Trade #1 (on 7/5/11) Sold VIX Aug 17 2011 16.0 Put @ 0.70 Bought VIX Aug 17 2011 14.0 Put @ 0.10 Net Credit of 0.60
Trade #1 (closed on 7/13/11) Bought to close VIX Aug 17 2011 16.0 Put @ 0.20 Return = 0.40 (original credit of 0.60 minus 0.20) Return% = 0.40 / 1.40 = 28.57% Note: The other leg of the spread, VIX Aug 17 2011 14.0 Put, remains open. Since the value of the VIX Aug 17 2011 14.0 Put was nearly zero, I did not see it as necessary to sell it to close.
Trade #2 (on 8/22/11) Sold TBT Sep 17 2011 22.0 Put @ 0.66 Bought TBT Sep 17 2011 20.0 Put @ 0.31 Net Credit of 0.35
Trade #2 (closed on 9/15/11) Bought to close TBT Sep 17 2011 22.0 Put @ 0.06 Return = 0.29 (original credit of 0.35 minus 0.06) Return% = 0.29 / 1.65 = 17.58% Note: The other leg of the spread, TBT Sep 17 2011 20.0 Put, remains open. Since the value of the TBT Sep 17 2011 20.0 Put was nearly zero, I did not see it as necessary to sell it to close.
Trade #3 (opened on 9/26/11) Sold GLD Nov 19 2011 140.0 Put @ 3.17 Bought GLD Nov 19 2011 138.0 Put @ 2.72 Net Credit of 0.45 Trade # 4 (opened on 9/26/11) Sold GLD Oct 22 2011 145.0 Put @ 2.20 Bought GLD Oct 22 2011 143.0 Put @ 1.83 Net Credit of 0.37
Trade #4 (closed on 10/10/11) Bought to close GLD Oct 22 2011 145.0 Put @ 0.17 Sold to close GLD Oct 22 2011 143.0 Put @ 0.10 Net Debit of 0.07 Return = 0.30 (original credit of 0.37 minus debit of 0.07) Return% = 0.30 / 1.70 = 17.65%
Trade #3 (closed on 10/17/11) Bought to close GLD Nov 19 2011 140.0 Put @ 0.39 Sold to close GLD Nov 19 2011 138.0 Put @ 0.31 Net Debit of 0.08 Return = 0.37 (original credit of 0.45 minus debit of 0.08) Return% = 0.37 / 1.55 = 23.87%
Trade #5 (opened on 10/18/11) Sold TLT Nov 19 2011 108.0 Put @ 0.90 Bought TLT Nov 19 2011 106.0 Put @ 0.58 Net Credit of 0.32
I like your style. From my brief look at your trades, it looks like you are picking short-term tops and bottoms and using oversold/overbought as your basic indicator (along with some general fundamental analysis I presume). And you are using credit spreads instead of outright swing trades. 1. Could you post your trading size for each trade? 2. Could you post your reasoning for stock selection (and strike selection if that applies)?
Thanks. I use a mean reversion style similar to what you mentioned above. 1. The size for each trade is approximately 10% of trading capital. 2. I have developed mechanical trading systems for the VIX, bonds, gold, oil, S&P 500 and other asset classes. Thus, I select trading vehicles which track the asset classes of my systems. In terms of strike price selection, I sell OTM credit spreads to increase the probabilities of winning on each trade.