Last Trading Day of 2016 12-30-16

Market gave me a gift in the last trading day of the year. It was what I had hoped for going down right off the gate. But I didn't handle the gift well. I noticed that I wasn't calm. I even went out for a few minutes to try to cool myself off. I didn't follow my plan of waiting after lunch to exit the RUT 1360 ATM bear call. I moved my exit target up when RUT started to bounce back after 10 AM. I started to thinking about the possible big losses or forced to rollover. I totally forgot my plan. I have a tendency of predicting one out come instead of 2-3 possibilities. I need to watch major support and resistance levels instead of minute by minute price movements.

Made 11 trades. Closed one RUT bear call ATM which is what I needed to reduce my margin pressure. I rolled SPX 2235 in late morning. I didn't think market could touch it without looking at the distance and percentage. It actually touched it in the afternoon session. Sold couple Feb 3 and 4 SPX bull puts. Also used ratio hedge to the down side since I have too many naked bull puts. Overall, it was a good day.

Net liq recovered near 6K. Margin ratio is at 87% with the new measure. The bleeding was stopped this week with a small $880 gains. I will review Dec and the entire 2016 over this weekend. I have learned and improved a lot during this year and failed in some key areas as well.

Early Tax Selling or Before Window Dressing? 12-28-16

As I woke up this morning futures were up 0.2-.0.4% I thought it was a day to follow through to the upside. I didn't expect that sellers continued to push market down after gap closing. RUT and SPX were down 1.3% and 0.9% on later day and only recovered some before closing. I am not sure if it was the starting of tax selling or a pull back before window dressing at the year end. The price action will tell us more tomorrow. Anyway it was a big, welcome relief for me. I got about 14K recover for my net liq, plus sold several puts for premiums.

Made 14 trades across the board. Reduced one SPY bear call, sold some put credit spreads and bought couple put ratio hedges. I also rolled over couple bear calls to lock in some profit.

Risk profile looks much better today. Net liq is up 14K. Margin ratio is at 71% using the new method of comparison. I collected 1.6K premiums in four of my accounts. If I can reduce one more big contract on call side then I will be able to start to pay back the loans from ET accounts. Be patience and stay disciplined for the next two days.

No Relief Insight 12-27-16

The post Christmas market shown attempts of moving up on the first day. Buyers stepped up on very small pull back until the cash closing. There was a small sell off after RTH. Every one is eyeing on Dow 20K before New Year. NQ made another new high today. It appears that all major indexes are aiming a round number before the new year. Dow 20K, SPX 2300, NASDAQ 5000 and RUT 1400. That would make a big headline and boost market sentiment. More people will be sucked in. I will be forced to cut off some positions if that's the case. My theses of two days up and two days down for the last four trading days may still play out.

Made 9 trades today. Most of them were hedging calls and exit puts. One was rollover to lock in some profit and up 5 points reduced a little margin. I plan to hold till the last day for these near the money positions expiring this week.  I will continue to monitor and hedge my risk as my priority.

Risk profile eroded some as the market moved up. Net liq is at 133K recovered from a bigger loss earlier. Margin ratio is at 43% comparing with Initial Margin which is what the broker uses. I will use it instead of Net liq from now on in the meantime watching net liq as a separate factor.

Holding Up But Choppy 12-23-16

Market was choppy but up on this last trading day before Christmas. RUT closed up 0.62% and SPX held at +0.11%. Bulls held up well and may be positioned to take back some lost ground before the year end. Market will be closed on Monday. Today's price action made me to suspect it may try to run up for a couple of days then sell some in the last day or two to close this year.

Only three exit trade got filled. I tried to buy more hedges on both side. I didn't want to push it since my expiry prediction looked OK for me to wait until next Tuesday. They may cost less if there is no big run up.

Net liq gave back 5.5K while margin ratio fall down to 33%. I am prepared to take 1-2 positions off if my net liq gets too low.

A Follow Through - 2nd Down Day 12-22-16

Market followed through yesterday's pull back. I thought it was going to be a up day since futures recovered all of the overnight losses. RUT was leading the pack closed below last three day's range. But on weekly it was barely back inside B band. The surge may not finished yet. SPX only lost 0.2%. It may be just a slow day before Christmas. Any pull back is welcomed from my portfolio.

Made 13 trades across the board. My predicted margin for post expiry was in warning zone. I made couple RR ratio hedge to make it stable. I rolled 3 more ITM calls up to lock in some profits while the market is down. Margin is switched to the put side for now. I had to pay $150 to roll up 5 pts the deep ITM RUT 1100 with a inverted put. This may be a strategy to use from time to time. Also made couple IC 2 in other accounts. I may roll up more positions if we get a 3rd down day tomorrow as it may be very slow and choppy on the Friday before Christmas.

Net liq recovered another 10K at 143K. Margin ratio stays around 40%. So far the projected post expiry is OK for early next week. I will buy more hedges early next week if we see another surge for window dressing during the last week of the year.

A Small Pull Back 12-21-16

I was expecting to see Dow to break that 20K line today since it was less than 60 point away from yesterday's closing. Market took a breath today to my surprise. RUT and SPX closed down 0.61% and 0.24% respectively. I suspect that market is awaiting for the Jobless Claim Report tomorrow. I thought that nobody cared about any fundamental news anymore. I expect the jobless report won't have much impact to the market unless it is a big surprise. Overall there is not even a daily range broken.

Made 5 trades today. Rolled 3 more this week ITM positions before I went to get colonoscopy. I am glad that my hunger game is over. Unfortunately I had my first IWM assignment today. My 12/30 128 bear call didn't get rollover yesterday as I thought I had a little more time. I sold the 100 shares for a loss of near $1000 with dividends that I have to pay. I intend to get it back once I am out of this crisis.

Risk profile got a break today with the market pause. Net liq is up 10K to 132K. Margin ratio is back to 42%. Although it may be temporary as most of the positions are ITM it's a breath time for me with a little more Theta decay. I will start to get more hedges on tomorrow.

Up, Up and Away 12-20-16

The up swing from the day after Fed hiking the rate continues. The market is in such bullish mode even disregarded the Germany truck terror attack and the assassination of Russia ambassador in Turkey yesterday. It appears that nothing would stop this bull until the year end. RUT closed up 0.86% and SPX is up 0.36%. Both are near making new highs again as DJ is ready to strike that 20K mark. My portfolio is pushed one more step closer to the cliff.

Made 6 trades today as I am fasten to prepare for tomorrow's colonoscopy. Rollover all ITM bear calls of this week in IB. There are couple positions in ET didn't get filled. The IWM Dec 30, 128 is facing a possible assignment unless I get a chance to roll it tomorrow.

Net liq dropped near 11K today. Margin ratio is at 29%. Net liq value is at 123K as of tonight. It may stand for another 1% pop tomorrow as I will be in the doctor's office most of the afternoon. I will continue to buy hedges for next week or two. I may have to take out a RUT bear call to reduce my margin and shore off the net liq in the next couple days. My last result is to gather some money in other account and do another wire transfer of 10K or so.

Bulls Won't Wast Any Time 12-19-16

Bulls took another swing on Monday. Despite couple attempts of pushing down RUT and SPX still made an up day. RUT closed up another 0.6%. It appears RUT is ready to make another swing high to close this year unless other indexes stop pushing. There may be a tax loss sale coming soon. I need to be able to hang on to my account until then.

Three trades got filled. They were all exit of puts. I was at Northlake to receiving my flooring order from Homedepot. I couldn't place many orders with only a slow notebook. I need to place most of my rollover orders for this week by tomorrow since I will have a doctor's procedure on Wednesday. I will not allowed to take any solid food starting tomorrow morning.

Risk profile lost some ground and back to the danger zone again. Net liq is down 6.7K to 133.8K. Margin ratio is at 28%. The Excess liquidity of 46.8 K could hold me of until late part of this week. Currently I have 11 RUT and 1 SPX ITM. I may have to pick one more to buy back in order to increase the net liq. I need to set a firm number of contracts that is allowed to trade after this crises.

Another Week Survived 12-16-16

My hypothesis for today's market movement was right for once. The big money pushed it up in morning session then let it go in the afternoon. It wasn't much fall at close but it was in negative territory. Any down move is a relief for me. Although the bull flag and uptrend are well intact.

Made 6 trades today. I bought back the assigned 100 shares of SPY 210. It was a loss on top of the ITM 203c from last assignment. I still don't have a good understanding of how the assignment works. I moved the position on expiration date but not the strike price. It didn't void the assignment happen. I made couple risk reversals in SPY and IWM for near term to long direction as I expect there may be another attempt to go higher next week. No meaningful premiums collected.

Risk profile survived the early surge and got about 3.5K increase in net liq. Margin ratio is up to 40%. The threat could not be reduced significantly without getting any bear call positions off my book. It's all at mercy of RUT since most of my bear call positions are ITM.

Another Leg Up? 12-15-16

Market brushed off Fed's rate hike and popped up again. SPX and RUT took back 2/3 of their losses from yesterday. They closed as an inside day with bull flag formation. They are positioned either retest the break down points of yesterday or ready for another leg up. May be Dow for 20K, SPX for 2300 and RUT for 1400 before the year end? It's possible with the current bullish sentiment. Obviously it will be a bad situation for me. Tomorrow is quad witch day. I would expect a pump up and settle in range day. The big money may want to pin a upper number before they close or roll their positions.

I made 9 trades today. 3 rollovers with 1 spy Jan 19 210 for attempting to void assignment due to low OI. Let's see what happens overnight and tomorrow with the dividend day. The rest of them were mainly hedges. I was too eager to roll 12/23 long calls to 12/30 that reduced my available funds. I may have to buy more hedges to raise my margin and pick another position to exit for the net liq issue.

Risk profile fall again. Net liq is down 10K back to 135K. Margin ratio is down to 23% due to my early roll out of long calls and market raise. I will be on the edge of cliff again if we get another 1% up day tomorrow.

Fed Came To Rescue 12-14-16

FOMC announced to raise the rate by 0.25 point with possible three more hikes in 2017. Market finally pulled back somewhat. SPX and RUT closed down 0.81 and 1.33% respectively. No major support was broken. Both of them are still in their newly established ranges. However, any pull back is a relief for me. I do expect that bulls will try to reload at lows and push up again. I just have to play it day by day and be defensive.

Made 7 trades today. Two for clients. My last leg in GLD was out to release a little margin and net liq. I also exited my RUT Dec 30, 1400 bear call at a loss to reduce margin and net liq this morning as planed. I might have executed the order a bite early. I just couldn't tell how the market would react to FOMC rate cut. Make 1 SPX rollover for next week and sold 1 bull put for end of next month.

