I can't seem to find the IV for a stock/index on IB. If anyone knows how to on IB, please share. I went to www.ivolatility.com and used one of their calculators. I'm not sure which Volatility to use. They have IV Index Call, IV Index Put, and IV Index mean. http://www.ivolatility.com/options.j?ticker=ndx&R=0 link for $NDX Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place? Thanks.
I placed an order today as follows: 1285/1300 DEC SPX bear call at $0.70 but it wasn't filled. I wasn't able to call ToS to 'prime the pump'. I'll probably try again soon, depending upon what happens with the market.
Well...after being awake good part of nite thinking thru positions for my 1250 call.. 1) close for a profit..safe but boring 2) use 1/2 (10) to write 1240 ..live on the edge but have some wiggle room with the other 10 contracts..or 3) write 1245 and if I get 2.80 I would have a net credit (including the put side) of 4.95 for effectively a .05 pt risk (right now 15% prob of ending in the money..on the 1245/1250spread) THEN I wake up with a gift...they have a weekly 1245 I could now sell against the 1250 long however don't see it on TOS yet...guess I could call...
still don't see it...and after talking with support...still don't have it ..so went with door#2 and sold 10...of course got only 2.5 on 10 so now credit is (lets see effectively 1.75 if that were 20 contracts less .55 so 1.25..sort off)
Just buying the 1250 call turned out to be a good play with this market, great trade! Selling the weekly put is a good way to go, or just bank the profit and look for December plays may be better. To each their own. ryan
Thanks Ryan...I made it more interesting by selling the 1240 but not seeing the 1245 weekly..couldn't sell it today...may be monday can sell some
Agree with Ryan. Nice trade on just buying the call. Good strategy in a market moving up. You can make money on just the long call or adjust and sell something against it for a credit whenever the time seems right. ToS shows a weekly 1235 Call with a b/a of 1.20/1.70. It shows the expiration as Nov 2 05. That can't be right?? When do these weeklies expire and are they subject to a settlement value?
Weekly Calendar Update: Remember I bought the following position: Bought NOV SPX 1185 Put @ $14.90 Sold NOV SPX WEEKLY 1185 Put @ $7.60 Cost: $7.30 Well the weekly 1185 expired worthless and there is no new weekly at 1185 because the weeklies are only 2 strikes OTM and the index is at 1220-ish. So I sold the SPX 1180 for $2.05 to reduce my cost and risk to $5.25 and perhaps get out for less of a loss if we pull back a little on profit taking. I could have sold the 1185 SPX put to close and just cut my losses there but I decided to take the extra position for more credit since we bounced off resistance yesterday. NEW WEEKLY CALENDAR: Bought SPX NOV 1225 PUT @ $14.20 Sold WEEKLY SPX 1225 PUT @ $11.40 Net Debit = $2.80. I feel we might bounce around this level for a little and if the weekly shrinks as we bounce in and round 1225, the NOV SPX put will still have significant value to close for a nice profit. I will take a limited loss on the first one due to the huge surge we experienced from 1185 to 1221 in a week. This will happen but I am testing whether in most weeks when the market is sideways whether I can make money month to month using this product. I am putting real money so I can get a better feel for how this will trade and hopefully it will spark some ideas from you as well. Phil
Certainly not a bad thought to supplement the credit spreads with some long debit spreads if you are bullish leading into the end of the year. I will look into it and see if it is worth it. Two reasons I might not do it are: (1) I am bullish going into the end of the year but I have no guesstimate as to what magnitiude the market is going to move. I simply feel we will be sideways or higher and maybe slightly lower which still results in a profit for me. Buying the call spreads means I have to make a determination as to what magnitude I expect the market to move from now until DEC expiration. One reason I like the credit spread strategy is it takes a lot of this directional guesing game out since I can be right in general about direction but do not have to worry about magnitude of the move or even if I am slightly wrong. So I may not choose to do the call spreads simply to avoid trying to determine how far the market could move. (2) Based on (1) above, I may also be less inclined to enter a debit spread and spend some of my credit whcih I expect to expire worthless. Now debit spreads can be done with the new mini-SPX perhaps quote cheaply for a small bet so I will not rule it out nor recommend that you should forget it. If you have the put spreads, then one approach is to say that the long call spread is completely financed by the puts and therefore is taking a bet with some house money lol. If the market explodes higher you are enhacning your return, if it does not move as high you still can have a net profit with the put spread credits. Therefore, although I generally would not add the debit spreads on the call side given my bullish stance, I think there are certainly compelling reasons to use a small part of the credit and swing the fences at this time of the year. I will probably avoid any call credit spreads due to fears of huge rally at end of year, but a small debit spread might be appropriate under these circumstances. EDIT: Looking at the mini-SPX there are not a lot of strike prices and the SPX for DEC is a little pricey for debit spreads unless you are willing to go above 1250 or 1260 for the long strike in the bull call spread. Even then it still is more than $1.00 for the $5.00 spreads and even pricier for 10 and 15 point spreads. Phil
That is not NOV 2 05, the 2 that follows the NOV is to differentiate it from the regular NOV SPX strikes. The weeklies stop trading on THURSDAY and are subject to settlement value on Friday morning. Phil