Let's Trade Options

otoh, it makes perfect sense to leg in to an IC. Looking at Katie's IC here - I think the risk here is actually to the up side, and it looks like the S&P will get bought this week - so maybe leg in to the put spread but hold off on the calls - what I may do, anyway

I did Iron Fly for C, like on the picture... Got $1.90 credit for short straddle, minus $0.20 for protective wings... total $1.70 credit. For this to be profitable, C gotta stay in profit zone, between $48.80 and $52.20. Total risk $1.80.

EWZ call calendars losing money; because of the spreads: theoretically, you can only lose the amount of the debit that you paid. Actually, at any given moment, the long call sale might not cover the short call buy-back. I have seen as much as an additional $0.10 debit, because of the wide spreads. If you wait a bit they usually come into line and you can get out for $0.00.

EWZ Nov $48 calls i.v. still 20% higher than Jan $48's - I need that to squeeze down to make some money on these things - maybe have to wait til after the runoff results are in....EWZ up $3 (12%) today.....

Mulligan!

Very hard selling this final hour... JNJ really tanked, so just in case I closed my Iron Fly for a small loss... Got a little nervous
Stupid PDT rules... closing it took away all 3 day trades I have for 5 working days... . So no scalping for me for a week... Well I can allays play with Index CFDs, but I don't like them.

At close I did a SPY Nov $197/$200 bear call spread for $0.51 credit, was afraid to go for the put side of an IC, will be watching, S&P may want 1,800, we'll see...

^VIX to a 2-yr high today - 24.64 - looks like a peak, like the other peaks over the last couple years, but is it...?

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102082778?__s...&doc=102082778

Vox Populi poll shows Rousseff 45% / Neves 44% - a dead heat. The drama continues....

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-1...uli-shows.html

now we bounce...?

I need that bounce. The SPY call spread above I made a mishtake, bought twice as many calls as I sold. I noticed it within a couple minutes, but SPY was continuing to drop, ...and I decided to let it ride til Tuesday open. If SPY can gap up I will maybe be better off....

http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video...o%7c&par=yahoo

using the ToS Analyze utility to manage a calendar spread

heavy news from the Eurozone overnight. Bund yields at new lows, Germany flirts with recession, ECB's QE program uncertain, UST yields dipping (^TYX settling under 3.00%), US stock indices up. A rally on strong earnings is/was expected, we'll see if it can get some legs.

http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/1...0S91ZY20141014

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/govern...130510251.html

I have never done a single scalp in some of my accounts. I just rarely do them. I should, though, now that things are moving well again...

Well yes, for acc bigger than 25k it could be nice adding a few scalps, maybe just 3-4 per month... risking just $200 lets say. It requires lot of screen time etc... My mentality changed over years also, and now it is more difficult for me to hold fast trades (it should be otherwise, but f...k it)

I closed that Iron Fly on JNJ yesterday cos it was made with price at $101, and suddenly I had price bellow $99, with lower edge of profit zone at $98.50... so I was thinking - what will be in case of just average ER's statement in this bearish environment? It could easily go under it... Now it is heavily underwater, good thing after all was closing it. (Better was to close just short put and leave everything else...)

I am learning the difference between Iron Condors and Iron Flies... I can see now that Fly deteriorates much slower. You get bigger credit, but in case of any 3%+ movement, you have to wait, make decisions on closing one side and let the market pullback for you to close the other side, if you want to close it the next day. With Iron Condors, you have much less credit, but profit zone is wider and results are faster... So, Iron Flies (i-Fly ) should be used IMO for U/L that barely move... and maybe better choice for cheaper stocks, while IC on more expensive ones? Just some initial thoughts about that. Still a lot of experience needed.

Loss on JNJ i-Fly covered with closing same combo on C... no dinero, something learned.
IF on C could made money $0.60 - $0.70, but I closed it early... closing put side and wait for closing a call side

took advantage of the move up in SPY at the open and sold the remaining half of $197 SPY, so now I am in Nov $197/$200 at about a $0.52 credit, will be watching perhaps to do put side for an IC, but I am afraid of the downside...

Now I can't enter any new trades for another 4 days, I can just close existing positions... . Paper trading, here I come!

Crude down 5% today. 5% in one day. Holy Toledo. I am watching for a dip below $80 and then I may do a bull put spread on XLE.

Are you looking at US oil? I think it will sit or stick at around $80

I don't usually get diagonal spreads to do exactly what I want them to - more than 1/2 the time I end up rolling or closing before the front month expiry. But my Oct/Nov VALE diag call spread is looking good. I sold the $12.50 calls / bought the $13 calls on 9/23 for a $0.044 net debit, Oct calls look to have a good chance of expiring worthless. If VALE can rise into $12.xx next week the $13 calls will go over $0.20 and I might score a 5 bagger. I will take it if that happens, will probably close out b4 the runoff regardless.