Quote from newwurldmn:
you know the "implied vol balloon" trade is spurious. It doesn't really work - everyone thinks it does but market makers are smarter than that. The vol going up is really you mismarking your theta.
These earnings butterfly strategies are dangerous. I did my last one yesterday. It works for a while, but the problem is when you lose money, you lose big.
However, do you agree that the pre-earnings straddle strategy works? If you find a stock that is highly volatile (FB, LNKD, GRPN), the straddle value seems to go up as earnings announcement approaches.
It is better to avoid stocks like CSCO (which does move big after earnings) since stocks like these have major market-maker competition. But it seems like if you buy straddle on high flyers with less market-maker competition and sell them BEFORE earnings, you will make money most of the time.