XOP MAY 17TH 30 SHORT STRADDLE (CONT'D)

This is a short straddle that started as a double diagonal. (See Post Below). I've been rolling the short straddle body out to generally at-the-money to take profit and to bring in additional credits. Although implied volatility (31%) is at the low end of its 52-week range, it is more than twice that of the broad market; SPY is at 14%.

So far, I've collected 4.31/contract and will just continue to roll out as profitable opportunities present themselves or -- in the alternative, a side is approaching worthless and/or time is running out on the setup ... .

Comment:

The current buying power effect of the naked short straddle is ~6.00/contract. With the current straddle value of 3.61, I'm up .70/contract or about 11.7% return on capital.

Comment:

Taking a little realized profit here in the setup and rolling the May 30 out to the June 31 for a .61/contract credit, which also flattens the delta to nearly neutral. Scratch at 4.91 versus current short straddle value of 4.00 (i.e., green by .91/$91 per contract).

Trade closed: target reached:

Covering the June 31 short straddle here for a 3.61/contract debit. In total, a realized gain of 1.30 ($130)/contract. Will look to re-up with a play in the May cycle tomorrow.