A Boring Close for the month and quarter

It was a choppy day. SPX and RUT stayed in small ranges for the end of week, month and quarter. The only noticeable action is the pull back to 0 lines before closing. Guess many people don't want to hold positions over this long weekend.

Made 4 trades only today. Sold IWM scalps for 2 weeks out. Rolled an IWM call position a week out to extend my hedges. Couldn't get any other hedges filled. The expiry projection is OK for the weekend. So I didn't push too hard for fills.

Net liq was up 4K thanks to end closing drop. Margin ratio is at 51% before the expiry settlement. I am heading back to Northlake to work on the remodeling.

Sellers Showed Up 6-29-17

Market went through a roller cost day. Opened down, popped up, then dropped below open.  RUT and SPX are still inside their current balance area. It's a little unusual that SPX lost (-0.86%) more than RUT (-0.62%).  NASDAQ lost even more (-1.44%). Is RUT still a leading index? Tomorrow is end of week, month and quarter. It could be a bit more volatile, then the earning session begins again.

Made 14 trades in this busy day. My last 2 ITM positions were rolled out though may not be the best timing. but collected some premiums. I sold some August bull puts for clients and myself, also hedged both puts and calls.

Net liq recovered 6K. Margin ratio is back to 70% till the weekend anyway. It's improved but not out of the woods yet.

V Bounce Revenge 6-28-17

There was no follow up from yesterday's sell off. US indexes gaped up and made another V shape bounce. Both SPX and RUT took out their prior day highs. RUT even made its weekly high and closed up 1.5%. SPX erased the loss from yesterday with a little extra gains. Both of them are now parked on top of their balance area and looking to challenge new highs. Even the broken QQQ gained 1.68%. It was a big revenge to yesterday's sell off. Today's driving force related the positive results of US bank stress test. Fed approved these big banks dividend distribution plan after hour and futures jumped again. We may see another gap up tomorrow with month and quarter end window dressing efforts.

Made 6 trades today. Sold 3 bear call spreads for clients. I don't have any room to do it for myself now. Closed couple of puts. Couldn't buy enough call hedges on this trend up day. I have 2 days left to hedge for the long weekend.

Net liq got hit hard by 14K, pushing it near 126K. Margin ratio is below 30% and near my warning level. This revenge pop may have leg to new highs. I have to prepare to wire funds in again, hopefully not before the long weekend.

Turn Around Tuesday 6-27-17

Market was up after early morning pull back. It turned down after the news of Senator would delay vote on healthcare bill. The selling accelerated into closing. SPX closed down 0.8% and RUT gave back 0.9%. NASDAQ is the loss leader, down 1.6%. The three indexes are on the lower edges of their current balance area. It's likely that they will hold their current balance areas giving the strong bull market. If they fall back to next balance area below it may be the beginning of the summer pull back.

Made 12 trades today. Rolled out 3 of my ITM calls. I have two more to go. I sold couple of SPY for income in the morning. Now they are threatened. They will expire in a week. I have plan to deal with threatened positions. Sold early August SPX put spreads. Also sold couple RUT ratio hedges to reduce fees in put side.

Net liq is up 5.6K. Margin switched to the put side. Margin ratio is lowered to 43%. I will continue to hedge on both sides now. Let's see if we get a follow through tomorrow.

Monday Fade 6-26-17

Indexes gaped up at open. They continued to move up until until an economic data release. Then everything is falling off. SPX erased all of its gains and RUT was -0.4% at one point. Buyers stepped in after the initial sell off. Both indices closed with minimal gains. It's still a bull's market.

Made 8 trades. Still no premiums collected in this choppy market. Rolled up SPY and IWM hedges to extend margin and closed some puts to reduce fees. Bought GLD and XLV for short term trading. It's testing one's patience.

Neg liq recovered most losses at closing. Margin ratio is at 47%. My directional play in these small contracts haven't played out lately. I will continue to look for new methods.

RUT Re-balance 6-23-17

RUT had reconstitution today which will be on CME listing at beginning of next month. Many index tracking funds have to re-balance their holdings that caused RUT bouncing around. It closed up 0.74% at high of the day of 1415. SPX only gained 0.15% while ES future closed flat. So far MACD for both haven't turned up. It's a divergent situation. We may see further fall back next week or MACD change directions.

