volga, Regarding the fly, high vol will make it cheaper as vol affect strikes closer to the price more than further out or in. I guess I understand that. But again, we were talking about IC, though IC has the same profile except for the wider body, and I was asking about selling IC, to collect $1-$1.3 for going 3-4 strikes out on, let's say, OEX. Or maybe it is advisable to sell a fly when vol is high, same awful risk/reward as that of short wide body IC, but more likely that OEX will move out of an ATM fly's narrow range? Do I miss something? tc
Volga, Do you ever do ICondors or Flys? on say an index or a stock? If so, how do you get in, do you do the buys and sells together or otherwise? I have been thinking how much higher the margin req would be if you did the sells first and were naked for a day or two until the buys were done creating the bear call and bull put spreads. BTW, this is the best thread I have ever read on ET thanks much to your inputs, thanks again. Cheers & Best, SL
Hey Pismo. These strategies usually easier to find with indexes, more strikes to choose from. Easiest way to initiate is call spread then put spread, or visa versa. I like limit order on each spread, when done on 1 side you can adjust other side if needed. Your comment on sell side then possibly putting on buy side a day or 2 later: correct on margins, technically you can get whacked on margin if put on sell side then buy side a minute later. Putting these on one piece at a time, you'll find out it's way too much work anyway. kny3
My pleasure.. I very much enjoy options and I have spent *years* learning about them... hence a small edge in trading from time to time. I am not trading options at the moment, but normally if I want a long term position to trade in and out of, yes, these are my favorite trades. Your idea is right.. u should try and be as crafty as possible in your execution. As I stated earlier.. best time to do these trades is when vol is low (ie: at the moment) because the overall fly/condor prices are higher. (if you are a seller). Flys and condors have increasing positive vega with rises in implied volatility. Meaning as vol rises, fly and condor prices drop.. But at the end of the day.. you should be trading as little as possible. sell it as a breakeven and see what happens. if u start managing them to much, like i discussed before, you are going to have a higher probability of getting burned.
I visited the seminar that these guys have and thought about joining the course expect that ist was 4000 dollars. In any case does anyone have the course material that they want to get rid off?
very simply: dont waste your money. buy natenberg. learn synthetics. options are for: leverage stop loss buying options is limited loss, unlimited (bounded by asset price)gain. selling options (Naked) is poss unlimited loss, limited gain (premo) cheers
volga or anyone else... Have you read Natenberg's bestselling book Option, Volatility and Pricing and the accompanying VHS ? Any comments on it.
Samson, I've have the Natenberg book for a while. I like it very much, not an easy read for a novice however. Can't comment on the VHS tape. There is a series of tapes someone puts out (traders library?), some very good, with Natenberg I can't see how the tape could be better than the book. I still thing McMillan is the intermediate book, Natenberg intermediate/advanced. kny3