I am m/l still a novice re: spreading but usually that is what I am looking to do. Much of the time I don't enter spread legs (teehee) all at the same time, however.
For instance, if I thought V was going up I'd just buy a call. But I'd put it out there at least a couple months and well otm. Then I'd watch and if V goes up I can a) sell the call for quick profit if it goes up hard enough or, b) wait a bit and sell calls a little closer in but maybe a little further otm for some credit against the original long call outlay. If V is moving well enough, step (b) may result in an outright credit spread. There's the usual heavy nods to TA to help with entries on this process, but some things are moving up so steadily you might never get a TA-indicated entry, so just "pay the limit" and ride....
If V were to move down I might repeat the process on the put side. I might end up with a bullish diagonal call spread and a bearish diagonal put spread then, which I will be trying to milk.....selling the weekly puts/calls against the farther out long put/calls. This takes some work but I can usually do a fair job of limiting my losses this way, and when I'm right from the getgo the earnings potential is high....
For instance, if I thought V was going up I'd just buy a call. But I'd put it out there at least a couple months and well otm. Then I'd watch and if V goes up I can a) sell the call for quick profit if it goes up hard enough or, b) wait a bit and sell calls a little closer in but maybe a little further otm for some credit against the original long call outlay. If V is moving well enough, step (b) may result in an outright credit spread. There's the usual heavy nods to TA to help with entries on this process, but some things are moving up so steadily you might never get a TA-indicated entry, so just "pay the limit" and ride....
If V were to move down I might repeat the process on the put side. I might end up with a bullish diagonal call spread and a bearish diagonal put spread then, which I will be trying to milk.....selling the weekly puts/calls against the farther out long put/calls. This takes some work but I can usually do a fair job of limiting my losses this way, and when I'm right from the getgo the earnings potential is high....
"If The Fool persists in his Folly he will become wise." - William Blake