Weekend Portfolio Analysis (August 31, 2013)

SPX went from 1664.29 to 1632.97 this week, for a 1.88% decline. The model portfolio remains the same as I didn't do anything, although I felt tempted to enter a RUT Bull Put spread with October options. But, there is too much exposure already in the portfolio and I want to play it safe.

Let's see how the market's looking now

Weekend Portfolio Analysis (August 25, 2013)

SPX went from 1655.25 to 1663.50 for a small +0.48% gain relieving some of the short term over sold conditions described last week.

October 2013 SPX Iron Condor

As tweeted on Friday

Correction, October $SPX Iron Condor 1525/1530/1750/1755 for 1.00 Credit.
— The Lazy Trader (@lazytrading) August 23, 2013

I entered the first October 2013 expiration position using an SPX Iron Condor as follows

Weekend Portfolio Analysis (August 17, 2013)

Yesterday was expiration day for August monthly options. With it, the August SPX Iron Condor(1560/1565/1745/1750) expired worthless for full profit (+$425). August resulted in a +3.37% performance before commissions for the model portfolio and +2.40% after commissions (considering a very unfavorable $1.50 per contract). Not quite the great month I expected, but not bad at all either. Repeat that 12 times a year and you have an excellent result.

September 2013 RUT Bull Put spread

As tweeted yesterday I entered a RUT Bull Put spread using September options

September $RUT Bull Put spread 935/940 for 0.35 credit
— The Lazy Trader (@lazytrading) August 16, 2013

Forex Rebellion doesn't work

If you came to this article it means you probably know about the Forex Rebellion system. It's nothing new. In fact it came out a few years ago. There are certainly several positive reviews out there, many of them by affiliates which doesn't really count (read this article I wrote in 2011 on how to spot affiliate reviews), but there are many other positive reviews by real users. The reviews generally tend to be positive because the system advocates the use of stop losses, protection of profits, letting winners run etc, which I agree are good lessons. But what about real results? Does this trading system make money or not?

Weekend Portfolio Analysis (August 10, 2013)

SPX moved from 1708.01 to 1691.42 this week for a -0.97% loss. I took advantage of the accelerated time decay in August, and this small market decline to close the RUT 1080/1085 Bear Call Spread this week for a $200 profit. And I also opened the first September position using an SPX Iron Condor and playing it small (only 3 contracts) due to the low Volatility. Ideally for Iron Condors you want to sell inflated option prices (high volatility).

September 2013 $SPX Iron Condor

Today I entered the first September trade as follows:

Sept Spx Iron Condor 1560/1565/1760/1765 for .80 credit. Playing very small here as Vix is at the bottom of its range
— The Lazy Trader (@lazytrading) August 7, 2013

Closed August $RUT Bear Call Spread

Out of $RUT 1080/1085 for 0.30 debit. Original credit received 0.70. 5 contracts per leg = +$200 profit.
— The Lazy Trader (@lazytrading) August 6, 2013

Weekend Portfolio Analysis (August 4, 2013)

Folks, what a market! It's all I can say. Beating the markets this year is going to be really really hard even for the "only long equity" funds. For sure I know I won't beat it with only less than 5 months and still dragging a negative performance this year (Although with a nice improvement after February). Tough lesson: selling premium is one of the hardest jobs when the market is in full bullish mode and the VIX remains below fifteen for most of the year.