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.