Stanford I've completed my weekly IRON CONDOR between yesterday and today. Got .10 cents on the upper spread and .15 cents on the lower spread. One side is free of margin, so my margin cost is $25,000. We shall see how we come out? I'm free now for today and at least part of tomorrow, can do other things. Going to the DENTIST this afternoon and get my root canal finished. ( I think? ) Had two visits. I think I'll work on my DEBIT SPREAD STRATEGY and type it up for reference to use myself. Done some nights thinking about it. I use BRAINWAVE ENTRAINMENT to do this sort of learning stuff. Has always worked for me through life. Then will put it in practice for a week, or two, then move it into TOS if the system strategy works well enough. I dearly would love to get out of CREDIT SPREADS. They are too dangerous and expensive. Somewhere I read that CREDIT SPREADS are for people with BIG BANK to play with. While DEBIT SPREADS are for the POOR guy, the little player. I plan to start with $5000 and add if I am successful in real cash. Another analysis, mathematically done, claimed that DEBIT SPREADS and CREDIT SPREADS were the same as to risk and reward ratios. I can't believe that conclusion. Something wrong with that someplace? Recent news here in retirement, that a new ISP internet system is heading my way and will give me good bandwidth and speeds. I sure hope it gets here in the next six weeks. I'm hopeful I'm ready for the jungles of the pits in option trading.
Falconview: I posted this two minutes ago in another thread. "Guys: 10:46AM, QQQQ at day's high: 48.99. Is it time to fade it?". Time is now 10:49AM. If market finishes in the green today, we may have a break out tomorrow. For bulls today is an important day.
Trading Journal I was re-looking at my DEBIT CALL SPREADS for the BULL trend. I got confused. If the market drops too much, is there any problem with the short side of such a debit spread, or can you just keep holding it until expires? I am of the mind I can just let them ride, through corrections and stuff?
Trading Journal I am looking for a high today too. I'm hoping to get 517 in the OEX. I took a look at S&P 500 minis chart but they are not much different and not forecasting anything with a lead. Your QQQQ sounds right on! Though my longer range indicator does not yet signal a TOP. That confuses me. As so far today this morning 9:10 a.m. here. ( market opens 7:30 a.m. here ) I regard this as a learning exercise, as first time I'm using this way of trying to predict TOP movement. I'd like to understand this revision in the way I predict turning point movements clarified. Guess we wait and see. If you are right, I should have closed those DEBIT spreads the other day. Or even not put them on. Though as a learning experience they don't matter that much, being on scratch paper, not in TOS. I'll be a lot wiser whatever happens NEXT TIME. Which is the whole point.
Falconview: they broke the high. There was a first rejection, and on second attempt they went through it. The bulls are stubborn, or should I say the bears were caught with their pants down again? If market goes down, your concern is the long call (not the short one). The short one is not a concern because it is covered by the long call. I am taking a break from the market. Have a good day!
Hi Iam yet to go thro all your interesting exchange of ideas beyond the last 2-3 pages. Here is what happened in the last 2 days experiment!!Real money trades.Not paper trades as Iam trying to find the Holy Grail paying $ $ tution.Option Market maker and broker laughing all the way to the bank. Trade 1. 22nd Sep: Bought SPY OCT 113 call @ 2.91 --Sold SEP24 OCT 113 call @1.55 Market got sold hard.Took a risk ,opened the lock and rode the Long. Buy back Sold Sep113 call @0.99; Sold Oct 113 call @ 2.62 Little profit and that too because of risky action. Trade 2.22rd Sep: Bought SPY OCT 114 put @2.18--Sell SEP24 114 put @0.79 still holding.Today when the market popped,should have opened the short and rode the other.but I did not. Today close -SPY@112.40 OCT114Put Bid/ask-2.95/2.98---- SEP 114 put bid/ask -1.53/1.57 Trade 3.23rd Sep: Buy SPY OCT 113 call @2.12---Sell Sep24 113 call @0.49 If the market does not close @ 113 by 3.45pm, tomorrow-might expire or if it goes to below 0.10 ,will buy it back and sell Sep 30 113 call (today close bid/ask 0.98/1.02) against my OCT 113 call. Weekly has higher volatality,much higher delta, still higher Gamma. Only high theta helps if the underlying close below strike. Since I dont want to hold the weekly overnight-I might experiment the opposite way- Buy weekly and sell the next month. can we cover commision and make atleast $100-150 for 10 contracts with out directional risk? I trade thro Ameritrade Quote tracker charts.Even though I have TOS ,have not used them properly. MY strategy looks wrong. Can you put my trades thro your magic TOS mirror and see the future please! No credit spreads .Only debit. regards kevin
Kevin "Here is what happened in the last 2 days experiment!!Real money trades.Not paper trades as Iam trying to find the Holy Grail paying $ $ tution.Option Market maker and broker laughing all the way to the bank." ________________________________ Ha! Ha! Ha! Been there done that! I'm in paper money for TOS, practicing until I get it right. ____________________________ Hmmn! Sounds like you are doing a Long Straddle? Dropping the losing side. I've been diddling with the SHORT STRADDLE before abandoning it. I learned how to do it, but when I applied it to TOS the margin was $9000 a contract and so three weeks work down the drain. Much to expensive. Haven't tried the long straddle yet. Busy this coming week with two new DEBIT Spread strategies. One I'm going to put on tomorrow afternoon before the CLOSE is similar to what you are doing, but I got it off some advertising subscriber based blurb rhetoric off the internet. Guy said he averaged $25,000 a month with it. So what the heck will try it. He is selling subscriptions so doubt it could be that good. Basically your lock is an opposing CALL or PUT. Against a long position the other side. This guy's system is to play long, but insure with an opposing debit spread. The idea being if the market went the wrong way, you closed the long options and the short of an insurance play with the opposing DEBIT SPREAD. Have just been drawing up an experimental work sheet to try it over the weekend. Apparently it works best with OPENING GAPS. I'll know more in a week or two. Thankyou for contributing your experience with the DEBIT SPREADS I'm currently deeply interested. As that is where I'm at for the moment, looking for the HOLY GRAIL.
Kevin I stand corrected! Just re-read your trades and as I'm new at Spreads took a little to seep into my brain cells. You were trying a TIME HORIZONTAL spread against the long monthly and the weekly short? You actually approach it differently than I thought, when I tried it in my limited way, from reading the instructions on various web sites. When I tried it, I lost. But I see you go directional and close the short and make at least something out of it on the long month side. That bears thinking about. Tell me more as you go along. Save me the trouble and weeks involved to experiment. I had discarded in my mind the TIME HORIZONTAL spread between the Weekly sold and the longer monthly, because it failed the two times I tried it. But from your example closing the losing side, recovers the money, if you let the LONG run. Be interested in more results. Got any actual profit and technical details?