Yes I agree that ES options do tie up a tremendous amount of capital. But ZC can be traded at a lot less.
Well, that may be true, but you don't have to be open to unlimited loss exposure like Vic Niederhoffer. Always have a leg that provides a stop-loss.
MJ888 one of the problems I have with your sim trade example is that in REAL life you never get the best price. A LOT of slippage in the OEX and SPX. When you need to close (ex: this op ex a lot of people probably have put credit spreads at risk) you will NEVER get a good price. As mentioned KY jellymay be needed tomorrow if you haven't already closed/rolled any credit spreads at risk I like your ratio spreads...farther out is fine...another dude Mark used to do credit spreads on farther out months and close them and seemed to do fine. There really isn't ONE perfect trade for all types of volatility but I do think the futures options are easier to get in and out of for us small retail people. It does puzzle me how and why brokerages have such different margin requirements.
Try closing them when it goes against you... you think opening the spread is a problem with slippage? LOL...
been there....done that thats why even though you are trading "naked" more often with future options closing a straddle or rolling a short put or call is much easier than trying to roll a spread. selling/buying singles is just easier.
Lux That FSLR trade looks good wished I jumped in that with you if you on the open monday if have more feel free to post
yeah, been having good results with both bear put and bear call spreads on FSLR, i think there is still more downside here. i dont want to press my luck, but i think the drop in oil is helping to pressure solar.
Thanks for the input.....I have been trading long enough to know all too well about slippage. BTW, when I entered this trade, I most definitely did not get in at the "best" price on any of the legs. I did not close the trade. We'll see what happens tomorrow. I am fully aware that I would not get a good price if OEX drops near my 590 strike and everyone is in a panic to get out. I won't need the KY Jelly cause this is a sim trade but I am taking the trade seriously as if it was a real position. If I did close the trade before end of trading this afternoon, I would've made a decent profit with most of it coming from the call side. Exactly how much, I wouldn't know cause of slippage.