Well, it appears the for the short term, the market has found the bottom. If the SPX can close today above 1278 or so we should be in good shape. Now, I’m not about to predict that the market is going to rocket back up, but I think we may have found stable ground, and that is a good thing! Right now all positions look like they are rather heathly. Here is a quick recap…

• Papermoney
• MSH 550/540 460/450 Iron Condor is looking good. As of today I could exit the position for about a $1,400 profit. There are 20 days left to expiration and the MSH is trading at about 509. This leave a decent cushion on each side. I’m watching for an explosion in either direction for this play. If the MSH really starts to move, I’ll walk away and lock in a small profit.
• RUT 840/830 670/660 Iron Condor. This one is sitting pretty and I don’t expect to ahve to do anythying at all to this position. The RUT is trading at about 730 right now, so the cushions on either side are enormous. I could lock in a profit of about $1,500 today, but I’d be leaving about $875 on the table. The only way that we will shut it down early is if I can find a better July position.
• SPX 1360/1350 1200/1190 Iron Condor. Again, this is a very happy trade The markets have been cooporating for the past few days, so things are looking good. The SPX is trading at about 1277, so we have a nice cover on both sides. As with the other positions, I can close this guy out for about $2,000 today, but we would be leaving about $750 on the table. I will of course look for another position in July for an early roll and to lock in profits, but I’m not going to jump into one unless it is well worth it!

• Real money
• This is were it hits the fan. My real trading account, where my money is on the line… Right now I only have two positions open, they are both Bull Put Spreads. I’m trying to complete Condors, but I haven’t been able to find tops that worked out as nicely as those in the papermoney account. Time is working against me right now, so we’ll see what happens…
• MSH 480/470 Bull Put Spread. This position is looking pretty good. I’d like to see the MSH move up a bit more so that my cushion is a bit larger, but I’m okay for now. I will keep looking to find a nice Bear Call Spread to compliment the current position. So far, I haven’t found one I’m happy with. I tried to get the 550/540 that is in the papermoney accout, but the market/time decay worked against me and I couldn’t get the fill.
• RUT 660/650 Bull Put Spread. As with the play in the papermoney account, this position is sitting pretty. I’m not really worried at all about this play. The market seems to be playing nicely, and I’ll keep an eye out for the top spread.

So here is the plan for the rest of this option cycle. I’ll continue to look for roll canidates into July; if I can find some nice July positions that allow for additional premium with limited risk, I’ll roll out into July, otherwise we hold on and follow the rules. I am also looking for Bear Call Spreads to finish off the MSH and RUT Bull Put Spreads I have. I’m not going to push a trade if it doesn’t look good, so we’ll see.

Going into the long weekend, we are looking for the market to simply hold its ground. A nice movement upward would be an excellent sign, but primarliy I’m just looking for signs of stability. The 3-day weekend will provide additional time decay that is always helpful for our trades. Enjoy our weekend, and grab my feed.

Categories: Options Trading, Papermoney