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LOL! That's the best description yet!

As one who has experienced what Mark is talking about, I couldn't agree more. The feeling of invincibility is a killer. Also, you might start to expect that you have to make so much per month and that's that. This will cause you to put on bad positions and you'll be reluctant to exit them...

I found that yesterday was actually better, esp. when the market was down. Why? Because the VIX at one point was getting very close to 20, so this provided good premium. With the SPX at 1251 I got the 1320/1335 bear call filled at $0.60 when the mid was at $0.65. The VIX was I believe...

Okay. From the bear-call only guy, here's the trade I was filled on today: June SPX 1320/1335 filled at $0.60 Relatively high VIX helped with the premium, the short is currently 70 points removed from the SPX and there is just about 3 weeks left till expiration. Only a partial position...

The attached file plots the VIX over the last couple years. Included on the chart is some commentary from one of the professional analysts that I follow. Interesting how the VIX levels have changed over the last couple of years.

Ryan: Thanks. Have you started to trade diagonals? Also, I noticed that you're thinking about trading spreads with strikes closer to ATM. While the credits are certainly appealing and the risk to reward ratio much better than FOTM, they will require more monitoring and probably more...

Coach: How did you decide on the strike selection for the June/July diagonal?

Another topic. Do you have any ideas on how I can get out of a bunch of June SPX bear calls that are now worth only $.05 (midpoint) as a spread. I'd like to free up the margin and squeeze some more, albeit lower credits, on FOTM SPX bear calls for June. Normally I can get out with 1 to 2...

I agree with you. I know the basics, but I outsource my TA as well. Somehow I suspect the professional guys I follow aren't as good as yours. :)

riskarb: I was surprised by your response. Since you have a math background and have done graduate work, I would have guessed that you would want to quantify potential directional moves as much as possible. Did you start out using TA and then change your mind?

Hi Murray: I'm reading up on diagonals and double diagonals. You've mentioned a number of times that the diagonal virtually eliminates the black swan risk. I don't understand this as it appears that the maximum risk is the same as with a credit spread. Are you saying this because you would...

Thanks. My strategy has recently changed to not include any bull puts in my credit spread trades because at my present options understanding level and options experience level I am unable to mitigate the impact of a black swan event on my credit spread portfolio. However, I intend to study...

Just to be clear your saying not to trade the bull put vertical credit spreads without the risk reversal hedge, right?

Riskarb: Hope you don't mind me asking an OT question. In OC's forum we've been discussing trying to mitigate the effect a black swan would have on bull puts by buying slightly OTM or ATM VIX options. There's been a lot of discussion that this won't work. In other words, the expected large...

Attached is the updated spreadsheet showing the SPX close on Thursday versus the SET on Friday morning over the last eight years through May of this year. Since this is pretty easy to update from here forward, this will be the last post of an updated spreadsheet.

Hey Mo: I just started reading riskarb's new journal. Ugggh! What's it gonna cost me to have you translate :)

riskarb's trading journal?

Risk: Speaking for myself, I wouldn't mind branching out. Any chance you'd be willing to post a trade or two so that I (we) could paper trade along to learn. Or is there another forum where you already do this that I could lurk in? Thanks.

Yeah, you're right. When I was fooling around with the paper money section the SPX went from around + 2 to -4 and I didn't notice it. The paper trade area is confusing because it's not setup the way my "real money" area is. I guess I better take care of that first. Just found out from ToS...

Coach: I want to start looking at diagonals more seriously. So I'm trying to implement the trade you posted in ToS paper money so I can follow along and learn without risking any money. Did you really get $3.60 for the June 1310? The mid right now is $2.90. [/B]