I was doing ok even in the last years bull market but the move from 2700 to 2840 in about 3 weeks was the final nail in the coffin
Looking for a new trading strategy. Totally decimated trading ICs in this raging bull market
- Thread starter js4682603
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I was doing ok even in the last years bull market but the move from 2700 to 2840 in about 3 weeks was the final nail in the coffin
It's not just the "up" js, but the collapse of IV even as HV (or "actualized" or whatever floats *your* boat)... has leveled or climbed. That's *crazy*!!! But it's not something we've needed to watch in Index land -- that's something only for those pesky equity IC traders.....
NOT.
I am *very* uncomfortable buying -- it *creeps* me.
That said,
...And so what I'm doing now is, when I have to buy out of a position, I'll buy more than I sold. E.g. Expiring on Friday, I have SPX call spreads ranging from 2800 on up. I'm frightened ("frightened!!") by some still sitting at 2845, but I'm a lot less frightened that I might be, because of what I own
It really has that freight train feeling. I was out for a while but I'm going to start throwing a few spreads out there soon. Having contracts that effectively expire every other day gives us a lot more flexibility. I still find the numbers staggering - the S&P at 2850.
It is definitely challenging to analyse the trend correctly.
The way I see, if you just focus on Iron Condor only, and you will be forcing yourself to trade IC even if market is trending.
It is unwise to just focus on IC.
So you need to sharpen your mind by questioning whether
trend is going up / down,
trend is up and reversing to go down and vice versa,
market is going sideway.
you might have to both trade directional and IC to sharpen your mind.
since you are doing options trading,
to make life easier,
you can use the various options strategies to trade directional and sideway markets.
The way I see, if you just focus on Iron Condor only, and you will be forcing yourself to trade IC even if market is trending.
It is unwise to just focus on IC.
So you need to sharpen your mind by questioning whether
trend is going up / down,
trend is up and reversing to go down and vice versa,
market is going sideway.
you might have to both trade directional and IC to sharpen your mind.
since you are doing options trading,
to make life easier,
you can use the various options strategies to trade directional and sideway markets.
"Worth repeating."
I rarely put on ICs; I am very commonly *balanced* top and bottom, though -- I mean, that's just margin (margined risk capital) utilization.
!!
I trade UK index options and for at least 3 years ICs have not been workable. On stocks they are a disaster in my experience. Trading credit spreads stopped being the game a while ago. Debit trades,sadly for us premium sellers, is the way to go. Remember we trade relationships- vol can get a lot lower, but theta is our edge