12/23 Daily Summary

Today's price action on RUT caught me off-guard, I was expecting volatility to drop, but it didn't, so I had to exit the position in the last hour. I tried filling the spread but could not get a fill, and therefore decided to hedge with a back-month long Call. As it turns out, in hindsight I would be much better off by hedging with a JAN contract, as it would leave me exposed to less Vega risk. See both profiles in the position's detail. My plan is to work my way out of the spread Tomorrow or Monday.

MNX also kept pushing higher, I now have an up-side alert on the 5-day Volatility chart, so I decided to start rolling a few of the 180 Calls, hedging against a continued move upward. I don't have contingent orders to the up-side for Tomorrow, if it moves higher I'll trade the long Calls for the vertical spreads to roll the delta hogs (180 Calls).

Positon's Details and Price action charts:
12/23 MNX Iron Butterfly
12/23 RUT Iron Condor

12/23 MNX Iron Butterfly

12/23 RUT Iron Condor

12/22 Daily Summary

Today's upside continuation places the RUT condor in a rough spot, it is starting down the slipery slope and although not exactly 0.5 st. deviation, Today's spike on the 5-day price chart is close enough to 0.5 that raises a flag to me. A pull back is needed in order for the position to stay.

The MNX Iron Butterfly had a couple of rough days as well, but was able to keep most of its profits, now I will start doing vertical rolls if we keep pushing to the up-side.

Position's Details and Price action chart:
12/22 MNX Iron Butterfly
12/22 RUT Iron Condor

12/22 MNX Iron Butterfly

12/22 RUT Iron Condor

12/21 Daily Summary

One of the things I noticed about Today's upside movement was the lack of volume, this could simply be a factor of the Holidays season, or an indication that this up-side push won't materialize a new up-trend. I'm personally expecting the later.

My RUT position is still hovering around the break-even level, notice the 5-day volatility chart that this persistent upside has been keeping my profits at bay on the trade; Should we see a small pull back, the position will be good to cash out.

The MNX Iron Butterfly had its first set of adjustment done Today. I had a contingent order to cut a few deltas, and after it triggered I added another one to continue cutting in case we kept pushing higher, which we did. So I purchase 2 long FEB 185 Calls to keep these deltas at bay. The position gave back about 3% of its open P/L Today.

Position's Details and Price action charts:
12/21 MNX Iron Butterfly
12/21 RUT Iron Condor