Opening (IRA): MSTR 2x225/2x240/460/490 Iron Condor... for a 7.00 credit.
Comments: IV remains high here at 112.4%. Going "double double" (put spread half the width of the call spread, but 2 x the number of contracts) to accommodate skew. Earnings are on 2/4, so will probably want to get out before then.
Metrics:
Max Profit: 7.00
Buying Power Effect: 23.00
ROC at Max: 30.43%
50% Max: 3.50
ROC at 50% Max: 15.22%
Will generally look to take profit at 50% max, roll in untested side on side test to about half the delta of the tested side. Given earnings on the horizon, will naturally just money/take/run for less if presented with the opportunity.
Ironcondor
Opening (IRA): SMH February 21st 195/220/270/295 Iron Condor... for a 3.91 credit.
Comments: Back into the semiconductor ETF, where I don't have a position on currently. Going comparatively low delta, with the short options camped out at the 17 delta on both sides and the wings about 1/10th the price of the underlying in width.
Metrics:
Max Profit: 3.91
Buying Power Effect: 21.09
ROC at Max: 18.54%
50% Max: 1.96
ROC at 50% Max: 9.27%
Will generally look to take profit at 50% max, roll untested side in toward current price on side test.
Opening (IRA): MSTR 180/210/410/440 Iron Condor... for a 6.03 credit.
Comments: High IV at 95.8%. Here, going delta neutral, 1/10th the price of the underlying for my wing width, and setting up my short option strikes at the 16 delta on both sides.
Metrics:
Max Profit: 6.03
Buying Power Effect: 23.97
ROC at Max: 25.16%
50% Max: 3.02
ROC at 50% Max: 12.58%
Will generally look to take profit at 50% max; roll in untested side on side test.
Opening (IRA): ARKK Feb 21st 45/50/61/66 Iron Condor... for a 1.43 credit.
Comments: An additive delta adjustment trade. With the short call of the setup I put on Friday (See Post Below) at -20 delta and the short put at 29, layering in an iron condor with the short call at the -28 delta and the short put at the 20 delta to flatten out net delta of the entire position. This is skewed slightly short to offset the slightly long delta skew of the setup I put on Friday, so am indicating that it's "short."
Metrics:
Max Profit: 1.43
Buying Power Effect: 3.57
ROC at Max: 40.06%
50% Max: .72
ROC at 50% Max: 20.03%
Since you can't close out an eight-legged setup, will either look to take off each iron condor individually at 50% max or mix and match profitable call side with profitable put side to reduce units/risk running into expiry.
Opening (IRA): SMH February 21st 200/225/270/295 Iron Condor... for a 5.44 credit.
Comments: At 42 DTE, selling premium in the semiconductor exchange-traded fund here with a neutral assumption ... . Using wings that are 1/10th of the price of the underlying in width.
Metrics:
Max Profit: 5.44
Buying Power Effect: 19.56
ROC at Max: 27.8%
50% Max: 2.67
ROC at 50% Max: 13.9%
Will generally look to take profit at 50% max; roll in untested side on side test.
Opening (IRA): ARKK February 21st 47/52/63/68 Iron Condor... for a 1.50 credit.
Comments: High IVR/IV. Doing a little delta neutral premium-selling stuff while I hand sit and wait for stuff to come in/be managed.
Metrics:
Max Profit: 1.50
Buying Power Effect: 3.50
ROC at Max: 42.9%
50% Max: .75
ROC at 50% Max: 21.4%
Will generally look to take profit at 50% max, roll in untested side on side test.
Opening (IRA): COIN December 20th 220/230/380/390 Iron Condor... for a 2.67 credit.
Comments: High IVR/IV at 74.1/91.5. Going low delta with the short option legs and narrower than usual with the wings.
Metrics:
Max Profit: 2.67
Buying Power Effect: 7.33
ROC at Max: 36.4%
50% Max: 1.34
ROC at 50% Max: 18.2%
Will generally look to take profit at 50% max; roll in untested side on side test.
IRON CONDOR ON DJTTHIS STOCK HAS SUCH CRAZY WILD VOLATILITY.
Be smart with this position, but understand you can sell puts and calls and bring in gorgeous premiums.
I will do the 80-85 20-15 iron condor OVER election. Obviously this is what brings in so much premium and risk on this trade.
But ... I am certainly willing to get put shares at $20 IF trump does get elected because it seems I would be able to sell that stock $20+ at SOME point during his election..?
Opening (IRA): NVDA Nov 15th 83/98/143/158... for a 2.70 credit.
