I mainly do directional trades, either long the stock, or using single-leg long calls (or puts). The problem of course is the theta decay which can be significant, not to mention IV crush with earnings plays.

While a synthetic can reduce theta to a negligible amount, the short put side reduces buying power, greatly limiting this unless in a portfolio margin account (I don't have PM yet). The other issue with synthetics is the essentially unlimited downside, while with a simple long call the downside is limited to the cost of the contract.

Weekend worry-ers

Because of the three day weekend, I keep wondering if I should close my calls that have higher theta, over long weekends in particular… or not…

For example, LLY March calls with a theta of .379, it's basically $38 a day so $114 to hold one contract over a 3 day weekend, right? This is about a 9% loss to the contract's P/L, so the underlying needs to move up about $9 just to break even from current value… It seems like closing and then re-opening Tuesday morning could save money on options with higher theta.

LLY, AVAV, GEV are three I have with theta high enough that a 3 day weekend ends up costing more due to theta, than a nice weekend in Vegas at the Wynn, but without the benefit of free drinks…

So the question:

Best practices for mitigating things like theta decay and IV crush on options positions intended as directional trades?? Thank you for any advice.