With summer somewhat upon us and with my wife making various plans (she's basically the family "travel agent"/"arranger"), I'm looking to wind down "higher attention span" setups and get into lower key/lower maintenance setups here so that I'm not driving her nuts on the road. "Hey, I just need to pull off here for a few and look at a few trades ... " gets pretty annoying after a few times. Here are a few simple tips so that you can not only enjoy your summer vacation, but also stay somewhat engaged in the market:
1. Accept You're Gonna Miss Stuff. Not being able to keep a constant eye on the market means you're going to miss stuff. VIX can flare up, and you're simply not going to be able to get into trades at all or at less than ideal junctures. This can be especially aggravating when "that's the VIX pop you've been waiting for," but it happens, and you simply can't plan your vacations around the VIX or anything else in the market.
2. Plan Ahead. Being on a trip or on vacation is not an ideal trading situation (i.e., not at your computer, cup of Joe at the ready). If you want to continue to trade in some fashion or at least monitor what you do have on, plan ahead: know how to set up your cell phone as a mobile hot spot so that you can access your account with a laptop or tablet; look to strategically plan or take advantage of stops where wi-fi is available (without, of course, driving your traveling companions bonkers); or manage your trades when you have the time to devote in a hotel somewhere or during a "down day" when weather has gotten in the way of outdoor activities. Naturally, working with a platform that has a decent mobile app helps tons -- one less piece of gear to haul about.
Relatedly, don't get into setups right before you leave that may require immediate action (e.g., a 2 days 'til expiration earnings play); close/roll stuff out that may be expiring in the middle of your vacation; and take trades off that are in profit, even if it means that you're taking them off sooner than you would ordinarily do.
3. Look to Put on Trades that Require Less Attention. As noted above, covered calls and Poor Man's just simply require less eyeball time -- they're longer term plays where you're looking to reduce cost basis over large time frames. I look at them weekly, but generally don't need to make decisions regarding call rolling until "late in the game" in the life of the short call. Consider rolling out the short call to an expiry that is longer than you'd usually do (e.g., 90 days instead of 45), so that you're not all wound up paying attention to what the short call is doing for the next several weeks.
4. Set Up Take Profit Targets from the Get-Go. Most of the setups I put on have predefined profit targets -- 25% max for short straddles, iron flies; 50% max for iron condors, short strangles, and nakeds. My habit is to set these up after my original setup is filled and then to largely leave them alone. If you're not in the habit of doing this, start now. There's nothing worse than allowing a 50% max winner turn into a loser simply because you didn't set a take profit and didn't have time to watch the setup.
1. Accept You're Gonna Miss Stuff. Not being able to keep a constant eye on the market means you're going to miss stuff. VIX can flare up, and you're simply not going to be able to get into trades at all or at less than ideal junctures. This can be especially aggravating when "that's the VIX pop you've been waiting for," but it happens, and you simply can't plan your vacations around the VIX or anything else in the market.
2. Plan Ahead. Being on a trip or on vacation is not an ideal trading situation (i.e., not at your computer, cup of Joe at the ready). If you want to continue to trade in some fashion or at least monitor what you do have on, plan ahead: know how to set up your cell phone as a mobile hot spot so that you can access your account with a laptop or tablet; look to strategically plan or take advantage of stops where wi-fi is available (without, of course, driving your traveling companions bonkers); or manage your trades when you have the time to devote in a hotel somewhere or during a "down day" when weather has gotten in the way of outdoor activities. Naturally, working with a platform that has a decent mobile app helps tons -- one less piece of gear to haul about.
Relatedly, don't get into setups right before you leave that may require immediate action (e.g., a 2 days 'til expiration earnings play); close/roll stuff out that may be expiring in the middle of your vacation; and take trades off that are in profit, even if it means that you're taking them off sooner than you would ordinarily do.
3. Look to Put on Trades that Require Less Attention. As noted above, covered calls and Poor Man's just simply require less eyeball time -- they're longer term plays where you're looking to reduce cost basis over large time frames. I look at them weekly, but generally don't need to make decisions regarding call rolling until "late in the game" in the life of the short call. Consider rolling out the short call to an expiry that is longer than you'd usually do (e.g., 90 days instead of 45), so that you're not all wound up paying attention to what the short call is doing for the next several weeks.
4. Set Up Take Profit Targets from the Get-Go. Most of the setups I put on have predefined profit targets -- 25% max for short straddles, iron flies; 50% max for iron condors, short strangles, and nakeds. My habit is to set these up after my original setup is filled and then to largely leave them alone. If you're not in the habit of doing this, start now. There's nothing worse than allowing a 50% max winner turn into a loser simply because you didn't set a take profit and didn't have time to watch the setup.