Comments: 30-day IV remains fairly decent here at 48.9%. Going wider than I usually do from a delta standpoint, with the short option legs camped out at the 16 delta, but with the wings at standard width (1/10th the price of the underlying), knowing that I will probably adjust the setup at some point given its duration (56 DTE).
Earnings haven't been firmly announced yet, but are likely to occur right around mopex (~11/14), so will look to be out of the trade by then.
Metrics:
Buying Power Effect: 12.30
Max Profit: 2.70
ROC at Max: 21.95%
50% Max: 1.35
ROC at 50% Max: 10.98%
Will generally look to take profit at 50% max; roll in sides to delta balance.
Opening (IRA): SMH Nov 15th 190/215/280/305 Iron Condor... for a 4.13 credit.
Comments: IV remains "adequate" here at 39.1%. Selling the 16 delta short options and buying the wings 1/10th of the price of the underlying out from there ... .
Metrics:
Buying Power Effect: 20.87
Max Profit: 4.13
ROC at Max: 19.79%
50% Max: 2.07
ROC at 50% Max: 9.90%
Will generally look to take profit at 50% max/roll up untested side on side test.
Opening (IRA): COIN Oct 18th 130/140/200/210 Iron Condor... for a 3.66 credit.
Comments: High IV at 73.4%. More small stuff while I twiddle my thumbs. Skewing this just a smidge long, with resulting delta at 2.35.
Metrics:
Buying Power Effect/Max Loss: 6.34
Max Profit: 3.66
ROC at Max: 57.72%
50% Max: 1.83
ROC at 50% Max: 28.86%
Will generally look to take profit at 50% max; roll in untested side on side test.
Closed (IRA): SMH July 19th 189/199/275/285 Iron Condor... for a 1.17 debit.
Comments: Mixing and matching profitable put wing with profitable call wing from iron condors put on at different times (See Posts Below) to de-risk running into NVDA earnings on 5/22. (NVDA is around 21% of SMH holdings).
The resulting setup is a July 19th 205/215/255/265 on which I've collected a net 3.23 in credits; delta/theta -.28/3.45.
I'll look at doing a delta adjustment post-earnings if necessary.
Opening (IRA): SMH July 19th 205/215/275/285 IC... for a 2.17 credit.
Comments: An additive delta adjustment to the current SMH IC I have on. (See Post Below).
With the original setup's short call aspect converging on -25 delta and the short put converging on +10, selling a skewed IC with the oppositionally delta'd short call/short put (i.e., at the +25 short put and the -10 delta short call) to bring back the position back to net delta flat with 63 days until expiry.
4.40 total credits collected with a current delta/theta of 1.02/5.81.
Opening (IRA): SMH July 19th 189/199/255/265 Iron Condor... for a 2.23 credit.
Comments: A small engagement trade in the semiconductor ETF (31.5% 30-Day IV).
Going somewhat wide here with the deltas, with the short option legs camped out at 16 delta on both sides. I generally like to collect one-third the width of the wings in credit for these, but am going a little more long-dated than usual, so want to give it a smidge more room to be wrong.
The assumption here is neutral, with the bet being that it slops around between my short option strikes. I'll generally look to take profit at 50% max and/or adjust sides on approaching worthless or on side test.
Metrics:
Buying Power Effect: 7.77
Max Profit: 2.23
ROC at Max: 28.70%
ROC at 50% Max: 14.35%
Delta/Theta: .37/3.01
Iron Condor on SQThis is over earnings. The 90/95 bear call spread is above the 100 sma on the monthly.
The 60/55 bull put spread is below the 100/200 sma on the daily and 100sma on the weekly
Simply expecting NOT a huge gap on earnings and allow the IV to fizzle out on this one. Since we are getting $1.00+ on a $5 margin, this is 20% ROR
:)
Going for 1.02 of credit :-)
Opened: SMH March 15th 169/175/199/205 Iron Condor... for a 2.07 credit.
Comments: 30-day IV at 27.8%. (Higher would be better, but you can't have everything).
Collecting 1/3rd of the width of the wings in credit. 2.07 credit on BPE of 3.93; 52.7% ROC at max; 26.3% at 50% max.
As usual, will generally look to take profit at 50% max; adjust sides on side test. This is probably my last trade in the March monthly, since 45 DTE is kind of the wheelhouse for this stuff, and the March monthly is at 43 DTE.
I'll mostly hand sit from here until month end, with most of the trades being adjustments.
Opening: NFLX 435/445/545/555 Iron Condor... for a 3.45 credit.
Comments: Earnings play with the announcement today after close.
3.45 credit on buying power of 6.55; 52.6% ROC at max; 26.3% at 50% max.
