09/11 Daily Summary

Decided to exit all my SEP positions Today, finished the month positive, most important are the lessons learned on the RUT Iron Butterfly. I have been backtesting the RUT trade on a daily basis, spending about 1 to 2 hours a day on practice is very important to sharpen the trader's edge.

For now, it is sit back and relax for the weekend.

Position's Details:
09/11 RUT Iron Butterfly - OCT
09/11 MNX Iron Butterfly - OCT
09/11 RUT Iron Butterfly - SEP
09/11 MNX Iron Butterfly - SEP

09/11 RUT Iron Butterfly - OCT

Brand new position, entered Yesterday, time to start the October journey.

09/11 MNX Iron Butterfly - OCT

Just entered this position Yesterday, have about 1/2 of the total position's size allocated. Will allocate the remaining lot with 30 days till expiration.

Previous Posting

09/10 Daily Summary

09/11 RUT Iron Butterfly - SEP

Finished exiting the trade Today. Well, of course I would much rather preffer having closed a week ago with just under 20%, but you live and you learn. I know where I went wrong and what I need to do to fix it. So my next trade will be better.. One day at a time...

“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out”-- Robert Collier

Previous Posting:
09/10 Daily Summary

09/11 MNX Iron Butterfly - SEP

I decided to close the position Today and book the profits! Slightly under 10% after commissions, not bad for one month of trade!
Previous Posting:
09/10 Daily Summary

09/10 Daily Summary

Today has been a very busy day for me, I'll post only this summary and will include all profile charts here. Sorry it is sloppy,, I'm just tired... :)

Closed the IBM Calendar for a -6.6% loss, the position kept losing $ as IBM moved higher, I got out of it. I'm also closing the RUT Iron Butterfly, between spreads and execution there is little money left. The last remaining for the month is the MNX Iron Butterfly I managed to keep profits on this one, I started peeling a few MNX spreads off the table.

The culprit on my RUT trade was the "delta hogs". I now know exactly why Dan Harvey avoids them like crazy! The short 580 Calls I had just rolled over my trade's profits and there was no OCT long that could keep them there..

I'm exiting SEP and plan on continuing exiting if the market keeps higher Tomorrow. I also started 1/2 of my OCT Iron Butterflies on both the RUT and MNX. Profiles are posted here.

MNX Iron Butterfly SEP/09

RUT Iron Butterfly SEP/09

MNX Iron Butterfly OCT/09 (1st half)

RUT Iron Butterfly OCT/09 (1st. half)

09/09 Daily Summary

Today I learned the value of planning and preparation! I have been keeping a very proactive approach on my trades, always with at least two levels of contingent orders, but Yesterday I failed to do so. When RUT kept moving higher Today, the intra-day P&L oscilation got to me and I ended up rushing into an adjustment that was way too costly.

For my future trades on RUT, I plan on having contingent orders for single contract execution (not spreads) and will re-balance the position at the end of day.

Position's Details:
09/09 IBM Calendar
09/09 RUT Iron Butterfly
09/09 MNX Iron Butterfly