Recent content by jwcapital

Even with different underlyings (index futures, gold/oil futures), the greeks' properties always hold true.

I like to exit the Monday before expiration. I like to get that extra time decay over the weekend.

Not unexpected. Everyone either buys puts for insurance, buys calls to speculate, or writes calls to cover the owned underlying. Nobody sells the underlying anymore.

I have thought about this a great deal. I have always exited early, knowing that the influence of gamma is much greater than either the influence of vega or theta. Of course, by exiting early, I am "leaving money on the table." Even so, the reward doesn't justify the risk of a quick move. Plus...

The smart money is the market makers. They are typically collared--short puts (from the panickers buying at inflated prices); long calls (from the buy-writers) and short the underlying (more buyers than shorters). Small profits but lots of them. We can't replicate this for we can't get the...

Unfortunately, there is no way to predict a profit (or loss percentage). Example: Suppose you buy 5 ATM 1175 put for 30 and buy 5 ATM 1175 call for 30. You are trading the ES (s&p 500 emini--as an aside this is what I've been trading for 6 years). So, your total layout is $15,000.00. You...

When I traded the ES futures I traded between 3:45 and 4:15 PM EST ( the close). I did this "because I wanted to see all of the votes" before I placed my trades for position trade, not daytrade. Is there an analogous time trading gold or crude?

I used to trade the s&p 500 emini and futures options. I always traded at the close (3:45-4:15 PM EST), for I wanted "all of the votes to be in before I cast my vote." Of course, the bulk of the volume for the emini was between 9:30 and 4:15. I see that the bulk of the trading for the GC is...

If you have a decent broker, IV is provided to you in real-time. No need to calculate anything these days.

The only time I found greeks helpful (delta really) was initial placement of the IC. I made no adjustments, so I was done following the greeks. I turned to exit strategy, and that is independent of the greeks. This past year, I trade IB's using reverse gamma scalping. Following the greeks...

I want to trade IC's using gold (GC) and crude (CL) futures options. My days of IB's with scalping are over. These futures options appear to have decent premium on both the call and put side. Oil appears to be the better commodity for this strategy, for its ATM near month call's IV is higher...

I look for a vix index or future for the particular commodity. For example, I believe gold has one [Gold Volatility Index (VIX)]. You can find it and a chart on the cmegroup.com webpage. I couldn't find one for any other metal. Crude has one too [Crude Oil Volatility Index (VIX) ]. You can...

If you no longer enjoy it, then find something else to do. Or change your strategies to ease the stress. Or change markets. I just finished my worst year trading s&p 500 emini futures options. I used IB's with reverse gamma scalping or bull put spreads all year. Barely eked out a profit...

This past year was my worst on record. Traded only the S&P 500 emini options using IB with reverse gamma scalping. Eked out a profit of $300.00 on a $20,000 account. BTW, if I didn't scalp, I would have incurred huge losses. Anyway, I am using the rest of the year to explore other markets...