Vertical Spreads for Aggressive Growth

Well, as predicted, it is taking me a little time to get comfortably established, but I'm getting there. I now have some more money that needs to go to some MAR spreads. BTW, I've made all these trades so far in my real account. I figured it would be easier to track that way, and keep me from neglecting certain positions.

Oh yeah... Thanks for the input on IV. I've been playing with a couple ideas and I wanted to see how others view IV, and it's relation to credit spreading.

Cheers,
Cache
 
IBM was getting too close to expiration and theta is killing me. It is currently sitting right at resistance and has yet to make the move that I expected. This is the point I had hoped to buy at in the first place. My opinion on them is still the same, so I sold the MAR put and bought 2 APR puts so that theta would quit killing me.

Today's Action

SOLD 1 IBM MAR 80p @ 0.60

BOT 2 IBM APR 80p @ 1.35

Year to Date P/L

Account Value: $10,144.00

YTD Gross P/L: 210.00

YTD Commiss: 66.00

YTD Net P/L: 144.00

YTD % P/L: 1.4%
 
Quote from Cache Landing:

IBM was getting too close to expiration and theta is killing me. It is currently sitting right at resistance and has yet to make the move that I expected. This is the point I had hoped to buy at in the first place. My opinion on them is still the same, so I sold the MAR put and bought 2 APR puts so that theta would quit killing me.

Today's Action

SOLD 1 IBM MAR 80p @ 0.60

BOT 2 IBM APR 80p @ 1.35

Year to Date P/L

Account Value: $10,144.00

YTD Gross P/L: 210.00

YTD Commiss: 66.00

YTD Net P/L: 144.00

YTD % P/L: 1.4%
More...


IBM will be interesting. I put on an IC....my first IC on a stock. APR 75/80 Put and 85/90 call. Reason..it may go up in March and back down in April:D
 
Quote from DonnaV:

IBM will be interesting. I put on an IC....my first IC on a stock. APR 75/80 Put and 85/90 call. Reason..it may go up in March and back down in April:D
More...

You know... I think you just might be right. My take on it was that it has resistance at 82 and would be headed down. It could indeed have resistance at 82 but be rangebound instead. In which case your IC is going to rock.:D But at the same time, my long puts are going to suck.:mad:

Really, I'm just looking for a decent downward move ($1.50) in the very short term. Not looking to hold onto this for a long time.
 
Quote from Cache Landing:

You know... I think you just might be right. My take on it was that it has resistance at 82 and would be headed down. It could indeed have resistance at 82 but be rangebound instead. In which case your IC is going to rock.:D But at the same time, my long puts are going to suck.:mad:

Really, I'm just looking for a decent downward move ($1.50) in the very short term. Not looking to hold onto this for a long time.
More...

the market as a whole seem like watching paint dry...little up...little down...basically boring. I thought most of Feb we would get down there more than we did...wrong...now I'm thinking March we should get up there....probably wrong!! I guess thats good for our spx ic :p
 
Quote from DonnaV:

the market as a whole seem like watching paint dry...little up...little down...basically boring. I thought most of Feb we would get down there more than we did...wrong...now I'm thinking March we should get up there....probably wrong!! I guess thats good for our spx ic :p
More...

Yeah, this month I find myself ending up in a lot more IC's than normal. I'm starting to get the idea however, that the range is going to shift upward a bit. In other words, reach up to 1320 or so, and only get down to about 1270.
 
Quote from Cache Landing:

Yeah, this month I find myself ending up in a lot more IC's than normal. I'm starting to get the idea however, that the range is going to shift upward a bit. In other words, reach up to 1320 or so, and only get down to about 1270.
More...

thats my feel as well....hope we are right!:D
 
Looks like PALM is reaching that moment of truth. The 20SMA (which it uses for support) is approaching the 52 week high (resistance). Which way will it break?:eek:
 
Quote from Cache Landing:

IBM was getting too close to expiration and theta is killing me. It is currently sitting right at resistance and has yet to make the move that I expected. This is the point I had hoped to buy at in the first place. My opinion on them is still the same, so I sold the MAR put and bought 2 APR puts so that theta would quit killing me.

Today's Action

SOLD 1 IBM MAR 80p @ 0.60

BOT 2 IBM APR 80p @ 1.35

Year to Date P/L

Account Value: $10,144.00

YTD Gross P/L: 210.00

YTD Commiss: 66.00

YTD Net P/L: 144.00

YTD % P/L: 1.4%
More...

Cache,

thank you for summarizing. How many trades so far ?
 
Quote from ChrisM:

Cache,

thank you for summarizing. How many trades so far ?
More...

I think there's been 16 or 17 if I count individual legs of the IC's. I wasn't expectingthe big bullish run. That got me out of some of the bullish positions pretty early. I find myself in a situation where I'm not very comitted in terms of a $10K account. I've scanned a ton of different companies and can't find any bullish plays at the moment that are just right. There are plenty of bullish companies, but many are a little overbought and not providing a good entry point. I'm nervous right now, being so delta negative. Trying to be patient and not just get into bad position simply to balance the account.

Anyway, now that I'm getting more situated, the size of each position is going to start to get a little larger. I would really like to stay under 15 positions at a time. 10 is even more comfortable.

Anybody like any bullish plays right now?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top