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.