My option trades

[probe1957]

Quote from atticus:

Not to belabor AAPL, but I am long the 60/70/80/90 condor from 3.00 risk and it's still sitting at 3.50. The May18 vols are ridiculous.

If you're not in that then you should be. It will be at 5.00 by Monday's close. I would go up to 10% of account on this one.

Atticus, I know you weren't talking to me but...that is far too complicated of a strategy for me to try to trade. Nevertheless, I put it in the analyze tab on TOS and want to see if I have a basic understanding of what you hope to accomplish.

Pretty much, you want the UL to stay stable. Max loss is about $350 per contract and would occur if the option expires outside the high or low strike. Ideally you want to approach expiration with the UL between the 570 and 580 strikes.

Do I have that about right?

 

[atticus]

Quote from babutime:

when you close your combos do you close them as combos too? sometimes it's such a pain in the ass trying to do so and I end up negotiating the price too much.

But then closing individual legs seems to do the trick albeit I won't claim there's a significant edge in doing so. To close my PCLN fly, I simply couldn't get a decent fill so I closed them individually. I hate that. Got any good tips atticus?

It depends. Suck-answer, but if something is wide or I expect some microstructure BS I will cover the shorts then the longs. The PCLN trade was a gift as the stock dot-shot to 703-4 and I covered my 700s. I could've easily got 15 on the spread had I waited 30 seconds to cover the 750s.

Most often I open and close the package as the gammas are typically small and you can negotiate something close to mid.

 

[atticus]

Quote from probe1957:

Atticus, I know you weren't talking to me but...that is far too complicated of a strategy for me to try to trade. Nevertheless, I put it in the analyze tab on TOS and want to see if I have a basic understanding of what you hope to accomplish.

Pretty much, you want the UL to stay stable. Max loss is about $350 per contract and would occur if the option expires outside the high or low strike. Ideally you want to approach expiration with the UL between the 570 and 580 strikes.

Do I have that about right?

Yup. You want the body-strike. There are times when you want an increase in vol (strike-contamination), but that's typically only in v-shape smile on index and the exception. Since it's a vertical spread you want "vol at zero". Too complex for this conversation, but you always want the body-strike to be touche (best case).

 

[flipside21]

Out of May SPY puts 135, 136, 137.
Slightly better than break even.
I couldn't afford it becoming worthless with only 8 days to expiration.

 

[Doobs789]

Quote from atticus:

The thing is up 1.00 mid since entry.

Yeah, I put an order in for a 10-lot not too long after you. Not a chance getting filled.

Oh well, still have the RUT 80/00/20 Fly from 5.75 from before. Not flat gamma though.

 

[Doobs789]

Quote from atticus:

It depends. Suck-answer, but if something is wide or I expect some microstructure BS I will cover the shorts then the longs. The PCLN trade was a gift as the stock dot-shot to 703-4 and I covered my 700s. I could've easily got 15 on the spread had I waited 30 seconds to cover the 750s.

Most often I open and close the package as the gammas are typically small and you can negotiate something close to mid.

Yeah had to be really quick. Was in the 14s when the UL was over 700, then quickly fell

 

[atticus]

Quote from Doobs789:

Yeah had to be really quick. Was in the 14s when the UL was over 700, then quickly fell

Yeah, I was literally ready to hit transmit on the 700C when it blipped up $7 in less than 30 seconds.

 

[flipside21]

Small position in SPY weekly 136 puts at .51

 

[Doobs789]

Long May18 GOOG 600/610/620/630 Condor @ 4.10 mid

 

[flipside21]

Quote from flipside21:

Small position in SPY weekly 136 puts at .51

Exit .64