Quote from IV_Trader:
this was a test of initial position , to check the "best case scenario" expected vs. actual (regardless of delta imbalance).
In your âbest case scenarioâ where everything (including the index) drops 3% then yes, you can forget balancing, there is no need - just sell everything in the same quantity as you have done and you cannot lose,
proving every single stock drops by the same %.
But in the real world stocks donât correlate like that, which is why index options have a lower IV than the component options â the index as a whole is less volatile than the components due to dispersion, i.e. one stock rises another falls and the net effect cancels out, so that the index remains stationery.
The other point (again) is that you havenât considered component weighting in the index. For example, IBM dropping by 5% will cause a much larger drop on the index than by GM dropping 5% and yet you still sell the same exposure on both stocks. This is fundamentally wrong, except of course in your âbest case scenarioâ.
Just to give a practical example if;
IBM, MMM, MO, AIG, BA, JNJ, CAT, XOM, PG, UTX rose 2% and
AXP, C, WMT, HD, KO, DD, JPM, MCD, HON, GE stood still and
MRK, HPQ, VZ, AA, MSFT, DIS, PFE, T, INTC, GM fell 5%;
Then the DOW would be at 10,651 and you would lose $ 11,900.
Try it....
Then try balancing the portfolio $Delta and you'll find you would have made a $ 17,000 profit in the same scenario.
Big difference eh ?