I also have OIH calls with: short OIH Aug 160 Call short OIH Aug 170 Call short OIH Aug 175 call, long OIH Oct 170 Call short OIH Oct 175 Call long OIH Oct 180 short OIH Oct 190 and naked puts: OIH Jul 120 Put OIH Jul 125 Put OIH Aug 120 Put
The board's alive again... Here are my current VIX positions: Feb/Jul 20 Nov/Jul 20 Feb20/Jul 17.5 Feb 17.5/Jul 17.5 I just couldn't pass up the great entry points, its like the VIX is scripted. The Feb 20 was only .10c more than the Nov 20.. well that was until this morning ?? One of my plays is Long Feb 17.5 at 2.05 and Short Jul 17.5 at 1.10. And that's why I'm taking a break from OIH. Your $$ goes much further with the VIX plays.
Rich (and Rally too), A calendar spread on a cash settled European product (such as VIX options, www.cboe.com/micro/vix/VIXoptionsQRG.pdf) is a very different animal. The risk exposure to a possible whipsaw action is real and could be hurtful, though you might get lucky once or twice. Regards, Ben
I understand the risks or i wouldnt be trading it. I didnt mean to imply it was easy money in my post. However, i still like the risk profile given the current environment. Luck favors the prepared mind.
Ben, Why would European options make a calendar spread riskier than American type options? I thought European options didn't have the risk of early exercise. Can you elaborate on this issue?
You do know today is the last trading day for july right? are you rolling your 17.5 to aug? You probably opened that at the vix lows and now you can roll and scratch. If you keep doing these calendars i suggest you open them on the spikes(market selloffs) and push your short strikes as high as possible. If the vix makes a sharp move up, your longs wont gain much but due to the fact that the front months trade with the futures and are discounted to the actual VIX value, you can roll them out usually for a scratch. Of course, if we crash and vix spikes 30+, you will lose alot of edge on these ITM rolls. Also, we will be in a different ball game so size your risk accordingly.
Just filled on Feb/Aug 15 @ $0.80. Looks good on ToS profit range appears to be $11 to $24 at Aug. expiration. Though I could and may be wrong.