Is consistent option income possible?

Hi GTS
Those weeklies are pretty interesting though I've never traded them but could be a nice trade especially on a week where there is potentially market moving economic data coming out.
 
Research has shown me that weekly straddles as a whole do well. Buy the wings to drop commissions and delta risk and there is a nice risk reward trade...
 
Research has shown me that weekly straddles as a whole do well. Buy the wings to drop commissions and delta risk and there is a nice risk reward trade...

Yeah weekly's are looking good however, there seem to be a few tricks to trading them that make sense. I actually posted a blog about this today and will be discussing them more in the future. I will say this, they make ALOT more sense as butterflys then the do condors. the risk reward is lacking on the condor despite what may be being reported.
 
Yeah weekly's are looking good however, there seem to be a few tricks to trading them that make sense. I actually posted a blog about this today and will be discussing them more in the future. I will say this, they make ALOT more sense as butterflys then the do condors. the risk reward is lacking on the condor despite what may be being reported.

Agreed, like the flys way more. Enjoyed your blog. Are you trading weeklies on GOOG?
 
howdy,

i've made a few trades this week and all of them will probably require management so this is definitely not easy work for anybody considering trading for consistent profit. they could be somewhat consistent profits if managed i guess. but here's what i got for OCT expiry.

EEM iron condor 36/38/45/47 for .39 credit i really like this etf.
IBM butterfly 120/125/130 for 1.26 debit
VLO iron condor 15/16/18/19 for .39 credit
YUM iron condor 38/40/48/50 for .39 credit

i liked the .39 credit haha. not a lot of money at risk. trying to get filled but doesn't look likely at this point for a spy butterfly 100/105/110 for .67 but could change.

good luck.
dave
 
Good job. I sold an ES 1100 straddle last Friday for 19, closed today for 9. Rolled into another short 1100 straddle today for 21. Also adding a long ew4 1025 put. Keep up the good work.
 
GTS, that was nice! so, if i understand a short straddle correctly, you were expecting volatility to decrease which explains why this trade was so successful. in your latest trade with the addition of the put, you are forecasting continued decline in volatility with a hedge or are expecting some decline in the emini s&p but not major declines.

for my IBM butterfly, if it continues higher by tuesday i will add a butterfly 125/130/135 to adjust. i want to be as patient as possible and not get shaken out of my original trade.

i wonder if this year will be anything like last year when it seemed like everybody (and myself) was looking for a major decline in the markets after labor day which never came. i think we come down but not end of times style. what explains the lack of volume? and why is it that volume expands on major down days? algorithmic trading?
 
Deep in the money covered calls on indexes and a few stocks have worked well for me. Using margin to make the return on cash interesting.
Typical candidates include IWM and SPY. And in the last few months GLD. Of course, AAPL too but that's a long term hold so I buy it back (or the options back) if called away. I haven't made as much as I could have, but because I a decent amount of downside protection I've been able to sleep even though the market has made me really nervous several times this year (ex: Hindenburg).
 
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Hi mscanlin,

thanks for the link and good to hear you are able to have consistency with 'covered calls'. i think that strategy is definitely safer the way you are doing it by selling the deep 'in the money' calls against your stocks. however, i avoid this strategy and think its too risky and it ties up way too much money imho.

i hear these 2 guys come on the radio every sunday to boast of their 'clients' returns' on the 'covered call' strategy of 3-6% per month to sell their $3000 weekend seminar and tell everybody how it compares to renting shares and call it a 'good option' kind of like 'good cholesterol'. yea ok. then they get a 'client' on the phone to tell us how much money he/she is making thanks to them. this is at a minimum, very misleading and i'm sure there are a few that have lost boat loads when their stocks tanked. i have learned the painful way.

anyways, good to see you are making money but just be careful because this covered call strategy has the same risk profile as selling a put. not that there is anything wrong with selling puts when the conditions are right and bullish. take care.

dave
 
The idea primarily behind the straddle was sideways action and not a bump up in vols. It worked. The long back put is to hedge vega to some degree. The second short 1100 straddle was stopped out today. Rolled into an 1125 straddle for 16.50 which complements my other positions.

Have a great week!
 
I am confused. I thought that most of the post was missing.

I could be completely wrong, but I thought that a covered short strangle was an iron condor.

A covered combination as I understand is like a regular covered call position with the additional sale of an out of money put.
 
Sounds right to me Davey.

More importantly, what we trading and making money with?!
 
Sounds right to me Davey.

More importantly, what we trading and making money with?!

Hello GTS,

I only am trading a few positions in IBM, YUM, PG, VLO, and EEM. And its definitely not easy money this month trading the options. All these trades except for VLO and PG required adjustments to stay in the game. Not easy work.

My PG iron condor I added this past week for JAN 11. 55/57.5/65/67.5 for .79 credit

Man it looks like the shorts are getting destroyed beyond belief, definitely challenging for even small time traders like myself. At some point, when nobody is looking, we will have a substantial pull back and nobody knows when it will come.

Good luck.

dave c
 
Dave, your comment reminds me of the exact thing people were saying after the bear market, when it went up for months, straight up.

Ride what you see, not what you think. It's hard to surf agains't the wave. ;)

K
 
wow, this was a tough month that i am happy is finally over, i kept the damage to a minimum on my trades otherwise i would have been hurt. many adjustments. it was a good month for my broker i guess. there's always next month. looks like the fed is gonna keep the pressure on the dollar, so this bull market is gonna keep running until we reach a point where it doesn't matter.
 
wow, this was a tough month that i am happy is finally over, i kept the damage to a minimum on my trades otherwise i would have been hurt. many adjustments. it was a good month for my broker i guess. there's always next month. looks like the fed is gonna keep the pressure on the dollar, so this bull market is gonna keep running until we reach a point where it doesn't matter.

SPX 1225 coming...Stay short puts, add calls if 1130 is broken. :clap:
 
Dave,

I would say it was tough depending on what trade you entered and what you entered. Butterfly's have been awful and so has the NDX (thank you aapl) over the last month. But, SPX and OEX condors have been pretty manageable. Currently, I am in an OEX Dec IC that we are following in the AM Pit Report over at my site.

Mark
 
Mark,
The OEX condor is lookin' good. I like the condors like this that are further out in time and give you more of a comfort zone and closing the trade early.

GTS,
You're right, we could be heading for at least a double top. But, I think when this market finally tanks, it goes down very hard. The question is, what will be the turning point?

Unrelated q. I wonder if you guys are familiar with Prodigio and have used their wizard lab? I have never seen anything like this and wonder what you guys think?

Have a great day!
Dave
 
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