Made 7 trades today. All of them were hedges and exit positions. No premiums were collected for any account. Market is in the slow summer mode now. I looked around for another trading opportunities. HD was down 2.5% for no apparent reasons. Is it AMAZON effect? I can't find any news or explanation so I didn't trade it. I studies Bitcoin and Ether. They are speculative asset class. I need to learn more before getting into it.

Net liq is down 6.4K on RUT gain of 0.74%. I am in alert watch mode next week. Margin ratio is predicted at safe level for next Monday. The bull is still strong and I don't project any exit ITM position for next week. I have to roll out at least 4 of them for next week.

Grinding Up 6-22-17

Market opened lower in early session following recent trend and MACD. Indexes popped after Senator released its own healthcare plan. Healthcare and Biotech got some relief. SPX gave back all of gains at closing. RUT is up 0.4%. So far the MACD down turn has not fully played out yet, IMO. Of course it's just a small pull back within the strong uptrend.

Made 6 trades in this range day. Rolled up my last RUT DITM call for this week. Also roll out couple sets of SPY hedging calls for extension. Scratched another bear call spread to reduce risk of another sudden pop. No any other premiums collected.

Net liq had a small draw down of 2.5K. Margin ratio is fine but I will need to buy couple more call hedges tomorrow. Still thinking and learning directional strategies. Need to be firm and willing to spend some money for it.

Choppy Market 6-21-17

Indexes opened higher. It appears market got dragged down by crude oil again which dropped more than 2% after CL inventory report with a draw down. North Korea is on the table again after the death of an American student who was detained by NK a year ago. RUT closed down 0.22%  while SPX down 0.02%. It's basically a flat closing. Nothing could scare the market so far until no one is expected.

Made 3 trades today. Closed a RUT put, rolled up a client's RUT put to get more premium for 2 wk out. Got to watch out for potential risk. I also closed a SPX 2475 bear put for a small profit to void risk of run over. No premium was collected for me.

Net liq gained 3K and margin ratio is at 46% for now. Couldn't get any hedging orders filled today. I have one more RUT deep ITM call to roll for this week.

A Turn Around Tuesday 6-20-17

Crude oil continued to slid for about 2% and dragging indices down. Major indices stayed in negative territory and closed at low of the day which is uncommon for this market. Hopefully this is the beginning of summer retrace. RUT and SPX closed down 1% and 0.67% respectively. It's the first time down 1% for over 30 days.

Made 13 trades. Sold some early August SPX bull puts. Put in couple more SPY and IWM for weekly scalping. I am still developing the rules for it. Remember to keep it small and be flexible. Don't fit and force trades. I also rolled couple SPY and IWM hedges.

Net liq recovered 9.1K and margin ratio is back inline for now. I will treat this pull back as temporary unless some key levels are broken. MACD is crossing down on daily. So we may see a little further downward movements.

New Highs On Monday 6-19-17

Indexes gaped up following the recovery of last Friday. I wasn't expecting S&P and DJ making new highs in such easy way. But they did. SPX closed at 2453 into my projected range of 2450-2460. RUT also raised 0.8% closing at 1417, not too far from my projection of 1430 to 1445. So far market hasn't shown any weakness into the summer. We may see a real summer rally.

Made 4 trades today. Sold 3 bear calls for clients. I only had a put closing order filled. Tried to roll some hedging calls in SPY and IWM to extend margin coverage but no fills.

Net liq lost 5.2K, down to 134K. Margin ratios are lowered after the weekend expiry. I am trying to wait into the week to buy hedged calls for better prices. I am waiting for any pull back to roll my ITM positions of this week.

Choppy & Pinning 6-16-17

Market continued to trade lower in small ranges today. RUT closed down 0.24% while SPX up a fraction of 0.02%. We haven't seen a 1% drop for about 30 days again. They may go up or chop in ranges when they couldn't go down . A good sign is that MACD is about to cross to the down side. BABA and TSLA were pinning 135 and 380 on this monthly expiration day. Glad that both of my underwater positions were exited with some profit.

Made 12 trades today. Exited 3 BABA and TSLA bear calls. Started to scalp on small contracts on weekly for 2nd week. I will set some clear rules of engagement. Keep size small to avoid big draw down. I will use weekly chart and expected moves to determine my entries. My goal is just to add $50-100 per week for the scalping.

Net liq ended with a 2.8K gains. Margin ratio is healthy and good for this week's expiration. So I will have an easy weekend.

Pull Back After FOMC 6-15-17

Following the overnight drop the market opened lower today. RUT reached negative 1% during the session. It then recovered a half of it and closed down 0.52% while SPX down 0.22%. Both of them are still within their ATH balance areas. Futures are inching up tonight. They are not likely to break down any time soon.