Risk profile edged back to safe zone. Net liq is back above 145K for the first time since last week. The last 10 days were tough for me. I had to move a total of 45K funds from ET to prevent margin call in IB. Net liq recovered 18K today while margin ratio is back to 45%. I hope this is the beginning of my long road to recovery.

No Fear of Rate Hike 12-13-16

I was expecting some pulse or small pull back on the day before FOMC announcement. Instead DOW, SPX and NASDAQ made new highs. Luckily RUT didn't follow the suite. It may be next inline if market react positively with FOMC announcement. It appears that market is fully priced in a rate hike tomorrow and they just want to push it higher before the year end. The squeeze on my holdings may not be over soon. I will have to prepare for the worst.

Made 12 trades today. I rolled most of 12/16 long calls to 12/23 to extend my hedges. Also rolled out more deep ITM RUTs. Booked about 20K losses. I may take RUT 1400 short calls off before FOMC to reduce my risk and add it back when the crises is over. Some of my positions are moved out to late Jan and Feb.

Risk profile is still on board line. Gave back 3K of net liq despite a flat RUT. Is it due to my rollover to naked positions plus the 9.65% increase in SPX? Margin ratio is at 28%. I think IB calculates ratio between the Available Funds and Initial Margin which I have about 46% left. Things can change very quickly to the worse. I may have to use my 10K reserve in ET again.

Any Pull Back Is Welcomed 12-12-16

Opec reached agreement with None Opec members to reduce crude production over the weekend. Futures shoot up on Sunday night. Crude was up 3% and ES had 8 points gain. I was really worried about a gap up open on Monday. Luckily market faded overnight. Shanghai went down 2% and European markets were all down slightly. RUT finally had a 1.1% pull back, 1st time in Dec. The market is still very resilient. DJ was and SPX didn't give up more than 3 points. At least the overnight gain of ES was faded. We may see another attempt to go higher. For me any weakness is a good news. I finally got additional 12K breath room. It may save me for another up day.

6 orders got filled today with 3 rollovers. I closed my GLD put with a loss to reduce margin. I need focus on reduce and roll over RUT tomorrow just in case FOMC cause a surprise on Wednesday. We may not see any meaningful pull back before next January. A common theme is that people want to hold their short term gains after the New Year to get better tax rate. On the other hand some may want to sell before the year end to show good results for 2016. We will see.

Net liq was up 12K to give me 26K cushion for now. It is still too thin. Margin ratio is at 48%. It may hold me off until this Friday if there is no big surge. Get to start to put hedges on for next week.  

Survived Another Day 12-9-16

The bulls won't even take a breath. SPX and RUT both closed up 5 days in a row. SPX made another new high closing at 2259.5. Both are closed outside of their Bollinger Band again. My net liq didn't get much of any relief, luckily that RUT only gained 0.11% with a gain of 5.6% for the week.  With the FOMC for next week I am not sure how the market will react. So far it seams no body cares about FED any more. I hope that people will return to their economic common sense soon and my account will last to cover from it. Right now the market is chasing the performance before the year end.

Made 6 trades today before I had to go to Clemson to pick up Alissa. I followed my plan to wire another 15K from my 2 ET accounts to make it through today. I rolled all of my ITM expiring positions out. Luckily with some ATM protective calls so reduced a little loss and built more hedges for next week. Right now the emotion of the market is so high and money is chasing quick returns. Fundamental and technical analyses are not major concerns.

Net liq is barely above water mark at 114.7K with the 15K wired in today. It probably won't survive another 1% pop. Margin ratio is at 48% and IB prediction for post expiration is slightly higher for Monday. I will test if I can roll out much further to reduce margin. I don't have many out of the money positions that I can take off. Net liq will increase only if the market pull back some or adding more money to it. I don't have much extra fund available after the 45K injection for the last 2 weeks. Surviving this draw down is my first priority now. I will fight to my last resource.

Hanging On A Thread 12-8-16

The pattern of this week continued to play out. Market attempts to sell a little in the morning, then buyers step in and lift it up. It followed the momentous of yesterday and booked new highs across the major indexes. RUT gained 1.6% following yesterday's 0.88%. Adding almost 2.5% in just two days. It hit me in the worst possible place. My net liq lost 23K to below P.M level. I had to wire 10K and 5K from ET to shore up my net liq. In the early afternoon I was limited to close positions only when yellow lights were flashing. It was a terrible situation where I could get liquidated easily.

Made 9 trades with 3 rollovers before I was put on closing positions only. I closed SPY 222 at a loss to reduce margin. It didn't help much when market start to push up. I tried to add more hedges with only 3 filled without much margin reduction.

Risk profile is in brink of breaking down. Net liq at only 1000 above the P.M line. I will have to wire more money tomorrow if we don't get even a small pull back. I will decide before the market open tomorrow. Margin ratio is at 52% at least for tomorrow. I need to buy more hedges for next 1-2 weeks.

Another Day of All Time Highs 12-7-16

Market started mildly up in the morning session. It caught on fire from early afternoon. SPX advanced 29 points, a 1.3% gain and closed at 2240. It blow off my 2220 and 2230 bear calls which I thought I had a good chance to close it by Friday. Now they are both ended ITM. RUT made another all time high for the 2nd day. It ended up 0.88% and closed at 1364.5. It took another position of mine ITM. Needless to say this move pushed me to the edge of a cliff.

Made 17 trades across all accounts. I sold some Jan 27 SPX 2330-2350 call spreads while assuming SPX would be up about 0.5% for the day. I was a bit early. Only one of my RUT rollover orders got filled. I have two more to do tomorrow. I was mainly focusing on hedging both sides. After the rollover in late afternoon my available funds was below 20K. Then I placed couple risk reversal calls to shore off the call side. I over did it in quantity and exposed the put side. I then rushed to buy some near term long puts to plug the put side. In the end I pull the margin back to yesterday's level. It was a temporary fix to get me by today and possibly tomorrow. The bigger problem is my net liq getting so low. I may have to close some positions and take losses for now in order to survive this crisis.

Risk profile is near a breaking point. Net liq is closed at 110K, down another 15K from yesterday. If wasn't the 10K from ET I would be in "close positions only" status today. Margin ratio is better than yesterday after I rushed to add more hedges. It may get me through by Friday if we don't have another big run tomorrow. I will add more hedges for next week before end of Friday so I don't have worry about it over the weekend. Right now the projected available funds is at 14K after Friday's expiration.

RUT On Fire Again 12-6-15

RUT logged another 1.1% and reached a new high of 1353. It's on fire for a 20% run from the election night low and almost 18% on day sessions only. SPY also closed near the all time high again. Both of them are near testing their top trend line. Let's see how it will react in the no man's land. I suspect that the big guys to get as much as they can before the Fed meeting next week.

Made 6 trades today. Added a RUT Jan 6 Call CS to form a Iron Condor. I don't understand why that was required margin too. I rolled over another RUT 1280 deep ITM up 10 points. I have a total 9 RUT ITM now. That is my worst record. I made couple hedges in RUT and SPY. Also closed 2 RUT puts to reduce the fees. I felt the heat.

Net liq was lowered again to 125K. For however that IB calculates its margin requirement the margin ratio is up to 29% from yesterday's 25%. The initial margin was lowered right at the open. Tomorrow I will continue to rollover this week's positions and buy hedges to reduce margin. The situation is pretty bad but I must fight for it to survive.

An Italy Job 12-5-16

Italy Constitution Referendum got a NO vote on Sunday night. S&P futures dropped 10 points immediately after the news. By the time I woke up this morning it was up 10 points due to European market react to the news positively. It was another "black swan" went positive, like the Brexit and US Election. This one was just in a smaller scale. It was an open drive session for the US market. RUT and SPX went up 1.8% and 0.6% respectively. I was expecting RUT to reach 2% possibly. The doji on Friday played out to the up side. However MACD and B bands are not showing a very strong up move potential so far. But you never know during Dec.

Made 7 trades with 2 rollovers. Sold a RUT Jan 1430 Call CS to form an iron condor. The rest of them were just hedge and exit puts. One the realized base I got hit again today.

Obviously my portfolio was hit hard with today's surge. Net liq lost near 20K to 134K. The margin ratio of 24% became a concern as well. It wasn't even at this level during the election surge. I guess many of my near the money long calls were gone. There are only some far out protective calls left. The long put side is also stretched with  equity exposure fees. I tried to buy longs in both sides without much luck. I will work on buy more hedges on both sides tomorrow more aggressively. Must bring the margin ratio back.

None Impact Job Report 12-2-16

The Nov Unemployment Report came out this morning with 178K new jobs added v.s. 180-200K expected. It was unusual for the market without much reactions one way or another. In fact the market was choppy all day long and closed flat for SPX and RUT. It appears that the rate hike is priced in and the Trump herd doesn't care anything else. Well, market is not always rational.

Only one order was filled with such a small range choppy day. I rolled RUT Dec 9 1270 up and out to Dec 23 1275. It's hard to roll once a position is deep ITM. I didn't have enough time and focus to move every position out of them money during the rapid run up of RUT. It was also a discipline issue. I disbelieved that RUT could go up 12% and hoped for a break. It's true that hope is not a strategy.

Risk profile went lower due to the expiring Friday. Luckily I got two more SPX bear calls of 2005 and 2020 expired worthless. Now SPX is the 1st one to be come delta nurture. Net liq is up another 3K. Margin is down to 48% as some hedge positions become worthless too. I plan to add more hedges next week.

Establishing A New Balance Area 12-1-16

Indexes continued to the down side in small steps. RUT reached my estimated 1310-00 area but closed above it at 1314. SPX is retest its prior range of 2190 area. If this area holds then SPX will establish a new balance area above 2190. RUT may retest its June 2015 high of 1295 and build its balance area above 1290. If both falls below their levels then we have a top formed. NASDAQ lost another 1.7% today. Is the tech bubo busting?

Made 9 trades today. I continued to roll my bear calls in RUT and SPY to take advantage of this pull back. Also added some bull put spreads across board. I have SPX 2205 call may be OTM if SPX doesn't jump up 15 points. The other one should all be expiring without any problem.

Risk profile improved mainly in net liq which is back to 150K. Margin ratio is at 50%. At this pace I should be able to return the 10K from ET soon.

