The skew is OTM and increases as you go deeper OTM on the strikes under the market. Vols on the right:
he doesn't understand skew, nor convexity by a long shot, can riskarb lead him to water..............
A tick is the minimum price movement, in this case a quarter of a point. So if ES has moved from 1350 to 1351 it has moved 4 ticks. Others are different - NQ moves in increments of 0.25, YM in whole points, TF 0.1 etc. Contract specs are here: http://www.cmegroup.com/trading/equity-index/us-index/e-mini-sandp500_contract_specifications.html
You guys got that right. i don´t have more than a light acqaintance with what you are talking about. Now if you are a multimillionaire trader you can throw barbs I guess. Lot of smart people, such as mentioned by somebody on here, like Nobel Prize mathematics winners went broke in the markets. I got no way to judge the WORTH of your advice and opinions. Don´t want to get into a verbal pissing match, but I am doing okay performing the way I am. Not suffering in the least. I believe in KISS. When I look at something, I want to translate into money earned the technical jargon involved. If I can´t do that, then I tend to discount it as too involved. Is that a good opinion or a bad opinion? Have no idea, but will know by the end of this year. In the meantime, I am interested in learning stuff that works and can be turned into a money making trick. If I can´t image ( or visualize ) the trade to perfection, it just doesn´t interest me. To me the proof of advice is in the account balance. How is your ROI doing?
No, not wiped out, but humbled. I'm planning to post an update later this week with details. I posted an explanation on T2W of why I asked that it be closed.
Albatross Thankyou very kindly. I guess I had the idea. Just was not used to thinking in tick terms, not trading ES. I have been thinking in SPY 1 point moves and had more or less figured all that stuff out, but while I tried to apply the knowledge to my trading, the ticks were too small a shift, in the style with which Im comfortable thinking. I need to think in SPY in one point moves, otherwise at my commission cost and low budget level it is not worth while. I do appreciate that you took the time, to clarify this point, despite the technical knowledge gloaters and boasters. You would think they were not babies once, learning to walk. Doesn´t really bother me. I´m embarrassed for them though as individuals. Anyway, Albatross, you and ATTICA certainly go to the front of the class as people I would like to call friends.
I imagine that you won't be headed to the USPTO office with "innovations" in hedging. These spreads are a cautionary tale... like a war-time VD film. You got caught with your pants down after 5 MONTHS of real-trading. How's that "selective" backtesting going? Humbled by a 4% move in the index. That's all anyone needs to know about the fallacy of win-rate and compounding... it's not a methodology.
This thread should have taught you that the above is not correct without context. Someone using a strategy of large "win" % for small gains, even without an "edge", can show significant gains and ROI until the the small "lose" % for very large losses shows up to take away your gains and then some. Joe.