I've gone through a bulk of the Gross/Cordier materials and they have said that a "naked" option isn't an automatic death sentence if it's managed properly. I have a hard and fast exit if the premium reaches 200% of what I paid, no exceptions. However I can see that I'm closer to the money than my gut would like, as john mentioned it would explain the nerves. Combine that with the feedback I received on this thread lead me to modify my trade this morning to include some protection in the event the price moves against me.

I bought 4 March15 calls at $57.5 putting me into a 1/3 ratio spread. Given the price decline this morning it was a very cheap insurance policy at $200.

Interesting observation, even though the price of oil moved in my favor OX increased my MM because of "volatility" accoring to the broker moving the MM from ~15k to ~21k. The addition of the insurance policy brought it down substantially, from ~21k to ~13k but still. Ron's rule of 3x in cash is proving to be a necessity more than a best practice.

I don't have enough cash to place a trade on the downside but would probably do another Ratio Spread on the put side at the $25 mark given it's trading at .05 right now. Maybe if the margins come down a bit more as time keeps marching on.

Thanks,
/A/

I've gone through a bulk of the Gross/Cordier materials and they have said that a "naked" option isn't an automatic death sentence if it's managed properly. I have a hard and fast exit if the premium reaches 200% of what I paid, no exceptions. However I can see that I'm closer to the money than my gut would like, as john mentioned it would explain the nerves. Combine that with the feedback I received on this thread lead me to modify my trade this morning to include some protection in the event the price moves against me.

I bought 4 March15 calls at $57.5 putting me into a 1/3 ratio spread. Given the price decline this morning it was a very cheap insurance policy at $200.

Interesting observation, even though the price of oil moved in my favor OX increased my MM because of "volatility" accoring to the broker moving the MM from ~15k to ~21k. The addition of the insurance policy brought it down substantially, from ~21k to ~13k but still. Ron's rule of 3x in cash is proving to be a necessity more than a best practice.

I don't have enough cash to place a trade on the downside but would probably do another Ratio Spread on the put side at the $25 mark given it's trading at .05 right now. Maybe if the margins come down a bit more as time keeps marching on.

Thanks,
/A/

I don't have enough cash to place a trade on the downside
You might check. put side may not increase the margin much.

I bought 4 March15 calls at $57.5
What strike?

This thread is a great place to obtain information and ideas, but your money is at risk.
Decisions are yours alone.

CL was higher yesterday, which was moving against you. That is why your margin increased. Margin is calculated mainly based on the prior day's price movement (and other factors). Most FCMs do not recalculate it during the day.

Mar CL $25 puts are offered at 0.01.

A lot of times if you have on a call spread you can put on a put spread for no additional margin. (except at OX, who if they haven't fixed it yet, still charge too much for the first spread but correctly charge for the remaining spreads)

Here are my 2014 results for selling options. These are options closed in 2014.

I did 9 losing trades of 245 contracts that were net losers of $76,042.58. 7 of these were NG closed in Jan 2014.
I did 364 profitable trades of 10,191 contracts that had a net profit of $349,488.68.

So total was net +$273,446.10. Winning percentage of trades was 97.6%.

I had sold options in CC, CL, CT, DA, ES, GC, HO, KC, LC, NG, RB, & S.

Since 2008 I have made 4,797 trades selling 60,484 contracts with a net profit of $639,598.12.

What was the percentage gain for 2014?

What was the percentage gain for 2014?