Recent content by slayer3600

Well here we are less than a week later and SPX has closed at 1335 from a recent high of 1370 :) . VIX is at 18.20 VXX is at 25.35 Clearly you need a bigger move than the OP's suggestion to make this insurance/hedge a viable strategy.

I tend to agree that the VXX hedge would not have much of an effect here. If the SPX declined to 1330-1340 levels in the next few weeks, I don't think it is a staggering enough drop to make volatility explode. I recently posted about a similar strategy, here...

Okay just so you can see the thinkback results of the idea. Oct 08 SPX spread with no VIX 40 hedge, no decent exit points, maximum loss: Oct 08 SPX spread with VIX 40 hedge, three survival exit points, with the best one netting a $400.00 loss, the two other points net a $900.00 loss...

I haven't gone there yet. Though I realize nothing in the market place is impossibe, long term historical market performance displays skewness such that extreme tail events are more likely to the downside than to the upside. I'd actually be curious if there really is an event that blasts...

I indeed had an SPX MAR11 1180/1170 bull put spread entered in January for 9% credit. VIX did not get above 40 in March and the March 16th dip did not violate basic spread exit rules (bail at 20% loss). The spread short leg expired worthless and I kept full premium. Unless you were one of...

Thanks for the comments. Assuming by "settle" you mean expiration? I suppose I wouldn't suggest waiting until expiration in these scenarios. Normally at this point you're just trying to stop the bleeding. The exit plan would roughly be to close out the entire position (doomed credit spread...

Long time lurker, first time poster. It’s clear a lot of the folks were scared away from credit spreads and iron condors due to the market volatility in recent years. Most notably, the meltdown during the last quarter of 2008 and the flash crash of May 2010. I see many folks are very critical...