I'll write that Call. I'm only on page 50 (have my ET options set to show 40 posts per page, much easier!) lol. Momoney.
Ok just so this thread does not get extended with replies to the CEF question I will insert some CEF dicussions and materials as well. I will post one of the old newsletters I did which discusses the benefits of CEFs and take it from there. Phil
I do not understand how MM can manage all these small spreads and offer the trader the mid shaved by.10 I can becompletely wrong, It is for me hard to beleive that a MM will manage 1 or 10 SPX1230/1240 spreads or even 100, I beleive they probably have batches of 1000 or 5000 SPX 1230 tosellor buy and another batches of 1000 or 5000 SPX 1240 and our small spreads are part of these 2 big batches. So how can we have the mid minus 0.1 for complexes spreads like IC, I dont understand but if this is the case no reason to complain, just interested to know how they do that.
There are a lot of MMs who trade the SPX and they are making trades every second of the day. I assume most trades get bunched together for fills. If you have a spread order for $0.40, I imagine if the MM is gonna hit it and there are a bunch of orders, he fills them all so he can offset or hedge. Occasionally they take small individual orders if things are quiet which they can get at deep OTM strikes. But a 50 contract spread might not seem like much but there are thousands of these spreads traded all day long so they hit when they want or bunch them together often.
Using the latest data, here are the locations where the short strikes are the safest: 4 STDEV=1276 BUT TOO RISKY WHEN PUTTING VOLATILITY INTO IT. When putting Highs and Lows into the equations the safest Strikes would be: 1300 for Bear Call Spreads and 1135 for Bull Put Spreads. For Bull Spreads: 1131=4 STDEV. Using High and Lows=1169 but I prefer going with the lowest of the two. For Bear Call: 1276= 4STDEV but using Highs and lows it puts me at 1299.87 So I go with 1300 the higher of the two. Coach, This is my strikes for Dec, it changes from week to week due to new lows and highs and volatility but the next two weeks of data should remain within the range mentioned above. Let me know what you think
Coach, What do you think about starting this in a new forum just for discussing about CEF ? I think we can all help do the research and post our favourite funds. That might make it easier to follow and won't clutter this forum. Nick
It has been my impression that some closed end funds, at times have make huge moves to the downside on the open. The reason for this is, as I recall ,many are highly leveraged and when negative news comes out the redemptions are magnified by the borrowed money which unlike open end funds ,their charter (cef,s) permits this borrowing. They pay such high dividends because of the borrowed funds which also increases their exposure. Its been some time since i traded them but as I recall I got cought in some of these downdrafts. coach your experience may be different ... if I may ask how long have you been trading these? cheers John
CEFs do not have any redemptions at all. They trade like stock and if fundholders want out they simply sell them in the market, they do not redeem shares. Also, most funds are hold by stable investors (pension plans, institutions, IRAs, buy and holders) so daily volume is usually low. So even on bad news the funds are so diversified that unless they are heavily sector specific and that sector takes a big hit, they do not have large price fluctuations. The leverage they use does increase their yields and risk since in a rising rate environment it will cut into their performance slightly. However you can simply choose funds with lower % of leverages. Average high level is perhasp 30 - 40%. You can avoid funds that use leverage or simply focus on funds with lower % of leverage. The slow movements in the fund allows you to set stop loss limits which you can get out of without any rush. If you diversify you holdings then one fund will not hurt your overall performance and share price fluctations are mostly diversified away and you are left with a nice above average yield . Phil
For DEC, I would say that 1130 and 1300 are quite conservative for 35 days to expiration. If you can get at least 3% net return for that IC then it seems worth it. You may adjust the put side a little higher since I think you can even be safe at the 1150 level. But it never hurts to be more conservative while still getting a few % a month net commissions. Phil