DMO, Aren't you really talking about an Iron Condor??? Short near/at the money and long on the wings out of the money... Is there a better position strategy than the Iron Condor in light of your assertion? Thanks, Walt
Walt, I never think in terms of named strategies like condor, fly, xmas tree, etc. For me an options play begins with noticing an anomaly in the volatility pattern of an options contract. Assuming that anomaly will not last, how best to play it? Let's say for example that normally the far back months of SPY always trade at the same IV, but at the moment the March 09 options are trading at an IV that is unusually higher than the June 09 options. So I'll want to buy June premium and sell March premium. Next step is to determine what to buy and what to sell. Since there is so much time remaining, I have a very wide variety of strikes to choose from that are almost equal in terms of their gamma, theta, etc. So I'll want to choose the cheapest (relative to normal skew patterns) and the most liquid options to buy, and the most expensive and most liquid options to sell. I couldn't care less if they're puts or calls because I'll use the underlying to become delta neutral. If possible though, I would prefer that my long strikes be further away from the money and my short strikes closer to the money, for the many reasons brought out in this thread. The more time remaining, the less important this is. With little time remaining it becomes crucial. Hope this makes some sense.
Makes sense to me and to add to DMO's answer for jones247; The difference between an iron and most of strategies mentioned in this dicussion is that the iron has just as many long options as shorts. The positions talked about, mostly in this thread, have extra long options on both ends.
I was talking about single month. I was just thinking about making a brief video to explain this, as a matter of fact.
The video is a great idea. Let us know where you post and we'll tune in. I know it's been said before, but to all new traders: study this thread, note risk management necessary, then jump in and trade small. No serious risk and you'll make money frequently enough to keep you in the game.