Opening (Margin): /MCL March 16th 61/109 Short Strangle... for an .85 credit.
Comments: An additive delta adjustment trade, selling the -4 delta call and the 8 delta put against my +4 delta put and -8 delta call. I probably really didn't need to do an adjustment here given the low delta of the sides I had on in March, but wanted to collect some additional credit, particularly since the time left in the February cycle is winding down.
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Opening (Margin): /MCL February 15th 67 Short Put... for a .54 credit.
Comments: An additive long delta adjustment trade, selling the +10 delta put. February position still leans a smidge short here with 33 days to go.
I'm indicating that this is "long" here because the delta of the position is long, not because I think oil goes up from here.
Opening (Margin): /MCL February 15th 68/93 Short Strangle... for a 1.24 credit.
Comments: An additive long delta adjustment trade, selling the 68P at the +14 delta strike and the 93C at the -9, giving me net +5 in delta to flatten the directionality of the position. It still leans slightly short, just not as short as it was before.
Closing (Margin): /MES February 15th 3910/4080 Short Strangle... for a 108.75 debit.
Comments: I collected a total of 95.75 for the two legs of this short strangle. Closing it out here on abysmally low IVR for a realized loss of (108.75 - 98.75)/.20 = $50.00.
In spite of taking off these last two short strangles as losers, net realized gain on primarily February 15th cycle /MES: 236.25.
Closing (Margin): /MES 3850/4120 Short Strangle ... for a 78.50 debit.
Comments: I received 73.25 total in credits for these legs; closing out her results in a realized loss of (78.50 - 73.25)/.20 = 26.25 ($26.25). I'm fine with doing this here, since IVR has plummeted to almost 52-week lows, implying that there is a risk that IV could expand from here. If that happens, I'd rather be in a setup with further out-of-the-money sides.
Opening (IRA): SPY Feb/March/April 359/341/325 Short PutsComments: A 2023 starter position, which I'll add to at intervals. Targeting the shortest duration <16 delta strike paying around 1% of the strike price in credit.
February 17th 359: 3.70 credit.
March 17th 341: 3.50 credit.
April 21st 325: 3.35 credit.
Opening (IRA): SPY Feb/March/April 355/333/315 Short Put LadderComments: Laddering out on weakness ... . Generally, I do this stuff on Fridays, but have a road trip coming up and probably won't get to it. The <16 delta strike in January isn't paying 1% of the strike price in credit, so going with Feb, March, and April here.
Feb 17th 355: 3.57 credit
March 17th 333: 3.37 credit
April 21st 315: 3.26 credit
Opening (IRA): QQQ March 31st 220 Short Put... for a 2.42 credit.
Comments: Adding rungs to my QQQ where I can, targeting the <16 delta strike paying around 1% of the strike price in credit. There is no April yet, so going with the quarterly.
Ordinarily, I would go with the shortest duration contract of around 45 days' duration, but that would be the January 27th, where the <16 delta strike at the 250 is paying 2.33 (i.e., <1% of the strike price in credit). Similarly, the SPY January 27th 360 (currently 15.6 delta) is paying 3.15; the IWM January 27th 160 (currently 14.1 delta) is paying 1.43. Consequently, I'm going with longer duration for the moment, although there's nothing to prevent one from selling higher, more aggressive shorter duration delta to get paid.
Opening (IRA): QQQ Jan/Feb 260/245 Short Put LadderComments: A 2023 starter position, targeting the shortest duration <16 strike paying around 1% of the strike price in credit. I still have some Dec on, as well as a couple of covered calls, so am only adding a couple of rungs here.
Jan 20th 260: 2.69 credit.
Feb 17th 245: 2.47 credit.
Opening (IRA): IWM Jan/Feb/March 169/160/155 Short PutComments: Laddering out here on weakness ... .
January 20th 169: 1.75 credit.
February 17th 160: 1.68 credit.
March 17th 155: 1.89 credit.
The weakness isn't "ideal" here, but I am relatively flat, so need to get theta out there and grinding. Will look to add at intervals over time.
Opening (Margin): /MES February 17th 3850, 3910 Short PutsComments: Replacing the short put aspects of my short strangles that I took off in profit earlier. (For all practical purposes, these are rolls of the untested side to delta balance).
In any event, I received a 71.25 credit for the 3910 and a 53.25 credit for the 3850, with the resulting position net delta neutral.
Closing (Margin): /MES March 17th 3410 Short Put... for a 17.50 debit.
Comments: More housekeeping ... . Filled this for a 22.00 credit as an additive delta adjustment trade. Out here for a 17.50 debit with the result being a small winner -- (22.00 - 17.50)/20 = .2250 ($22.50).
Now everything is tidied up and confined to the February 17th expiry, with the position's net delta leaning slightly short.
Closing (Margin): /MES February 28th 3550/4210 Short Strangle... for a 35.50 debit.
Comments: And now ... totally out of the February 28th expiry for a small winner. The 3550 leg was worth 23.00, the 4210 worth 16.50, for a total of 39.50. Closing it out here for 35.50 results in a (39.50 - 35.50)/20 = .20 ($20) gain. Nice to be able to make a little money on what started out as a mistake ... .
Closed (Margin): /MES February 28th 3720 Short Put... for a 42.25 debit.
Comments: Cleaning up a mistake made yesterday, which was an additive delta balancing adjustment in the wrong expiry. Closing out the "odd man out" here ... . This leg was filled for 52.25. Closing it out here for 42.25 results in a (52.25 - 42.25)/20 = .50 ($50) gain. I'll replace it shortly with a short put in the correct expiry ... .