September - The Third Consecutive Down Month For SPX 10-1-2023

 This September lived up to its seasonality. SPX closed with the third consecutive losing month. The other major stock indices ended with 2 continued monthly losses. The SPX trendline from last Oct has been tested and held so far. October could be volatile at first and recover later. It's the seasonality at play so far. 

IBQ Netliq is down 7% from 318K to 297K. I was focusing on reducing the SCs instead of lower SPs early on. This strategy turned out to be wrong. It resulted in the options' value up 10% from -195.6K to -216.8K. The leverage is up 10% from 96 to 106 as well. The realized P/L is $76,358. It's mainly from the reduced SCs. The DITM SPs are underwater. It should be realized when the trend turns up. The collected cash is $6,540. It's only about 2% return of the netliq and half of August's collection. I didn't trade any BF hedges due to the low B/P. The positions are SC 7-2, SP 8-1. The delta is at about 300. There were 267 trades for the month, 112 less than August. The total commission is $1012, $450 less than August's $1462.  

The two small accounts have been in the dump for 4 months now. The realized P/L is $27,186 in recovery. IBP and TOS collected $5845 and $1742 each for the month. I need to double-check the IBP amount.  There are about 5.8% and 1.7% returns on their 100K options B/P. 

Lessons and Plan: 

1. I have a trip to China on Oct 13. There are about two weeks left for trading in Oct. 

2. I will move some DITM positions to late November and beyond. 

3. I will buy back some positions to reduce the margin requirement in IBQ. 

4. I will eliminate all positions in the two small accounts before my trip.  

      

The End of Month and Quarter 9-28-23

 SPX closed in red for the last week of September. It was the fourth consecutive losing week. SPX is at the weekly VAL of 4238-4541, a 300-point range. It matched the downward seasonality of September. The first part of October could be volatile as well. The averted government shutdown may not boost much of the market sentiment. 

IBQ Netliq is flat from 296K to 297K for the week. I aggressively reduced the SP strikes to hedge the impact of the continued volatility. I even made a 1:2 risk reversal from one SP to 2 SC. It luckily worked out. The options' value stayed flat at -216K. The leverage is at 109 from 110. The realized P/L is $59,129. It's mainly from the exited SCs. The unrealized loss in SPs is not included. It will be reduced when the market turns up. The delta is down 53%, from 499 to 266. The collected cash is $2271. There may be some dividends from stocks. The total positions are C7-1 and P8-1. I made 84 trades for the week. I had to buy more hedges for B/P. The commission cost is $313. It was a flat week overall. 

The two small accounts have been in the dump for 4 months now. It was a hard lesson I should have avoided. The realized P/L is -1407. The cash collected is -$816. I had to pay to roll the DITM SPs. I had a negative cash flow for the first time. Like some said, anything can happen in trading. TOS has 1 4380 SP and 1 4330 SC, inverted. IBP has 4450, 4400 DITM SP, and 4280 SC, inverted.   

Lessons and Plan:

1. Keep reminding myself to be calm, patient, and disciplined;

2. Be flexible in my market bias; 

3. Remember to set the levels at the beginning of the day;

4. Learn to make some directional trades when the trend is identified.