Are We Seeing A Topping 11-30-16

It was the 2nd day when bulls pushed price up then got knocked on their heads. SPX and RUT were down 0.25 and 0.40% receptively. A more telling signal may be on NASDAQ/QQQ which was down 1% today. MACDs are turning down but haven't crossed yet.  RUT formed a lower low in the last three days. It had a bearish engulfing candle today. We may see it move down further to 1310-1300 area. SPX didn't break yesterday's low so the bull flag is still intact. It could well be a consolidation before another leg up.

Made 10 trades across board. I followed my plan mostly for these near or at the money positions. But I didn't quite recognize my emotions and acted under the assumption of that prices won't come down enough to let me exit. I didn't think my SPX 2205 could be OTM since I had bad experiences on pined target at expiration days, particularly for month or quarter ends. I tend to panic when the price move to against my positions, instead of watching certain levels to confirm the movement. It's a learning process but need to be consciously practice it.

Risk portfolio is out of the dangerous zone for now. Net liq is up to 142K while margin ratio is above 55% now. This week's ending projection is not looking too bad so far.

I took a pretty bad beat for this election period. RUT continued to be my loss leader. My mark to market loss is near 25K. Although I rolled most of the positions up and collected over 10K premiums. The recover will take well into next year. I need to exam my premium calculation. It seems not adding up correctly.

Holding Down 11-29-16

Market had a choppy session but closed slightly up except RUT. SPX and RUT made attempts to go higher earlier then gave back most of their gains. RUT closed at yesterday's low and appeared weaker. SPX still holding its bull flag pattern or it could be forming a right shoulder if no previous high is taking out.

Only 2 trades today. Closed Dec gold 135  bear calls for $1. Bought a SPX 12/2 2255 call to reduce margin. No any other orders got filled. I have 3 near TM positions to close or roll tomorrow. Need to be patience and also decisive.

Risk profile stayed about the same as yesterday. I don't understand that the figures of initial margin and available funds changed quite bit overnight despite of a very small move of the market. Margin ratio dropped to 48% from 55%. No one seams really understand how the margin is calculated.

1st Relief in 2 Weeks 11-28-16

On this Monday after Thanksgiving RUT pulled back 1.3% after 16 consecutive up days. SPX also gave back 0.5%. It was a decent relief for my accounts. My main acct had a 15K relief which brought it back to the safe zone for now at least. MACD started turning down on daily.  RSI for RUT is still above 75 in the over bought territory. Let's see if we get a couple of follow through days to the down side.

Made 13 trades across all accounts including the two I manages for clients. I made some ICs in RUT put side. I rolled over GLD 112 puts from Dec to Jan 109. Also made more hedges to both side in Indices as I planed yesterday. I made a big mistake in rolling Dec 9 127 call by entering quantity 2 instead of 1. The total cost in all legs is more than $700. I will have to make a combo to exit these positions and recover the cost. I must be really stressed out! I need to get good rest and keep my head clear.

Risk profile improved from last end of last week. The 10K transferred from ET helped too. Net liq is above 136K including the ET transfer. Margin ratio is near 55%. Hopefully I can reduce couple bear calls this week.

Relentless Market 11-23-16

Every attempt of selling has been met by buyers in this rally. RUT made another new high of 1342 and booked its 14th up day in a row. Even Fed Minute release indicated the rate hike was around the corner couldn't make a dent on the market. The result is that I am pushed one more step close to the edge. I lost another 5K in net liq. It has about 9K cushion left in my portfolio. It's true that the biggest draw down is in the future.

Made 9 trades with 4 rollovers in call side and the rest of them were closing puts. They didn't help much in reducing margin and risk. I made 2 entry errors today. Such mistake hasn't happened for a long time. I must be stressed out without realizing it. I need to regroup and get my head clear on this Thanksgiving Day.

Risk profile is worsening. Net liq is down to 119K. Leverage is up to 166. Both set the worst on my record. Margin ratio of 47% is better for the time being. The post expiry predicts a lower ratio for next week. I need to call IB on Friday or Monday to clarify Net liq and margin relationships and requirement.

The Risk I Didn't See Before 11-22-16

All US major indexes made another new high today. A early push down in SPX was met with buyers again. It's a relentless bull market. The squeeze made me realize that I could face a net liq draw down to below portfolio margin requirement issue. I may be forced to liquidate some of my bear call positions to meet the requirement. With another 1% surge in RUT and IWM my net liq is down another 9K to 123K. Simply hedging margin wouldn't bring net liq up. I set 110K as my line in the sand. I will have to buy back positions to reduce my risk.

Made 13 trades. I took a big hit on realized losses although collected premiums during the rollover process. I need to get couple bear calls off my book. There are 11 RUT, 3 IWM,  5 SPY and 1 SPX calls ITM as of today. It's a matter of survival again.

Risk profile is on alert now. Net liq was discussed above. Margin ratio is dropped below 40%. Tomorrow will be a tough day if the market continue to push up. I will try to roll out more positions and looking for ways to reduce my side even if it's temporarily.

New Highs For Major Indices 11-21-16

It was a renewed upward push on Monday. RUT booked its 12th consecutive up days. SPX closed its all time high of 2198 on high of the day. It appears there is more energy to go further which is showing in ES on the evening session. We may see a gap up tomorrow morning. It's more and more like the surge after Britexit. Hope the market will take a breath or get a turn around Tuesday.

Made 7 trades today. I took a 10K hit on the rollover of RUT 1105 call. There will be a bigger one when I roll 1140 call. I am paying the price again for my undisciplined actions again. This is 2nd draw down during 2016. I sold another SPX 2280 call for 12-30 in both Lao Dong and QII acct. I should have waited after the break out. I will work adding more hedges tomorrow.

Risk profile continues to deteriorating.  Net liq dropped another 5k to 133K now. Margin ratio is down to 45%. I really feel the heat and frustration. Need to keep my head cool and focus on disciplined action.

Be The Leader You Would Follow 11-21-16

Every serious trader is a leader, running a trading business.  Would you want to work for the business you're creating?  Would you follow yourself as a leader?  Would you allocate your hard-earned money to someone who manages their trading the way you do?  Inspiration follows from aspiration: We are most energized when we live up to our highest ideals.  -Brett Steenbarger

No Relief Yet 11-18-16

RUT made another new high at 1316. It booked its 11th consecutive up days. Most of my rollover are ITM again. It's the Briexit all over again. My assumption of "it won't happen again" was wrong. SPX took a breath before challenge it's all time high of 2191.5 made in Aug 23. I will wait to see the reactions after it makes a new high. Would it follow the suit of RUT or not?

I made 2 trades, exiting SPY 219.5 for today before heading to Clemson and rolled up RUT 1290, Dec 2 to 1310 C for Lao Dong. None of my hedge orders was filled. I will try again next week. It's going to be the Thanksgiving short week. I need to do my rollover quick.

Risk profile is further pressured with RUT's relentless advance. Net liq is down to 138K. Margin ratio is at 47% after some hedge positions expired today. I will have to build it back tomorrow.

The Bull Flags Played Out 11-17-16

The bull flag pattern of SPX and RUT played out today. It didn't shake the market when Yellen testified in Congress implying rate increase was near. RUT made another new high of 1313 today. SPX closed at 2187. It's only 7 point away from its all time high of 2193.8. We may see it to touch or break it by tomorrow. The more important is how it will close.

Made 9 trades today. I rolled 2 of SPY 2185 Cs as they were traded around. I continued to roll over my ITM RUTs. It resulted in 6K losses. I am sticking to my plan of rolling ATM and ITM positions instead of waiting for near expiration. So far I could use the protective longs to offset part of the losses. Some of the put positions were closed which help me to add more for the rollovers.

Risk profile still above my safe line. But Net liq looks ugly. It got to the lowest level of 141K. Margin ratio is down 10 points to 54%. I may have to do more hedges tomorrow. Staying small has helped me to weather the risk this time so far. However I was too concerned about the down risk and paid less attention to the upside before the election.

Choppy w/ Bull Flags 11-16-16

Market went into a choppy mode as bulls and bears played a tagger war. SPX and RUT closed within +- of 0.2%.  On daily charts SPX and RUT are holding their bull flags while B bands made room to the upside. It's likely that both will continue to push up. ES made a all time high over night during European session. Assume the trades want to see what's behind the new high.

Made 6 trades today. Most of them were ratio hedges and rollovers. Closed SPY 218 call 1 hr before expiration. I was spooked by the 3pm pushing into 218. So I moved my exit price from 3 to 8. I made money but it was an emotional trade. It ended up closing at 1c. My plan was to exit between 8-10c. So which part of my action is correct? Have few more close out or rollover to do tomorrow.

Risk profile stayed relatively healthy. Net liq is still my concern due to the number of positions ITM or near ATM. I didn't collect much premiums in the last two days. My effort was mainly on risk controls. Margin ratio is at 64% while leverage is above 110. How are they correlated?

Melting Up 11-15-16

Market continued inching up. Dow and RUT already made new highs. SPX is less than 10 points away to make its all time high while NASDAQ is 140 points behind. It's more and more like the pattern of Britexit now.

My portfolio is under further pressure as the melt up continues. I made about 25 trades for the last three days. More than a half of them were rollovers in different combinations. Of these under water positions in RUT, IWM and SPY, luckily my protective long calls made money to offset my losses for the rollovers. But the number of such long calls are running out. I was able to close some put positions then it switched margin to the call side. I will have mid week rollover for SPY tomorrow. Expect the indices to squeeze up.

Risk profile is mixed in comparison with last Aug. Net liq is down near 25% to 143K in a week of time while gross position value increased about the same amount. This is not good for option selling strategy. I am just waiting for couple of down days to give me some relief. Fortunately I am still collecting premiums on each trade. Margin ratio is still above 50% most of time. It closed at 55% today which leave me some room to breath and roll some positions around.  I will continue to hedge the call side and deal with my risk day by day.

A Day of Follow Through 11-10-16

Indices gaped up again this morning. The gaps got closed early and buyers stepped in to push the market higher. RUT closed up 1.6% following yesterday's 3% gain. SPX was only up 0.2% while QQQ lost more than 1.3%. New highs are insight for SPX and RUT. What's after new highs may give more clue. Are we going to see another Brixt sustained surge?

Made 10 trades today. I was busy to defending my ITM bear calls. I rolled over these ITM positions based on my rule of engagement. These directional calls helped out as I sold the profit ones and bought more protections further out on dates and kept some small premiums. Over all, I am pressured again with more ITM and ATM bear calls. I am eating my own bite fruits again. Luckily my positions are smaller than the Brixt and last Aug. It appears a year end draw down is under way unless we see a quick turn down after new highs.

