I'm layering these on with a particular price zone in mind between the .236 and .764 shown on this SPX 500 chart, but giving myself a bit more leeway to the downside from the outset. I can always delta balance the setup on the fly by rolling the short put side up a little bit within the same expiry as the trade progresses. March 4th SPY...
BIDU announces earnings after tomorrow's close, so look to put a setup on in the waning hours of the NY sesh. Now that I've got the earnings date correct (they previously "tentatively" announced a 2/10 earnings release -- sooooo annoying), here's the metrics for the setup: BIDU Mar 4th 136/141/185/190 iron condor Probability of Profit: 70% Max Profit:...
For all practical purposes, this quarter's earnings season is all but over. However, there is one last play I might do and that is in COST, which announces earnings on Tuesday after market close. Currently, it's implied volatility rank is 58 and its implied volatility is 26. Generally speaking, I like to see the rank in the 70% percentile, and this isn't quite...
As with my previous, short-term RUT trade, I'm looking to keep buying power engaged while I wait for March index ETF trades to decay and/or work themselves out. Here's the metrics for the setup: March 4th 970/975/1045/1050 Iron Condor Probability of Profit: 66% Max Profit: ~$170/contract Buying Power Effect/Max Risk: ~$329 Notes: Due to the price of the...
Layering on to my existing Mar 24th IUX/RUT Iron Condor with this little number: March 24th RUT 945/955/1070/1080 Probability of Profit: 63% Max Profit: $330/contract Buying Power Effect: $670/contract Notes: I'd ordinarily go out to April, but I have a preexisting March 24th setup on and have a little bit more unused buying power and less theta on than I'd...
Going small here, given the fact that the solar space has been a bit of wild of late ... . Metrics: FSLR March 4th 51/54/70/73.5 Probability of Profit: 66% Max Profit: $71/contract Buying Power Effect: $229/contract Notes: Ordinarily, I pass on stuff that doesn't have at least a 1.00 credit in it. I could naturally go short strangle, but don't want to tie up...
Now that I'm done layering on March 18th credit spreads and iron condors, I'm starting to mix and match the spreads that I put on at different times and closing them out as a unit. In this particular case, I'm taking a 177/180 short put vertical that was part of one iron condor or a leg in on weakness and matching it with a 200/203 short put credit spread that I...
Okay, okay, okay, so I'm starting on my layering on of April SPY iron condors a little bit earlier than I'd like, but with this slight uptick in volatility, there's no time like the present. Consider this the first small layer of my April SPY "onion" ... . Metrics: SPY April 15th 173/177/203/207 Probability of Profit: 62% Max Profit: $102/contract Buying Power...
With a paucity of meaningful earnings plays to work this week and having exited all of my Feb index plays, I'm looking for something short-term to bide my time as my core March index setups work themselves out. I'm not yet ready to move into the April monthly (it's still a bit far out) for index setups, so a short duration, high probability setup is a good way to...
FSLR announces earnings tomorrow after market close, so look to put on a play in the final hours of the NY session. Here's two setups, one of which is an undefined risk trade; the other, defined: FSLR March 4th 55.5/73.5 Probability of Profit: 74% Max Profit: $144 per contract Buying Power Effect: Undefined FSLR March 4th 53/56/72/75 Iron Condor Probability of...
Guess I'm not done with March ... just quite yet. In the past several weeks, I have put on several SPY iron condors and/or credit spreads in the March 18th expiry, giving me quite a selection of short put credit spreads and short call credit spreads to mix and match to improve probability of profit. I think I can fit one more in here before the remaining time to...
With the highest implied volatility out of the four indices (S&P, Dow, Nasdaq, and Russell 2000), the Russell 2000, RUT or IUX (symbology will vary by platform, apparently), offers good premium selling as an alternative to playing its ETF counterpart, IWM. Given the value of the underlying and its accompanying options, having more "meat on the bone" allows you...
PCLN announces earnings tomorrow before market open, so look to put on this play before today's close. As noted in my post early this week regarding this week's earnings play prospects, PCLN's options are somewhat illiquid, so look for a fill of any setup at or above the mid price and resist the urge to chase price for a fill ... . You can naturally play with...
BIDU announces earnings "some time tomorrow", so it could be either before or after market; if you want to play it, look to put on a setup before today's market close. One thing I would note is that the bid/ask spreads aren't that great, implying that the options' liquidity isn't the best in the world, so I would look to put on a play at the mid price, but not to...
I've got quite a few SPY setups on in addition to a fairly long-term IWM poor man's covered call that I'm working and realized that I really don't have much on in March, let alone in QQQ. So I figured there's no time like the present to start layering on QQQ iron condors in the March 18th expiration. The reason why I call this setup an "onion" is because you...
With an implied volatility rank of 83 and an implied volatility of 46, XLE represents a good, non earnings premium selling play here. March 18th XLE 43/47/60/64 Iron Condor Probability of Profit: 66% Max Profit: $94/contract Buying Power Effect: $306/contract
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:...
TSLA announces earnings tomorrow after market close, so look to put on any volatility contraction play (short strangle/iron condor) before then. You'll naturally want to tweak these strikes if there is any movement during the market day ... . Short Strangle Feb 19th 111/180 short strangle Probability of Profit: 74% Max Profit: $404/contract Buying Power Effect:...