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

09/09 IBM Calendar

Previous Posting
09/08 IBM Calendar

09/09 RUT Iron Butterfly

Got tangled up in the price action Today, it was the result of not having at least two levels of contingent orders. After RUT hit my first up-side adjustment, I planned to act mannually and decided on the fly to roll one of the short 580Calls, the execution was bad and ended up taking a toll on my P&L.. On these smaller trades execution slippage on spread trades can be a big hit..

I'm now flat and have contingent orders in place to help me stay in the game, let's see what goes on Tomorrow. I also plan on adding the OCT trades Tomorrow.

Previous Posting:

09/08 RUT Iron Butterfly

09/09 MNX Iron Butterfly

Moved the last 2 162.5 short Calls I had on the position, took a bit of a P&L hit, contingent orders in place for Tomorrow, going in flat.

Previous Posting:

09/08 MNX Iron Butterfly

09/08 Daily Summary

The estimates for Tuesday were a lot better last Friday. :)

Now, seriously, I need to review to see if it was because of my adjustments, or if it is simply the fact that by end of day Friday most market makers are already pricing the weekend, leaving TOS with an over-optimisc view on what it will be on Tuesday, maybe even a combination of both.. This is the 3rd or 4th time where I see a discrepancy between the estimated and actual over the final weekends

I was watching Dan Harvey's mentoring Today and he mentioned he goes for 10% on his Iron Butterflies. I was going for 20%, well, that being said, the positions still look good, so I plan on hanging around unless we drop in profits to around 10% This will give me a good exposure to what happens on the final week, as it is the first time I get in the "end game" with good money in the bank.

What happened to the IBM Calendar? I'm not sure.. if it continues that way I may need to take it off

Position's Details:
09/08 IBM Calendar
09/08 RUT Iron Butterfly
09/08 MNX Iron Butterfly

09/08 IBM Calendar

Not sure about what happened with the trade, the vols seemed to have increased from last Friday to Today, but the trade lost money.. I'm skeptical and looking to exit if we keep like that.
Previous Posting:
09/04 IBM Calendar

09/08 RUT Iron Butterfly

Very similar to MNX, I had a small drop in P&L as we moved higher and I started moving spreads around to protect the current profits. Notice one key difference: Theta! It is a lot higher in the RUT position, that's because I added capital earlier in the trade, this is still working for me.

Previous Posting:

09/04 RUT Iron Butterfly