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rdemyan, Yes, you're steps are correct. Only difference is that I'd probably roll down with one trade instead of two -- buy a regular 530/545/560/575 put condor. That'd leave me the 530/545/575/590 IC. It's good you plugged the numbers into TOS -- you see that $9 credit on $15 margin can be...

MoMoney, You're right, the % return on margin of the iron flies were greater than FOTM spreads even after adjustments... BUT the position size of the fly was significantly smaller. And that's where the problem is, I think. Correct me if I'm wrong but the risk of blowing out of the iron fly is...

MoMoney, Extractor, I was doing 15-pt wide iron flys on OEX for the last two months and adjusting (into a condor) as the market dictated. Problem was that the margin at risk increases substantially with every adjustment... so I found myself debating whether to adjust or hold...

Donna, the guys at TOS told me that the market usually goes up during opex week.

rdemyan, Please think through my example where I increase the margin but split it across two different months --looking forward to your feedback.:)

I wanted to see if there is a way to put more money to work on credit spreads without increasing risk outright. Well, there isn't, but the following might be an interesting step in the right direction and I'm requesting some feedback. The Problem: I haven't been thrilled with the credit...

While I've got a couple of very good systems to trade long, I've never been good at picking downtrending stocks. What is your approach to identifying candidates for put calendars? Do you use TA? Do you look for front-month vol skews? Thanks Murray!

Rolling Up 1270/1280 to where? If you draw a trendline starting at the highs of Jan 2004, it touches the highs in Feb 2004, Mar 2004, Jan 2005, Mar 2005 and intersects DEC expiration at 1282. This is the "worst case" trendline I've been able to come up with. If I were to roll up, it'd be to...

Coach, TOS support told me they'd be adding this. The client tells the software which adjustments to track for which positions. You may want to check with them since I got this information rather informally.

Extractor, I'm not "a programmer or real computer expert" but I've had exactly the same issue as you, and have talked with TOS about it. The TOS P/L (as well as the risk graph on the Analyze tab) has no idea of "trade history". In other words, the platform only shows the current position's...

Extractor, why are you looking at MNX?

Murray, I went through the examples in detail. On the diagonal, you had the farther OTM strike in the near month. I'm used to seeing it the other way around, but I think you wanted the position to suit a bullish scenario. I'm looking at calendars on SPX. I'm wondering if you or anyone ever...

I'm in a similar situation (1270/1280) and am also looking at options. What I've decided is to first figure out if we're done with the rally or we have more to go -- i.e. to do nothing until we get much closer to 1270. Reasons? I think we're overbought, the lack of a real pullback in the last...

Sounds like you're having a bad day, so let's clear this up. 1) I'm nowhere near to being in the "top trader camp" as you put it. I'm learning, just like most here. 2) I'm not scared although I've learned a few scary lessons along the way. They were very valuable. 3) If someone is...

I'd bet you can split the traders on this board into two distinct camps: the ones that are using their lunch money for trading and the ones that are using some real coin. And I'd bet the latter have taken the time to know SET and everything else inside out.

Murray, thanks for posting this. I only got around to looking at it today. I'm looking at: 1) Calendars on indexes 2) Using cals to make my overall position as vega-positive as possible 3) Double cals (what you call M trade, I think) 4) Ratioing M trades I've dabbled with double diags...

IVTrader, I exactly follow what you are suggesting and have looked at this strategy myself. Your total margin is $40k, your total credit is $20k, and your max loss is $20k. OK, so far so good. But under the surface there is a big difference between what you are suggesting and Phil's...

My understanding is that historically, the market usually runs up during exp week. Id someone has the tools to check this, it'd be very useful.

A lesson I learned last month is that I will NEVER hold on till expiration unless I am miles (>50 points) away from the short strike, and even then I'll seriously consider closing for $0.05. Now this has some impact on the types of spreads I'll put on. It no longer makes sense for me to get...

DEC 1280/1290 going for $0.85 credit. Anyone tempted?