Iron Condors

Discussion in 'Options' started by maninjapan, Jan 8, 2009.

  1. gkishot

    gkishot

    I guess your expected profits would be much higher than 5-10% during profitable years. I am just wondering how much do you expect to make percentage-wise on average in a profitable year and what would be your expected loss percentage-wise during a losing year based on your strategy.
     
    #11     Jan 8, 2009
  2. Kinda the whole point of asking for advice. But it's always a bit of a case of the chicken or the egg isn't it. Come back when u got a bit more experience.... All points taken though. How do you know when you know though?


     
    #12     Jan 8, 2009
  3. gkishot

    gkishot

    Backtesting.
     
    #13     Jan 8, 2009
  4. now thats a whole other discussion.....
     
    #14     Jan 8, 2009
  5. spindr0

    spindr0

    It means buying the long leg of a spread first or buying the long leg of a butterfly before selling the strangle or buying a straddle before selling the outside strangle, etc.
     
    #15     Jan 8, 2009
  6. spindr0

    spindr0

    If you're referring to legging in, you know you know when you're getting better fills more often than not. If legging in smokes you, you need to avoid it. Experience, confidence and discipline and a reactive approach to money management take time to achieve. There's no hurry. When you get to that jumping off point, start small.

    I'm a small fish in the pond but I have no trouble taking positions 10-15 times the size that I would have 5 years ago. I know what my limits and abilities are and I strive not to exceed them. You have to discover that for yourself as well as what your comfort zone is and what your capabilities and tolerances are. What anyone else does is irrelevant.

    Fear is a good thing to respect when your money is at risk.
     
    #16     Jan 8, 2009
  7. I don't like to time market as I know I always get punished if I try to outsmart Mr. Market by guessing the market direction.

    If you think you can time the market and leg-in properly, then you not even need to trade iron condor, a simple long call/put or even stock will do. :p
     
    #17     Jan 8, 2009
  8. MTE

    MTE

    My goal is to make about 15-20% per year with ICs. A bad year would be around -15%.
     
    #18     Jan 8, 2009
  9. gkishot

    gkishot

    That makes sense because my backtested results are about 100% profit in a good year and 100% loss in a bad year. I guess it all depends on the width of the spread. My spreads are very wide. And I don't do legging in. Last year was about 100% loss. Thank you for your reply.
     
    #19     Jan 8, 2009
  10. So your return is 0% (after commision) ?:eek:
     
    #20     Jan 8, 2009