I spent more time then I would have liked selling vertical SPX spreads today. I started at the mid which I can usually get filled at with TOS and slowly moved to the natural. There were times when 5+ minutes would pass and I would be at the natural or lower and never get filled . . . Just wondering if anyone else had this issue today. I know SPX is a different beast but it was ridiculous . .
spreads take longer than singles...If its a "trending" market or a market I "think" I can use TA then I will leg into a spread. Very tricky and doesn't always work. If I do trade the spread I put in a limit order then walk away...if it dosent fill ...try again the next day perhaps different strikes. Even with the SPX there are strikes either very FOM or perhaps far term that just don't have that much volume on any given day, not easy for retail trader to trade.
Let me start off by asking whether it was a live trade or a paper trade? The reason I ask is that many times people come here asking similar questions to yours and then after a couple of posts stating that it was a paper trade. The fact that you mention that you usually get filled at the mid makes me suspect you are paper trading.
MTE I am trading live. I find it somewhat annoying when people talk about their trading without disclosing that they are paper trading. It is in my opinion that on a forum like this people should default their assumption that people are trading real money and only have to differentiate if they are paper trading but what can you do. To clarify I donât usually get filled immediately after entering a vertical but it usually doesnt take as long as a few minutes either. With regards to trading the SPY, I like the weekly expiration of the SPX and the fact that it is cash settled so I get favorable tax treatment as well. I wish SPX had the liquidity of SPY because my strategy isnât scalable at this point but I have some time before my account reaches the point of being able to move the market.
OK, I had to ask though. SPX options are very liquid so I don't think you have to worry about moving the market. Don't forget that SPY is 1/10th the size the SPX, so everything you see in SPY should be divided by 10 to arrive at the comparable figures for SPX. The obvious drawback of SPX options is that they trade only on CBOE. As to why your order wasn't filled even though it was at natural or even worse that's something to ask your broker. Maybe there was a stale quote for one of the legs.
Yes, many times people forget that. In most cases I'm able to get filled around 10-15 cents above the mark, which would translate to 1-1.5 cents on SPY. The commissions savings are huge.
Clarification: SPY options volume, open interest and bid/ask size should be divided by 10, while prices should be multiplied by 10.