Earlier this week (on the 16th) I was filled on a May papermoney DIA(104.92 -0.17) trade. Here are the details:

• With the DIA(104.92 -0.17) at ~124.3
• Sold 100 DIA May 2008 133/135 112/110 Iron Condors @ $0.23
  • Credit $2,300
  • Commissions $(609.95)
  • Margin Hold $20,00

I’m pretty comfortable with this trade, even with the big pop in the DIA over the last few days. We’ll see how long the rally lasts, and if it can run up through the 133 level. I’m not to worried about it, but I’ll be keeping an eye on it. The papermoney account is doing quite nicely right now and I’d like to continue that growth.

Here we go again. It’s just about option expiration Friday and it’s looking like the papermoney and my personal positions are all shaping up to be quite nice. I’ve also put out a few orders for a few new May positions, basically copying the current April ones and rolling them out. I’ll post the positions when the fills come in.

As I’ve started to trade the DIA(104.92 -0.17) and SPY(110.54 -0.29) products a little more, I’m finding that the per contract commissions at thinkorswim are starting to get very expensive. I actually killed a nice DIA(104.92 -0.17) trade this evening because the commissions knocked down the ROI. I’m on the hunt for another online broker that I can use to open up a secondary account to trade larger volumes; this will very likely end up being optionshouse.com

Anyhow, I’m still a huge thinkorswim fan and truly believe they have some of the best software in the business. I’ll do some more research prior to opening a new account… only time will tell.

With about a week to go until expiration it’s time to give an update on my current positions.

Papermoney

The papermoney positions for this month are in great shape! As I write this post on Sunday, the last trade on the DIA(104.92 -0.17) was at 123 and the SPY(110.54 -0.29) at 133. Those two quotes are basically the exact midpoint of my spreads. I couldn’t ask for a better position to be in! I’ll look to see if I can close these for next-to-nothing during the week, if possible I will. Otherwise, I will likely keep these on and let them expire worthless as the week closes out.

Personal Account

I posted a personal trade on the RUT(650.70 -0.06) a week or two ago as well. Right now, that spread is in great shape as well. The Russell 2000 is about 58 points above my high strike. I don’t expect the RUT(650.70 -0.06) to collapse by 9% next week, so I’m not to concerned here either. I will of course look to close it out for next-to-nothing if I can.

The market…

I’m not expecting much from the markets over the next few months. I still think that we are in for a nice up-tick towards the end of the year; however, in the next few months things will likely just chop along.

My strategy right now is to continue with business as usual. I’ll be laying down condors and spreads as I see fit. Ideally I’ll be able to continue making a nice profit margin each month as the market moves along. I will post my trades as they come along. Good luck in your trading, please do your research and monitor your positions closely! Trade smart.

What is that??? Yes indeed I just just finally put on a new trade. I know it has been quite some time, but I figured it was time to get my feet back in the game. This play is a little more on the aggressive side, but I think it will work out pretty nicely. Here it is:

Sold 50 SPY April 2008 143/145 123/121 Iron Condors @ $0.28

• Credit $1,400
• Commissions $(309.95)
• Margin Hold $10,00

Update:

Okay, lets do another one. This is on the DIA(104.92 -0.17)

Sold 100 DIA April 2008 132/134 112/110 Iron Condors @ $0.18

• Credit $1,800
• Commissions $(609.95)
• Margin Hold $20,000

Well, well, well… That was a pleasant surprise closing in the markets today.

Let me update you on the paper money portfolio.

This morning, right after the opening when things were in the toilet I was filled on all five of my positions. Of course, having a great broker I received price improvement all every last one of these.

Here they are in order of execution:

• Sold 200 Vertical SPY(110.54 -0.29) Feb 2008 122/121 Put @ $0.28
  • Credit $5,600
  • Commissions $(609.95)
  • Margin Hold $20,000
• Sold 200 Vertical QQQQ(45.93 -0.12) Feb 08 40/39 Put @ $0.18
  • Credit $3,600
  • Commissions $(609.95)
  • Margin Hold $20,000
• Sold 200 Vertical DIA(104.92 -0.17) Feb 08 111/110 Put @ $0.22
  • Credit $4,400
  • Commissions $(609.95)
  • Margin Hold $20,000
• Sold 200 Vertical IWM(65.15 +0.00) Feb 08 61/60 Put @ $0.21
  • Credit $4,200
  • Commissions $(609.95)
  • Margin Hold $20,000
• Sold 100 Vertical VIX(23.75 -0.50) Feb4 08 32.5/35 Call @ $0.67
  • Credit $6,700
  • Commissions $(309.95)
  • Margin Hold $25,000

The long and short of it is that I think that fear was at a high this morning, and that the market has hit a short term bottom.

At the close of the market today, I had a paper money unrealized gain of roughly $13,000 on these positions. I plan to keep them around for a while as we hopefully continue up a bit more and then I may exit early to lock in profits in this volatile market.

Please take caution in this market. If you are not comfortable with a trade – do not put it on. It is critical that you understand the risk that you are signing up for, especially in highly volatile markets like this.

Okay… So I think this is the bottom.

Could I be wrong?  Yup… If I am I may blow through about 100K of the paper money account, however I don’t think that is going to happen.  I’m working on a series of positions right now.  They are along a ton of different ‘minis’.

When I get fills on these tomorrow I’ll update the portfolio and describe my thoughts on each of these.  Overall, I think we have hit a temporary bottom and I’m willing to play it.  So here are the tickers:  IWM, DIA, SPY, QQQQ and the VIX.

My orders are as follows:

• Sell 100 VIX Feb 32.5/35 Call Verticals @ $0.45
• Sell 200 DIA Feb 110/100 Put Verticals @ $0.13
• Sell 200 QQQQ Feb 40/39 Put Verticals @ $0.13
• Sell 200 SPY Feb 122/121 Put Verticals @ $0.18
• Sell 200 IWM Feb 61/60 Put Verticals @ $0.14

I’ll post the updates as soon as I get them.  Good luck, hopefully I’m on the right side of this.  If not, it may be quite costly.

Trade smart!