12/28 Daily Summary

Not a whole lot of market action Today, we continue to post higher numbers on the 5-day volatility chart, but the 1 day price spikes are not so strong any longer. Today we had a gap up that got closed intra-day but bulls managed to sustain prices higher.

I did some maintenance on my RUT position early in the morning, and didn't touch the MNX position for one more day, contingent orders are in place, my goal is to work the MNX with contingent orders only.

Position's Details and price action chart:
12/28 RUT Iron Condor
12/28 MNX Iron Butterfly

12/28 RUT Iron Condor

I've started simplifying the position by replacing the long FEB contract with buying one vertical spread and one of the short call contracts. This leaves me with a similar profile in therms of short term greeks, reduces the vega exposure and gives me a shot at exiting at a better price if we move back down or sharply up.

Next step is to work an order to remove the PUT side.

12/28 MNX Iron Butterfly

We pushed slightly higher Today, I had contingent orders to roll the vertical spreads if we hit 188.50, didn't get hit, will leave the same orders in place for Tomorrow. There is still time left in the trade, if we move higher I'll add another butterfly at the top.

DEC09 Trades

I only had the Iron Condor for the DEC09 contracts, the market got into a trading range and the position worked itself to be a "set it and forget it" type of trade. Sweet!!

RUT Iron Condor - Day by day review

RUT Iron Condor - Day by day review

This was my only DEC09 trade, I opted for the iron condor simply because I was moving cross country and could not afford to look at the market every night, the Condor gave me the peace of mind that I could set it and forget it (for the most part), without a lot of adjustments in the process. As it turns out, the market was good to me.

Result: +17% ROI

11/12 RUT Iron Condor
11/13 RUT Iron Condor
11/16 Daily Summary (short posting)
11/25 Weekly update

Not much of a history, I understand, so here is a volatility cone profile for this position. Notice: the cone was created after the fact, so I can't add a live day-by-day P/L chart.

NOV09 Trades

These are the positions I traded for the NOV09 contracts. This was the first losing month for my MNX Iron Butterfly position, not very happy, but still a profitable strategy thus far. I ended up blowing up my max loss on the RUT Iron Butterfly, as a result I decided to re-evaluate the way I've been trading the RUT Iron Butterfly, I simply haven't got a handle on the strategy.

NOV09 RUT Iron Butterfly - day by day review
NOV09 - MNX Iron Butterfly

NOV09 RUT Iron Butterfly - day by day review

This is my daily log of the RUT Iron butterfly position I traded with NOV09 contracts.



Results: -27.04% ROI



10/15 RUT Iron Butterfly *NOV* *New*

10/16 RUT Iron Butterfly

10/19 RUT Iron Butterfly

10/20 RUT Iron Butterfly

10/21 RUT Iron Butterfly

10/22 RUT Iron Butterfly

10/23 RUT Iron Butterfly

10/26 RUT Iron Butterfly

10/27 RUT Iron Butterfly

10/28 RUT Iron Butterfly

10/29 RUT Iron Butterfly - Added butterfly, increased Theta, increased risk

10/30 Daily Update - Closed RUT Beyond Max loss

NOV09 - MNX Iron Butterfly

Here is a log (long overdue) of my MNX Iron Butterfly for the NOV09 contracts.



Results: -15% ROI



10/15 MNX Iron Butterfly *NOV*

10/16 MNX Iron Butterfly

10/19 MNX Iron Butterfly

10/20 MNX Iron Butterfly - "Added one more contract to the Iron Butterfly Today. I now have 1/2 of the position on. My deadline for being fully loaded is this Thursday."

10/21 MNX Iron Butterfly

10/22 MNX Iron Butterfly - Added the second 1/2 of the position Today, so far this trade has been going on very well.



10/23 MNX Iron Butterfly

10/26 MNX Iron Butterfly

10/27 MNX Iron Butterfly

10/28 MNX Iron Butterfly

10/29 MNX Iron Butterfly

11/02 MNX Iron Butterfly

11/03 MNX Iron Butterfly

11/04 MNX Iron Butterfly

11/05 MNX Iron Butterfly

11/06 MNX Iron Butterfly

11/09 MNX Iron Butterfly

11/10 MNX Iron Butterfly

11/11 MNX Iron Butterfly

11/12 MNX Iron Butterfly

11/13 MNX Iron Butterfly

11/16 Daily Summary (short posting) - Condorized and let it expire