August SPX Iron Condor

Today I initiated an August Iron Condor in the SPX index:

Initiated AUG $SPX 1890/1900/2190/2195 Iron Condor. 1.10 Credit

— The Lazy Trader (@lazytrading) June 30, 2016

Choosing the width of my Spread: should I use 5, 10, 25 points?

When trading Credit Put spread positions and Iron Condors, one of the main questions that quickly invade the trader’s mind is: what width should I use for my spreads? Should I use a 5-point wide spread? 10 points maybe? What are the benefits or draw-backs if I use 25-point wide spreads? (By width of the spread I am referring to the difference between the strike prices of the short leg and the long leg that make up a Credit or a Debit Spread).

October Portfolio Insurance Play

Portfolio Insurance: Bought 2 $SPX October 1825/1800 Debit Put Spreads + Sold 4 $SPX October 1625/1600 Credit Put spreads.

— The Lazy Trader (@lazytrading) June 28, 2016

Weekend Portfolio Analysis (June 26, 2016)

Of one thing we can all be sure: British pollsters suck.
If I built software with the same quality that British pollsters go about their business, I would have been punted since 2,000 B.C. What's wrong with you guys?!?

I didn't get to read a single poll, not one, forecasting a Brexit victory. Absolutely everything I read in the days prior to the vote, pointed to the Remain camp winning. By a wider or thinner margin, but every piece pointed to the unequivocal victory of the Remain side. But, así es la vida.

Weekend Portfolio Analysis (June 18, 2016)

Interesting how volatility went up by more than 30%, in really, just 2 or 3 days where the S&P Index didn't even lose 3% of its value. Perhaps concerns over the 'Brexit' vote? People need to take it easy and watch 'Keeping up with the Kardashians' more frequently. More on Brexit later.

The index moved from 2091.75 down to 2071.22 for a small 0.98% loss. Year to Date, the market is now up +1.33% and it is trading at the same levels of November 2014. Cruel, despicable world.

Options Trading Monthly Digest (May 2016)

Well, the time has come once again to go over the Options Trading performance for the month that just concluded: May 2016.

The goal of these articles is to recap and determine what went wrong, what went well, mistakes that were made, things that could have been done better.

Although the main focus is the long term viability of our strategies and not the month to month seesaws, hopefully these monthly updates will provide confidence and serve as an authentic guide of what can be achieved with a realistic and sustainable approach to the business of Selling Options for Income.

Weekend Portfolio Analysis (June 11, 2016)

Interesting week where an overbought condition was briefly reached but I couldn't get my trades filled, as reflected on the following tweets.

Should have sold $SPX August 2225/2230 Credit Call spread for 0.55 earlier today. Missed opportunity.

— The Lazy Trader (@lazytrading) June 8, 2016

The Uselessness

I stopped venerating trading quotes a while ago. I just had to. I started to find them so vague, so full of contradictions. More importantly, rarely ever useful.

Weekend Portfolio Analysis (June 5, 2016)

I thought very hard about whether I should write an article this weekend or not. I could literally copy/paste last weekend's article and be done with it, go outside and shoot some gorillas, you know, enjoy life. After all, I didn't enter new positions this week, didn't close existing ones and the markets didn't move. Weird huh? Markets closing at almost the same price they opened on Monday. Even in the first week of the month. Even with the Jobs reports. But who am I to judge or be surprised? After all, it is a cruel and strange world the one we're living in: Snapchat, Trump, Harambe, Karen.

So, anyways folks, the more I look at it,......it doesn't make sense to write a Weekend Portfolio Analysis today. I have nothing new to say. It would be the same as last week's. No new action plan other than what I already detailed there.

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