Phil,
We also had a small (10 contract) Put Diagonals. It was a mere 10/10 Diagonal. We wanted to track volatility implications.
Here's what was interesting... eventhough the market had run up from our initial position by +25 points, the downside move today allowed us to close that Diagonal Put postiion for a 3% return.
No additional margin was required... but like I said.. just 10 contracts. Didn't want to expose ourselves to any "black swan" wipe-out events.
Again... just another weapon to use in the diagonal strategy.
In Summary:
I feel the diagonal allows you to trade what the market gives you, rather than what the market tells you to do. I like this approach!
Our backtesting has shown, out of 12 months, you should expect 5 months of small to no credit, 4 months of 3-10% monthly returns, 3 months of 11-35% returns. This should equate to healthy yearly returns (50%+ with no black swan fears & very little risk)
We have requested ToS to support the Ratio Diagonal in the trading platform. Currently you must run it through the trading desk. They will be working on it for future releases.
M~
M~
Murray:
I am actually having some fun and small success with the diagonals. As I re-posted my position you see I put on a small 30 * 24 Diagonal for a $450 credit with a margin requirement of about $96,000.
I have not made any adjustments yet but just have been watching it. I may do more in the prop account since I will not have to worry about margin as much and do larger size as your group is doing. I think the flexibility for using it on the upside interests me as opposed to chasing tiny credits with call spreads due to the skew.
I am looking at a JULY JUNE one after MAY expiration and will see what strikes I like depending on the location of the index next week.. [/QUOTE]