Spitznagel / Delta question...

Discussion in 'Options' started by RubiconTrading, Jun 4, 2022.

  1. can anyone here possibly help me out with this?

    In Spitz's first book, Dao of Capital, he gives the following example of risk mitigation:

    "2-month 0.5 delta puts on the S&P Composite Index (approximately 30 percent out of the money"

    When I look up option chains in Schwab, options such as the above have delta's far less than .5, more in the .2 or less range

    let me know your thoughts...

    PS - looked up options like this a year ago and saw similar #s, so do not believe recent market vol is the reason
     
  2. Knee jerk response: Since book was 2013, I look at June 4 2012 closing prices as a ball-park.
    Using TOS thinkback: 1278.18 (Spot)/960 == 1.33 ish. upload_2022-6-4_18-26-12.png I have not looked further, just noting what I see.
     
  3. great response. the next line in the book is "in the case of a 40 percent implied volatility"

    so looked up current stats for put, 30% OTM and got this:
    upload_2022-6-4_21-38-23.png

    IV is consistent w/ Spitz's example, but how come the delta is SO massively different then decade ago (.02 vs .50)???
     
  4. newwurldmn

    newwurldmn

    I don’t think he was suggest .5 (as in 50). I think he’s saying .5 as is .005 if .50 is atm.
     
    jys78 and cdcaveman like this.
  5. I misread and incorrectly picked the -0.05 delta. apparently the -0.005 delta was intended as newwurldm points out.
     
  6. I missed that too. So then the real question, since I am not experienced in options, what is the real world difference of a 30% OTM Put option w/ Delta of -.05 (2013) vs -.02 (2022) ??
     
  7. I have not seen that book. The distance of a strike from Spot price for a specific delta is also impacted by skew.
     
  8. well i meant IF i owned two 30% OTM Put options, one w/ a Delta of -.05 and the other -.02, and after purchase the underlying dropped by 15% - would there be a material difference in how the two acted or no?
     
  9. This may be TMI, but perhaps it may help. I looked at recent SPX data with different IV to provide view of delta with respect to Moneyness. Zipped HTML file with 2 scatter plots. Hover mouse over areas of interest for detail. -- OTM% should not be mistaken for delta.
     
    RubiconTrading likes this.
  10. well that is pretty friggin cool, thanks

    guess i just need to track real time prices to see how different deltas respond to moves in the underlying...
     
    #10     Jun 5, 2022