Quote from marameo:
I have been collecting options settlement prices for a couple of weeks by now and did backtest an ATM long Put butterfly DEC12 starting from end-july to early-september. If I am correct, the long butterfly is supposed to be a short volatility strategy safer then the classic short straddle. The fly was purchased for a small debit (21pts), and during the past 4 weeks it did not go below that original price despite the market movements up and down. So far, the butterfly has gone from 20pts to 65pts. It went OTM, the came back to ATM and so forth. I think if volatility decrease the butterfly is more likely to end up in the profit area whereas a raise in volatility will decrease that likelyhood. I must admit that I am using settlement prices and the story might turn out to be quite different when MM are pricing bid/ask (mostly when unwinding the position).
So, what's the real story behind flies (especially long-term)?
Thanks
Your a net seller of volatility......volatility up once in the trade doesn't help it at all plus the underlying is moving more making it more likely that it will swing outside of the wings.. shorter term = more gamma risk. Longer term= less theta working for ya...