Recent content by ffa99

Zegras, I'm curious. Does this paid service leg you into IC's over time, or enter both sides as one spread on the same day? What I'm getting at is whether there is an attempt to lower risk by using trend, take advantage of volatility, overbought/oversold, or some other directional bias...

OX recently switched to a new clearing agent. I contacted OX yesterday and they have now started giving margin relief on one side of a double diagonal. It is not automated yet, but once the DD position is established they said to contact them and the margin dept would release the margin on one...

Regarding buying options at the close prior to expiration... I too have tried this but don't trade them anymore. It doesn’t appear to me to be a profitable strategy long-term. I have analyzed 3 years worth of data looking at Thursday close vs settlement on SPX, NDX, OEX. I looked at...

So the puts are 40-wide and the calls are 20-wide. Did ToS hold just 40-wide in margin even though the strike distance is different? OX requires the strike distance to be the same on IC's and does not share margin at all on diagonals (hopefully that oversight will change with the new...

Added more @.35 credit

OEX quickie position OEX 600/605 bear call filled @.30 credit. Looking for this to settle under 596 resistance this week.

Interesting. So these are straight calendars and not diagonals. Assuming the 1250-1300 range holds near Sept exp, is your plan to roll any of these or just close them?

What software are you using to create these charts? Does Tos offer this?

optionsXpress will also release margin. Just have to call or use the live help messenger.

The brokerage will traditionally hold the margin until Monday. However, once the settlement price is announced on Friday, you should be able to call your broker and ask them to release the margin. I use OX and they will do this on Friday.

Is it feasible to enter a flipped double diagonal --- Long the CTM (October) Short the OTM (August) Then after August expires, short the OTM again (September) It seems the position would be self-hedging and provide a discount to the long options. Thoughts?

The closer it gets to expiration, the less negotiation on the bid/ask. SPX is somewhat better then OEX. RUT is even less. More than 4 weeks out @ 50% (midpoint) 3-4 weeks out @ 30% 0-3 weeks out @ 25% I've noticed unusual fills can be had during lunch time. .20 sounds reasonable...

Since you have only .75 at risk on a $10 spread, this appears to be worth holding through to expiration. Good entry.

I'm chalking today up to end of month. Decided to enter the AUG 1305/1310 calls for $1. Tried the AUG 1295/1300 for $2 but no fill.

Thanks M! By "middle of the range" do you mean between the current price and the established short? Can the same be done with Call Diags or is that not a VEGA play?