As of the close Monday Jan 4th, I should have waited to roll my CC, instead of doing so on Dec 21st.
On Dec 21st, I bought-to-close for $0.37 and sold-to-open for $1.40, for a net of $1.03 (without commission consideration).
At close Jan 4th, buy-to-close Jan 15th $30 has a mid-price of $0.33. Sell-to-open Feb 19th $30 has a mid-price of $1.80. This is a net of $1.47. As of Jan 4th I would be better off waiting, with additional $0.44/share.
The rates on Jan 4th would meet my criteria for rolling my call forward, so I don’t think I would bother waiting to the next day to take action. This reinforces my thinking that I should maintain discipline and not roll my call too early. It’s possible next time is different, of course, but for now I’ll follow my guidelines.
As for next time, the Feb 19th call will be a little different. I will monitor as I get closer to expiration and not roll the call. VLDR has earnings report due early March, prior to the next expiration date. I don’t trust I have a clue which direction earnings will affect the underlying price, so I’m going to wait. At a minimum, I will buy the call back on Feb 19th before close to avoid something strange happening in after-hours trading.
That’s it for revisiting my prior decision for now. It only cost me $44 this time, so an inexpensive lesson to learn!