Apple has been on tear. Literally it tore from a base in March around 80 and ran up to 170 as of yesterday. That is a 90 point gain in just under 6 months. Those of you who played AAPL earnings and held AAPL throughout its upward trajectory into the right hand side of the chart [...]
I have been so busy with this earnings seasons, have not spent much time writing. Making our money the old fashioned was- trading. Trading has been intense and sometimes downright brutal. Earnings season is gift from heaven and the exploitation of trades and opportunities that it provides. Many traders just make a whole bunch of [...]
Senate has passed the bail out bill and sent it to the House for approval. Its a one good step, but the problem has not been solved. Its the confidence and level of ease that has been shattered on Monday when the house rejected the original bill and that bitter taste is still there. No [...]
Market soared 289 points, SPX 2.05% and Nasdaq added 25 point all the while NDX still suffered down -5.28? That’s a divergence among the indexes? Why? Since we trade NDX a lot its important we should know these answers. I have been monitoring the markets and watching, AAPL, GOOG getting killed all day long. It [...]
NDX at 1768, RUT 714 I have closed 70%  positions due to market conditions. Its too risky to trade these markets. Raised cash.
Yes there are strategies to rollover trades down and out to next month, but I am not using those. These markets are greatly influenced by poor economy and the bad unemployment reports and a constant parade of [...]
NDX bounced off its 50 day moving average at 1877 levels and RUT bounced off 720 levels at its 200 day moving averages. Had we broken down, than we could be seeing some serious downturns here and the whole market would have turned bearish. The good news today is that my McClellan Oscillator and Summation Index has [...]
Index options trading is focused on major indexes wholly and not on individual stocks. The same principles can be applied to stock trading but often with different results. Indexes are an aggregate sum of stocks and move with the general trends prevailing in the markets, depending on the economy, oil, wars, and world events.
1. [...]
With the market up second day in row NDX at 1900 levels and hitting 50 day moving average above, closed the NDX put spread for 0.05 cents. The theta on the spread was far less than next months at the same strike or above. Will look for new set ups in the making.
Closed NDX [...]
With a strong rally today DOW up 331 and NDX up 64.92, the bull put spread has diminished in value down to 25 cents. Because the markets are in rally mode, completing an IRON CONDOR is risky and and counter productive. The markets will start reaching your short strikes and there is not enough premiums.
Time [...]
These trades are good for 1-5 days following July expirations.
RUT
SELL RUTÂ Â AUGUST 610 PUTS
BUY RUTÂ AUGUST 600Â PUTSÂ Â Â Â Â Â Net credit 0.45
Margin required = 1000-0.45= 955Â Probability 98%
This is the first leg is a BULLPUT SPREAD of the final IRON CONDOR, that may be completed at any future date
NDX
SELL AUGUST 1600 PUTS
BUY AUGUST 1575 PUTSÂ Â Net [...]
Index options credit spread trading
Credit spreads are constructed using either calls or puts or a combination of both. There are numerous variations of Credit spreads.
A credit spread is usually a vertical spread. It is an options trading strategy in which you buy an option on a stock or index , either a call or put, and [...]