Made 16 trades today across all of my accounts. Sold 4 SPX and RUT bull put spreads during morning drops. Rolled the rest of ITM RUT calls out to further dates. Also bought hedges in RUT, IWM and SPY.

Net liq gained 3.4K with RUT down 0.52%. It seams out of correlation somewhat. Margin ratio is fine for now. I will have a better view of it after this week's position expired tonight. Will need to buy couple more calls to hedge this weekend though.

FOMC Come And Go 6-14-17

Fed raised the rate 0.25% as expected. Indexes didn't move much one way or another. RUT closed down 0.6% while SPX was flat. At this point any down move is good for me. We may see how the market will interpret FED's move. Futures opened lower tonight. Let's see if there will be a pull back to follow. 

Made 8 trades today. Rolled out 4 of 9 positions after FOMC announcement. TSLA gaped up to 380 this morning which put one of my bear call ITM. It was an incredible run from 300 about a month ago. I have until Friday to deal with both BABA and TSLA threats. I must roll 3 more ITM RUT calls tomorrow in different accounts. 

Net liq recovered 7.5K which is a much needed relief. Margin ratio is above 50% before expiry this week. It may turn to put side if we see a sizable pull back. 

No Fear Of Rate Hike? 6-13-17

Market continued to move up until closing today despite that FOMC is tomorrow. The rate hike of 0.25 point is priced in. Then what's next? The summer rally continues or done with new highs for now? Could we see SPX to test 2460 and 1445 for RUT near term? Let's see how the market react to FED announcement tomorrow. Would it be a trap or a base for a new leg up?

Made 8 trades today. Most of them are small contracts rollovers and exit orders filled. Since the market kept pushing up none of my ITM rollover and hedges got filled. I got 9 positions including BABA and TSLA to roll out. The latest up swing really squeezed me hard.

Net liq lost 5.2K with both SPX and RUT closing up 0.5%. I had to wire in 10K to raise the fund level. I may have to do another 10K if we get another break out tomorrow or Friday. Margin ratio is OK for now. I have next two days to build it. Also need to watch out the put side since there will be 9 long puts expiring this weekend.

A Boring Monday 6-12-17

Market under pressure from NASDAQ after open but small cap performed better. Is the rotation still going on? When RUT/IWM gave up around noon then SPX started to recover. By closing time SPX and RUT recovered more than half of them losses and only down 0.2 -0.1%. They are staying in their current balance areas near ATHs. Common sense says if it can't go down then it will go up. The key to watch is if tech will continue to drag the market. Market makers may not let market go down much further during the monthly expiry week unless something drastically change the sentiment.

Made 3 trades today. Sold 2 IWM 142 this week to lock in some profit. It's part of my directional trade: trade SPY and IWM for profit and buy their big brothers for protection. I have many contracts to roll out this week. I am trying to practice patience and wait for mid or late the week to do it.

Net liq is still on the board of danger zone. It's barely above 120K. I am prepared to do another wire in if we get a pop tomorrow. Luckily I had two bear calls out otherwise I would have been under water already. Too bad I wasn't aggressive enough.

Sector Rotation for Small Cap 6-8-17

ECU held the rate at 0 unchanged. Comey testified in Congress. I even watched a half of it online. It didn't move the market much. UK parliament election result is coming in tonight. It appears the Conservative Party lost its majority ground. US futures market recovered from initial fall. It appears the three highly anticipated events have not had any major impact on the market. SPX closed flat but RUT closed up 1.35%. It appears risk on for small caps to lead the charge. RUT moved into the last ATH area. SPX is close to make another all time high tomorrow. Nothing could stop the bulls so far.

Made 5 trades today. Other than one RUT ITM rollover the rest of them were hedges and exit put. I had hard time to get hedging calls to fill. I will have get more hedges as the margin for this weekend is predicted short of 15-20K to a safe level.

Net liq took a 14K hit and down to 126K as RUT advanced. Margin ratio is still above 50% before this weekend's expires. I will have to wire funds from ET again if RUT pops another percent or more. It's a tough June so far.

Are The Risks Off? 6-7-17

Market hold up well today. Any sell off attempt met with buyers. Even a 5% sell off in crude oil didn't affect much of the indices. Comey's write statement was released this afternoon but market shrugged it off. One of the three event is gone for tomorrow. We may see a relief rally if UK election and ECB issues no surprise statement. SPX and RUT both holding a bull flag pattern at different price levels. SPX may make a new high whereas RUT may start to challenge its prior all time high. Market has high complacency.

