If you hold overnight positions/swing trade, how do you hedge against gaps up/down?

Quote from oldtime:

yeah whatever, you aint gonna make any money without margin

they give you two choices

1 is to get a job

2 is to use margin

Not true.
 
Quote from Visaria:

Use no leverage on overnight positions. I don't. Btw, that's still no guarantee than you will not be blown out (eg short some stock which then more than doubles overnight because of a takeover).

I note that you are asking about overnight gaps. What about during the day? I had LONG positions in ES when 9/11 happened, about 2pm London time, day time for me.


Well, what happened? Slippage on your stop?
 
No, i was fortunate in that i had a tight stop and was taken out after the first plane hit. The market, after stopping me out actually went back up a bit and then suddenly smashed down after the 2nd plane hit.

If i had a larger stop in that particular case, i would have had huge slippage, or may even been locked out when the markets were closed down.
 
Quote from Visaria:

Not true.
ok, another brilliant reply from you

that makes about ten where all you post is "not true"

who are the traders making a living full time that do not need and use margin?
 
Guys - options are the classic instrument for hedging. However, that does NOT mean they are cheap....you'll have to pay a price for the hedge.

For instance, Copper has been moving fairly well recently, but margins are about 5500. And you get a margin call if you are down only 7 cents which is only about one-third of the limit move.
So going into the weekend, if you are long, you'd place a market order for the at-the-money copper PUT contract for the current expiration month. (Use CALLS for short positions in the futures).

WIth the above hedge, a limit move has little to no impact on your overall position balance.
 
very expensive over the long haul

for the few times they save your ass, you probably over the course of a year only break even

that is, you would be better off just taking the hit

like I said, 50% of the times these gaps go in your favor

I'm not in love with my positions, I can just close them out and get flat for very little cost, commissions aren't too bad, spread can be a little rough
 
Quote from oldtime:

very expensive over the long haul

Have any stats or account statements that prove that statement ?
dotm puts are cheap, but offer only some protection.
ATM puts are expensive, but offer full protection.
Options are flexible in that regard....pick your risk level.
 
Quote from syswizard:

Have any stats or account statements that prove that statement ?
dotm puts are cheap, but offer only some protection.
ATM puts are expensive, but offer full protection.
Options are flexible in that regard....pick your risk level.
no, only anecdotal

would be interesting to see the difference between options and just getting flat on the close

just because you are flat doesn't mean you aren't swinging, you can put it right back on on the open
 
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