With the DIA at fairly long-term overhead resistance, I thought I'd set out how I'd potentially take a bearish assumption directional shot using a defined risk options setup where the max loss is known from the outset. There are several ways to go about this: 1. Short Call Vertical Buy the September 15th 351 call and sell the September 15th 346 call, resulting...
... for a 1.80 credit. Comments: Short call vertical hedge against my short put verticals. Will look to take off the 1.8/2.8/12.5/13.5 iron condor on which I've collected a total of 3.60 ($360) as a unit at 50% max and scratch out the more at-risk 1.9/2.9 short put vertical if I get the opportunity.
... for a 1.79 credit. Comments: I'm fairly certain my June 24th 321 QQQ short put isn't going to finish out of the money with 10 days to go and that I will be assigned shares with a cost basis of 321 minus whatever I've collected in credits so far. For purposes of what will become a covered call, however, I'm using the short put strike as my starting cost...
... for a 1.07 credit. Comments: I have a September 17th in-the-money 48 short put that I will be assigned on, as I don't see this ripping to 48 by the end of the day. The short call aspect of this spread will cover the stock once I'm assigned, with the buying power attributable to the spread being freed up after assignment of the stock. Because I've...
Lazy day, lazy trade. My Iron Condor Hunter script indicated a potential iron condor for this instrument for the 12 - 23 range. Let's check for the best setup for this signal. (1) Basic TA to background check After a quick TA I judged it too risky, because it limiting the downside potential correction. The script indicated good ranges in the past 4 years,...
... for a .01/contract credit. Notes: Rolling my deep in-the-money spread (See Post Below) to a setup with a break even around where the underlying is currently trading. Naturally, this dramatically increases buying power effect, as well as risk, since I'm widening from a five wide to a sixteen wide. Will look to narrow the spread via roll out or via roll-down...
... for a .30/contract credit. Notes: A late post ... . Rolling out in this strength and widening the spread to force a credit. I'm fine with extending duration, so long as I can get something around one-third the width of any widening in credit. Here, it's .30 to widen an additional strike, so it's not quite one-third, but it'll do. The notion here is that...
... for a .10 debit, 1.50 ($150) profit. Notes: Closing the last of the approaching worthless short call side. Patiently waiting for a decent bounce to add back in.
... for a .10 debit, 1.50 ($150) profit. Notes: Closing approaching worthless short call vert side.
... for a .10 debit, 1.50 ($150) profit. Scratch at 15.90. Notes: Closing approaching worthless call side and waiting for a bounce to add back in.
... for a .20 debit; 1.40 ($140) profit. Notes: Pulling off approaching worthless call side in the March cycle. Scratch at 15.80. Hoping for a bounce running into expiry so that I don't have to extend duration on the put side ... .
... for a .41/contract credit and for a realized gain of .34/contract. Notes: My preference would be to roll these down on strength, but staying mechanical and rolling out at 50% max of credit received. Total credits received now at 1.09/contract, so the roll also has the salutory effect of actually reducing setup risk; the max loss metric was previously...
... for a 1.60 credit; scratch at 16.00. Notes: Additive short delta adjustment trade in the May cycle, where I had an unpaired short put vertical ... . On a side note, I should have pulled off the profitable pair first (See Closing Iron Condor Post Below), then looked at delta before slapping on the additive long adjustment I made yesterday. (See Opening...
... for a 1.60 ($160) credit. Notes: An additive, delta under hedge in the first expiry in which the at-the-money short straddle is paying >10% of the underlying. Scratch at 16.00 even. As usual, I did look at subtractive adjustments first (i.e., taking off some put side, taking off an oppositional pair in profit), but wasn't satisfied with the short delta I...
for a 1.60 credit. Notes: Adding back in the short delta I took off on Friday just in case something untoward happened over the weekend (See Post Below). Put on in the first expiry in which the at-the-money short straddle is paying >10% of the value of the underlying. Scratch at 17.40.
... for a 1.60 debit and a realized gain of 2.80 ($280). Notes: Although the entirety of the setup has skewed net delta long, pulling off some short delta running into the weekend just in case something untoward happens. Will add short delta back in if required next week to delta balance.
... for a .33/contract credit. Notes: My 2020 short volatility starter position, collecting one-third the width of the spread. The natural alternative is to go with the 14/17, which also pays one-third, but I'm not picking a hugely fabulous spot to start this with VIX at 13.85, so going the narrow route and small with the number of contracts. Will manage this...
... for a .65/contract credit. Notes: With the February /VX futures contract trading at 16.52, looking to re-up with a term structure trade in the February cycle after taking off my January with a break even around where the futures contract is trading.