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Trade for a Living

  #41 (permalink)
 jba1962 
TampaFL
 
Experience: Master
Platform: TWS
Trading: ES
Posts: 183 since Oct 2017
Thanks Given: 97
Thanks Received: 374

Options P/L: +263.58 Month: +3028.48 *Total: +1681.13
DayTrade P/L: +905.28 Month: +4424.69 *Total: +12,371.81
Premium Sold: 475.00
Premium Paid: 0
Open Premium: 3392.50

* Total is since June 1, since I started this journal in June and June 3 is when I switched to using the micros in the daytrade portion.

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  #42 (permalink)
 jba1962 
TampaFL
 
Experience: Master
Platform: TWS
Trading: ES
Posts: 183 since Oct 2017
Thanks Given: 97
Thanks Received: 374

Option Side: A very nice day up until about 2:30. Positive a little over 300. Then a big sell-off, accompanying volatility spike and I probably ended up down about 250. I say probably because IB's software doesn't always make it real clear when there's a lot of movement at the end of the day, especially when there is strong movement between 4:30 and 5:00. For the 3rd straight day, I sold an option at the open, only to see the market move strongly against it by closing time. So Monday if I sell a Call at the open, you all should buy, and vice versa. Did nothing else - just sold 1 Put today. We'll see how it's looking Monday and adjust, roll or close as necessary.

DayTrade: Went strongly against me in the morning, at one point reaching -832 before gradually coming back. I got to +100 then back to -565. Back to +345 (the best of the day) and then back to -200. So when I got back to +200 again, I set up market orders and told myself I'd hit them if it went back down to +100. Which it immediately did. So fast, that by the time I exited, I was up only 46 for the day. But at least a positive close to what was , overall, a good week. I'll take it.

Exact numbers tomorrow.

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  #43 (permalink)
 jba1962 
TampaFL
 
Experience: Master
Platform: TWS
Trading: ES
Posts: 183 since Oct 2017
Thanks Given: 97
Thanks Received: 374


Options P/L: -301.42 Month: +2727.06 *Total: +1379.71
DayTrade P/L: +46.32 Month: +4471.01 *Total: +12,418.13
Premium Sold: 662.50
Premium Paid: 0
Open Premium: 4355.00

* Total is since June 1, since I started this journal in June and June 3 is when I switched to using the micros in the daytrade portion.

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  #44 (permalink)
 jba1962 
TampaFL
 
Experience: Master
Platform: TWS
Trading: ES
Posts: 183 since Oct 2017
Thanks Given: 97
Thanks Received: 374

Option Side: Market was up. VIX was down 6% and all the time value that didn't come out Friday due to the uncertain finish, came out today. Was glad that I added some inventory last week. Didn't sell anything new. Bought back 1 Put. Up about 1250 for the day.

DayTrade Side: A profitable, yet frustrating day. Exits are (and I think always will be) more of an art than a science. Or maybe it's just plain guessing. I don't know. But if that's the case, I guessed wrong today. Trade took off shortly after I initiated the 2nd leg. It was up over 1000 before I even got to the 3rd leg. Usually I think about reducing position size when I get up 1K, but today I didn't even have my 3rd leg on, so I let it ride. After initiating said 3rd leg, the trade was positive about 1350. Do I reduce? Or let it ride? Let your winners run, right? Well, winners don't always run, and today it didn't. Trade kept backing off and I finally pulled the plug when I had lost about half of the profit and finished the day up 655. Not bad except that I bought at the absolute low. Trade started working again, and finished the day up about 1700. The good news was that I fought off the competitive beast inside that wanted to jump back in to make up for the missed profits. But I kept firm. Happy about that, if not the bottom line. Because it would have worked today, but experience tells me that most of the time all I would do is make that 655 even smaller, or perhaps even go negative on the day.

Exact numbers tomorrow morning.

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  #45 (permalink)
 jba1962 
TampaFL
 
Experience: Master
Platform: TWS
Trading: ES
Posts: 183 since Oct 2017
Thanks Given: 97
Thanks Received: 374

Options P/L: +1233.58 Month: +3960.64 *Total: +2613.29
DayTrade P/L: +654.52 Month: +5125.53 *Total: +13,072.65
Premium Sold: 0
Premium Paid: 85.00
Open Premium: 3035.00

* Total is since June 1, since I started this journal in June and June 3 is when I switched to using the micros in the daytrade portion.

