GLD -- MAR 18TH IRON CONDOR

GLD is quite literally "in the middle of things." Although I would prefer to sell on strength and buy on weakness in the areas I described in the post below, an iron condor that delineates a profit zone of sorts between 103 and 111 makes some objective sense as well:

GLD March 18th 100/103/111/114 Iron Condor
Probability of Profit %: 56%
Max Profit: .98/$98/contract (although you can play with the width of the wings to wring a bit more out of the trade)
Buying Power Effect: $202/contract
Break Evens: 102.02/111.98

Comment:

Filled for .98. Will look to take it off at 50% max profit.

Comment:

Out of the short put side at near max profit, leaving me with the "broken" call side to deal with. I also am treating a later 115/118 short call vertical (also broken) I put on a few days later as part of this setup and will proceed to sell a short put vertical to protect the position from further upside.

Comment:

I'm going to hit the pause button on this position and wait to add short put verticals (which could give me a headache if price decides to whipsaw back to the downside (a la late July precious metals dump). It is likely that I will have to roll at least one of the two short call verticals near expiration, they're at potential max loss here, so it doesn't hurt to wait.

Comment:

Sold a put spread to give me some long delta in GLD to offset the two short call credit spreads (111/114 and 115/118) I have on -- a March 18th 104/107 for a .24 credit. It isn't much credit/contract, but my guess is that I'll be rolling at least one of those credit spreads out for duration, so I guess I'm getting an early start on working the tested side off ... .

Comment:

With the put side already nearing worthless, covered it for .07. I'll wait for another "dip" to get back into the short put side.