Risk profile is mixed. Net liq is hit again with another 16K. It's down to 166K from Nov high of 199K. Margin ratio is up a little to 52% with my heavy hedges today. I have couple more SPY ATM positions to roll tomorrow depending on what market directions we get tomorrow. Right now it appears that bulls are still energized.

Wild Election Ride 11-9-16

Index futures down 5% before mid night when Trump appeared winning the election. I heard it on radio on the way back after dropped Alissa off in Clemson. I tried to trade ES CS and Strangles but ES was limit down already. No prices could be entered below the limit price. I didn't have a clear strategy. In hide sight I am glade I couldn't do it. The market pulled back slightly below the day's closing. Recovered almost 4 of the 5%. Then SPX and RUT advanced 1 and 3% respectively before closing. Over all it was a 6-8% round trip in the last 24 hrs. SPX and RUT are firmly in the higher part of their previous balance area.

I made 4 trades on the Election day which was a choppy day. I closed couple positions on call side and entered ratio hedges in both side of SPX. Followed my plan well. There were 7 trades today. 3 of my RUT & SPX puts were closed due to the surge. 2 of the SPY & IWM long calls were filled for more than 100% gains. My SPY 115 call expiring today looked safe in the morning then it was squeezed by noon. It was pushed ITM before my action plan starting by 2pm. I had to make 3 different trades to roll it out with less premiums. In a sense I followed my plan of what time to execute.

Risk profile fall below boarder line slightly due to today's surge. I am still heavy on call side. Net liq is down 10K and gross position is up 8K. Margin ratio is at 47.5%. I think I have survived the down side risk of this election. The risk is now on the call side. The Christmas rally may be starting from the end of election, along with some pull backs. I need to plan my trades accordingly.

FBI Rally 11-7-16

FBI indicated there was no new issues discovered on Clinton's email on Sunday afternoon. Index futures gaped up around 1+% on Sunday night. There were far from closing the gap on Monday session. In fact, all major indexes closed above 2% mark. SPX has clearly moved back into the balance area of last July to Oct while RUT is parked below the range.

Made 8 trades today. Most of them were hedges and closing positions. I only made a IC 2 in SPX Dec 1 which I was about 1% early. I estimated a 1 % move but market ended with a 2% gain. My plan for tomorrow is continue to reduce and hedge my risk.

Risk profile is still above my requirement. Margin ratio is at 61% while net liq dropped slightly due to the upside movement.

VIX Set A Record For Number Of Up Days 11-4-16

The NFPR came out slightly below expectations but still adding over 160K jobs for Oct. Market responded to the report with positive opens. Until 2pm, sellers started showing up. It played out as a pump and dump day. SPX turned to red from +0.6% while RUT held a 0.6% gain giving up about 1%. VIX logged its 8th up day, setting a new record for number of continued up days. I made another attempt to buy VXX on early pull back but didn't get it. We may see VIX continue to surge as it has not reached last Aug high yet.

I made several bear call spreads to form IC for my Nov and early Dec positions during the up move. I need to watch out a possible V shape bounce after the Election day. I am still weak in planning during market's volatile movement. I tend to be more responsive and enter a trade in the heat moment. On my put hedge of SPY 203 long, I planed to hold it longer into the election day in case of the surprise sudden drop. During today's up thrust I was afraid of losing value so I entered another order at 50% profit target and it got filled during the down thrust in the last hour of trading. I altered my plan and lost the protection. It was a profitable trade but still a wrong trade. I had to enter another risk reversal one more week out at 193 but double the bear calls to collect some premiums. It increased too much of my risk on the bear call side. I may be threatened on the bear side if the market surges after the election. A lesson must be remembered.

Risk profile weakened due to the down side movement. Net liq decrease 1K to 197K while Initial M poped 11K to 86K. Margin ratio is down to 56% from 62% instead of my plan to increase the ratio. I have next two days to reduce my exposure and increase my ratio. I need to focus and stay disciplined to make it make it work. My target is to get the ratio to 65% or better before the election.  

The Fear Continues 11-3-16

Market tried to lift itself up this morning but sellers kept knocking it down until it broke yesterday's low and slide down the hill. Although the losses were less than 0.5% for both SPX and RUT but they have booked 6 and 7 day continued losses. VIX logged 8th up days which set a record. There are still rooms to the down side. It's 2040 area and 1130 area for SPX and RUT respectively. They may be saved for the election shocks.

Made 4 trades today. They were hedges and rollovers. I made a double wing butterfly in SPY with 2 longs of 203. I then set a scale out order to exit 1 at 50% profit. It got hit in the afternoon. It shows how VIX is affecting option price. I have couple positions in SPY and IWM near the money. I will have to close them or rollover tomorrow.

Risk profile is down a little. Margin ratio is at 62% while gross position value increased 4K. I need to add couple ratio hedges in the big contracts tomorrow to sustain the possible election shock.

FOMC - A None Event This Time 11-2-16

FED held interest rate unchanged as expected. It didn't stop the market continue to decline. RUT and SPX lost 1.26% and 0.64% respectively. Both of them are firmly below their Oct balance areas and heading into their summer ranges. With the election only a few days away the market is in an uncertainty mode.

I had only 1 trade today since I didn't want to add any bull puts to increase my leverage and risk. My corn Dec bear call hit my exit price. A surprise was with my BABA put spreads. It had a better than expected earning report this morning and its price popped near 4% to 103 in pre market. By the afternoon it lost almost 2% and was dragged to a total of - 3.7% after FB ER with a 8% drop. My 95 put spreads was from a sure 100% winner to a possible loser if it drop near 95 tomorrow.

Risk profile didn't change much. Margin ratio is at 65% while net liq is near 200K. I will try to add more hedges and roll out some put positions tomorrow.

VOL Is Up 11-1-16

On the day before FOMC it was expected to be a choppy, range bound market. Indices took a dive of more than 1%, then recovered about half before closing. VIX went up more than indices and parked at 18 now. I tried to buy some VXX but didn't get fill. FOMC tomorrow may push VIX around even more. I will try again.

Made 7 trades today. 3 of them were exiting positions. 2 were rollovers and 1 ratio hedge. I entered my first SPX Monday expiration trade for Nov 7, a day before expiration of 2050/2000 put spread. It wasn't a very good timing. VEGA risk is too high. For the most part I held off adding any new put positions to preserve my buying power. BABA will report its earnings tomorrow morning. It kept going down since I entered my 95/90 put spreads. I am a little uncomfortable but will stick to my plan of expiring or rolling.

Risk profile stays at a healthy level. Margin ratio is at 69%. I will try to reduce my positions further to make my margin ratio to about 80% before the Election day when and if I can.

Waiting Mode On Monday 10-31-16

Indices traded in a small range and closed near flat. Market appears to be in a waiting mode after FBI's bombshell of Clinton email last Friday. It's getting close to the Election Day and the picture is still not clear.

No trade today. There is no clear opportunity for me. I plan to add few calls in SPY and IWM tomorrow if we get a decent pop. I may have to wait after the election day to get into new positions. I may adjust my ITM bear call positions in next couple days and add hedges to my bull put positions.

Risk profile is healthy. Margin ratio is at 64.6%. I need to keep the reserves for a possible election shock.

Third Down Day 10-27-16

Indices made another down day with similar pattern of yesterday. Bulls mounted an offense before lunch then failed in the later session. RUT led the sell off with 1.3% lose and closed firmly below last week's low while SPX is hanging on last week's open. We may see another down day since both SPX and RUT are closed on their LOD. AMZN reported its earnings after hour with less than expected outlook. It's share tumbled 5%.

Made 9 trades today. Three of them were ratio put hedges. Four were scalp trades in SPY and IWM for next two weeks. Couple of them may be in danger if market continues to drop next week.

Risk profile stays pretty healthy. Margin ratio is above 70%. Margin switched to put side again. I may add couple scalp calls if there is a bounce tomorrow. I need to be more patience on put selling tomorrow as I don't have many available time spots left.

Getting A Little Volatile 10-26-16

Market pushed lower again today. RUT poked through its low of last week a little while SPX recovered most of its loss. VIX future is above 15 now. MACDs are pointing toward lower side on weekly but in narrow range on daily. It may take awhile to resolve it.

Made 7 trades today. The risk reversal on SPY I made for a long play failed. I closed the long side with 55% loss. Hope the puts at 209.5 will make some money. I made the strike too close. I sold couple more end of Nov put spreads in SPX and RUT. I sold two put spread on another individual stock as a earning play. BABA has 38% vol  with only 7 days to earning.

Risk profile dropped some but stayed on healthy level. Margin ratio is at 66% as margin shifted to put side. Net liq increased a little to 194K.

Gap Closed On Pull Back 10-25-16

Indices made an unexpected pull back today and closed yesterday's gap. It looks like a rejection of their previous balance area. Or bulls may give it another try to break the resistances. I should watch if there is a follow through to the down side tomorrow. Prices are closed in the mid of B band and MACDs are flat on daily as well. I need to hold off my fire to see the directions of the market after today's put selling.

Made 6 trades today. Sold 3 early Dec puts CS in SPX and RUT. I was assuming that recent daily pattern of early drop and late pop would be in play. But they closed on the lower side. It could be the start of a new pattern. Wait to see! I made a new trade in XBI, biotech ETF as part of my diversification experiment. It was a Dec 3 strangle with 0.6 Delta and near 40 IV. I still couldn't get into TLT and GLD for other type of asset classes.

Risk profile is in good shape for now. Margin ratio is at 71% and VAR is 25K. The current chart pattern is similar to last Aug and worrisome. Chinese Yuan devalued more than last Aug which was the trigger of sell off last year. Just be mindful about it.

Monday Gap Up 10-24-16

Indices gaped up from futures gains overnight. It appears the lower B band and the bottom of balance area held. Now market is looking to explore the upper side of the B Band with favorable earning reports so far. SPX and RUT both closed right below BB mid line. MACDs are near crossing up from below. An up wave may be under way as we are approaching the election.

Made 6 trades today. I tried to learn directional play. I bought 2 10/28 SPY 215 calls and sold 3 11/9 209.5 puts and collected $26. It may be called risk reversal combo. This setup doesn't have much down side protection. I was too early. I didn't have a clear set of rules. It was a pure experiment. I will continue to learn and find a suitable directional system for my arsenal. The other orders were just ordinary position adjustment. I should wait for the market come up more before selling more calls.

My net liq is down a little due to the up swing. Margin rate is at 73%, the highest since I started tracking the figures.

A Week Ended w/ Small Gains 10-21-16

Index futures were down overnight and took out yesterday's low before open. But the recent pattern early drop and pullback later played out again. Market ended in another small range choppy day. On weekly SPX and RUT ended this week in a positive note. However weekly MACD is still behind.

