Monday, April 29, 2013

Anatomy Of A Trade

Last week for all of you who are following I finally traded my first futures option on the /ES. To bring everyone up to speed before I go further let me remind you what I did last week. It was last Sunday night (4-21-13). The /ES was up 9 points in the Sunday session and since it was the only thing that was tradeable I was interested in selling a call to serve two purposes:

1) Scalp 4-5 points on a pull in as we rolled into the normal US trading session. I thought there was a chance that the futures would reverse and allow me to possibly scalp some profits. I do need to add that we were within 1/2 a futures point from getting filled on the scalp.

2) To initiate a short position on the /ES at all time highs. Since I sold the short 1,555 call for 32.5 points it would get me an effective short of 1,587.5 only about 4 points away from all time highs.

The markets irrational move to the upside has continued as investors poor money into anything with some possibility of a return of more than they can earn in money markets or bonds...which is much closer to zero. As I write this the /ES is currently trading at 1,586.50. But lets update you on what I have done with this trade as it has moved against me.


First let me tell you that the above risk profile shows you the aggregated position that I now have in /ES. As convicted as I am in this trade I have to realize that markets can do crazy things and I am not willing to be a hero as I am always trading with longevity in my mind. So as my break even on the short call began to become in danger I had to do the prudent thing and define my risk to the upside. So lets outline the different adjustments I have made to this position:

1) I sold 1,415 put @ $4.10

2) I sold 1,550/1,530 putspread @ $4.50

3) I bought the 1,615 call to spread off my risk to the upside @ $4.35

All in all you will see that on a net basis I have collected $36.75 in option premium. Now look we have 53 days left until the expiration of these options. Looking at the risk profile you can see that I have a peak in profitability at the 1,550 strike price. So other relevant stats:

Downside Breakeven: $1,398.50
Upside     Breakeven: $1,592.00
Profit rage: 1,398 to 1,592 = 194 point profit range (with short bias)

  1. Profit in 1,415 - 1,530 range = $837.50

Margin Requirement: $2,873 (risk capital)
Max Gain: $1,837.50 (at $1,550 /es, potential return on capital of 64%)
Max Upside Loss: ($1,162.50)


I know I have put out a lot of numbers above, but these are the things I am watching. You will also notice that I left my risk to the downside open as we are so far away that I am not concerned with the downside at the moment. If we move 175 points, I may look at protecting the downside...but that is not likely in my opinion.

Until next time I continue with my bias to the downside. The risk/reward at all time highs favors playing the market with a short bias. I will continue to update you on this position and what I do with it.

Good Luck Trading!

In The Money Trades

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5 comments:

  1. Something that I forgot to mention on this post is the fact that buy defining my risk to the upside I took the required margin or buying power reduction from about $6,200 down to $2,873. So I made the use of capital much more efficient by doing the prudent thing given the way the market is acting.

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  2. The /ES traded 3/4 of a point from all time highs at 1,592.25. As I right this the /ES is up 13.50 points and Vix is actually up. Not sure if this is a sign or not. I have a offer out to sell VXX puts in June with the 17 strike level.

    After a day like today, I feel pretty good knowing that my risk to the upside is defined. Now I have piece of mind while I wait for my position to work.

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  3. With the market trading back up near the all time highs put in on Friday I took the opportunity to roll up my long call hedge from the 1615 strike out to the 1650 strike. I collected the hedge profits to raise my break-even up to 1,598 and used the original money spent on the hedge to buy another unit to keep my risk defined to the upside.

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  4. My thought is that some market players will use the 1,614.25 as a point to short against.

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  5. Still have another 46 days until expiration to continue to trade around the position and work on increasing effective short price. Would like to see some two sided price action for an opportunity to sell some premium, but will need a pop in the vix to make it worth it.

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