Mo,
Thanks for your questions. It always give me something to think as if you are helping me learn by question me.
Here is summary of my goog
sold Jan 390/400 put spread $1.35
sold Feb 390/400 put spread $2.5
sold Feb 400/410 put spread $1.8
My risk/reward ratio is quite flexible. I use either probability alone or support/resistance together with high probability.
1. probability
If I take a bet on neutral to mildly bullish, I'll try to get at least 20-50% of the credit (50-80% chance of winning). That translated to 4/1 to 1/1 risk/reward ratio. Some of my spy or vlo trades are like that. The goog Feb 390/400 put was open based on probabilty.
I choose my strike based on whatever give me 50-80% chance of winning depends on how aggessive I am.
Suppose goog Feb put spread has this price
410/420 $2 (chance of winning 80%)
420/430 $2.55 (74.45%)
430/440 $3.2 (68%)
440/450 $3.85 (61.5%)
450/460 $4.25 (57.5%)
460/470 $5.2 (48%)
between 420-460 are good strike for me depends on how aggresive I am. If I like 70% chance, I'd sell 430/440 put spread here.
2. support/resistance and/or high probability
In case I'm using support/resistance together and/or high probability (such as SPX or goog), I don't mind to take upto 20/1 risk/reward ratio. The goog Jan 390/400 put was open with this reason.
I chose 400 as my support based on the chart that goog bounced of 400 twice.
The Feb 400/410 was open with bullish opinion + high probability chance of winning + locking in profit from Feb 390/400 inorder to build up expectancy.
Actually, I placed BTC 390/400 Feb after selling 400/410 but the order was not executed. The profit on 390/400 won't be counted until 400/410 is closed.
I'm still playing with $3000 but my trade title was not good. I shoud change the trade title to "I will stop option trading when I loose $3000".
So far I use cash margin about $7K so if bad things really happend, I could loose that much money. I still have about $43K in cash or other form though. That could be used incase I need to buy/sell stock to hedge my delta.
My position sizing algorithm is not there yet. I found that I used too little amount of margin and not put in enough contracts. I'd like to use about 50-60% of my margin and have about 2-5% on each trade. This is the reason that I trade this often.
Quote from momoneythansens:
Skanan,
Hello there. Did you consider rolling up your existing GOOG vertical to lock in the profits and build expectancy rather than opening a separate vertical?
What is the worst risk/reward ratio you will accept for credit spreads?
Your last PUT spread was chosen based on perceived support at 400, what is your reasoning for choosing this one?
Do you look at probabilities for determining entry strikes?
Are you still playing with $3000? Or have you increased your bank roll? How much powder are you keeping dry to buy back spreads that move against you? How are you determining your position sizing? Keep it up!
MoMoney.