Quote from optioncoach:
Interesting day today..
The cash index was down much more in points all day than the SP futures were. For example, right now the SPX is down 4.38 and the ES futures are down 2.50.
This happens once in a blue moon and I wonder if it tells us anything. Are the future traders buying more or not as motivated to sell, thus signaling a wane of the downward pressure?
Yesterday on the huge drop the utures were down almost 20 points to the SPX's 16. Stronger selling pressure yesterday than today?
Anyone know why this can happen at time and what it could mean. Perhaps the traders were not willing to short the futures as strongly as the index was falling but arbs kept it falling to some extent.
Quote from optioncoach:
This happens once in a blue moon and I wonder if it tells us anything. Are the future traders buying more or not as motivated to sell, thus signaling a wane of the downward pressure?
Quote from rallymode:
Phil, that happens everytime the ES last print excluding the premium(3:15 central) is different than the SPX close(3:00 central). Remember when that bird flu news hit the market afterhours in june? There was a difference of like 6 points that day.
Sorry if i am pointing out the obvious.

Quote from optioncoach:
So today's difference in actual point moves was more a "compensation" if you will of yesterday's futures running away from the cash a bit too much and today they snapped back a tad?
Quote from rdemyan:
I'm trying to calculate my return on margin so far for the year. Each month I have had a different margin at risk. So, my initial attempt at calculating this is to sum the margin for each of the 7 months (I've already closed all positions opened prior to July expiration) and divide by 7 to get the average margin.
Then I simply add up the profits/losses for each of the seven months and divide the sum by the average margin.
Is this the right way?
Quote from rdemyan:
Thanks, Coach.
Here's something I could use some help on. On July 6th I had the following trade filled (I erred in my previous post on when this trade was filled).
August 1345/1360 bear calls for $0.70
SPX was at 1277
As a result of the substantial drop since then, I would love to get out of this and pocket some nice premium for one week.
But getting out of these bear calls is not easy even when they go way OTM.
Any thoughts? I currently have a trade to buy this back at $0.10. The ToS mark on this is $0.025. The b/a is:
1345 $0.20/$0.50
1360 $0.15/$0.50
Is legging out the only option I have. I just don't know if I should risk it. Still the prospect of getting out now and having the "gunpowder" and the time to put on more August trades is appealling.
I would be curious to know if you would feel comfortable buying it back $0.20 as opposed to my $0.10. One thing that has really helped me in this forum is the perspective I've gained from other's thoughts on risk/reward, how much profit is enough, etc. This is something I didn't have before and led to earlier bad trades/positions.
Let me know if you think this is greed talking as I know that's something I need to control.
Thanks.