I wrote a straddle on goog this past Tuesday for 6jan400 and hedged outside:
short:
6jan400 call @ 2000/contract
6jan400 put @ 2440/contract
credit: 4440
long:
6jan350 put @ 600/contract
6jan450 call @ 670/contract
debit: 1270
Net: $3070/straddle w/hedge
If I don't close the hedge option, my max loss on the deal is about $1k/contract with a max gain of $3000.
Obviously I have a +/- $30 cushion on the strike.
However, if the stock moves close to either hedge I close out the hedge option, pocket the $$$, and long/short the stock to hedge my open short option.
You need about 20k in cash/fully-paid securities/sma to cover the margin on one contract, but you can make a nice return on your $20k doing so. It's scalable too...finding a few hundred shares of Goog isn't hard. WFMI, CME, MTB, CI are other quality short straddle plays for you to look at. Do this 10 times and year and you do the math!
* look at the chart on MTB and tell me you can't make money selling 105 straddles!

short:
6jan400 call @ 2000/contract
6jan400 put @ 2440/contract
credit: 4440
long:
6jan350 put @ 600/contract
6jan450 call @ 670/contract
debit: 1270
Net: $3070/straddle w/hedge
If I don't close the hedge option, my max loss on the deal is about $1k/contract with a max gain of $3000.
Obviously I have a +/- $30 cushion on the strike.
However, if the stock moves close to either hedge I close out the hedge option, pocket the $$$, and long/short the stock to hedge my open short option.
You need about 20k in cash/fully-paid securities/sma to cover the margin on one contract, but you can make a nice return on your $20k doing so. It's scalable too...finding a few hundred shares of Goog isn't hard. WFMI, CME, MTB, CI are other quality short straddle plays for you to look at. Do this 10 times and year and you do the math!
* look at the chart on MTB and tell me you can't make money selling 105 straddles!
