Closing Butterfly on SPY

Following up on the Butterfly play discussed here. This trade was unfortunately a loser. SPY ended the week outside our profit range so we lost $154.

As you can see in the chart,

The SPY ETF ended at 120.30 on expiration Friday. The good thing about this type of trades is that there is a limited risk. The DOW JONES might go down to zero, it does not matter, your risk is well defined and limited from the very beginning, and that is why I let it play out till the end. That and the fact that it was little capital at risk.

Now in order to get out of the position, usually you have to buy the options sold, and sell the options bought. But in this case none of the 3 options was in the money yesterday at expiration, which means you can let it expire worthless and there is no need to close your position, which saves you some money in commissions.

Time to move on to the next one.

First Part, Butterfly play on SPY (November 9, 2010)

Follow Up on Butterfly Trade on SPY (November 15, 2010)

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