OPENING: SMH JUNE 21ST 107/110/126/129 IRON CONDOR

... for a 1.09/contract credit.

Another premium selling play, small, defined in the semicon exchange-traded fund with implied volatility at nearly twice that of the broad market ... . Collecting slightly greater than one-third the width of the wings. Will look to take profit at 50% max. The naked 110/126 short strangle in the June cycle is currently paying 2.78.

Metrics:

Max Profit: $109/contract
Max Loss/Buying Power Effect: $191
Break Evens: 108.91/127.09
Delta/Theta: -2.39/1.19

Trade active:

Rolling the call side down for a realized gain to the 120/123 for .48/contract credit; scratch at 1.57.

Trade active:

Rolling the call side down on approaching worthless and full put side breach to the 112/115's for a .64/contract credit; scratch at 2.21. Even if I do nothing going forward, I've reduced my side risk from $191/contract to $79/contract by intratrade rolling. That being said, I can't roll much more into the put side, since the width between the short call (112) and short put (110) is a mere two strikes ... .

Trade active:

Semiconductor sector getting absolutely crushed ... . Rolling down to the 110/113 for a .13/contract credit; scratch at 2.34/contract. At this point, will look to scratch the trade out or, at the very least, take it off for less than max loss (which is now .66 ($66)/contract (width of the spread minus total credits received).

Trade closed manually:

With the setup having negative theta and amenable to max loss, closing here for .18 less than the max of 3.00 -- 2.82/contract, a .48/$48 per contract loss. Some ships sink so low they can't be salvaged ... .