winning”
💡 Reading time: ~6 minutes ｜ Series: Real-World Case Study #4
Trade snapshot
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Open date | 2026/05/07 |
| Close date | 2026/05/15 (8 days) |
| Strategy | GOOG Sell Put $385 × 3 contracts |
| Opening premium | $11.45/share → $3,435 income |
| Closing premium | $11.46/share → $3,438 cost |
| Net P&L | -$3 |
Opened at $11.45, closed at $11.46. A $0.01/share difference. 3 contracts total: lost $3.
Why is this worth a dedicated post?
Because it was the most critical “survival decision” in May.
Background
On 5/7 I opened three positions at once:
- GOOG SP $385 × 3 contracts (this post)
- AAPL SP $285 × 3 contracts (→ made $1,080)
- The earlier NVDA SP $223 and GOOG SP $370 were still being held
By 5/15, GOOG was swinging violently around $385. I faced a choice:
Keep holding (might make money, might lose big) vs. walk away now (lose almost nothing).
I chose to walk away.
Why did I choose to lose $3 and leave?
- GOOG right at the strike = Delta near 0.50 = extreme-risk zone
- NVDA $223 was already in trouble, and I didn’t want both fronts collapsing at once
- $3 loss vs. potential $3,000–$5,000 loss — the choice was obvious
Counterfactual: what if I hadn’t left?
GOOG kept weakening after 5/15. By 6/11 (the roll-out day), my other GOOG SP $370 × 6 lost $10,470.
If GOOG SP $385 × 3 hadn’t closed, assuming a similar drawdown, the loss would have been in the $4,000–$7,000 range.
I avoided a potential $5,000+ loss for $3.
The philosophy of “not losing is winning”
In options trading, many people insist “every trade must make money.”
But the truth is: in unfavorable conditions, walking away unscathed is itself a win.
| Result | Your account | Your mindset |
|---|---|---|
| Lose $3 to leave | Untouched | Calm and clear |
| Hold to lose $5,000 | Capital shrunk | Anxious and panicking, decision quality drops |
The value of walking away alive can’t be measured in dollars.
When should you “lose a little and leave”?
| Signal | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| Stock swinging at the strike + no clear directional view | ✅ Leave |
| Other positions already in trouble + don’t want to add risk exposure | ✅ Leave |
| Conviction dropped from “very confident” to “50/50” | ✅ Leave |
| 8 days in and profit is still zero → Theta isn’t working | ✅ Leave |
📌 Little Otter’s post-mortem: Losing $3 is ten thousand times better than losing $6,060. If in May I’d been just as decisive on NVDA $223, the whole month’s outcome would have been completely different. In options trading, “knowing how to run” matters more than “knowing how to make money.”
Disclaimer: This article is a personal trading experience share, not investment advice.
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