Monday, July 13, 2009

07/13 Daily Summary

Today I started entering my AUG/09 trades, I posted earlier in the day what is my plan and how I'll allocate the trading capital. I started with a SPY Double Diagonal, plan on entering the trade in two stages. I might also enter the RUT 30-Day condor this week (two stages as well).

All and all, my biggest surprise for the day were my two paper Iron Butterflies. I didn't check one vital component of the greeks and got crushed Today. See the postings for more details.

Live Positions:
SPY Double Diagonal (Live)
AUG/09 Trading Plan

Paper:
SPX Iron Butterfly
RUT Iron Butterfly

07/13 RUT Iron Butterfly

One more day in paradise.. See the SPX posting as well.

I didn't check my Vega exposure last Friday, and Today it hit me like a brick (in the face). I was running around happly expecting these two iron butterflies to cash in Today, but got surprised by how much Vega risk I left last Friday, with Today's movement it just nailed the positions..

Let's see if they can still make it trough, I flattened it once again.

07/13 SPX Iron Butterfly

WOW!! In all of Friday's excitement, I forgot to check one KEY issue with my position as of last Friday.. Take a look at its Last Friday's profile, and see if you can tell for yourself what it is..

.. I'll give it some time to further explain it later. Today, I was shocked to see the position losing money when SPX moved up, at first I thought it was the normal P&L oscilation, but then I double-checked my records and realized I had missed this one key item, and it hit me right on the head Today...

See the Vega in last Friday's chart, with Today's up movement being long that many vega just crushed the trade. VIX dropped over 9% Today, and along went my paper profits.. I left the trade on, let's see what Tomorrow brings. Today I was careful to double-check the greeks, they all seem to be in check, let's see..


07/13 SPY Double Diagonal *New*

Started this new position Today, my goal is to get 13% ROI, the stop loss is around -19%. My adjustment strategy is to cut the delta by using a debit spread to move the short contracts up or down, if needed, I can also roll the opposite side as well to increase theta.

I'm entering the position in two stages, one Today and another one Tomorrow, my preferred approach would be to enter the first half last Wednesday, but I was having Internet issues and decided to enter this week.

As you can see from the VIPES spreadsheet bellow, the SPY have been moving around a bit lately, this is a sign to approach with caution, that's why the two-step entry.