Hey Donna: I caught that post that you deleted. And I must say making that kind of money DOES make you more interesting. I've been looking for a sugar momma. Do you think Mikey would mind?
Interesting comments re debit vs credit spreads. For the last 60 days most of my trades have been long calenders, when previously most of my trades were credit spreads. Funny thing is I've noticed the stress levels dealing with the calenders is far less than the credit spreads. Maybe it's knowing the maximum out of pocket is already spent vs trying to hold on to a credit that might be taken away. Just my $.02
I think Mav hit on the head when he said something to the effect that there is no preordained reason to hold a credit spread till expiration. I'm pretty sure Coach feels the same way since he advocates risk management above every thing else at least with regards to credit spreads. It's all about risk management. After I devastated my account last summer, I vowed to never hold a credit spread to expiration if I didn't feel comfortable. I would much rather give back some nickels and dimes than losed 10s and 20s. I rarely hold bull puts to expiration since I do worry about black swan events and my probable inability to effectively control them. I've followed this strategy and since last summer have never really broken a sweat overly worrying about my spreads. Sure I get somewhat concerned, but I haven't sweated bullets yet (although May may prove to get the glands going).
Actually, after risk's post, I should probably qualify what 'never' means. Never means that I won't reveal anything without some quid pro quo. Let me reflect a little on what quo goes for these days
I have roughly 4 calendars and 2 IC's on per month, and I am the exact same way. My spx ic is giving me heartburn at the moment, but my CME ic is giving me an ulcer. Whereas my calendars are curently getting better yields than otm credit spreads. Oh well, gotta mix it up.