Had only 1 trade of closing a put today. Margin went to put side then back to calls again. I guess I am near balance now. This week ended with 5.7K realized gains. I didn't get to collect a lot premiums for future dates due to the small ranges of the market. I am OK with not getting premiums every day know. Wait for the market come to me instead of chasing it.

Net liq is up to 192K and margin ratio is at 68%. I continued to try to diversify into GLD and TLT but no fills.

Choppy Down 10-20-16

It was a rangebound market again today. Indices tested yesterday's lows in the morning and met with buyers. Market closed slightly lower. If it keep punching the lower side it may eventually knock the bottom out. Or buyers could step in and take it to the upper side and try to make a new high for this year after the election settled.

Made 5 trades today. Sold 3 scalps in IWM and SPY during the morning drop. Also bought a ratio hedge in SPX puts for Oct 5. I tried to sell GLD and TLT strangles for 2nd day but no fills. They have been really choppy in a small range.

Risk profile stayed above my standards. I have ammus to use once it breaks out one way or another.

Holding Up 10-19-16

Indices generally stayed up with with good earning reports. The push up continues to the mid of the balance area. We may see the up move to the higher end of the B band. The descending triangle is still forming on daily.

Only 2 trades of rollover of RUT 1130 dITM positions today. I may consider to add some bear call positions tomorrow on scalp plays first tomorrow should and is likely the move up continues.

Risk profile is no major change. Margin ratio is nearly 68% and leverage up to 51.

Turn Around Tuesday 10-18-16

Indices futures went up overnight. Market gaped up this morning. They couldn't filled the gap despite the pull back before closing. It appeared to be a turn around Tuesday. MACD started showing turns on daily as well. I guess that we can anticipate prices move to the mid of B band.

Made 7 trades across all accounts. Sold a Nov 4 SPX 2235 call spreads for my client. The rest of them were exit positions and ratio hedges. Margin is on call side. I will add some scalping calls should the market push up again tomorrow. It's the earning session with some positive results.

Risk profile is lowered again with some positions off the line. Margin ratio is at 67% while Net liq and leverage are no changes.

Choppy Down Monday 10-17-16

Indices opened slightly down erasing futures overnight gains. Sellers kept it down throughout the session. Both ES and TF closed near lower end of their B bands and above their last week lows. It may be time for a bounce. Netflix had a big surprise earning report. Its shares surged 20% in after hour trading. I am glad I followed my plan and exited my strangles before the earning report.

Made 7 trades today. Sold SPY puts for next 2 weeks as my scalping trades. Rolled 2 SPY 205 bear calls to Nov 1 206 with a put to collect some premiums. The rest of them were exit positions for margin purposes.

Risk profile is above my requirement for the time being. Margin ratio is above 60% and leverage is at 49. Margin is on the bear call side. I have room to add couple more positions on either directions.

Retest Balance Lows 10-13-16

Indices gaped down this morning following Asia and Europe down markets. SPX went straight down about 1% to retest its current balance low of 2020 area. RUT made a similar movement. From there buyers stepped in to defend the lows. SPY actually closed the gap then fall back a little before closing. It appears the bottoms may be held for now if they can stand for an retest.

No trade was filled today. I was expecting a little longer or further bottom testing. I didn't want to be aggressive since my positions were extended to late Nov already. The election is still a major concern of mine. There are two mid week SPY positions expired worthless. I have less positions for Oct than Sept due to the narrow banded Aug.

Risk profile remains about the same. There is one RUT 1130 Call need to be rolled over tomorrow.

Turning Down 10-12-16

This post is a combination of  yesterday and today. I took my college roommate and his family to Helen yesterday after I placed few orders in put side in attempts to form some Nov's IC. Indices were down in the morning before I left around 11am. The down move exceeded 1% in early afternoon. Most of my put selling orders got filled. I expected today was a slow day due to Fed Min release in the afternoon. Indices tried to move into positive territory but closed down slightly.

Made a total 15 trades across all of my acct in the last two days. I closed my first individual stock stock options trades on NFLX because there is only few days left before its earning announcement and it hit my pre-set target. I closed couple hedging calls to reduce margin. The SPY 203 short was reduced another 50 shares after the exit target got hit yesterday. It was a total losing trade and I let it dragged for too long. There is only 50 shares left. I sold three short calls today on the early pop for reload and strangles. Margin is switched to the call side again. The down slide may not be over yet despite a positive election outlook. Also the earning session just started. We may see some new volatility in near term.

Risk profile is back to a healthy level due to the pull back of last two days. Net liq is 188K, the highest since early July. Margin ratio is at 53% and leverage at 53.

Another NFPR, Different Reaction 10-7-16

Sept NFPR came out at 156K v.s 172 expected. No big surprises but good enough. Market popped up but retreated before cash open. SPX and RUT were down 07 - 1.2% at one time but closed near flat. It looks like that buyers are still in control. Let's see what kind of follow through will market get. So far I couldn't see which way the market will break out this two week ranges.

Made 16 trades across all my accounts. Finally filled all of IC put side for Nov 2 and 3. It's the election period during that time. I get to be cautious. I may consider to take them off between 50-70% profit or roll them over. Margin is on the put side now due to 6 call positions closed. I could have had one more RUT 1235 call expired worthless but I didn't stick to my plan of waiting until 2pm. Instead I placed an rollover order around 10 am.

Portfolio risk was reduced with today's pull back and expired positions. Net liq is up to 185K. Margin ratio is at 53%. Post expiry margin and excess are predicted at 71,250 and 114,308 respectively. I will check these numbers on Sunday to see how accurate the predictions are.

Same O, Same O. 10-6-16

Another day of the same old play. Ups and downs within the range. Today's movement was first down then pushed up. Market is waiting for NFPR again for clues. Who knows how the trade will interpret it. Give the election factors and expected rate hike in Dec.

Made 3 trades today. Rolled 1 of 2 SPX 2160 call to 2180 next week to get some premiums with a put. I tried to roll my deep ITM RUT calls but no luck. I sold 2 SPY 205 ITM calls to offset my loss of the assigned 203 bear calls as part of my plan. A order of buy partial short shares was filled after 7pm when British Pound had a sudden 6% drop. It was believed as a program error or a fat finger again. Tried to sell TLT and YUM bull puts but didn't get filled.

Risk profile is about the same. Leverage dropped to 66 from 74 after the SPY short was closed. I will have to get more hedges tomorrow for next week.

Reversed Up 10-5-16

SPX and RUT reversed up today closing up between 0.4-0.7% respectively.  They stayed within their current balance area. The ups and downs appeared to be simply marking their time while awaiting for something. Of course my current portfolio is squeezed with any upside movement giving these underwater bear call positions.

I made 4 trades today. Three of them were ratio hedging on call side. Sold a set of NFLX bear calls while it was having 3+% up on 2nd day with rumors that Disney may acquire Netflix. I sold 130 calls when it traded at $105. I should have been more patient to sell it at $135 area. A bad habit I am still not recognizing during the heat of trading. I was holding off to sell anymore calls in order to conserve my available margin. I didn't execute my plan to swap my SPY short shares with options when the market was up. It shouldn't really matter weather the price is up or down. I will try to do it tomorrow.

Risk profile is down somewhat while prices are up. Margin ratio is at 47%. Leverage is still at 73. I wonder how much will it drop once I buy back the 170 shares of SPY.

Another Small Down Day 10-4-16

Indices had another small down day. SPX and RUT closed down about 0.5% recovering from some early losses. They are still in their current balance area. BB and MACD are in mid of it. The market is in waiting mode.

Made 11 trades today. 8 of them were new positions on put side. 3 were closing calls. Margin is reduces but still on the call side. I continued to experiment the scalping strategy and keep it small. Don't want a big shook hurt me like last summer. I tried to look for other assets to trade with no luck. Gold was down 3.3% but didn't have the right premiums in the area I wanted. Will look at it tomorrow again. TLT was down 1.2%.

Risk profile is back to safe levels for now. Net liq is up 3.6k to 183K. Margin ratio is at 53%. I may add couple more calls should the market pop in the rest of the week.

None Trending Monday 10-3-16

It was an inside day for SPX and RUT, slightly closed to the down side. VIX is as flat as the indices. All of them are parked in mid of their B bands. It's a theta burning day for my option holdings. I couldn't tell which direction the market is more likely to go on this first day of month and quarter.

Made 5 trades without adding any new positions. The available margin was below 30% after Friday's expiration. I placed some closing call orders after I came back from Northlake on Sunday night. I will look into some individual stocks for my weekly income experimenting.  

Net liq is back to 180K level. Margin is at 38% after the week plunging below 30%. I plan to add more hedges or close some positions on call side to further reduce my committed margin.

Rejected From Upper Balance 9-29-16

SPX was rejected from pushing into the upper balance area of 2158 to 2190 area while RUT is still hanging on the lower edge of its high balance area. I didn't expect a 1-1.5% drop today give the month end and quarter end tomorrow. I thought it would be a choppy day. But indices ended on a lower note. I will prepare for more down side move near term. Let's see what happens to tomorrow's quarter end window dressing.

I made 18 trades across my accounts. I continued to experiment the weekly scalping strategy. I still don't have a hang of it yet. I was often anxious with fears of missing or being hit. I tried couple of these mid week expiration options. On the regular CS, I did order fitting with lowered premiums and turned out to be wrong. I still need to work on my emotion recognition and mechanical set ups. I made some ratio hedges to the put side. I need constantly watching my down side risk.

Risk profile had a good turn. Net liq improved 7K while margin ratio is up to 58%. I can add few more positions should market come to my area of interest. But I need to get ride off the exposure fees. I collected 1.7K premiums across all of my accts.

Uptrend Boosted By Crude Reduction Deal 9-28-16

Market continued to follow through yesterday's reversal after initial push down. OPEC production reduction agreement was announced in early afternoon that boosted the market. CL was up 5% and indices gained more than 0.5%. My portfolio was squeezed again. Three of the four DITM RUT calls look hopeless now. I can't remember how I didn't roll them up when they were threatened.

Made four trades today. I started to experimenting weekly income trading within two week time frame inspired by that weekly income trader on YouTube. I will trade it small and by ready to roll out if it gets threatened. I am currently using two cars in SPY and IWM each week. My main concern is that the two are still index related. They are not diversified if we get a sudden drop. I need to look into other asset classes or individual stocks. Also closed a naked SPX Nov 1 for about 80% profit. I sold a call CS of RUT, Nov 3 on that surge. I may have enough buying power to add couple more call CS in SPX if the push up continues.

