Long the GOOG Oct11/Oct18 875 call calendar from 11.37. I expect vol for the back week to be held due to earnings although there is delta risk here. I plan to hold this for a few days but will take a quick profit if it appears. Will close the trade if the stock starts drifting significantly. "We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment." - Jim Rohn
noregrets, i notice you use the iron butterfly on lots of your trades. Is there a specific reason you choose this over broken wing or condors. Do you find the i-b, easier to adjust etc?? thanks ED
Long the VXX Oct4 12/14.5/17 iron fly from 1.61 risk (.89 credit). "Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers." - Voltaire
Hey Ed, it all depends on my outlook for the underlying. When I expect the underlying to stay relatively stationary and/or for IV to drop, I may put on a regular butterfly that is ATM or close to ATM. I will often choose the iron over the call or put fly because the microstructure often allows a better or easier fill, especially if your body strike goes ITM during the course of the trade. I may use a broken-wing, or asymmetric, fly if I am seeking to attempt to "extract" skew by selling more expensive (IV-wise) strikes that are away-from-the-money, and can adjust the strikes to place me in a, relatively speaking, neutral or bullish/bearish position depending on my outlook for the underlying. I do always try to keep a symmetrical risk profile for those. I will use the IC if my outlook for the underlying is that it will remain rangebound and/or I expect an IV drop. I model all the potential trades (generally using flies) and compare to flat skew.
Excellent man,, damn, you sound like a text book in a good way. i picked up on almost everything you said. I got a tony saliba book , the chpt on butterflys and condors basically says what you are saying. Keep up the good work and thanks for answering my question. have an excellent wkknd. EF
Thanks for the kind words Ed, but I recognize that I have a tremendous amount left to learn and am still working to become consistently profitable. There are many traders on these boards much more knowledgeable and experienced in options than myself. With that said, every day I keep working to improve and appreciate the support. Good luck on your own journey, and have a great weekend as well.
Out at .76 credit, for a 2.5% return on risk after commissions (which took most of the profit). In retrospect, I should not have entered this trade as the margin of error was very thin and any resolution of the shutdown will probably send VXX plunging, at least temporarily. The low notional and hence higher relative commissions should set a pretty high bar for any potential trade anyway. As a side note, the very small % returns on risk that I have been achieving the last several trades are wholly unsatisfactory. The occasional big gap on these short gamma / short vol plays can take a big chunk out of a debit, so I need to ensure that my winners are making enough to more than offset that occasional big loser.
You making a play for the end of the quarter window dressing. Possible bullishness into the close, going into tomorrow?. EF