Trading Activities | 4. Trading Activities: The Partnership was formed for the purpose of trading contracts in a variety of commodity interests, including derivative financial instruments and derivative commodity instruments. The results of the Partnership’s trading activities are shown in the Statements of Income and Expenses. The Wedbush Customer Agreement and the ADM Customer Agreement give, and the Wells Fargo Customer Agreement and the customer agreement between the Partnership and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC (“MS&Co.”) gave the Partnership the legal right to net unrealized gains and losses on open futures and option contracts. The Partnership netted as applicable, for financial reporting purposes, the unrealized gains and losses on open futures and option contracts on the Statements of Financial Condition as the criteria under Accounting Standards Codification 210-20, “Balance Sheet,” Ongoing selling agent fees paid to Baird, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management and Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC were calculated as a percentage of the Partnership’s adjusted net asset value on the last day of each month and were affected by trading performance, subscriptions and redemptions. Trading and transaction fees are based on the number of trades executed by the Advisor for the Partnership. All trading, exchange, clearing, user, give-up, floor brokerage and National Futures Association (“NFA”) fees (collectively, the “clearing fees”) paid to Wedbush, ADM and executing brokers, as applicable, are, and all clearing fees paid to Wells Fargo and MS&Co. were, borne by the Partnership. All of the commodity interests owned by the Partnership are held for trading purposes. The monthly average number of option contracts held during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017 were 2,650 and 1,466, and 2,785 and 3,499, respectively. The following tables present the gross and net information about investments eligible for offset in the Statements of Financial Condition at September 30, 2018 and December 31, 2017, respectively: Gross Amounts not Offset in the Statement of Financial Condition September 30, 2018 Gross Amounts Recognized Gross Offset Statement Financial Condition Amounts Presented Statement Financial Condition Financial Instruments Cash Collateral Received/ Pledged Net Amount Assets Options purchased $ 399,000 $ — $ 399,000 $ (399,000 ) $ — $ — Total assets 399,000 — 399,000 (399,000 ) — — Liabilities Written options $ (454,650 ) $ — $ (454,650 ) $ 399,000 $ — $ (55,650 ) Total liabilities (454,650 ) — (454,650 ) 399,000 — (55,650 ) Net fair value $ (55,650 ) Gross Amounts not Offset in the Statements of Financial Condition December 31, 2017 Gross Amounts Recognized Gross Amounts Offset in the Statement of Financial Condition Amounts Presented in the Statement of Financial Condition Financial Instruments Cash Collateral Received/ Pledged Net Amount Assets Options purchased $ 211,200 $ — $ 211,200 $ (209,000 ) $ — $ 2,200 Total assets 211,200 — 211,200 (209,000 ) — 2,200 Liabilities Written options $ (209,000 ) $ — $ (209,000 ) $ 209,000 $ — $ — Total liabilities (209,000 ) — (209,000 ) 209,000 — — Net fair value $ 2,200 The following tables indicate the gross fair values of derivative instruments of futures and option contracts as separate assets and liabilities as of September 30, 2018 and December 31, 2017, respectively: September 30, 2018 Assets Options purchased Indices $ 399,000 Total options purchased $ 399,000 * Liabilities Written options premium received Indices $ (454,650 ) Total written options premium received $ (454,650 ) ** * This amount is in “Options purchased, at fair value” on the Statement of Financial Condition. ** This amount is in “Written options premium received, at fair value” on the Statement of Financial Condition. December 31, 2017 Assets Options purchased Indices $ 211,200 Total options purchased $ 211,200 * Liabilities Written options premium received Indices $ (209,000 ) Total written options premium received $ (209,000 ) ** * This amount is in “Options purchased, at fair value” on the Statement of Financial Condition. ** This amount is in “Written options premium received, at fair value” on the Statement of Financial Condition. The following table indicates the trading gains and losses, by market sector, on derivative instruments for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017: Three Months Ended September 30, Nine Months Ended September 30, Sector 2018 2017 2018 2017 Net realized gains (losses) on closed contracts $ 1,477,329 $ 239,345 $ 4,341,600 $ 5,419,395 Change in net unrealized gains (losses) on open contracts (30,338 ) 132,275 (52,000 ) 181,189 Total trading results $ 1,446,991 *** $ 371,620 *** $ 4,289,600 *** $ 5,600,584 *** *** This amount is included in “Total trading results” on the Statements of Income and Expenses. The following table rolls forward the transactions in Options Written for the nine-month period ended September 30, 2018: Calls Puts Notional (000) Notional (000) Contracts USD Premiums Received Contracts USD Premiums Received Outstanding options, beginning of year 440 $ 308,550 $ 16,500 1,056 $ 660,000 $ 140,800 Options written 24,421 17,749,081 1,864,350 76,554 50,349,369 26,514,913 Options exercised — — — — — — Options expired (22,675 ) (16,479,658 ) (1,491,925 ) (58,230 ) (38,243,471 ) (17,181,600 ) Options closed (1,682 ) (1,193,883 ) (352,175 ) (17,868 ) (11,728,498 ) (8,886,113 ) Outstanding options, end of period 504 $ 384,090 $ 36,750 1,512 $ 1,037,400 $ 588,000 |