Risk profile got pushed off some. Net liq dropped about 4K. Margin ratio is right at 50%. I will add more call hedges for expiring week.

A Range Up Day 9-27-16

SPX thoroughly test FOMC b/o point of last Wednesday. The trading was choppy so it didn't feel like a 20 point move. Market ended up higher on the boost of last night debate but didn't break prior day's high. It appears it stocked between two balance area. It may break out either way in Oct. But the primary trend is still up.

Made 8 trades today. None of them is premium collection. Closed 7 positions to reduce margin and bought one ratio hedge. Margin is back to call side again. I have rooms to add new positions now.

Risk profile is back inline now. Margin ratio is back above 50%. Net liq and gross position value reduced 1K due to the up move. Let's see if I can collect some premiums tomorrow.

Retest FOMC Seen? 9-26-16

Indices made a follow through to the down side after last Friday's turn. SPX nearly visited the break out point of FOMC last Wednesday. RUT has a little more to go since it went up farther than SPX.  All eyes are on the presidential debate tonight. It will be an event influence the market. I am not sure if it will have a lasting impact. However I am watching my downside risk.

Made two ratio hedging trades in both SPX and RUT puts today. No premium selling orders got filled. I will see what tomorrow will bring. I tried to close some put hedge positions but no luck.

Risk portfolio improved. Net liq is 6K better and margin ratio is back into 44%. The concerns are now that margin is on the put side with exposure fees of 2.50 per day. I will get ride most of it tomorrow with some exit orders.

Squeeze Up 9-22-16

Indices gaped up following the sharp raise of Asian and European markets. SPX and RUT both crossed and closed above their B Bands on daily. MACD also crossed up on daily. SPX looks ready to move into August range while RUT already crossed it with over 3% rise in the last 2 days. My portfolio got squeezed pretty bad. These near the money bear calls were pushed in the money.

Made 3 trades, 1 rollover of SPX 2150 bear call to next week and closed a SPX put. I sold 2 NFLX Oct $80 bull puts following yesterday's plan. It was my attempt to diversify my portfolio. I want to reduce my index options size and tip toes into other asset classes. I also placed couple orders in ZC but no fill. Will keep looking for other opportunities.

Risk portfolio is worsening. Lost another 8K in net liq while the gross position value exploded about the same amount. Margin ratio improved 2% with the rollover. No ratio hedging got filled today. I will look at tomorrow's "post expiry" predication and decide how much hedge needed.

No Rate Change 9-21-16

Market hesitated for a while after FOMC no rate hike announcement. After Yellen's conference it started pushing up. SPX and RUT gained 1.09% and 1.34% respectively. They both closed at the highs of the day indicating likely upside tomorrow. MACD daily also start to cross up. The current correction may be over and another leg up just started.

Made 10 trades across my accounts today. 5 of them were preset exit orders. 1 RUT ratio hedge. Sold four late Oct and Nov call spreads with near 1 delta. I underestimated the up surge when I saw weaker upside move about a hour after the announcement. I will be more patience tomorrow to see how strong the market may move.

Risk profile got squeezed as the market moved up. Neq liq is down almost 8K and gross position value increased 7K with added 2 CS positions. Margin ratio dropped to 35%. I will buy more hedges tomorrow to reduce my margin.

Awaiting For Fed Again 9-20-16

Indices chopped in a 10+ point range while waiting for FOMC announcement tomorrow. The majority don't believe that the Fed will raise the rate at this meeting. They may pay more attention to the language of FOMC statement. We may see another surge to the upside if no rate hike. If that's the case market will have until Dec to face the rate issue. The election is over by that time. There will be up and down during this period.

Made 6 trades in SPX and RUT today. All of them were ratio hedges in both directions. I feel much better to deal with tomorrow's news one way or another. It's the 3rd day without collecting any meaningful premiums. My search for other assets has not result anything yet. I may take a look at grains again tomorrow. I will wait to sell into any new positions after the initial reactions of the announcement.

Risk profile is close to mid now. Margin ratio is at 45%. Leverage is at 68. I will continue to reduce my position size to prepare rollover on Friday.

No Trend On Monday 9-19-16

It was a gap up open from the futures last night. I thought we might see a trending day back to the lows of prior balance area. Before lunch sellers stepped in and pushed SPX and RUT back down to b/o and slight up. However both SPX and RUT closed above last week's closing. I don't know how much does it mean. It's all about Fed now. We may see more re positioning tomorrow. I plan to place more hedge on calls and reduce size on puts tomorrow. I will wait to add new positions until FOMC announcement.

Made five trades today. Closed four positions and sold one SPX put to pay for these closing cost. No premiums collected for the 2nd day. My positions are still over leveraged with only 40% available margins. I started to look for other assets, such as stocks, ETFs for trading opportunities and reducing sizes. So far nothing has penned out yet.

Risk profile lightened some after Friday's expiration. Margin is still on the call side with some in the money and near the money calls. Margin rate is at 40% but net liq is down to 182K.

Choppy Quad Witching 9-16-16

It was a small range inside day to my surprise, so much for the quad witching day. Indices closed slightly down. It appears that market is just marking time and waiting for next week's FOMC. With today's small range my positions left on both sides ended worthless.

There were only three trades with two of them being hedges and one closing a position. No premiums were collected. I am not eager to press orders to collect premiums on daily bases. It's a progress in my mentality. I used to feel bad if I didn't make a sale and collect some premiums in a day. Now I would measure it in a weekly and monthly bases. It was a good week to recover from July and Aug draw down. I made back 2/3 of the loses on realized base while collecting premiums each week. It has been steadily for the last four weeks.

Risk profile is better with net liq up and position value down. Margin should be back up more after the expiration taking place.

Reversing Up? 9-15-16

Indices popped up more than 1% after attempting lower initially. I am not sure if it was the effect of the option expiration or resume of uptrend. Tomorrow could be volatile as well due to the regular option expiration Friday. I need to be more patient going into next week's FOMC Wednesday.

Made 14 trades today. Loaded 8 calls across my accounts as I wasn't expecting the 1% pop. Luckily they are either CS or formed a CS since I had some idling hedged calls. Had to roll a near the money SPX 2155 bear call to next week at the end. Have 2 RUT 1235 in ET couldn't get closed even after cash closing. It is 10 point away from closing. I will place an recovery order if RUT gaps up 10 points tomorrow morning. It's not the way I preferred to deal with it. Be mindful about another V shaped rally after FOMC.

Margin is still on put side. Risk profile worsened some. Net liq and margin both dropped. After this week's position closed tomorrow I should get some relief.

Keep Punching The Lows 9-14-16

Indices made attempts higher but failed at the end. The ranges are still small. The lows of yesterday held so far but may be broken if keep getting punched. Friday's unemployment claim report may provide an opportunity. Indices may fall into their prior balance area below.

Made 2 trades today. Both were closing calls of this week and next week. Margin is switched to put side now. I have couple positions of SPX need to close for the monthly expiration tomorrow. I will place couple ratio hedging on puts to increase my margin and in case I need to rollover any positions.

Risk portfolio stays about the same. Net liq increased 5K while gross position value decreased for about the same amount. No any new position was added. Margin ratio is at 37%, a bit low.

Retest Yesterday's Low 9-13-16

Indices went down with over night futures. SPX and RUT both retested their lows of yesterday. In fact RUT punched through the prior low and closed right at it. We may see a continuation of down move if today's lows couldn't hold in next couple days. I held off my entries in anticipation of breaking the test today but it didn't happen. So it was a light day for me today. My bear calls from yesterday looked timely so far.

Three filled orders today. I rolled over RUT 1100 bear call of next week with a put expecting the put decay to offset my rollover cost and earn the premiums. Otherwise the deep ITM call won't earn any premiums while tied my capital. Made a call ratio hedge and a put ratio hedge on the up and down swings. I paid attention to my mental state and emotional changes during the swings. I kind of remind myself to lay back and let market come to me. I even went out to get oil change for my car in the afternoon after I get my orders in place for a break down which didn't happen. I remind myself there is another day if the price didn't come to my level today.

Risk profile improved some. Margin is still on call side. Net liq is up about 3% and leverage is down to 73, still high though. Margin ratio is at 37%. The deep ITM calls are dragging my margins.

A Pull Back or Bear Trap? 9-12-16

Market popped up to the lower boarder of previous balance area.  SPX and RUT both gained about 1.4%, much stronger than anticipated. Would it be another bear trap like like January and late June? It looks like it so far. Now with Fed Sept meeting nearing we may see another surge if there is no rate hike. Trades may show their hands in next couple days.

Made 14 trades across my accts. I didn't expect the bounce would be so strong since the first couple hours was very slow. Buyers were not convinced. I was getting emotionally fear of missing opportunities to short the bounce. Also felt pressured when margin switched to puts. I made several risk reversal of selling calls to buy put hedges. It turned out to be too early. I should recognize that trading ranges are much bigger now. I also need to make clear rules for near the money rollover.

Risk profile gave up more than half of gains from last Friday. These ITM bear calls are going with any up moves. Net liq dropped about $4k while margin ratio is down to 33%. I may have to buy more calls to reduce my margin tomorrow.

Gap Down 9-9-16

Market gaped down from overnight, partially may be caused by North Korea's nuclear test. Fed's Sept meeting is nearing again. Market is flexing mussels to Fed. I was estimating about 1-1.5% move during the first hour of the market. Then I expanded it to 1.5-2% around noon time. I thought the bullish sentiment won't change overnight I was wrong again. SPX and RUT closed down 2.4 - 3.2% respectively. This is only the first day of a big drop for the last 2 months. It's likely more to come. VIX was up 34% in one day. The next balance area for SPX is between 2110 to 2020. I need to map out some levels of engagement and patiently wait.

Made 17 orders across all of my accounts today. Luckily SPX 2170 bear calls ended out of money and expired worthless. I wasn't patient enough with my RUT bear calls. The 1235 could have been expired worthless but I rolled it out after first hr of trading. I did placed more credited hedges on put side as I planed last night. My puts are under pressure now. But I had equal protections in place which is a lot better than last August. I sold some end Oct bull put spreads based on my rules. I wasn't very aggressive. I wanted to save some firing power for next week. I need to unload some put hedging positions soon. Their value increased very fast with VIX above 15.

Risk profile is better now. Net liq increased 18K. Margin ratio is at 46% before the weekly expiration taking effect. I should be in a better position early next week. I need to intentionally to hold my plan and watch the levels to trade.

