Has anyone traded calendar spreads on the QQQQ's? I'm new to the Calendars but have been trading for a couple of years. It seems to me that the calendar spreads have much potential of reward. I'm not looking at the quotes right now but last night I was looking at this calendar on the q's: Short OCT06 41Call for .45 Long DEC06 41CALL for .96 net debit of: .51 Does that look like a good trade? Can anyone advise?
In general I am not a fan of calendars on low priced and vol underlyings, as commission expense on calendars coupling with low premiums for the Q's would really eat into your ROI..... but that's just me!
If you think that the Q's will move up 7.9% from current 38 to 41 by Oct expiry then it may be a good trade.
I understand your points. I don't know how I overlooked this strategy for over two years. It seems a lot easier to make money on this rather than directional trades.
You may want to do MNX cal spd to save commission. You may want to consider Thinkorswim's service to learn from the pro: http://www.redoption.com/strategy/52/
Call calendars tend to not pan out too well unless IV holds steady. But as underlyings climb, IV tends to fall. That said, do these on underlyings which actually offer decent premium.
There are different strategies for different situations. You have to be well prepared to make profit in option trading. I have taken many of TOS's classes & still learning from the Virtural Trader monthly: https://www.redoption.com/seminars/4/ Sometimes they like to do diagonals instead of calendar spreads in certain situations: http://www.redoption.com/strategy/60/ I am still learning & do not think I am ready until next year to do the profitable institutional style trading. Right now just doing simple directional trades to make money.