I'm basically looking for two things here: (1) IV contraction post-earnings; and (2) price to stay within the expected move, which the options market is pricing in to be about +/- 43 handles from current price (i.e., 448 to the downside, 534 to the up).
And ... we'll see how that goes.
Opening: TSLA March 15th 165/175/215/225 Iron Condor... for a 3.52 credit.
Comments: Somewhat of a "revenge trade" here after exiting my earnings trade for a small loser.
3.52 credit on BPE of 6.48; 54.3% ROC at max; 27.2% at 50% max.
Generally, will look to take profit at 50% max/adjust untested side on side test.
Opened: KRE March 15th 39/44/50/55 Iron Condor... for a 1.68 credit.
Comments: ETF IV > 35% with 30-day IV at 37.9%.
Collecting 1/3rd the width of the wings of a 5-wide; 1.68 credit on BPE of 3.32; 50.6% ROC at max; 25.3% at 50% max.
It was kind of a toss-up between doing this as an iron fly or as an iron condor due to the size of the underlying, so compromised, going in somewhat aggressively with the short option legs (they're camped out at the 30 delta). This will allow me to adjust the setup somewhat before having to go inverted with the short strangle aspect (now I've jinxed it).
Will generally look to take profit at 50% max; adjust sides on side test.
Opened: AMD March 15th 145/155/210/220 Iron Condor... for a 3.33 credit.
Comments: High IVR/IV (104.5/60.1) earnings announcement play.
3.33 credit on buying power effect of 6.67; 49.9% ROC at max; 25.0% at 50% max. Delta/theta 2.68/4.65.
So, far TSLA earnings was a small loser; the jury's still out on NFLX (but it's underwater) ... . Third time's the charm?
Opening: TSLA Feb 16th 180/190/230/240 Iron Condor... for a 3.55 credit.
Comments: Earnings announcement volatility contraction play.
I ordinarily put these on right before earnings, but will probably space it out, so am putting it on today. Earnings will be announced on Wednesday, 1/24, after market close.
Here, selling the 25 delta short option strikes and buying longs 10 strikes out from the shorts, resulting in 10 wide wings on which I've collected more than 1/3rd the width of the wings in credit, as well as a net delta setup that's about as delta neutral as you can get.
I'm using the next available monthly here so that I've got a little time to manage the setup in the event that that the move is bigger than the options market is anticipating here (around +/- 19 handles, which would be around 225 on the call side, 190 on the put, given current price). The basic notion here is that (a) TSLA IV contracts post-earnings; and (b) it stays within the expected move.
The Metrics: 3.55 credit on buying power effect of 6.45; 55.04% ROC at max; 27.52% at 50% max; delta/theta 1.00/8.02; 186.45/233.55 break evens. Since this is a defined risk setup, the BPE is the same regardless of whether you set it up in cash secured account like an IRA or on margin.
Market Rollercoaster: Harnessing Volatility with StranglesIn this video, titled "Market Rollercoaster: Harnessing Volatility with the Strangle & Iron Condor Combo!", Stock Justice walks viewers through an innovative and potentially profitable trading strategy designed for a highly volatile market environment. This strategy aims to exploit market volatility without being directionally exposed, making it an excellent choice for investors looking for non-directional trading opportunities.
Stock Justice starts the video by sharing his observations on the current market scenario, which has been stuck in a range for several weeks. He predicts that the market will soon pick a direction, and timing, as always, will be crucial. He then introduces the viewers to two of his favorite strategies for trading volatile markets - the strangle and the iron condor.
For Monday, May 22nd, Stock Justice details his plans for entering a directionally neutral strangle. He talks about scaling into the position slowly to manage risk and ensure optimal entry points. He also warns viewers about the challenges of fighting theta decay, especially as the options expiration date (OPEX) on Friday approaches.
The second part of his trading plan involves setting up a directionally neutral long iron condor for Thursday, June 1st. This strategy would achieve maximum profit if either the call debit spread or the put debit spread ends up in the money. Again, he stresses the importance of scaling in slowly to manage risk and optimize entry points.
Throughout the video, Stock Justice provides clear instructions on setting profit targets and stop loss areas. He emphasizes that while these strategies can be profitable, they also carry risk, so it's crucial to have a plan for managing potential losses.
This trading strategy video offers a comprehensive, engaging, and informative look at how to navigate and profit from a volatile market. Whether you're new to non-directional trading strategies or an experienced trader looking to refine your approach, this video offers valuable insights and actionable advice.
Stock Justice concludes the video by reminding viewers that trading, like any other skill, is mastered over time. So while these strategies offer exciting opportunities, it's essential to practice and continually learn to become a better trader.