New income trade Wednesday May 12, 2014 (opened two hours before the close):
Bought a SPX JUL/JUN14 1900 monthly Calendar Spread with 38/66 days to go until expiration
BOT +1 CALENDAR SPX 100 JUL 14/JUN 14 1900
CALL @9.55 CBOE
The trade idea:
The decison for the SPX at 1900 is either UP or DOWN. Volatility is extremely low at the moment at about 12% and SPX IV-percentile is in the lowest 10%. For me a good opportunity to open the first "tent" of a double Calendar, at a value that might see some back and forth trading (up to 1920, down to 1850, see chart)
However, should Ms. Market decide to make a stronger move - either up- or downwards - then a second Calendar tent will be placed according to market action either above or below, receptively. The current trade therefore carries only 1/2 of the total capital I am willing to risk in this trade. Lets Ms. Market play her game, we are prepared with a plan for all three directions.
Updates for this and other trades can be found at http://inoutsignal.blogspot.de/p/inoutoptions2.html
Update on the monthly RUT Iron Condor of 11Apr14 - 29 days left - closed 16Apr14
BOT +2 IRON CONDOR RUT 100 MAY 14 1210/1230/1040/1020 CALL/PUT @2.60 CBOE
On Thursday the RUT monthly IC was closed after only 7 days. This was a typical Benklifa type trade, as the RUT moved first down to 1100 fib-cluster (see chart), then reversed up to the entry point after 7 days. Time decay worked fine during this period, together with the decreasing vol during the up-move. On Thursday the max profit point of the blue P/L curve was reached, a good moment to take profits and to reduce exposure to risk. We don't know where the market might be going, but looking at the chart, there is good chance that it will not revisit the 1130 point (center of the IC) for some time. That's why taking profits and then waiting for a better new entry appeared to be the preferred exit strategy. After commissions, the trade made $126 in 7 days, which is a 3.8% return-on-capital (risk was $3330).
New income trade Wednesday Apr 11, 2014:
Sold 2cts monthly May14 RUT Iron Condor mIC - 34 days left.
Monthly IC: 20 points wide wings , 170 points wide, Call delta 8, Put delta 16, vol=0.2311
Credit $670, Risk $3330, R/R Potential = 20%
SOLD -2 IRON CONDOR RUT 100 MAY 14 1210/1230/1040/1020 CALL/PUT @3.35 CBOE
Markets are down today, vol is (still) up nicely, ticks are moving up and I am expecting some short covering. We are still in the range 1080 - 1210 for the RUT, so I expect some sideways ups-n-downs in this range before the markets might take a more decisive move up or down. One more swing within this range and this RUT mIC might move in a profitable range ... let's see ;)
For updates on this trade follow: http://inoutsignal.blogspot.de/p/inoutoptions2.html