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  #46 (permalink)
 jba1962 
TampaFL
 
Experience: Master
Platform: TWS
Trading: ES
Posts: 183 since Oct 2017
Thanks Given: 97
Thanks Received: 374

Option Side: About the same as yesterday. Up day in the market. Implied Volatility drop. I wasn't as Delta + today as yesterday, and, of course, didn't have as much open premium. Sold nothing new today. Bought back 1 Put for very little cost. Up about 300 on the day. Will look to sell another straddle tomorrow if possible. Will have to consider rolling, adjusting or closing Calls as well if rally continues.

Day Trade Side: Trade was immediately underwater and just kept getting uglier as the day went on. At 1:30 I was nearing my max risk for the day and was starting to work on my exit strategy. Then something happened (I don't watch the news, so I still don't know what it was) and the markets popped, and my trade went from way down to even in about 10 minutes. I took that as a gift from the trading gods and immediately cut my position by 75%. The trade kept working for a while, at one point reaching +315 before dropping again. I bailed at +193. Again, the art vs. science aspect of getting out. Yesterday was frustrating because my trade took off after I got out, leaving quite a bit on the table. Today I got out, and the trade continued to drop, in fact would have been a loser had I stayed in. Certainly a topic I need to keep studying, though I suspect there will never be a "one size fits all" type of answer.

Exact numbers in the morning.

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  #47 (permalink)
 
kareem40's Avatar
 kareem40 
Dallas, TX
Legendary TradeTheBar
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: NT, TS
Broker: IB, Oanda
Trading: ES, MES, MNQ, MYM
Posts: 708 since May 2010
Thanks Given: 1,887
Thanks Received: 903

Hi Jba,
Interesting trades. Can you please expand some more on your trades. I looked thru the journal and did not see details. Sorry I had missed them.
You trade Micro YM, NQ, and ES futures options, right? If so, how many days out do you buy/sell. What strikes, Deltas, etc.... when is your must DTE must exit on your positions. I know you don't use charts, so you use historical/implied IV to pick your trades? Also, are you with Tastyworks?
Thanks,
K

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  #48 (permalink)
 jba1962 
TampaFL
 
Experience: Master
Platform: TWS
Trading: ES
Posts: 183 since Oct 2017
Thanks Given: 97
Thanks Received: 374

Options P/L: +323.58 Month: +4284.22 *Total: +2936.87
DayTrade P/L: +192.68 Month: +5318.21 *Total: +13,265.33
Premium Sold: 0
Premium Paid: 60.00
Open Premium: 2650.00

* Total is since June 1, since I started this journal in June and June 3 is when I switched to using the micros in the daytrade portion.

Started this thread Reply With Quote
  #49 (permalink)
 jba1962 
TampaFL
 
Experience: Master
Platform: TWS
Trading: ES
Posts: 183 since Oct 2017
Thanks Given: 97
Thanks Received: 374

Hi Jba,
Interesting trades. Can you please expand some more on your trades. I looked thru the journal and did not see details. Sorry I had missed them.
You trade Micro YM, NQ, and ES futures options, right? If so, how many days out do you buy/sell. What strikes, Deltas, etc.... when is your must DTE must exit on your positions. I know you don't use charts, so you use historical/implied IV to pick your trades? Also, are you with Tastyworks?
Thanks,
K


You are conflating the two strategies. On the option side I trade almost exclusively ES. I do make exceptions, but rarely and not since I started this journal. I typically initiate 30-45 days out, though I will buy/sell closer if I need to adjust an existing position. I usually try to have a slightly positive Delta, but of course that can vary quite a bit even day to day. I don't go out of my way to maintain a certain Delta. If an option is causing me pain, and I don't have enough on the other side to offset it, I just get rid of it. I'm a very competitive guy and I can't stand seeing that loser on my screen taunting me. So I close or roll before it does too much damage. Last, there are always going to be occasional volatility spikes, sometimes to an extreme. All you can do then is get out and try to minimize the damage. I don't always do a good job in that scenario.

On the Day Trade side, I am using the Micros, mostly the Equities and I initiate spread trades hoping my buy is stronger than my sell, or vice versa.

Finally, I am not with Tastyworks. In fact, never heard of them. Off to Google...

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  #50 (permalink)
 
kareem40's Avatar
 kareem40 
Dallas, TX
Legendary TradeTheBar
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: NT, TS
Broker: IB, Oanda
Trading: ES, MES, MNQ, MYM
Posts: 708 since May 2010
Thanks Given: 1,887
Thanks Received: 903


Again, very interesting and thank you. I wish you well and will watch your journal/trades. I have traded, and still do, option spreads on ETFs and stocks, but never futures.
Tastyworks is built by Tom sasnoff, who had started and sold TOS. Good platform, great commissions for options.

Take care,
Kareem

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Last Updated on October 10, 2019


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