Vol-trading for beginners

Discussion in 'Journals' started by destriero, Feb 14, 2021.

  1. destriero

    destriero


    You buy straddles in high vol?
     
    #71     Feb 20, 2021
  2. deltaf0rce

    deltaf0rce

    No. I’m obviously misunderstanding the post. You sold a straddle. But you called the stock frothy. Typically on a selloff in equities you get a run up in vol. but in this scenario vol is already high. So this scenario must be like one of those gamma plays like a Reddit stock. Am I right?
     
    #72     Feb 20, 2021
    Adam777 and .sigma like this.
  3. destriero

    destriero


    Yeah. A hypothetical growth stock, but most meme stocks have vols in the 00s.
     
    #73     Feb 20, 2021
    deltaf0rce likes this.
  4. .sigma

    .sigma

    Dest, I’m trying to understand your comments on synthetics. Are you saying when using optionality we should stay away from using the synthetic equivalent delta1 commons?
     
    #74     Feb 21, 2021
  5. tsznecki

    tsznecki

    @destriero I'd like to hear your opinion on trade management below.

    There's the greater philosophical question here:

    Say XYZ at 205 has already ran up 100% and is frothy. However if one really truly believes in XYZ and think it could hit say 1000, why try to manage short term vol? I mean frothy tends to lead to frothier, until it doesn't.

    And the trade management question here:

    I almost always think cutting size aside from tax implications is the better option to neutralize deltas. Otherwise I'm trading 2 trades in one, Jan expiry and the longer term forecast. See above.
     
    #75     Feb 21, 2021
    .sigma likes this.
  6. destriero

    destriero


    A 40 vol spot is not going to rally 5x over any time soon. "frothy" refers to the vol-figure. Say it's been a 30 vol for many months and is bid for earnings, product launch, etc.

    I don't like to get flat in vol on a growth prospect. You bought the stock for a reason; otherwise why didn't you short the straddle initially?
     
    #76     Feb 21, 2021
  7. tonyf

    tonyf

    @destriero do you ever sell OTM naked puts on single names with the sole purpose of collecting a dividend yield (premium) irrespective of vol?

    In other words, do you trade stagnation?
     
    #77     Feb 21, 2021
  8. destriero

    destriero


    No. I've held stocks for years like CREE and AMD and overwritten with calls.
     
    #78     Feb 21, 2021
    donnap likes this.
  9. tsznecki

    tsznecki

    How do you deal with the scenarios where you overwrote the calls and the equity just kept going to/past the strike?

    Do you usually eat the loss in the short calls? Or buy more stock?

    Just as a side note, I've done covered calls on long term holds, but I'm extremely hesitant to ever overwrite because of what you mentioned above ^.
     
    #79     Feb 21, 2021
  10. destriero

    destriero

    I stress the trade at neutrality at static and a vol-shift. I can't recall the last time an overwrite flipped D on me. It's happened of course.
     
    #80     Feb 21, 2021