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

And 1 favor that we ask: 

If you like the hard work we put into our blog posts and videos, PLEASE help us out by sharing them. Click the share links below and share them on FB, twitter, etc. It really helps us get more exposure and grow IN THE MONEY TRADES!