Weekend Portfolio Analysis (October 26, 2013)

SPX went from 1745.20 to 1759.82 this week for a small +0.84% gain. The market keeps slowly creeping higher at the upper end of the uptrend channel.

December SPX Iron Condor

Today I opened the first trade of the December 2013 options expiration cycle as follows:

BUY 4 Dec SPX 1600 Put @5.10
SELL 4 Dec SPX 1605 Put @5.30
SELL 4 Dec SPX 1835 Call @4.00
BUY 4 Dec SPX 1840 Call @3.40

Weekend Portfolio Analysis (October 19, 2013)

Well, well, well,........the October 2013 options expiration cycle is officially in the past now. The final 4 positions expired worthless for full profits: RUT 1120/1125 Bear Call Spread (+$200), SPX 1780/1785 Bear Call Spread (+$280), SPX Bull Put Spread 1595/1600 (+$240) and RUT 970/975 Bull Put Spread (+$120).

November 2013 RUT Call Credit Spread

Nov $RUT 1160/1165 Credit Call Spread for 0.40
— The Lazy Trader (@lazytrading) October 18, 2013

This trade was entered yesterday as part of the November options expiration cycle.

Canadians at a disadvantage when trading US markets

Well, the fact that our brokers selection is so limited plus the abominable trading fees we pay up here are disadvantages by themselves. But when trading US stocks or investing, more disadvantages become clear.

Weekend Portfolio Analysis (October 12, 2013)

We had probably the most exciting week of the year in terms of significant moves in both directions. We had  a VIX that went up and down like crazy. We had opportunities to sell premium, we had positions threatened, we had it all! It was fun! In the end SPX went from 1687.15 to 1703.20 for a +0.95% gain.

How to save some money in Forex trades

Transaction costs in Forex are rather small. Most brokers today don't charge an official fee per trade. The transaction cost is therefore reduced to the bid - ask spread. That's where Forex brokers make their money. At present this spread is not huge as we see in Western Union stores. It is a trading spread, and for Forex brokers is pretty low, for example most of them nowadays are able to offer a 2 pip spread or lower in the EUR/USD currency pair, that is 0.0002.