Small Pull Back 9-8-16

Market is still trading in a small range. The only noticeable difference is that it closed down 0.2+%, probably not meaning anything. But I welcome any down move as a relief to me. Indices closed in the upper side of their balance area.

Made 13 trades today, 12 of them were credited hedges and one rollover of SPX 2140 bear call. I made one mistake on my first trade today. Instead of 2:1 ratio credit I made it 1:1. I then placed an order to buy two calls to reduce my margin. I still need a checking process as my routing. I am a little heavy on put side now.

Risk profile improved with those ratio credit hedges. Net liq is about 160K and margin is at 60%. There are 5 ITM positions to rollover tomorrow. I will need to buy more hedges on put side.

Grinding Up 9-7-16

The same pattern of drop and pop played out again today. S&P gave up over 0.5% at one point then erased most of its loss before closing. RUT led the indices booking 0.62% gains at 1261, a new high of the year. SPX is less than 10 point away from its all time high of 1293. MACD is about to cross up on daily. My positions continue to be pressured.

Made 6 trades today: 1 new RUT bear call spread for end of Oct, scaled out 1 IWM for near 30% gain. 3 ratio hedges for next couple weeks and closed SPX 2210 call. I need more for rollovers. It's not likely I will have any ITM position to go off book this week.

Risk profile is about the same except my net liq dropped some. Margin ratio is back to 50% due to the new hedging positions. I may start to rollover the deep ITM positions tomorrow since they are hopelessly underwater now. I will gain a little extra time decay on the put side.

Pull Back To Retest 8-16-16

Indices pulled back to retest the break out area of late last week. The 0.5-0.9% pull back between SPX and RUT appears normal and positioning for Fed Minutes release tomorrow. It was wrong when I noted FOMC meeting announcement yesterday. I wasn't paying a close attention to the event calendar. It was a sloppy work in my part.

All of the 10 trades today were hedging related. I placed several ratio risk reversal on both sides and collected a small premiums in most of the trades. Two of my direct call buys were filled after cash closing. I have to be more aggressive to roll my deep ITM positions tomorrow since none of them were filled today. I will be taking June to NC on this Friday.

There is about 10K recover for net liq. Margin ratio is back to 51% thanks to these added hedges. The available margin should be OK until this weekend. There may be some increased vols tomorrow after the minutes get released. Should I add vol positions to rescue my under water positions?

Follow Up 9-6-16

For whatever the reason I forgot to enter my journal last Friday. Maybe because of the less than expected NFP caused the market to surge. It was the same theme that the bad news is good news for the market. I know I rolled all of my ITM calls. Now I remember that I had to go to Anderson to register June's car and change my driver's license so I rolled over all the positions before 1pm.

Had 10 trades last Friday and 3 trades today. No premiums collected today. Closed a SPX put and sold 2 RUT ratio puts. I bought a set of risk reversal of IWM as experiment of a directional play. I bought next week IWM 125 call and sold 120 puts in 3:1 ratio to finance the trade partially. I expect the break up to continue so that I take advantage of the directional movement. If  IWM drops quickly I may loss on both trade. I need to learn a different strategy to play directional market.

Risk profile stayed in the same range as last Friday with a small up move. Margin is at 41%. I need to buy more OTM calls to prepare for this week's rollover and expiration. It doesn't look like most of my ITM positions will get much relief this week. I may hold until this Wednesday to start my rollovers.

Lower Lows 9-1-16

Indices had same pattern as yesterday. They closed around b/e after an early selling. They are just marking the time for tomorrow's NFP report. However a pattern of lower lows on daily has formed. SPX is closed on top of prior balance area of  2175-2147. Of course market's interpretation of NFP will overwrite of follow through this pattern. I will be ready for either directions the market takes. I prefer the downside though.

Made 4 trades today. 1 rollover of RUT 1130 DITM and 3 closing positions. I was going to SC to do June's car registration and my license application. But the paper work didn't come. I will try to rollover my 4 other ITM positions tomorrow before lunch so I can go to Anderson SC again. If not then it will be next Tuesday since Monday is the Labor Day.

Risk profile reminds in the same range. I may have to buy more hedges after rollover tomorrow.

Testing Lower 8-31-16

Indices tested lower end of their current balance areas. But buyers stepped in late afternoon pushing them back to the mid. It could be the funds window dressing at month end and awaiting for Friday's job report. Weekly MACD has shown some weakness while daily signals are choppy.

Made 9 trades today. Orders to close positions filed on both sides. The deep ITM RUT 1100 got rolled to 9/9 again. I don't even remember how I get into it. I bought 4 ratio hedges with small credits. There are 5 more positions to rollover this Friday. I may need more hedges for next week. I try to get most of my hedges cost free.

Risk profile improved even with a slightly down day. Margin is back above 50%. Leverage is at 94, far from my 40-50 target.

Holding Up 8-30-16

The indices held up well today. It's not look like a quick retest of the b/o area. I think the big trades are waiting for this Friday's job report. It may increase the chance of rate hike if the report is good. So good news could be bad news again or the other way around.

Had one rollover trade today. I was out to Anderson to close the unit. I have one RUT 1100 deep ITM bear call left to roll by tomorrow.

Risk profile is slightly better. Margin is at 43%. I have month end and weekly to roll for this week.

Monday Trending 8-28-16

Market had a small trending up day since open. It looks like the trades want to retest last Friday's high after Yellen's speech. SPX and RUT both closed +0.5%. They are still in this narrow range bound. It's hard to tell which way it will breakout.

Had six trades filled: 3 of them were position closing, 2 were bear call spread in RUT Oct 3 1330. 1 was ratio hedge with reversal to the call side. Nothing to write home about. Still waiting for a resolution by Mr. Market itself. The number of ITM positions have not changed in my IB acct. The acct is bearing 1000 negative delta although it's better than -1300 early last week. I may look into selling premiums of some ETFs and blue chip stocks to diversify my trading.

Risk profile was down some. Margin is at 38% and leverage is back above 100 again. Glad that I sold a small size of SPY short. It didn't hit my 2nd target. I have to go to Anderson to close the property tomorrow. I set up couple rollovers for Wednesday's month end contracts.

The Speech was Null At End 8-26-16

Yellen's speech was slightly hawkish but left plenty of room to back off. Market went through the usual three steps: drop, pop and drop more. It could be the other way around. At the end indices closed only slightly down except NQ had a small gain. Nothing was broken in terms of the current balance area.

Made 15 trades today. Sold 3 naked RUT and SPX puts into Oct 3 in Keith's style. Six exit orders were filled on both side. Sold 5 ratio hedges with 3 risk reversal twist. I made one error of ratio hedge with equal number of contracts. Luckily the SPX 2185 and 2190 bear calls were expired worthless and my size was reduced. My plan of not touching it until 2pm helped me stay calm during the volatile moves in the morning.

Risk profile stand well for the expiration weekend thanks to the downside shift and added hedges in puts. My portfolio has turned into profit of 10K again. Next week I should realized some of the fruit. I need to continue to enforce my rule of avoid letting positions slip ITM. otherwise it's very hard to roll deep ITM positions.

Waiting For Chair Yellen 8-25-16

The trading ranges were expanded a little more for indices today. Market explored to the downside but closed to unchanged. All eyes are on Chair Yellen's speech tomorrow morning. She is dovish in natural. I wouldn't know what market would react to her speech. It could take good news as bad news or the other way around. I just need to mind my risk control and for the weekend expiration.

Made 5 trades today, 2 of put closing, 2 ratio hedges and 1 SPY, Sept 3, 218 call rollover based on near the money rule. No any new position was added. I have two more near the money SPX bear calls to close or rollover tomorrow.

Risk profile went slightly lower, partially due to a $1500 payroll transfer out. Margin ratio is at 44%.

Cracking Down? 6-24-16

Indices pulled back today with some force. SPX and RUT had more than -0.5% on closing which is bigger than the average of last couple weeks. They both are back to their previous balance area. It still could be just retest the b/o point before thrust up again. Also trades are waiting for Yellen's speech this Friday. Although FED has been wish wash without a clear direction.

Made 14 trades cross all accounts today. Closed 3 near the money positions,  rolled over 4 ITM positions and bought hedging positions on both sides. Also sold 3 Sept 5 195 puts to cover the loss of Aug 4 220 calls. Feels over traded somewhat but collected $1800 premiums. I want to be more patient on my last two near the money SPX bear calls. I want to hold to the last day to see if I can get them off instead of rollover. Get to work on protecting put exposures tomorrow.

Some risk factors are back inline with today's pull back. Net liq is up about 10K at 160K, margin ratio at 52%. Of course the coming weekend and Yellen's speech could change the picture completely. All I can do and should do is to control my risk.

Still Contracting 8-22-16

Indices continued to stay in a small range bound. SPX has traded within 0.75% range for 14 days. It happened once in late July, the two longest small range since 1980. Something will give soon. I get to watch my exposure to the down side. I have many puts from rollover calls.

Made 7 trades today, including 3 ratio hedges, one rollover and closed couple puts. The rollover is based on my rule of stay out of ITM positions. My total ITM positions have not changed since beginning of Aug.

Risk profile is OK for now. Net liq is at 156K and margin at 38%. I will continue to buy hedges in both side to prepare for break out of either direction.

Bulls Won Again 8-18-16

Bulls held up well on this monthly expiration Thursday. SPX and RUT went back to the mid of their current balance area. BBs are in squeeze mode. We may see an retest highs again soon.

Made 8 trades with three ITM rollovers, closed couple of puts and added three ratio hedges. It was difficult rollover since the range was small. MM won't fill orders even though I went through mid of bid and ask several times. The deep ITM RUT 1100 rollover didn't get filled until cash closed with a $20 negative premium.

Risk profile is OK for my out of town tomorrow and over the weekend unless something dramatically happens. Net liq made a low of $154K after rollover those ITM positions. Margin is at 50%. I will monitor my profile on the road tomorrow.

Can't Push The Bull's Head Down 8-17-16

Indices pulled down to the mid of BB in the morning session. Bulls push it back before and after the Fed Minutes release. It appears that Fed members are divided on the rate hike. Fed is loosing its credibility on not following its own plan. SPX closed back in positive territory while RUT couldn't recovery fully. When the market couldn't be pushed down then it will stay up or break out to the upside.

Made four trades today. Closed RUT 1240 put and rolled SPX 2140 which is deep in the money. Luckily I collected some decent premiums. The other two were ratio hedging. There are three more ITM and ATM positions I have to roll or close tomorrow.

Risk profile stayed about the same. Margin ratio is at 50% and leverage at 104. I may have to buy more of hedge for next week since there are 2-3 rollovers tomorrow.