Made 4 trades today. They are all hedge related. I set to take some profit in SPY directional calls but didn't get fill. Will try again tomorrow.

Net liq gained 0.5K and margin is still on the put side. I am prepared to withstand another surge. The SPX 2270 bear call in ET is still not filled in rollover order. It's my major concern that I may have to lower the strike or pay premiums to get it rolled out.

Market In Waiting Mode 6-6-17

Market chopped around today. It may be waiting for this super Thursday when UK parliament election, EU Central Bank and Comey testify happen on this day. With SPX firmly holding its break out range we may see a sell on rumor and buy on news? RUT retested its prior balance area high and got rejected today. Both SPX and RUT recovered from their lows and closed slightly negative.

Made 9 trades today. Rolled couple of hedges in IWM and SPY to extend their time, sold two SPY RR for July to place long calls in case we get a summer rally. Rolled one RUT 1360 ITM to 1370. This one has no hope to get out this week. I am concerned that SPX 2270 deep ITM in ET. I spent some time to figure out different ways to save it this morning. I may have to lower the strike on Thursday to wait out this surge.

Net liq gave back 1.65K even as RUT and SPX closed slightly lower. It may be caused by my long calls. Margin ratio is above 50% for now. Margin switched to put due to couple RR in SPY and IWM.

Monday Pause 6-5-17

Market traded inside last Friday's range slightly toward lower end. RUT closed down 0.62% while SPX only gave back 0.12%. It appears to be a pause from last week's big run up. The trend is still strong. Watched a long term chart analysis from "Short Takes". It suggested to keep an open mind for a large upside potential based on last 20-30 years chart patterns. It make sense. I will continue to try place directional long bets.

Made 9 trades today. Sold late July's bull put in RUT and roll up some hedging calls in SPY and IWM using the profit earned. Sold 4 IWM puts for scalping. I feel I need to use weeklies to generate some income. My SPY and QQQ RR longs are in greens so far. Sold couple of RUT next week ratio puts to reduce the fees.

Net liq is up 10K with 0.62% drop in RUT. Margin ratio is above 50%. I can wait toward end of this week to buy call hedges unless market goes against me quickly.

NFP Disappoint But New Highs Made Again 6-2-17

NFP released 43K less than expected. DOL report had big difference from ADP's private report. Market opened with a pause then continued its up trend. RUT closed up 0.65% with HOD of 1.2%. SPX closed with another ATH at 2438. QQQ is up 1.2%. Bulls interpreted the poor job number as a good news to hold Fed rate hike.

Made 12 trades today. Sold two Call CS for clients. All of my accounts had only hedges and rollovers. I started to use RR to play directional in SPY and IWM. I apply the same principle into hedging. Trying to make some profit instead of even wash.

Net liq lost another 6.7K, down to 130K balance. Luckily RUT gave back a half of its daily gains. My margin over the weekend is brought up after several buys of calls today. The deep ITM SPX 2270 in ET cost me $150 to roll out one week without gaining any point. It got caught in SPX new high rush. I may have to do it in short term rolling for awhile.

Break Out Before NFPR 6-1-17

Indexes broke out to the upside with ADP new job report and a day before NFPR. I found that the two report were not often correlated. Not sure if this will be another buy on the rumor and sell on the news event. SPX is firmly holding its new range after after 2430 high made today. RUT thrust 1.88% breaking through prior resistance and closed above its current balance area. We may see it break into the higher balance area with a gap up on the expected better NFPR. Is it going to make new highs following the other major indexes in the near term? Be prepared for it.

Made 9 trades today. Sold 3 RUT bear call spreads for late July. Rolled up RUT 1350 call for this week. Some hedges and exit orders were filled. No call hedges wee filled due to the surge. I will do it tomorrow. My risk reversal of SPY, IWM and QQQ were well timed when I made them during the down days. Most of them for the next couple of weeks are profitable. Too bad I don't have room to sell puts without paying the excessive fees now.

Net liq took a big hit, down 17.8K. I am so glad the RUT 1390 was out yesterday at 0.40 and released some margin pressure. It got in the money today as RUT closed at 1396. I made a right decision this morning by not split the 1350 into two bear calls which would have cost me another 10K margin and got one more bear call ITM.  I have two SPX deep ITM 2270 in ET must rolled out tomorrow.