Thought I'd start a journal for something I've been doing a long time, short butterflies, long iron condors, short strangles/straddles, that provide monthly income for me. I do them for every expiry month in my list of stocks, and will update you all here every time I put on/take off trades. I will also attach PDFs for whoever is interested that models each trade. The PDFs will have commissions that correspond with IB.
Put on a MSFT short butterfly today. Short 27.50 Long 2 @ 30.00 Short 32.50 Sold 2 of them for $1.06 with target of $0.60 if I want to cover early. Basically looking for MSFT to move above 32 or below 28 by April expiration. Max risk: -299.20 Max profit: +200.80
Also: DIA Iron Condor Long 107 APR Put Short 109 APR Put Short 131 APR Call Long 133 APR Call Got for $0.48 credit Max risk: -$157.60 Max profit: +$42.40
Put on a GOOG iron condor today. Odds are stock won't move past $380 or above $580. 3 contracts total for $1.20 credit. Max profit after commissions: $343.20 Max loss after commissions: -$2,656.80 B/E points: $358.86 and $601.14 PDF attached.
I used to do this kind of trading and am just now getting into trading again (after a hiatus during which I had 2 kids). I'd like to follow your journal. What is your list of stocks that you like to pull from for your trades?
Here is the current list that I use with appropriate strategies (in my opinion). Hasn't been updated since December so some might not work anymore (like S or MA). I also do a lot in the indexes and their ETFs.
Mainly because I do not like picking a direction. Sometimes I'll do deep ITM credit put spreads on the SPX or RUT, but with these volatile markets they must be really ITM to be safe, making the reward not as worth the risk.