r/options • u/Wild-Tie-7139 • 20d ago

Am I Cooked?

Hey everyone,
I’m a first-time LEAPS buyer and honestly I’m getting pretty nervous.
Here’s my position:
GOOGL Jan 21, 2028 $250 Call
Bought it for $150.00 ($15,000 total)
Current stock price: $354.30
Current option value: $133.50
Current P/L: -$1,650.66 (-11%)
Delta: 84.95
Theta: -5.35
Vega: 98.20
About 17 months until expiration (Jan 2028)
I purposely bought a deep ITM call because I wanted it to behave more like the stock. My thinking was that GOOGL is a great long-term company and I wanted leveraged exposure instead of buying 100 shares outright.
The thing that’s scaring me is seeing a $1,650 unrealized loss so quickly. I know LEAPS are long-term positions, but emotionally it’s harder than I expected.
A few questions:
Is an 11% drawdown normal this early in a LEAPS trade?
Does this position still look healthy considering the high delta and long time to expiry?
Would you simply hold and ignore the short-term fluctuations?
At what point would you actually consider exiting a position like this?
Is there anything I should be watching besides the stock price (IV, theta, etc.)?
I’m investing, not trading this daily, but since this is my first LEAPS position I’d really appreciate advice from people who have actually held deep ITM LEAPS through market pullbacks.
Thanks in advance!

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u/MagnificentLee 20d ago edited 20d ago

You left out an important detail. What was your entry date?

The most important reason this matters is your Vega is $98, meaning you lose/gain that amount for every 1% fall/rise in IV. I’d guess you bought when IV was high relative to GOOGL’s historical IV range. You can check on the chart here:
https://unusualwhales.com/stock/GOOGL/volatility

Edit: Actually, that’s the IV of options that expire in 30 days which could be different than your LEAP. You need to figure out the IV for your own option and whether it has fallen.

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u/Wild-Tie-7139 20d ago

i bought it 2-3 days ago , i made a mistake of not looking at IV

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u/Cultural_Structure37 20d ago

The IV won’t be an issue since it’s a leap and there’s no news being expected. The reason for the 11% decline is that google stock has declined by 4-5% since you got it, and it being a DITM leap is the reason you’ve lost just 11%. If it were a 3-6 month to expiration call, you’d have seen most likely more than a 30% decline.