sold naked calls on a small cap. calls I did not own the shares to cover. felt so clever collecting that premium upfront, free money hitting my account, what could go wrong. everything. everything could go wrong and it did.
stock gapped up 140% overnight on a buyout rumor. and the rumor was true. so no fake pop I could wait out, an actual permanent repricing of the thing I'd promised to deliver at a much lower strike.
had to go buy the shares at the new, insane, much higher price just to cover assignment. bought high specifically so I could hand them over low. the exact opposite of investing.
did the math on the loss twice because I genuinely did not believe the first number. it was correct both times. "unlimited risk" is a phrase in every textbook and it means nothing until it's your account. now it means everything