Quote from marc6001:
Mav,
Would you agree that because we're using front month options (t <= 30 days) where vega and gamma are low especially for ITM and OTM strikes IV movement (up or down) will have minimal impact on the position? The concern would be the effect of theta decay.
Theta decay is a non issue on deep ITM options. That is why I said the backspread is good for explosive moves. I am making the assumption here that when I say explosive, I mean that you expect your long options to be deep ITM.
If you are expecting a small move to the long strike then this is not the optimal strategy. In that case you would want to have a short backspread where you are long the ATM and short two OTM strikes where the stock closes at the short strike. Do you follow? However, it's safe to say when playing FDA news that the reaction will be very binary in nature and it's almost a given that the stock will double or get cut in half at least with small and midcap biotechs. For reasons that I'm sure are obvious to you.


