atticus' "ship it" vol trading journal

Discussion in 'Journals' started by atticus, Sep 5, 2012.

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  1. taowave

    taowave

    Help me out here.
    You get long the fly at 2.56 and kick it out at 2.75?

    Interesting.I typically do not get long flys where I am risking 2.50 to make 7.50. I see most of you guys have no problem with that R/R.

    Great thread.thanks

    T




     
    #931     Oct 17, 2012
  2. Same day? Yeah. It was stopped on the underlying hitting 645. You don't get long flies risking $250 to earn $750? Why on Earth not?
     
    #932     Oct 17, 2012
  3. taowave

    taowave

    In reality,I never let flys go to more then half the max profit.So my real R/R is really 1 to 1.

    I typically trade flys as a cheap bet.I am in the AAPl Nov 50/60/70 for 50 cents..





     
    #933     Oct 17, 2012
  4. OK, so you had the R&R reversed in your example. Anyway, I was risking 2.56 to make 7.44 (theoretically).
     
    #934     Oct 17, 2012
  5. Thank you Atticus, for the exit reply.

    I was wondering if you might explain how you manage a fly into expiration? With the large reward that can be earned in the last few days into expiration, how do you make the decision to close out the fly or to hold onto it with how quickly the value can change. I am basing it currently on how close it is to the middle of the fly day by day.
     
    #935     Oct 17, 2012
  6. I price all hard-delta bets (vertical positions) at wing-touches each day at +/- a small vol change. It's purely discretionary whether the tail-risk seems worth the hold. I also look at recent stat vol and will be less likely to hold a fly if it's printing successive inside days (or whatever frequency I am watching). There are a lot of moving parts in the process.
     
    #936     Oct 17, 2012
  7. taowave

    taowave

    Sorry,I wasnt clear..

    If someone pays 2.50 for a 10 pt fly,most feel that they are risking 2.50 to make 7.50.
    The truth is,I almost never let a 10 pt fly go to more than 4-5 bucks.
    So,the R/R ratio is misleading in my case as I am paying 2.50 to make 2.50(selling the fly at 5).

    Do you ever hold 10 point flys when they get to 5?
    I cant imagine you buying them there.

    This has been helpful



     
    #937     Oct 17, 2012
  8. Thanks for this insight.
     
    #938     Oct 17, 2012
  9. Understood. Sure, I would open a trade at a 1:1 fly risk on something like IBM for example. You can't qualify that without a vol or date (synth vol) assumption. I would also trade a GOOG fly at a day out (to exp) at 1:1.
     
    #939     Oct 17, 2012
  10. taowave

    taowave

    I hear you..

    I do realize it should probably be looked at in a theta/gamme realtionship as opposed to some "hard coded rule"..

    Are you almost alway net flat options when short gamma?
    Seems like everyone is long the wings


     
    #940     Oct 17, 2012
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