SPX Credit Spread Trader

"Right now it is very difficult to add to a bear call spread when you roll up. "

I am new to this forum. Hope you don't mind a question which may have already been answered.

I have looked at a possible solution to this problem. If the market is still away from the short call, here is a possible response:

Let us say that I have a June position and the market is moving up and my short puts are far away. If I simply leave the call spread and move up the puts, obviously I can get into a whipsaw. Now one possibility is to place my next month's position on at this point. I place a July trade with a close in put spread and a very far away call spread. The close Jul put spread protects the Jun short call, and if the market goes back down, I have two call spreads protecting the Jul puts. (In this scenario I would probably liquidate the Jun put spread -- it is not helping my positiion).

Thanks for your comments.

 

It seems to me your style is more of a "quick smash and grab"

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quote from cdowis:

Jun 1360/1380 call

1260/1230 put

Sold spread today for 470.
__________________________

The market is the futures SP. The total credit was 470.

I try to make my two legs close to equality in premium. I got 220 on the call side and 250 on the puts. My basic philosophy of choosing the position is to find spreads as far away as possible and still get aroud 400 total premium. Having the two sides with equal premiums tells me how skewed it becomes as the market moves.

I know its pretty simplistic.

My second post is regarding a very simple way of adjusting my position. If my calls are at 500 and puts at 80, I am looking at putting on Jul position where the put spread gives me possibly 450 to balance off the Jun call side at 500. I would also put on a Jul call spread at 200 to partially balance off the entire position. Thus, the call side is at 700 and the put side at 570 with a bearish bias.

Thanks for your comments in advance.

 

Hey, where do you trade futures SP if you don't mind me asking? I haven't been able to find them on OX but that could just be me. What are the option symbols?

Thank you for sharing...

 

Most retail brokers do not allow SP futures options because they are pit traded (i.e., ToS, OX, TradeStation etc..) so you might need a broker who specializes in futures and option futures.

 

Yep, I am with Alaron, a futures broker.

I have experienced very good fills with them. I used market orders --> my credit was 470 and the spread closed at 480.

 

I believe you can trade PIT options with Tradestation, but it cleared through another broker.

 

At times, on individual equities, that might be true. Rarely on an index like SPX though. The wide b/a spreads prevent me from trying to get too cute with it.

My "style" is actually to find whatever strategy will work best, given a setup that I like. Sometimes I can capitalize on a quick move, while other times I am in it for the long haul. I'm not necessarily in love with any particular strategy.

 

Does Alaron have a platform for risk graphs and options analysis?

 

They do not have an options analysis platform which is free, but do interface with several value-added platforms.