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Hi Wayne, Thanks for posting the SPY info for the decade. It correlates well with the SPX settlements, as one would suppose. The SPX figures are 79/45 (I'm presuming an up Nov, since we're now 40 points ahead of the Oct settlement). SPY options are more heavily traded than the SPX...

Hi Wayne, I was wondering when someone would ask about the martingale, lol. Mine is what I call a modified martingale. Here's what I do. Start with one unit. After a loss, increase to two units. Stay at two units until you have a net two winners, they go back to one unit. If you have a net...

SpindrO, That's a very cautionary tale, and the moral of it to me is, money management is the key to success. Even though I have only traded this strategy for two years, I did check it out for the last ten. To me, the most significant feature of it is that almost two thirds of the time it's...

Whew, so many questions, lol. Guess it means you're really interested. First, I get the settlement info from the guy I trade with there. I trade for a group, so we do a substantial amount of biz with thinkorswim. Second, it's on a 5 point spread. Third, don't get hung up on the exact credit, if...

MTE, You're correct about the exact price of the settlement not being available early in the trading session, but veteran traders at sharp options houses (I trade at thinkorswim) compute by 9:45 Eastern Time what the settlement will be, within a few cents. In any event, it really doesn't matter...

Hi folks, For those of you who trade spreads on the SPX, I have developed a decent bull spread strategy based on historical data going back nearly 10 years. In the 119 monthly cycles since January 2001, the SPX has risen 74 times from settlement to settlement, or in 63% of the periods. This...

Rolled up the GLD Jan 2011 130/135 put spread to 135/140 today for a credit of 0.95. If we get past 140 before Jan, I'll roll the Jan 2011 spread to a Jan 2012 140/145. Cheers

6:30 AM EDT - The election results were pretty much as predicted by most pundits and, since a big GOP win was already in the market, shares had a 'sell the news' kind of session yesterday until the Fed announcement of a $600 billion QE2 programme at 2:15 PM. That larger than predicted amount...

Good point. Ckeck it out when GLD hits 135. Remember though, the farther we are from expiry, the smaller the credit received for the roll up. The average of them through the year will be over 1.00 net. GLD is subject to quick and sharp reversals, so it's easy to be "spooked" on a 20 point drop...

What builds confidence is renewed success. What creates success is well thought out strategies. First, please understand that determining market direction is next to impossible, no matter what you might have heard. I started out in the game as a "technician" and the more I studied the myriad...

Hi, thanks for the response. The technique I posted is not my basic strategy for options trading. I only use it when a strong upside momentum is evident. Ordinarily I concentrate on front month contracts, taking advantage of the maximum decay in net sold vertical spreads. I share your reluctance...

Hi, I replied to your earlier post today, but it apparently got lost in the internet mists, since it never appeared on this thread. In any event, the point I was making re the technique I outlined is this. The risk/reward ratio is 2/3, since you receive a 3 point credit at inception and the...

OK MTE, I certainly don't want to start a confrontation, so I'll accept your explanation re the brains comment at face value. In any event, I certainly wasn't claiming that the technique I have been using with GLD was a magic bullet of some kind. It's just something I thought might be of...

To heisasafari - You are correct, a change in the long term trend in gold would dictate an alteration of the technique. As I indicated in my reply to MTE, I don't envision that happening anytime soon, but one never knows. The great thing about the strategy is that the spread has a risk/reward...

MTE - You are, of course, correct in your observation that the technique I used worked largely because GLD has risen in the last two years. However, I didn't claim that utilising it was the result of a massive brainstorm on my part, either. So, it's a bit snide for you to question my...

I've been trading the monthlies since they were around 80 with bull put spreads and had great success. What I did was to buy the Jan 2010 80 and sell the Jan 85 early in the 2009 for a credit and let time pass. As GLD rose, when it reached 85, I sold a butterfly, selling the Jan 80, buying two...

Hi, anyone trading the GLD monthly or weekly options?