New Highs Again 8-15-16

Indices had a small gap up as CL advanced overnight. They could not even close the small gap after open indicating the sentiment is still bullish. The initial target of ES 2190 was reached in morning session. I expect a 2200 and beyond would be the real test before or after this week's FOMC. I would expect some pull back before or after the FOMC. Of course it didn't happen during July's FED meeting.

Made 4 trades today. Three of them were hedging. I made another mistake of forgetting the minus sign for a ratio risk reversal hedging. I don't have any new positions. Made one near the money rollover and collected $140 premium. My main task is to survive this draw down. It has been painful and prolonged.

Net liq set another new low of 148K. It would threat my portfolio margin if it drop another 20K. Margin ratio is down to 28% and leverage is up to 118 which is the highest on my records. I need to figure out a way to reduce my ITM bear call positions in the next couple days before I go off to Chapel Hill this Friday.

New Highs Again 8-11-16

Market has not had more than two down days and since Brexist. Indices turned up making new highs again today. Bulls bid up every pull back. My accts gave back more than yesterday's gain. It looks like 2190-2210 is still SPX target for this run.

Made 12 trades across all of my accounts. 4 of them were rollover ITM calls. The others were hedging margins except one closing put. I have to go to Clemson tomorrow. I bought more calls today just in case.

Risk profile is OK for today but will get thrown off again after the weekend. Margin is at 48, Net liq is down to $154K again.

A Topping? 8-10-16

I was taking care of things for moving to Anderson in the last two days. Indices held up well in a small range My portfolio were under more pressure on Monday and Tuesday. SYX formed a doji yesterday. It had a 10 point range to the down side today. RUT closed -0.68% which was pretty good for the summer slump.

I rolled most of ITM calls out to Aug 4 and 5 today. I have to get everything out of the way by end of tomorrow since I need to go to Clemson this Friday. There were 8 trades today, two ratio hedges on put side because I have too many naked puts due to the rollover of calls. I rolled 4 ITM calls in both SPX and RUT. I reduced one ITM call for SPX by buying 2 back and sell one further out call to cover it while collected a small premiums.

Risk profile is finally back in line at least until this Friday. Margin is back to 50% for the first time since end of June. Leverage is at 99. I am going to sell these SPY shorts gradually at different support levels to stop my losses. The bull flags of indices are not broken yet on daily charts. I can't be too relaxed yet. I also have downside risk due to some naked puts. Be prepared for either directions. Let's see if we will get a follow through for another down day.

Another Blow Out Job Report 8-5-16

NFP came out at 255K v.s. 180K expected. It was a strong number 2 months in a roll. Market reacted positively. S&P made another all time high of 2183. RUT also made a high of 1231. It's about 60 points away from its all time high of 1292 from last May.

With this new leg up my accounts got squeezed further. Made 8 trades today. 4 of them were exit targets in puts. The other four were buying hedges on the call side in order to survive in margin requirement. My predicted available margin was below 10K. I am dancing on the edge of cliff. I may have to reduce the size of my my ITM calls by covert 2:1 at lower strike to bring my margin up next Monday.

Risk profile is at dangers level again. Net liq dropped to 155K, the lowest level on my records. Leverage reached 109, also the highest on my records. I have some near the money positions expiring next week. It's going to be a tough battle again unless we see some decent pull back soon.

Positioning for NFP 8-4-16

Market chopped around within yesterday's range but slightly to the up side. B band formed a squeeze formation in daily charts. Trades are awaiting for NFP tomorrow morning. VIX is at low of 13. We may see a break out from this narrow range, more likely to the up side since the down move was rejected two days ago. Of course it's all depends on the NFP number and how the big guys interpret it. Good news is bad news or bad news is good news.

Made five trades today. Three rollovers, one BTC put and one call hedge. I was trying to roll over all of my ITM and near TM positions. Then the real estate closing was delayed. So I left one more at the money position to roll tomorrow. Plus I may roll more positions depending on how market react to the NFP number.

Risk profile is about the same as yesterday except margin rate got up to 35% after rollovers and a hedge buy. I will buy more hedges as another Friday comes.

Checking Out Crime Scene 8-3-16

Indices went back to check out the crime scene as they often do. It may not be ready to break the balance area yet. SPX and RUT move back to 50-60% of their range from yesterday. Let's see what market will show us in the next couple of days.

I made four trades today. All of them were ratio hedges in both call and put sides. None of my rollover got filled. I have to get everything done by tomorrow just in case we will close the Northlake condo on Friday. I should start from the deep ITM positions first.

Net liq and margin both fall with the market inched up. Leverage is at 90 and margin down to 30% again. A big lesson of sizing. There are 8 calls ITM and 5 ATM as of today. That's too many for the size of my accts. I get to come up a better way to control and monitor my position sizing.

A Decent Relief 8-2-16

SPX and RUT made a decent pull back ranging from -0.63 to 1.36%. It's the largest range since early July. Both of them reached the lows of their current range. The ranges are not broken yet. If the bears keep knocking it we may see further down movement. Otherwise bulls may defend the lines here.

Made six trades today. Closed 2185 call with a small profit and released some margin. I also rolled out the deep ITM RUT 1100 put to Aug 3. This one is hopelessly under water. I just have to keep rolling it while collecting some premiums. Glad I bought some ratio hedge puts to protect the downside of my positions. Sold a naked Sept 2, RUT 1000 put to pay for a closing position.

Risk profile looks better today. Net liq improved and leverage is at 84. Margin is back to 41%. Finally got a positive unrealized $4000 profit. It's a lot better than the negative $20K.

August Effect? 8-1-16

Indices tried to break to the downside but still couldn't do it. A noticeable change of pattern is that indices closed to the lower side after a failed push up. However the tight ranges are intact and could break to either direction despite MACD is slightly closed to the downside. VIX is also low and no sigh of spike yet.

Made three trades today. Closed one SPY put and the rest of them were margin hedges. I was practicing patience today with a level of consciousness. I held off couple of rollovers for this week. I would wait for more decay if the prices stay in the range or go down a light more. Of course the risk is if and when the market goes up.

Risk profile recovered some from today's choppy. Available margin is off 12% to 32% due to expired hedges. Leverage is at 99. Neg liq increase $5.5K.

Relentless Bulls 7-29-16

Nothing can stop an raging bull. Market shrugged off lower 2nd Q GDP and BOJ inaction. After an attempt of sell off in the morning the same pattern of this week played out again. Buyers stepped in to fend off sellers. RUT made another new high of 1223.6. So far there has not been a clear rejection of high. There may be another attempt to the upside next week.

My story is the same: getting squeezed by relentless bulls. Made 20 trades today. Rollovers and buying new hedges are the main tasks. I tried to use risk reversal to reduce my cost of buying hedges. It basically is buying a hedge call and selling a put to finance it. I wonder why I didn't think of it before. Of course it involves risk of having too many naked put in case of a sudden reversal.

Risk profile looks safe for now. New liq fall some to $157K. Margin is at 46% after adding more calls. I collected less than a $1000 premiums this week. I survived this brutal week. The loss continued for the week. It may not be over yet unless we see a decent pull back next week. July ended with about $25K losses on the paper. The summer draw down into August. I need to watch out for a sudden pull back since August is traditionally a bad month for financial market.

Still No Directions 7-28-16

The same pattern of early selling and late buying played out again today. Indices are still chopping in the same tight range. It will break out one way or another soon. Tomorrow's GDP may provide such an opportunity. Earnings are still better than expected. Technically MACDs in both SPX and RUT are about to cross to the down side. I will prepare for either side break out.

Made four trades today. Rolled over 2 ITM calls and closed RUT 1230 call. I also bought a 8-5 call to hedge margin using part of the premiums collected from the rollover. I will have to buy more to hedge the expiring calls.

Risk profile is still under pressure. Margin ratio is at 30% and will drop again by next Monday with this week's call expired. A pull back will be very helpful but hope is not a strategy. I don't have much room to add puts either.

No Surprise FOMC 7-27-16

Market seems to know FOMC better than FOMC itself. So there was no big price movement after the FOMC announcement. Indices tried to go lower but couldn't break prior daily lows. Buyers stepped in at daily lows. RUT even made into a new high at closing. Earnings continue to beat expectations. So buyers are still in control. There may be another thrust up since Fed is out of the way until Sept.

I only had one order filled. It closed a RUT put position. I will start to rollover these deep ITM calls tomorrow. Expecting another RUT call of 1230 off the table before Friday.

Risk profile improved a little. Margin is at 23%. I will start to buy hedging calls to defend next week's margin tomorrow.

Bulls Are Still In Control 7-26-16

It's turn around Tuesday? Two sell off attempt for SPX were bought at the low of yesterday. Trades don't believe Fed will raise the rate at this meeting. RUT set a new high again today. Trades is betting on no rate change from FED tomorrow. We may see another push higher as earnings are getting better. Could market sell on the news? It's possible. Daily MACD are near crossing down while markets kept pushing up.

Made four trades today. I bought hedges on both sides plus closed a put position. My RUT positions are getting deeper ITM. Margins are squeezed again. I am paying the price of being undisciplined. It may take me couple months to recover. It's like the summer of 2014, 2015 all over.

Risk parameters are in the danger zone but with some breath room. I have to build another wall of hedging before Friday like previous weeks. No it's a matter of survive until the market turn around.

A Mood Change On Monday? 7-25-16

Another try to break down failed at last Fridays' low. I think trades are positioning for FOMC. There have not been a clear rejection for the highs. The bull flags are in tack. Rather SPX may have another shot to make a new high before or after FOMC. RUT appears to have more room to the upside too. It all depends on FOMC for now.

My holdings got a small relief again with less than 0.3% pull back in both SPX and RUT. Made 4 trades today. All of them are hedging and rolling over and reduce positions.

Risk measures improved with one less SPX bear call and couple new hedging positions. Margin is up to 22%, but still in the danger zone.

Survived Anther Day 7-22-16

Market refused to go down. It took back all of losses from yesterday. SPX closed at another new high of 2175. RUT also closed at 1210. My accounts get squeezed again alone with expiration day draw down. We may see a new push before FOMC early next week.

Made 9 trades today. Most of them are margin hedges. I closed one 2200 call with a small profit. I have another one to close next week. At one time today I was totally out of buying power. I then sold a RUT naked put and rolled an ITM call up with a put to release some margin. I barely survived today. I will have to buy more hedges next week.

Risk is hanging on cliff again. Available margin is 7%, the lowest level since last Nov. The third year of summer slump continues. I still have a lot to learn to master this game.